Home by Dark. Marta Perry

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      He led the way, moving so quickly that she had to hurry to keep up. “I don’t see why—” she began, but he gestured her to be quiet.

      The door was partially open. Why hadn’t she noticed that before? Colin stepped inside, and she followed him.

      The dusty windows let in very little light. She blinked, trying to get her eyes to adjust to the dimness. Castoff furniture and boxes containing who knows what were stacked so high that they loomed like creatures preparing to attack.

      A click, and then light blossomed, turning the lurking shadows into a pathetic collection of junk. Colin had obviously brought a flashlight. He aimed the beam on a narrow passageway between the crates.

      “Come on out, Benj,” he said. “I know you’re in here.”

      Nothing. Silence, save for some vague creaks. She shook her head. “This isn’t doing any good.”

      Colin ignored her, bending to focus the flashlight beam into the hole. “Don’t make me come in there after you. It wouldn’t be a pretty sight.”

      She started to turn away and then swung back at a scuffling noise, her breath catching. Benj came crawling slowly out into the light, blinking as if he were a mole hauled into the daylight.

      “Ja, all right. I am here.”

      Rachel grabbed him, pulling him to his feet, not sure whether she wanted to hug him or shake him. “Benj, what on earth are you playing at? Do you know Daadi was here looking for you? What do you mean by scaring everyone that way?”

      He looked up at her, his expression so strained and miserable that she wanted the scolding words back.

      She touched his cheek gently. “What is it, Benj? Please, tell me what’s wrong.”

      “I can’t.” It came out as a whisper, and his head dropped so that he wasn’t meeting her eyes. “I promised.”

      “A promise that makes you scared to death and upsets your family? What kind of a promise is that? Benj—” She ran out of words, not sure what to say in the face of his stubborn silence.

      “Wake up, Benj.” Colin’s voice was so stern that her brother’s head jerked back, his eyes going wide. “Okay, you made a promise. Trust me, I remember promises like that—stupid ones that you knew when you made them weren’t worth it.” Colin sounded as if he really was talking about himself. “It’s time to straighten up and act like a man, not a kid. Now tell your sister what this is all about before I pull your dad in to hear it.”

      “No, don’t.” Benj’s face went even whiter, if that were possible. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean...” Tears welled in his eyes, and he knuckled them away, shamefaced. “I don’t know what to do. Will made us promise not to tell. But now Will is gone, and I don’t know what to do.”

      “Will Esch?” Colin rapped out the question.

      Benj nodded, choking back a sob.

      Will Esch. Rachel repeated the name silently. She knew the family. Will must be a couple of years older than Benj.

      “What do you mean, he’s gone?” Colin seemed to be having more success getting information out of Benj than she had, so Rachel forced herself to keep silent.

      “He...he was gone when his mother went to call him today. They think he’s run off. But what if he didn’t? What if something happened—” He fell silent so suddenly it was like shutting off a tap. He shook his head. “After I heard, I couldn’t go home. Daadi would know the minute he looked at me that something was wrong. I had to think on it a bit.” He gestured toward the hiding place, as if to say that had been his haven for thinking through his troubles.

      “Okay, so you and Will and somebody else were involved in something you shouldn’t have been, and Will made you promise not to tell anyone for fear you’d get into trouble.” Colin had put the story together more quickly than she had.

      Benj gulped and nodded.

      “That doesn’t explain why you’re so scared. Come on, out with the rest of it.”

      The command in Colin’s tone would have convinced someone a lot more sophisticated than a fourteen-year-old Amish boy, and Rachel could only be thankful he was there. She’d never have gotten this much out of Benj on her own.

      “We were...we were trespassing.” The way Benj seemed to be editing his words made Rachel fear they’d been doing something worse than trespassing. “And there was a man—he yelled at us, and we ran. But he...he had a shotgun. We got away, and Will said it would be all right as long as we didn’t tell anyone, that the man couldn’t know who we were. Will said if I told I could end up in jail.” He seemed to run out of steam, his voice trembling.

      Colin exchanged glances with her. “Look, first of all, nobody is going to put you in jail for trespassing. Secondly, if Will got a good scare over this, maybe he did decide to scoot out of town for a while.”

      “Maybe. Maybe he’s hiding, but then maybe the man will come after me.”

      It sounded absurd, but obviously her brother took the possibility seriously. “Benj, this isn’t something you can handle on your own. You need to tell Daadi—”

      “No!” Benj took a step back, his eyes widening. He looked more afraid of telling Daad than of the man with the shotgun. “Please, Rachel, I can’t. He would be so...so...”

      “Disappointed.” She finished the sentence for him. Of all people, she knew what it was like to disappoint Daad.

      “Ja. Please...I—I know I should tell him, but not yet.”

      “Your dad’s going to want to know where you’ve been,” Colin said. “Are you going to lie to him?”

      Benj shook his head. “I’ll tell him I was over at Joseph’s and forgot the time. That’s the truth. Just not all of it.”

      Rachel could only hope he hadn’t picked up that rationalization from her, back when she’d been hiding her meetings with Ronnie. “But if Will is hiding, Daad ought to know, so he can talk to Will’s folks.”

      “I can’t. If I told Will’s folks, he would...” Benj let that trail off, as if he couldn’t imagine what Will might do. A tear trickled down his cheek, and he didn’t even attempt to wipe it away. “Rachel, promise me. Promise me you won’t tell Daadi. Please.” He caught her hand, clinging to it, and her heart seemed to jolt.

      She couldn’t speak for a moment, and the silence seemed alive with crosscurrents—Benj’s desperation, Colin’s determination, her own indecision.

      If she told Daad, she would ruin the relationship she’d begun to build with her brother. If she didn’t tell him, and Daad found out, he would never forgive her. Either way, she stood to lose.

      But she didn’t really have a choice, not with her brother looking at her with such despair in his eyes. “I will not tell Daad,” she said slowly.

      She wouldn’t. Which meant she had to find a way of dealing with the situation Benj had gotten himself into on her own.

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