Page 25 of The Burning

“He wanted the body to be found.” As I make the statement, I feel something else scratching at the back of my brain.

“To what end? Prove a point? Send a warning? What?”

I’m still thinking about the mentality behind the method of death. “There’s something symbolic about burning a person at the stake.”

“The European witch trials.” He shrugs. “If you look at history, particularly European history, people who were considered heretics were executed that way.”

“Dirk Willems was burned at the stake.” I say the name even before the thought fully materializes, swing my gaze to Tomasetti’s, feel my eyes go wide. “From Martyrs Mirror.”

Tomasetti arches a brow. “The book?”

“A lot of Amish families have it in their homes,” I tell him. “Most do, I would say. It’s a huge tome, something like eleven hundred pages, and tells the stories of the persecution of Christians who believed in the doctrine of nonresistance, or pacifism, and adult baptism. Those people were basically the religious predecessors of the Anabaptists.”

“You mean the Amish?”

“And the Mennonites and Hutterites. They are three distinct denominations that fall under the Anabaptist umbrella, so to speak.”

“That hits a little closer to home.” He tilts his head, looks at me a little closer. “I’m not quite up to speed on my Anabaptist history.”

I take a moment to fill him in. “The Anabaptist movement began in sixteenth-century Europe during the Reformation. They believed in things like nonresistance or pacifism, separation from the rest of the world, and adult baptism. They were considered heretics and persecuted for their beliefs. Hundreds were tortured and executed, including being hanged, drowned, or burned at the stake.” I pause. “Willems was a believer.”

“What happened to him?”

“He was captured and imprisoned for his beliefs. But he escaped. While being pursued on foot, he crossed a frozen pond. The man pursuing him fell through the ice and Willems went back and pulled him out. Willems was recaptured and burned at the stake.”

“Light reading for a ten-year-old,” he says dryly.

I nudge him with my elbow. “It’s a loose connection, but there it is.”

“If we were to start building a profile of Swanz’s killer,” he says slowly. “Let’s look at Willems first. He was Amish. He was executed by individuals who did not approve of his religion. If you follow that precept, Swanz’s killer would have to be non-Amish.”

“Most non-Amish people don’t know about Willems.”

“True,” he says. “In addition to that, the Amish are pacifists.”

“They’re also human,” I say, “which means they’re susceptible to all the same weaknesses as the rest of us.”

“Including homicidal rage.” His brows pull together. “What about an individual or group who has it out for the Amish?”

“Can’t see it,” I say. “I mean, the whole persecution thing is tough for us to even understand. The Anabaptists were horribly tormented in Europe; they were tortured and murdered. And so they came here for the freedom to worship without persecution. But that was centuries ago and, of course, the world is a different place now. We’re tolerant.”

“All of that said, there may be something there,” he says. “Not only could what happened to Swanz be some sort of reenactment, but there are a lot of Amish and Mennonites in the area.”

“It means something to murder an individual in that manner,” I say slowly, thinking as I speak. “It makes a statement about the killer. His motive. His mindset.”

“You mean aside from his being a crazy son of a bitch?”

I nod. “He’d have to know such an unusual and violent murder would generate a lot of interest. A lot of media coverage.”

“A psychopath looking for his fifteen minutes of fame?” Tomasetti frowns when his cell chirps.

He’s reaching for it when my own cell erupts. Holding Tomasetti’s gaze, I fish it out of my pocket, see HOLMES COUNTY SHERIFF on the display. “Hey, Mike.”

“Chief, where you at?”

The urgency in his voice gives me pause. “Just left the morgue.”

“Look, one of my deputies just found a second set of tire tracks. There’s a two-track off the township road north of where the body was found. It looks like the killer came in that way, not via Dogleg Road.”