Jodi Picoult - Plain Truth

Title: Plain TruthAuthor: Jodi Picoult

Plain Truth

Jodi Picoult

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Once again, I find myself indebted to so many people: Dr. Joel Umlas, Dr. James Umlas, and Dr. David Toub for their medical expertise; Dr. Tia Horner and Dr. Stuart Anfang for their explanations of forensic psychiatry and clinical interviews; Dr. Catherine Lewis and Dr. Neil Kaye, for helping me understand neonaticide; my father-in-law, Karl van Leer, who never once blinked when I called and asked about inseminating cows; Kyle van Leer, who saw a cookie moon and let me borrow it; Teresa Farina for the fast transcriptions; Dr. Elizabeth Martin, for finding listeria and leading me through autopsies; Steve Marshall, who took me ghost hunting; Brian Laird, for the troll story; Allegra Lubrano, for finding obscure legal statutes whenever I called frantically to ask a quick question; Kiki Keating, attorney extraordinaire, for making the time to come with me to Lancaster and spending all those nights hunched over the tape recorder, brainstorming testimony; and Tim van Leer, for everything. Thanks also to Jane Picoult, who wanted her own sentence this time, for her insight and guiding comments. Thanks to Laura Gross for the same, and for possibly being the only person in the publishing business who wants me to write faster. To Emily Bestler and Kip Hakala-heres to the start of a beautiful relationship. And to Camille McDuffie-the third times a charm. I am indebted to the works of John Hostetler and Donald Kraybill, and to the people I met in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, without whom this book could not have been written: Maribel Kraybill, Lt. Renee Schuler, and especially Louise Stoltzfus, a wonderful writer herself, whose contributions here were invaluable. Finally, many thanks to the Amish men, women, and children I met, who graciously opened their homes and their hearts and let me into their world for a little while.

I.

I must be a Christian child

Gentle, patient, meek and mild;

Must be honest, simple, true

In my words and actions too

Must remember, God can view

All I think, and all I do.

-Amish school verse

S ometimes, when Jacob Fisher was sitting in the tiny closet-sized office he shared with another graduate student in the English department, he pinched himself. It was not so long ago, really, since he had hidden Shakespearean plays under bags of feed in the barn; since he had stayed up all night reading by the beam of a flashlight, only to stumble through his chores the next morning, drunk with what hed learned. And now here he was, surrounded by books, paid to analyze and teach to young men and women with the same stars in their eyes that Jacob had had.

He settled in with a smile, happy to be back at work after two weeks out of town, assisting a professor emeritus on a summer lecture circuit. At a knock on his door, he glanced up from the anthology he was highlighting. Come in.

The unfamiliar face of a woman peeked around the edge of the door. Im looking for Jacob Fisher.

You found him.

Too old to be one of his students; plus, students didnt tend to dress in business suits. The woman brandished a small wallet, flashing ID. Im Detective-Sergeant Lizzie Munro. East Paradise Township police.

Jacob gripped the arms of his chair, thinking of all the buggy accidents hed seen growing up in Lancaster County, all the farm machinery that had accidentally caused death. My family, he managed, his mouth gone dry as the desert. Did something happen?

The detective eyed him. Your family is healthy, she said after a moment. Mind if I ask you a few questions?

Jacob nodded and gestured to the other grad students desk chair. He hadnt had news of his family in nearly three months, what with summer being so busy and Katie unable to come. Hed been meaning to call his Aunt Leda, just to keep in touch, but then he got wrapped up in his work and dragged off on the lecture tour. I understand you grew up Amish, in East Paradise? the detective asked.

Jacob felt the first prick of unease on his spine. Being English for so long had made him wary. Do you mind if I ask what this is in reference to?

A felony was allegedly committed in your former hometown.

Jacob closed the anthology hed been reading. Look, you guys came to talk to me after the cocaine incident too. I may not be Amish anymore, but that doesnt mean Im supplying drugs to my old friends.

Actually, this has nothing to do with the narcotics cases. Your sister has been charged with murder in the first degree.

What? Gathering his composure, he added, Clearly, theres been a mistake.

Munro shrugged. Dont shoot the messenger. Were you aware of your sisters pregnancy?

Jacob could not keep the shock from his face. She had a baby?

Apparently. And then she allegedly killed it.

He shook his head. Thats the craziest thing Ive ever heard.

Yeah? You ought to try my line of work. How long since you last saw your sister?

Calculating quickly, he said, Three, four months.

Before that did she visit you on a regular basis?

I wouldnt say regular, Jacob hedged.

I see. Mr. Fisher, did she develop any friendships or romantic interests when she was visiting you?

She didnt meet people here, Jacob said.

Come on. The detective grinned. You didnt introduce her to your girlfriend? To the guy whose chair Im sitting on?

She was very shy, and she spent all her time with me.

You were never apart from her? Never let her go to the library, or shopping, or to the video store by herself?

Jacobs mind raced. He was thinking of all the times, last fall, that hed left Katie in the house while he went off to class. Left her in the house that he was subletting from a guy who delayed his research expedition not once, but three times. He looked impassively at the detective. You have to understand, my sister and I are two different animals. Shes Amish, through and through-she lives, sleeps, and breathes it. Visiting here for her-it was a trial. Even when she did come in contact with outsiders here, they had about as much effect on her as oil on water.

The detective flipped to a blank page in her notebook. Why arent you Amish anymore?

This, at least, was safe ground. I wanted to continue my studies. That goes against the Plain way. I was working as a carpentry apprentice when I met a high school English teacher who sent me off with a stack of books that might as well have been gold, for all I thought they were worth. And when I made the decision to go to college, I knew that I would be excommunicated from the church.

I understand this caused some strain in the relationship between you and your parents.

You could say that, Jacob conceded.

I was told that to your father, youre as good as dead.

Tightly, he answered, We dont see eye to eye.

If your father banished you from the household for wanting a diploma, what do you think he would have done if your sister had a baby out of wedlock?

He had been part of this world long enough to understand the legal system. Leaning forward, he asked softly, Which one of my family members are you accusing?

Katie, Munro said flatly. If shes as Amish as you say she is, then its possible she was willing to do anything-including commit murder-to stay Amish and to keep your father from finding out about that baby. Which includes hiding the pregnancy, and then getting rid of the baby when it was born.

If shes as Amish as I say she is, then that would never happen. Jacob stood abruptly and opened the door. If youll excuse me, Detective, I have work to do.

He closed the door and stood behind it, listening to the detectives retreating footsteps. Then he sat down at his desk and picked up the telephone. Aunt Leda, he said a moment later. What in the world is going on?