Search the Dark by Marta Perry

The offspring between an Amish father and an English mother. Her fathers name was John King and her mother's name is Margo King.

It is highly frowned upon for the people of the 'Amish Faith' to mix with the people of the 'English Faith'. Most times one or both of the spouses leave the Amish world for the English world and they are either disowned by their Amish families, or their families will eventually forgive them.

The impression I had gotten from the little I have read so far about her parents is that despite the differences in their upbringings that Meredith had been subjected to both heritages as she was growing up.

Margo King lied after finding out that Zach had been in her house alone with Meredith while she was gone. So she threatened Zach saying that if he didn't leave town then she would tell everyone that he had stolen money out of her dresser drawer and that she would prosecute.

Zach asked Meredith to run away with him when they were 17. Meredith wanted to, but she was more afraid of what 'Deer Run' and her mother would think of her. So Zach left 'Deer Run' for 13 years only to come back to sell off his childhood home or so he thought...

Meredith, Rachel, and Lainey followed Aaron and Laura the summer that Aaron supposedly fell in the Dam and drowned.

Aaron was an Amish teenager, while Laura was an English beauty who formed a romantic love. When Aaron died the Sheriff ruled it an accident. His Amish family decided that it was GODS WILL. So there was no further investigation.

After 13 years Meredith and Rachel went back over everything from that summer believing that Aaron had committed suicide instead of an accidental drowning.

Upon Meredith's speculations about Aaron's death, a lot of people started to rethink what actually happened to Aaron.

It hinted in the book that Margo King had her kitchen window open the night that Aaron died, saying that she might have heard something that night.

Laura's husband Victor seemed suspicious when he caught Meredith near Laura. Laura was trying to remind Meredith of something from that summer (mistaking Meredith for someone else). Laura quit talking when she saw Victor walking towards them. I wonder if Victor had gotten rid of Aaron in order to be with Laura, and maybe Laura had found out which is why she has nervous breakdowns?

Laura had a secret that she needed to tell Aaron but never got the chance to, Jeanette knew what the secret was though.

Sarah was desperate for Meredith to find out the truth about what had happened to Aaron. It seems that she had something special with Aaron seeing as how he was an Amish boy. Maybe Aaron courted Sarah and Laura. Maybe Sarah found out about Laura and found a way to get rid of Aaron so that Laura couldn't have him. Or maybe Laura killed him once she had found out about Sarah?

During the 13 years that Zach was away from 'Deer Run' he became a Philadelphia cop, while Meredith took over caring for her mother after her father had passed. So Zach went from being 'Deer Run's' bad boy to a respected cop.

Rachel found a hidden note that someone had left for Aaron saying that Laura was going to break up with him. The note was found down at the dam in a hidden groove.

After Meredith visited Laura at her home and had found her in her flower garden, Jeanette warned Meredith to stay away from Laura, but then she implied that Meredith's 'Saint' father had something to do with Laura and Aaron. Jeanette also implied that Meredith's father had his sights on Laura.

Meredith's cousin Samuel wanted to make sure that Meredith quit looking into what happened to Aaron's death, he said it would be better if Sarah didn't know the truth about what happened.

Meredith and Zach had planned to meet down at the dam to talk. Samuel confronted Meredith because she was still asking questions about Aaron and Laura. After the confrontation with Samuel, Zach touched her cheek in a measure of comfort, only to have Meredith to flee back to her house after he called her by his old nickname for her "Merry".

They had shared their first kiss in the old run down house that Zach grew up in. He didn't mean to kiss her, but the memories were close to the surface. He had only brought her there under the pretense of what she thought that he might need to fix up in order so he could leave again.

After many times of looking through Meredith's scrapbook from the summer that Aaron died, she decided she wanted to find out the truth in order to raise her social status. She had sent anonymous notes to the killer without realizing that would be her last act in the world. She went down to the dam the night of her murder in order to confront the killer, not thinking that she was in danger. The killer had hit her on the side of the head and she had fallen into the dam. The blow to her head hadn't killed her, so the killer had held her under the water until she drowned.

Zach and the Amish boy Benjamin found Margo's lifeless body face down in the water.

Dr. Campbell seemed suspicious in that he wanted to sign Margo's death certificate as an accidental drowning versus the murder it actually was. He implied Margo was dead because Meredith had went out to dinner with Zach that evening.

Margo had been wearing Meredith's jacket when she went down to the dam that night. The killer could have mistaked her for Meredith.

She finally confessed to Meredith that she overhead two Amish males arguing the night Aaron died at the dam. She knew they were Amish because they were speaking Pennsylvanian Dutch. Which in turn made Meredith even more suspicious of her cousin Samuel.

Meredith and Zach had confronted Samuel about what he and Aaron had been arguing about at the dam. Aaron had confessed to Samuel that Laura was pregnant with his child and that they had planned to run away together. It also came to light that Meredith's father didn't have an obsession with Laura, that he was only trying to talk them out of running away together.

He ruled Aaron's death an accident on the pretense that it was the easiest thing for everyone, even though he had suspected suicide. He believed that Aaron had killed himself due to Laura breaking up with him. He never actually did an investigation to find out what had really happened.

When the killer had attacked Meredith in the house, he had tried to hit her on the head with the same hammer that he had killed Margo with, but luckily for Meredith she moved out of the way fast enough, only to be pushed down the stairs and the only thing that saved her was she had her phone still in her hands, which she used to call the police and the killer had dropped the hammer before he had left.

Meredith called Zach after she had called for the police. When he brought her back upstairs she made the mistake of picking up the hammer, which then put her fingerprints on it. So she and Zach decided to hide it, only for the killer to drop it off and call it in anonymously. Zach ended up arrested.

The hammer had the initials S.K. on it which made them think that is was her cousin Samuel that was trying to get rid of her.

In the end Meredith and Zach confessed their love for each other.

*The End*