“Thirty years and four babies,” another woman adds, as she leans forward and bites a thread to sever it. “All grown up now.”

“She doesn’t come into town much anymore,” one of the younger women comments.

“Saw her at the grocery last week,” says another woman as she pulls a needle through fabric.

Pennsylvania Dutch was my first language and even after so many years of speaking only English, my brain switches to my native tongue with surprising ease. “What was her maiden name?”

“Kaufman,” one of the women says.

The last thing I want to do is start speculation or gossip, but I need information. Evidently, these women are well versed on goings on within the Amish community, so I take the risk. “Do any of you remember if Abigail knew Leroy Nolt?”

The eyes of the older woman—the one old enough to remember Nolt’s disappearance—attach to mine. “Little Abby was always with Jeramy,” she tells me. “Always.”

The youngest woman’s eyes go wide. “Does Abby have something to do with those bones?”

No one looks at her. I don’t answer her question.

The eldest woman goes back to her sewing. “Little Abby never had eyes for anyone but Jeramy.”

“Leroy Nolt was a Mennonite,” Martha says. “Abby and her family are Swartzentruber.”

“The two don’t mix if you ask me,” one of the other women says.

It’s not the first time I’ve heard those words, and they annoy me as much now as they did when I was an angry and rebellious teen. While Mennonites and the Amish share a common Anabaptist heritage, the differences are vast and include everything from the use of electricity to the ownership of cars. The most significant difference, however, is the tenet of separation, which is central to the Amish but not part of the Mennonite way. Most Amish I know mingle freely with their Mennonite neighbors, but as in all cultures, there are those who are intolerant.

The old woman looks up from her needle and thread and levels a blue-steel gaze on mine. “Katie Burkholder, I think you’d be best served if you kept your feet under your own table.”

Chapter 14

CHAPTER 14