His eyes slide toward the house, looking for someone to save him from having to deal with me. I move so that I’m blocking his view. “Answer me,” I say. “Where did she go?”

“She didn’t say.”

I walk away without thanking him. I reach for my shoulder mike as I start toward the Crown Vic and hail Deputy Fowler. “Abigail Kline took the buggy and left. I’m going to look for her. You and T.J. okay here without me for a few minutes?”

“We’ll be fine.”

Frustration pushes a sigh from me. I’d wanted to be here while the search warrant was being executed, if only to answer questions and ward off any conflicts with the Kline family and the Amish as a whole. But with Abigail unaccounted for and the warrant in the hands of the Coshocton County Sheriff’s Department, I feel my time would best be spent looking for her.

I spot Levi Kline standing at the base of the porch steps, watching me, and I walk over to him. “She took one of the buggies and left,” I inform him.

“Are you sure?” For the first time he looks concerned. “I can’t see her taking the buggy on her own at a time like this. I would have taken her wherever she wanted to go. Any of us would have. All she had to do was ask.”

“Do you have any idea where she might have gone? Does she have a best friend? Her parents? The bishop?”

“If she was troubled or sad, she may have gone to see the bishop. Or maybe she went to Grossdaddi’s farm.” His brows knit. “Chief Burkholder, she should not be alone.”

“What was her frame of mind last time you saw her?” I ask.

He considers my question for a long moment. “She was … in a dark place. Crying a lot. Shaken inside.”

The last thing I want to do is needlessly worry her family. Chances are, the situation is exactly as he theorized; Abigail needed some time alone or sought her parents or the bishop for counsel. But I’ve been a cop long enough to know that when people commit a crime as heinous as murdering their spouse, sometimes the next life they take is their own.

I’m trying to come up with a delicate way to ask him if his mother could be suicidal, but he beats me to the punch. “You think she’s a danger to herself?” he asks.

“The thought crossed my mind.”

The color drains from his face, and he takes a step back from me. “I’m going to look for her.”

I consider asking him not to, but I change my mind. At this point, the more people we have looking for Abigail Kline, the better.

Chapter 26

CHAPTER 26