The Letters by Suzanne Woods Fisher

company in a Plain way.”
    “With the added benefit of no paper trail,” Allen Turner pointed out, unkindly and with suspicion. He left, shaking his head, those black ledgers tucked under his arm.
    It made her sick to think Allen Turner would doubt Dean’s integrity. To her knowledge, Dean had never once broken the law. He was a straight-as-an-arrow type. She couldn’t even remember that he had ever gotten a parking ticket. But something had happened and no one seemed to understand what. Rose couldn’t sleep nights, knowing how many folks had lost so much money. It wasn’t like Dean had just spilled punch at a Sunday picnic. For a moment, she closed her eyes as she thought of all the people, scattered across the country, who had invested in Dean’s company, Schrock Investments, trusting him with their savings.
    That was the day that Tobe ran away. He left a note on his pillow that said,
Dad and Rose, Don’t worry about me. Don’t try to find me. I’ll be fine.
    Tobe had worked for Dean’s company since he turned sixteen. Dean didn’t know where Tobe had run off to, or why.
    Throughout their marriage, Rose and Dean had had their share of quarrels and misunderstandings like any marriedcouple, but they argued that night in a way they had never argued before. Finally, Dean grew silent, sullen. Then he said to her, “I’m going to fix it. I’m going to fix everything.” He went to the door, snagged his hat off the bench, and jammed it onto his head. At the threshold, he turned back and gave her a long look, then shoved the door open and headed down the driveway. She watched him disappear into the darkness. The next morning, his body was found, drowned, in a pond. Even now, months later, she shuddered as she thought of that day. The worst day of her life.
    She dropped the towel and rubbed her face with her hands. This entire situation was so complicated and—almost eight months later—only seemed to get more complicated. When would it end? Would Tobe ever show up again? A part of her didn’t want him to. What might happen to him if he showed up? She couldn’t bear thinking of him, indicted, faced with jail time. If . . . if he was guilty.
    It seemed Allen Turner thought he was. This morning Allen Turner had told her that Jake Hertzler had been called in for questioning and reluctantly admitted that he suspected Tobe might have been involved in keeping a second set of books. Jake said if that were true, then it was possible Dean had handed over cooked books to the SEC—ones that had been altered to appear as if they complied with accounting regulations.
    “Tell me everything you know about Jake Hertzler,” was how Allen Turner had started the telephone conversation this morning.
    “He’s a nice young man. Very polite, very likable. He was new to our church and looking for work. When Dean learned he had some experience with accounting, he hired him on an hourly basis to help with some paperwork.”

    “What kind of paperwork?”
    “Preparing statements to the investors. He never handled money, other than to make bank deposits. Never withdrawals. I know that for a fact.”
    “But your husband trusted him?”
    “Of course. Of course he did. There was never a reason not to.”
    “Mrs. Schrock, was it possible that your husband had stopped paying attention to details?”
    Maybe. Probably. “I find it hard to believe that Jake would accuse Tobe of keeping a set of altered books. Jake was a good employee. He worked hard to help Dean and Tobe. Everything changed when he came on board.” At least for a while.
    “How did everything change?”
    “Dean was able to spend more time finding investors. He was very grateful for Jake’s help. And don’t forget that the problems had started long before Jake had been hired. Dean had been struggling to pay dividends for over a year.”
    “I see.” He paused and Rose knew that he didn’t see at all. “But you didn’t answer my question. Could your husband have