I attended several Amish funerals growing up. The day before the ceremony, male friends and neighbors of the deceased build the unadorned, six-sided casket. Amish caskets are lined with fabric sewn by female friends and neighbors. Once the coroner releases the bodies, the dead are washed and dressed. Deceased males are usually garbed in white—pants, vest and shirt. The females are clothed in a white dress, apron and cape. Bonnie was probably dressed in the same clothes in which she was married.

“So you think the killer is going to show?”

I glance away from the procession and look at T.J. “I don’t know. If he’s Amish, he might.”

T.J. nods. “English guy would probably stand out.”

“A little.” I spent most of the night re-reading Mary Plank’s journal, and I can still feel the weight of her words pressing down on me this morning. I drank too much, but it’s not the fuzzy ache behind my eyes that bothers me. I’d hoped the diary would offer some clue as to the identity of the man she was seeing, but she didn’t name him. I looked for other details, too. His profession. Physical description. The make of his vehicle. The address of the places he took her. Was she being careful in case one of her parents found the journal? Or had he coached her, told her never to use his name even in her most private moments?

All that reading wasn’t totally in vain because I determined two important things. I’m convinced Mary Plank’s lover and the murders are related. And I know he’s not Amish. With nothing else to go on, it’s a starting point.

“You think the killer is Amish?” T.J. asks.

“No.” He gives me a so-why-are-we-here look, so I tell him about the journal. “She was in love with the guy.”

“Probably the source of the sperm, huh?”

“I think so.”

T.J. considers that for a moment. “What about motive?”

“She was pregnant and barely fifteen years old. The age of consent in the state of Ohio is sixteen.”

“So he could be facing statutory rape charges.”

“Even more charges if he was drugging her and taking sexually oriented photos.”

“Could be a pretty strong motive for murder.” T.J. mulls that over. “But why kill the whole family?”

“She told her parents about this guy. She told them about the baby.”

T.J. nods. “He murdered them to shut them up.”

“If they threatened to go to the police, he knew he would be facing a multitude of serious charges. Rape. Maybe child molestation. Contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Possession of a controlled substance. If he published sexually oriented photos of her, child pornography.” I shrug, disgusted by my own words. “He would have been facing years of hard time.”

“Pretty powerful motive.”