Not wanting to upset Sadie any more than I already have, I leave the stall. Disbelief trails me to the barn door. Once outside, I dial Tomasetti, praying I’m wrong, refusing to acknowledge that my hands are shaking.

He answers on the second ring.

EPILOGUE

Two months later: Lancaster County, Pennsylvania

The party was in full swing by the time he arrived. The Amish teens, most of them on rumspringa, had been gathering at the trailer home for going on a month now. Everyone, it seemed, was always broke. But somehow, someone always managed to wrangle a few six-packs of beer. On a good night, someone would bring a bottle of whiskey or tequila and everyone would sit in the living room and do shots until it was gone and everyone was so shit-faced that they were lucky to make it to their vehicles. Most simply passed out where they were.

As usual, the front door stood wide open. As he parked behind Big Dan Beiler’s pickup truck, he could hear the bass thrum of Nirvana’s “The Man Who Sold the World” blaring through the open windows. Two Amish girls wearing dresses and sneakers sat on the steps, sharing a joint. They looked up when he got out of the car, but he didn’t pay them any heed. They weren’t the one he was looking for to night.

He found her in the kitchen. Rachel Shrock was seventeen years old and as beautiful and intelligent as she was headstrong. He’d met her here three weeks ago and he’d thought of little else since. She’d charmed him with her sense of humor and gentle way. When he was with her, it was as if he were the only man in the world and the very center of her universe. He’d taken her to one of the bedrooms that same night and they’d made love until the sun streamed in through the window.

He knew it was wrong to lie with her before marriage. They’d discussed it, in fact, and Rachel felt the same way. She was a gentle soul, after all. She loved God. She loved her family. And he was beginning to think she loved him, too. It was the start of something beautiful. That was why Noah had to do everything in his power to save her soul. The way his datt had saved the others.

The way his datt had saved him.

Perry Mast had been an ordained deacon—an important position within the church district. One of his responsibilities had been to go into the Amish community and secure information about transgressors. He’d also been charged with meting out admonitions, usually at worship. They were burdensome duties, but his datt had borne them with courage and fortitude.