The May Day Murders (37 page)

What a scary young man, she thought to
herself with a shiver.

She was very proud of Amy right now—she
had managed somehow to still have a great time at the dance in
spite of last night’s nightmarish incident. Plus, she had come home
on time—well, only a half hour late—and it appeared that she had
behaved herself as well. She had been intoxicated in a sense, but
not from alcohol or drugs. Instead, she appeared to be on a natural
emotional high from the apparent good time she’d had with Jason on
her very first real date. As it turned out, Jason ended up being a
very nice, responsible young man and Ann was certainly thankful for
that.

It was amazing, she thought, how
everything seemed to be turning around for the better ever since
she’d met Jerry Rankin. He was always there for her, it seemed,
when she really needed someone around. And he knew all the right
buttons to push to make her feel appreciated and whole again. Jerry
not only respected her but also seemed to know all the right things
that made her tick—her likes and dislikes, her innermost feelings
about certain things, even obscure little things. Like his
suggestion that they go bowling last night. Although Ann hadn’t
bowled in over twenty years, Jerry somehow seemed to know that she
would enjoy it. It was almost as though he’d known her for years,
and yet they’d only just met a few weeks ago!

But what really amazed Ann was the
uncanny parallel between the story line of the romantic novel she
had just finished reading and her relationship with Jerry. The
heroine in the novel had been so much like herself—forty-ish,
recently divorced with a teenage daughter to raise on her own. The
heroine had moved to a new town to start over again and had just
happened to run into a tall stranger and began dating him. The
heroine had been hesitant at first in pursuing a new relationship,
just as she had with Jerry, but things started happening quickly
and before long she’d discovered that she was falling in love with
him. In all that time, they had remained platonic until the heroine
finally realized that she had put it off long enough.

And where, of all the places, had they
finally ended up making love to each other? None other than the
stranger’s country retreat!

Talk about coincidences!

This didn’t mean that she had any
intentions whatsoever of going to bed with Jerry Rankin today—she
was still a very long way from even considering sex with him at
this stage of the game. But wasn’t it amazing how similar the book
had been to her own experiences? She had been so fascinated by the
outcome of the book that she was tempted to ask Jerry if he’d ever
read it before. But Ann wisely elected not to. She would only have
embarrassed him. After all, men don’t read romance
novels!

“
Look, Ann!” Jerry
exclaimed, suddenly slowing down the car.

Ann looked at where he was pointing off
to the side of the road. A deer and her two fawns were scuttling
off though the woods.

“
Wow, aren’t they
beautiful?” Ann breathed. They sat and watched as the deer bounded
out of sight.

“
That’s the second time I’ve
seen deer since we left. The other time was the one I saw lying
dead in the road a few miles back,” Jerry said.

“
That’s so sad.”

The car sped up again as Jerry floored
the accelerator. “It’s a shame that the poor beasts are so
ignorant. When they see a car coming at them, they panic and get
quite confused. But if they had just an ounce of intelligence,
they’d be able to quickly assess the situation and get the hell out
of the way before they got plastered.”

“
Jerry! What a horrible
thing to say!”

He looked over at her and pouted like a
child who had just been scolded. “I’m sorry Ann—I didn’t mean to
upset you. I was just being truthful—wild animals basically are
ignorant.”

“
Well, I disagree. I think
the problem is us—if we didn’t build these highways and cars that
go so fast, the animals wouldn’t be in such danger. They’re only
trying to survive and we’ve made it that much more difficult for
them.”

Jerry shrugged. “Okay—I have to agree
with you there. I’m actually sorry I ever said anything in the
first place!”

Ann didn’t want the afternoon to be
ruined over a petty argument. “I’m sorry too, Jerry. I shouldn’t
have lashed out at you like that. I realize now what you were
saying … I think.”

She forced a smile, turned and looked
out the window again. She realized now that it wasn’t so much what
Jerry had said but the way in which he said it that had irked her.
Almost godlike. Something about that troubled her for some
reason—it just didn’t seem like something Jerry Rankin would say…

She felt his hand touch her arm and she
turned to face him.

“
I truly am sorry, Ann. Will
you forgive me?”

His eyes were pleading with her. Ann
smiled and replied, “I forgive you Jerry. It’s no big
deal!”

“
Thanks. How about some
music?”

Ann nodded and began skimming through
the CD’s in the console. She saw a half-dozen titles—all ‘60s
classics. She selected
The Mamas and Papa’s Greatest Hits
and handed it to Jerry.

“
I really like them,” she
said.

“
Me, too,” Jerry said,
inserting the disk into the player.

As
California Dreaming
oozed out
of the speakers, Ann sat back and stared out the window, enjoying
the autumnal scenery of southeastern Ohio. She noted that the
terrain had become hillier and when they entered Hocking County,
the highway wound up and down the foothills. The leaves on the
trees were at their peak of color and it reminded her a lot of the
hills surrounding Smithtown. Hocking county was in fact
mid-distance between Columbus and Smithtown but further to the east
and she wondered if perhaps these hills were part of the same range
that made up the State forest in Smithtown.

Before long, Jerry pulled onto a
blacktop road that entered the forest region. The scenery along the
road was truly spectacular as they meandered through the foothills.
The woods were thick with oak, maple and elm trees, their leaves
strikingly rich in color as the slanting shafts of afternoon sun
radiated through the branches here and there, showcasing their
delicate beauty. Ann and Jerry spoke very little, both content to
sit back and enjoy the serene majesty of the wilderness. They had
been in the forest for nearly fifteen minutes when Jerry slowed
down as they approached an unmarked dirt road that forked off to
the left. He pulled onto the road and drove a little way until they
came up on a heavy gate blocking the road. Jerry threw the
gearshift into park and got out.

“
Is this your driveway?” Ann
asked.

He glanced over and smiled. “Guess you
could say that. I own this road as well as much of the land
beyond.”

But I thought that this was state
property.”

“
Not anymore. We just passed
the forest boundary line a quarter mile or so back.”

Ann watched as Jerry stepped over to
the gate, took a key from his pocked and unlocked the padlock. He
swung the gate open and returned to the car.

“
I’m impressed already!” Ann
exclaimed as Jerry threw the car into gear and drove a few yards
past the gate.

“
You ain’t seen nothin’
yet!” he grinned slyly before he got out again and locked the
gate.

“
How long have you owned
this?”

“
About six months. There are
advantages to being in real estate—I got this place for a
steal!”

They pulled away and drove along the
road for a couple of minutes until they approached a clearing. When
they emerged from the tree lined road, Ann gasped.

The first thing she saw was an enormous
field of recently mowed grass. The field was flanked by lush stands
of timber and near the center and to the right was a huge pond,
complete with lily pads and a working fountain. Beyond the pond
stood a good-sized A-frame house in the distance on top of a
knoll.

“
My Lord! This is wonderful,
Jerry!”

“
Thank you. I thought you’d
be impressed.”

Ann stared out the window in awe as
they drove toward the house, unable to believe the beauty and
remoteness of Jerry Rankin’s country estate. When he had first
mentioned it to her, he never let on that it was any way near as
enchanting and expansive as this and Ann suddenly had the feeling
he’d done this on purpose—just to ensure that she would be
absolutely floored once she actually saw it. His ploy had worked
like a charm.

Driving along the pond, Jerry said,
“It’s fully stocked with bass, catfish and blue gill. I don’t
suppose you like to fish, do you?”

Ann grinned. “I used to love fishing
when I was a little girl! I sort of grew out of it though, I
guess.”

“
Maybe you’d like to try it
again and see if you still enjoy it,” he suggested, eying her
expectantly.

Ann flashed back to the times when she
used to go fishing with her father as a child and a warm wave of
nostalgia swept over her.

“
I just may want to do
that,” she replied with a smile.

In another minute they rounded a curve
in the road and pulled up beside the house.

“
Here we are,” he
proclaimed.

Ann stepped out and stood for a moment,
surveying the surroundings. The A-frame house looked even larger
than she’d imagined it to be.

“
I never dreamt it would be
so gorgeous. You’ve created you own little island here!”

“
I’m glad you like it. Well,
let’s go inside and I’ll show you around.”

Ann followed him onto the deck and
through the front door. The first thing that caught her eye was the
sunken living room that nearly took up the entire east side of the
first floor. Straight ahead from her was a large kitchen and to the
right the dining area as well as sliding glass doors opening to a
solarium, complete with a Jacuzzi. To her immediate right was raw
space with the exception of a couple of oil paintings hanging on
the wall and a spiral staircase leading upstairs. There wasn’t a
single wall separating any of the interior rooms and that feature
lent a light and airy atmosphere to the space.

‘
Well, what do you think so
far?” Jerry asked.

“
Awesome,” was all Ann could
say.

“
C’mon,” he said, taking her
by the hand and leading the way into the solarium. After showing
her the hot tub, he led her to the staircase. Ann stopped and
paused to look at the paintings, surprised to see that they were
signed by Jerry Rankin.

“
You didn’t tell me that you
were an artist!” she exclaimed as she studied one of the
paintings.

“
I’ve dabbled a bit,” he
replied modestly.

“
Dabbled? These are really
good, Jerry!”

“
Thank you. I’m still trying
to develop my own style—believe me it isn’t easy. My instructors
all thought hat I was a little too fond of Picasso.”

“
Who cares? How long have
you been painting?”

“
I took it up while I was in
Europe. I used to sketch all the time when I was a kid and my
parents were anything but encouraging—so I decided to take it more
seriously and studied for a few years in Paris.”

He started moving toward the staircase
and Ann followed behind.

“
Let me show you the
upstairs.”

Jerry waited until Ann reached the
landing and said. “This used to be just like the first floor—void
of any walls dividing up the rooms. But I decided to break it up
into separate rooms to make it a bit more functional.”

Ann nodded and followed him down the
hall to the first door on the left, which was the master bedroom.
It was good sized, tastefully furnished and offered a nice panorama
of the hills through the enormous plate glass window. Off to the
side was a full bath that was shared with the adjacent room. Jerry
led her through the bathroom into the next room, which was smaller
and totally empty.

“
One of the two spare
bedrooms” he explained as they walked back out into the
hallway.

They crossed the hall to another room.
Jerry opened the door and Ann let out a gasp. Inside was a
miniature equivalent to a fully equipped gym with every kind of
exercise machine and weight lifting apparatus
imaginable.

“
I like to keep fit,” Jerry
smiled.

“
I’ll say,” Ann
replied.

Jerry closed the door and led Ann to
the last room. “This is my study, you might say,”

The room was every bit as large as the
master bedroom and looked like it could be the control room for
NASA, with numerous computers and peripherals arranged in clusters
on the long counters running along the length of the walls. At the
far end, against the window, sat another counter with what appeared
to be a ham radio along with a vast array of sophisticated looking
diagnostic equipment.

“
Good God, Jerry! What is
all of this?” Ann asked.

“
Toys,” Jerry replied
simply. “Just a bunch of toys that I like to tinker around
with.”