Scott Wittenburg - The May Day Murders

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?”