Plain Truth. Debby Giusti

here, call me. I’ll question him.”

      “I’m not sure you can help.” Mr. Landers excused himself and headed for the kitchen. “You folks can let yourselves out.”

      When they’d stepped outside, Zach turned to Ella. “At some point, I’ll need to talk to Levi Miller.”

      “Let me know when, and I’ll go with you. Levi’s wife is a patient of mine.” Ella headed for the car and thanked Zach as he held the door for her, before he rounded the vehicle and slipped behind the wheel.

      “Mr. Landers isn’t a very welcoming man,” he said as he turned the car onto the road.

      “He’s worried and not thinking rationally.”

      “I’m sure that’s the case,” Zach agreed, “although there might be some truth to what he told us.”

      Ella didn’t want to see Levi pulled into the investigation. He was a good man and a helpful neighbor. Again, she thought of how life had changed since the attack.

      Staring out the window, she took in the rolling hills and farmland that she loved. In the distance, she could see a number of Amish homes. Their way of life had attracted her after Quin’s death, when she didn’t know where to go or to whom to turn. She’d found comfort here and a sense of welcome from some of the families.

      But all that had changed when the intruder broke in last night. Could he have been stalking Mary Kate? If so, Ella refused to believe that Levi was the assailant. He was a man of peace with a sweet wife and a baby on the way.

      Zach parked in her driveway and walked her to the front door of the clinic. She pulled the key from her purse, stuck it in the lock and turned the knob.

      Glancing into the waiting room, she gasped. Her heart skittered in her chest and the fear she had felt last night returned full force.

      “What’s wrong?” Zach asked, dropping his hand protectively on her shoulder.

      “The attacker,” she whispered, unable to control the tremble in her voice. “He returned. This time, he destroyed my clinic.”

       FOUR

      Zach grabbed Ella’s arm and stopped her from entering the clinic. “Wait in the car. You’ll be safer there. I want to check inside to make sure no one’s lying in wait.”

      Her eyes widened. “You think the attacker from last night came back?”

      “He wanted something he didn’t find. Any idea what that could be?”

      She shook her head. “I don’t know. I...I thought he was after Mary Kate.”

      “Which might be the case. What about the children’s medical records? Could there be something in their charts that he doesn’t want revealed?”

      “Maybe.”

      Zach stared at Ella for a long moment and then pointed to the car. “Stay in my vehicle and keep the doors locked while I search the clinic.”

      Thankfully, she complied with his instructions and hurried there. She slipped into the passenger seat, hit the lock button and nodded to him when she was securely inside.

      Zach pulled out his phone and called Sergeant Abrams. “I’m at the Children’s Care Clinic. Looks like the perpetrator from last night came back. I’m going in to do a search. The doc is outside in my car. I’d appreciate a couple of your people to process the scene. We might find a print that matches something from last night.”

      Disconnecting, he tugged back his jacket and slipped his SIG Sauer from its holster. He doubted the perp was still on-site, yet he didn’t want to go in unprepared. The guy wanted something, or perhaps he’d left something behind and returned to retrieve whatever he’d lost.

      Cautiously, Zach entered the clinic, his eyes scanning the room, left to right. He hugged the wall and stepped through the waiting area. The door to the office hung open. Zach stared through the doorway, searching for anything amiss.

      The perp had been thorough. The drawers of the doctor’s desk hung open, and the contents lay scattered on the floor. Manila folders from the file cabinet were strewn helter-skelter about the room.

      Had he been hunting for a certain patient’s records? If so, who and why?

      Zach checked the closets, where someone could be hiding. The medication cabinet was locked. From all appearances, drugs hadn’t been the reason for the break-in.

      After moving into the hallway, Zach searched the two treatment rooms, then headed to the door that opened into Ella’s residence.

      He entered the kitchen, a warm and welcoming room with a round table positioned in front of a bay window. A yellow print tablecloth matched the valances that hung at the windows, and a bouquet of fall flowers adorned the middle of the table.

      Zach remembered his home when his mother was still alive. She’d loved flowers and always had them in the house.

      They bring God’s beautiful nature indoors, he recalled her saying as she’d arranged a bouquet in a crystal vase that had been passed down from her mother. The memory made him pause and stare at the mums on the doc’s table. His mother had been a woman of faith, but God didn’t play favorites. Or so it seemed.

      Shaking off those thoughts, he moved quickly through the living room, then checked the master bedroom with an attached bath and the guest room with its own bath. A third room served as an office. Unlike the clinic, this one had pictures of children on the wall. Zach stepped closer.

      A few of the girls wore long dresses, and some boys had dark trousers and hats that covered their bobbed hair. Amish children. From what he knew of the sect, they didn’t like photographs. Evidently the doc had gotten special permission to snap the shots.

      Diplomas from a number of universities hung near the pictures, along with a picture of Ella and a slender man of medium height with deep-set eyes. He was frowning, as if the photographer had surprised him when he didn’t want his photo taken.

      Ella stood awkwardly at his side, her hand reaching for his. Had the stoic husband rejected his wife’s attempt at closeness, or was that merely Zach’s imagination adding a dramatic spin to the reality of what Ella’s life had been?

      He liked to think he could read people, but the doc was a closed book. Her husband appeared to be equally hard to read.

      Turning from the photos, Zach backtracked through the clinic and hurried outside to where Ella waited in his car.

      “Did you find anything?” She opened the door as he neared.

      “Nothing except a lot of chaos in your office. The treatment area and your residence seem untouched, but the guy was looking for something. Patient records are scattered on the floor. Any ideas?”

      “None at all. You tell me what someone might want.”

      “Information. He attacked Mary Kate. Perhaps he followed her to your clinic, then cut the electricity so he could enter in the dark. He attacks her, probably thought he had killed her, which may have been his goal.”

      Ella’s hand rose to her throat. “I can’t imagine anyone wanting to do her harm.”

      “What information could he be searching for in your patient files? Tell me about the girls’ condition.”

      She shrugged. “Childhood enzyme deficiency is a newly emerging condition. There’s a symposium this coming Friday in Atlanta that will focus on a number of conditions, including CED, followed by a charity dinner that will celebrate the research center’s success. The proceeds raised will help Amish families with their medical bills and also fund the clinic to ensure the research continues.”

      “The research center is where your husband worked?”

      “That’s right. The