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sorry for her. But would she
open up and share her heart with someone she scarcely knew? I hoped so, and not
just because the “need to know” stirred the opening question. I wanted her to
know that she had been on my mind and in my prayers.
    “I’ve
thought about you so many times,” I started. “And so many of us have been
praying, of course.”
    Her eyes
locked into mine and, much to my surprise , I realized I’d
stumbled upon another kindred spirit.
    “Thank
you for that. It’s been tough, I’ll tell you.” She sighed and a certain sadness
set in. “We worked our tails off for that money—catered a three-day
conference just outside of Lancaster with two hundred fifty attendees. In a
little town called Paradise.”
    “Oh? Do
you cater a lot of big events like that?”
    “Quite a
few,” she explained. “But none like this. See, a lot of the Pennsylvania Dutch
merchants from the area come together every fall to talk about new ways to
promote their products. They called it the All Things Dutch conference. Very
interesting. I met a lot of new people, too.”
    I tried
to picture Janetta in the Amish country, but my mind
just wouldn’t take me there.
    She
continued, oblivious to my thoughts. “I knew it was risky to make such a large
cash deposit at night, but what choice did I have?”
    Mental
note: Why would a group of professionals, Amish or not, pay a caterer in cash?
Something about all of this just felt fishy.
    “If I had
it all to do over again, I’d change everything,” Janetta buried her head in her hands. “I feel like such a fool. But, to have it just
disappear like that—”
    My heart
thumped madly as guilt settled in. Don’t worry, honey. You’ll get some of it
back as soon as we pay you.
    She lifted
her head then brushed away what appeared to be a tear. “There’s nothing I can
do about it now. It’s in the hands of the police. I feel confident we’ll get it
back.”
    “The bank
won’t cover the loss?” I asked.
    “Well,”
she shook her head as she explained, “Since I made the deposit in cash, it’s
really a matter of our word against theirs. In other words, they didn’t even
view it as a missing deposit until I contacted them. They simply didn’t know
I’d made a deposit at all. And with the power being out, well, that just
complicated things even further.”
    “Wow.” I
felt my cheeks heat up as I asked the dreaded question. “A–any word about
a suspect?”
    For a
moment, I thought the conversation had ended. She used the back of her hand to
brush away another lingering tear as she opened up and shared more personal
information. Her words surprised me. “They arrested my son a few days ago.”
    “Y–Your
son?” This certainly raised my antennae. The infamous drifter was her son? This
information felt a little too personal, and almost gave me cause to think I had
no right probing any further.
    I was
just in the process of shifting our conversation to the wedding when Kristina
interjected her thoughts on the matter. I couldn’t help but notice the sarcasm
in her voice.
    “These
small-town cops don’t have a clue what they’re doing.” She shook her head in
disgust. “They caught my brother hanging around the bank at some odd hours, so
I guess they put two and two together and came up with five.”
    “I’m not
sure I understand.” I fiddled with the catering brochure to busy my hands.
Otherwise, the vibration might give me away.
    Janetta cast a woeful glance my direction. “This
is my youngest we’re talking about here,” she said, emphasis on youngest. “I
guess you could say it’s my fault. His daddy took off when he was little and I
was worn out from raising all the others, so I probably let him get away with
too much.”
    “You did
a fine job, Mama.” Kristina gave a reassuring nod and my heart warmed toward
her right away. In many ways, she reminded me of my own girls.
    “My son
is—” Janetta’s gaze shifted downward, “He’s
pretty messed