A Lesson in Murder by Nick Bishop

Author:Nick Bishop [Bishop, Nick]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-07-06T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

“Wow,” Jed said as he and Ellie walked down the hall to the stairs. “What set him off! I realize he’s not a particularly reasonable man, but I thought his reaction was—”

“Extreme?”

Jed nodded.

“He does have strong opinions.”

“I don’t understand.”

“He has a brother who’s Amish.”

“That’s what he said, but how can that be?” Jed asked.

“The family, the principal’s family is Mennonite…one of the more liberal arms of the religion. Remember, I said that there are gradations from Old Order Amish down to Mennonites who believe pretty much as Lutherans or other common sects, like Methodists, do.”

“There’s a difference, though, between Lutheran and Methodist beliefs.”

“I agree. But what I meant is that some Mennonites are pretty mainstream.”

“But the principal isn’t? Is that what you mean?”

“Not the most liberal, I suppose. I don’t know much about his beliefs. But he obviously believes in educating young people, or he wouldn’t be working in a public school.”

They reached the exit, and Jed pushed open the door.

“The thing is,” Ellie said, “and a lot of this is based on gossip—our principal’s brother decided to live a much simpler life. It seems he was also a principal. At a school in Holmes County. There are many Amish there, as you probably know. Many more than in Tuscarawas County. While there, Mr. Miller’s brother started interacting with the Amish population. The more he discovered about their beliefs, their sense of community, and their belief in helping those who are less fortunate, he decided he wanted to become a member.”

“What a switch. And they obviously accepted him.”

“Yes. So at the end of the school year, he resigned his position, sold his car and other “worldly” goods. That is, ‘worldly’ in Amish terms—computers, television sets, other things we think of as conveniences, and moved into an Amish community.”

“That must have been a shock to Miller.”

“I suppose it was. But then the brother—I don’t know his first name—tried to talk our Mr. Miller into joining him.”

“But he wouldn’t.”

“Apparently, he gave it some thought.”

“With his personality, I really doubt he would have made a good Amishman!”

“The sneaky jerk part of it, you mean?”

“And his preoccupation with teachers doing a good job.”

“Well, he didn’t join, obviously. But he is very sympathetic and, I might add, adamant about respecting Amish customs and values.”

They started to walk toward the parking lot.

“Extremely protective, it seems to me,” Jed said. “Overly so.”

“So it would appear.”

“At first he was adamant about Jacob Yoder’s not being the murderer. But then he did say it was a possibility.”

“Again,” Ellie said, “I think this has to do with his overprotective attitude about the Amish.”

“I just had a thought. Do you believe it’s possible that the principal had something to do with the murder? Because he feels so strongly about Joe’s helping Mattie Yoder.”

“That hadn’t occurred to me,” Ellie said. “But as he himself stated, it’s a possibility.”

“And it did seem he really had it in for Joe.”

“Once more, however,” Ellie said, “it’s a matter of logistics. If Mr. Miller committed

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