Most of the Amish have forgiven me the transgressions of my youth. My roots had been calling to me for quite some time, and after weeks of soul-searching, I accepted the position and never looked back. They’d been looking for a candidate who could bridge a cultural gap that directly affected the local economy. The police chief had recently retired and the town council and mayor-citing my law enforcement experience and my knowledge of the Amish culture-asked me to fill the position. When my mamm passed away a couple years later, I returned to Painters Mill, my past, and my estranged Amish family.

Over the next six years, I worked my way up to homicide detective and became the youngest female to make the cut. A year later, I graduated from the police academy and became a patrol officer. I spent my evenings at the local community college, eventually earning an associate’s degree in criminal justice. After a disastrous first year on my own in nearby Columbus, I earned my GED and landed an unlikely part-time job: answering phones at a police substation. I left the fold when I was eighteen, not an easy feat when all I’d ever known was the plain life. My name is Kate Burkholder and I’m the chief of police of Painters Mill, Ohio, a township of just over 5,300 souls, half of whom are Amish, including my own family. By morning, my small police department and I will undoubtedly be dealing with a slew of accidents, hopefully none too serious. It’s the first snow of what has been a mild season so far, but with a low-pressure system barreling down from Canada, the situation is about to change. In the field to my left, the falling snow has transformed the cut cornstalks to an army of miniature skeletal snowmen. I’m behind the wheel of my city-issue Explorer, listening to the nearly nonexistent activity on my police radio, uncharacteristically anxious for my shift to end.

and already the woods on the north side of Hogpath Road are alive with shadows. Dusk arrives early and without fanfare in northeastern Ohio in late January.

Among the wicked by linda castillo