Safe Hearts (Amish Safe House, Book 3) by Ruth Hartzler Page A

was
literally about to call you when my phone started ringing. I was
having dinner with Beth and Bill earlier, and an Amish couple came
by and joined us. They didn’t come just to eat, however; they came
to tell us that a suspicious man has been going around the Amish
communities asking a lot of questions.”
    Harper’s voice seemed to change
slightly in pitch. “What kind of questions?”
    “ He’s been asking each of
the homeowners how many people they have living on their property,
the number of buggies they own, and the ages of each
resident.”
    “ That has to be our guy,”
he said in a serious tone.
    “ Apparently he’s been using
an alias and a fake ID. Beckie, the woman who brought this news to
our attention, was able to recognize it right away.”
    “ What?” Kate sensed the
confusion in Harper’s voice as he spoke. “How would an Amish woman
be able to identify a fake identification card?”
    “ They are a lot more
observant than you might give them credit for,” Kate said with a
chuckle. “Beckie’s nephew had recently completed his rumspringa , and while he
was on it, he became friends a man that has a Transportation Worker
ID card. The nephew ended up talking to the man well before she
did, and he noticed the difference in the card right away. He then
tipped off his aunt to the fact that the color shifting inks
weren’t noticeable in the ID that was being shown around the
area.”
    David Harper laughed. “I guess you
really do learn something new every day. I suppose it’s a good
thing the bishop didn’t send you to that woman’s property, though.
She might be an amateur sleuth in the making.”
    Kate laughed at the thought of Beckie
walking around the fields, looking for clues, like a detective. “I
wouldn’t go that far, but she’s definitely one of a kind.” She
looked out one of the windows of her living room and saw nothing
but darkness interspersed with glowing stars. As she stared out
into the abyss, her thoughts drifted back to her colleague. “If
Glen is the one behind this, do you think he might be the man
that’s been asking those questions?”
    Her boss didn’t respond right away,
but after a few seconds, he broke his silence. “Like I said
earlier, it makes sense that he’d want to skate by under the radar,
so he might be doing this all on his own. But what would Glen gain
from finding you and hurting you now?”
    Kate closed her eyes and thought back
to the case with the lawyers. They had testified against a big time
crime boss, putting him away for a long time. “He must still be
looking for the lawyers. Do you remember Victor Daxton?”
    “ Of course. He’s the one
they put away; the entire reason we had to put them into WITSEC in
the first place.” Harper’s voice faded, filling Kate’s ear with the
sound of the trees once again. After what felt like minutes, he
spoke again. ”I can’t believe I never even noticed it
before.”
    “ Noticed what?” Kate asked,
confusion engulfing her thoughts.
    “ Now that I’m actually
going through it in my mind, it disgusts me that I hadn’t realized
before that Glen must have been on Daxton’s payroll since the
beginning. I have no doubt he might be looking for the lawyers
still, but I don’t think that’s his primary objective right
now.”
    Kate felt the apprehension and fear
welling up as she thought about what her boss was telling her.
“Then what do you think he’s doing here?”
    Harper hesitated slightly before
speaking in a quieted tone. “I think Daxton might have sent him to
take you out. He might blame you more than he blames the lawyers
now.”
    Kate’s mind felt like it was about to
implode. “Why would I be the main target? And why would Glen be the
one hired to make the hit?”
    “ Who would be better to
find you and kill you than one of your colleagues? I bet this whole
time he’s been snooping through whatever files he’s been able to
acquire, if any. Maybe that’s why he had to hire a