Scott Wittenburg - The May Day Murders

“That bitch fucked me up at that basketball game, Ann. She and Sara Hunt were sitting together and called me over to them. I asked them what they wanted and your dear friend Marsha told me that you wanted me to ask you to the prom. I didn’t believe her at first, of course, but Marsha was such a great actress! She kept a straight face and insisted that she was telling the truth. Sara Hunt then gave an Oscar winning performance as best supporting actress. She looked at me right in the eye and said, ‘Ann knows that you have the hots for her, Stanley, and she thinks you’re really cute. She’s been waiting for months for you to ask her out, but she’s afraid you won’t have the nerve to do it.’

“I flipped out when she told me this. All of a sudden I started thinking that maybe you knew I’d been spying on you all this time and that you were letting me watch you through the window because you enjoyed entertaining me! Like, you were being coy with me. I got all excited, thinking that this was turning out even better than I’d dreamed it would and I thanked Marsha and Sara for the tip. I went down near the sideline and watched you a little longer, trying to get my nerve up. Then, just to be on the safe side, I quickly looked up at where Marsha and Sara were sitting, half expecting to see them doubled up in laughter over their little joke. But they weren’t laughing at all. In fact, they were watching the game and seemed oblivious to anything else.

“That convinced me that they were on the up-an-up. So, I mustered up all of my courage and walked over to you. Then I asked you out.

“The rest, as they say, is history.”

Stanley stood up walked over to the balcony door and examined the wound on his face in the reflection. Ann was frozen where she lay, overwhelmed by what he had just told her. She considered making a run for it but knew that it would be futile. She wanted to lash out at him, tell him that what Marsha had done over twenty years ago didn’t justify his murdering her. But she remained silent. Stanley Jenkins was clearly off his rocker, schizoid. There was no sense in trying to rationalize anything with him. He was also a cold-blooded killer, and she realized that it was just a matter of moments before he murdered her as well.

She was not in any hurry to die, though.

Stanley turned around and strode over to her, dabbing at his wound with a towel. He had tears in his eyes. He stood over her and forced a weak smile.

“You might as well have killed me that day, Ann. I was shattered by your refusal and really angry that I’d fallen for your friends’ little scheme. Now, maybe you can understand why I got great satisfaction killing them. They fucked me up royally and deserved to die.”

His tone of voice sharpened, his self-confidence returned. “I went into seclusion after that incident at the basketball game. I still wanted you in spite of what happened but I knew there was little I could do about it at the time. After graduation, my parents all but forced me to go away to college so I started taking courses that summer. In a way, I didn’t care-I just wanted to get away from Smithtown. I did drugs, a lot of drugs, and I didn’t give a flying fuck about my grades or my parents. I had hit the skids and just wanted to try to have fun for a change.

“Then I laid eyes on Cindy Fuller for the first time at a party one night. She reminded me so much of you! I started following her around and spying on her, all the time pretending that she was you. Then I made the same mistake yet again-I asked her out and she refused me. I got really angry and wanted to kill her. Sam has already told you all about the fire and all of that, so I won’t bore you with it.”

Ann flinched at the mention of Sam. If only she’d listened to him “While I was in the nut-house,” he continued, “I made a vow to myself. When I got out, I was going to change myself, make myself a better person. Not long after I finally got released, I received a rather tidy life insurance settlement, thanks to my recently departed father. I went to Vegas and studied the tables then figured out how to beat the system. I got fucking rich, all in the matter of a few months. I took all of my winnings to L.A. and began devising my master plan.”

Stanley paused a moment and stared thoughtfully at Ann. “You can get up, Ann. You’re uncomfortable. Don’t worry, I’m not going to harm you.”

Ann knew this was a lie but stood up nonetheless. He winked at her then strode over to a stool near the window and gestured toward it.

“Why don’t you sit here?” he said. It was more of a command than a suggestion.

She nodded and went over to the stool, sat down. The wood was cold and hard against her damp swimsuit as she tried futilely to quit shivering. It was becoming increasingly apparent that Stanley had a dual personality-a sort of Jeckyl and Hyde persona. And at the moment, he was assuming a sort of unsettling combination of both characters.

Jenkins sauntered over to the painting of the nude women and studied it for a moment, then turned around and faced Ann.

“I kept totally to myself while living in L.A. In fact, I was virtually incognito. I rented a beach side villa under a fictitious name and spent the next year there making dozens of overseas calls to Europe and fooling around with personal computers, which were just beginning to appear in the consumer market. I was absolutely fascinated by computers, so I started writing my own programs and finding ways of patching into, at that time, the relatively infantile internet as well as various data bases.

“My plan was simple, but time-consuming to execute. I had three objectives: One was to locate a plastic surgeon out of the country who was not only really good, but who could also be bribed. Secrecy is the key, Ann. As they say, ‘loose lips sink ships.’ It was my intention to have reconstructive surgery performed on my entire face. In other words, turn my ugly face into a handsome one. It was not my intention, though, for anyone to find out about it. Thus, who ever performed this transition was going to have to keep silent as well.

“My second objective was to assume an entirely new identify. Ironically, that was probably the easiest of all to execute-just a matter of checking out court records and locating the right name of the right person, then obtaining a birth certificate.

“My third objective, having gotten my new face and name, was to actually make myself become this new person. This was not easy, to say the least, but I was quite determined. I stayed in Europe after the surgery because I realized that the most effective way to dramatically change my speech, mannerisms and personality was to get saturated in a totally different environment other than the one I’d been accustomed to. Europe is so wonderful, Ann-so different from the States. The people there have a lot of class and impeccable manners for the most part, unlike we Americans. I assumed a sort of aristocratic demeanor, a rich American who knew how to live the good life. I traveled extensively around the continent, carefully observing the people and absorbing their more appealing qualities and making them my own. I got pretty good at it, as you already know.

“By now, you’re probably asking yourself why I did all of this. What was the purpose? The answer is simple. Besides the fact that I hated being Stanley Jenkins and wanted to eliminate him, I also wanted something else. Or more precisely, someone else. I still wanted you, Ann. I figured that if I change myself that you would accept me and that I could finally realize my dreams.”

Jenkins stared at Ann expectantly, studied her reaction. Ann squirmed on the stool and looked away.

“I had heard that you’d married Sam not long after graduation and I almost hated you for that. But I didn’t. I decided that I’d follow through with my plan and let fate take its course. I am a fatalist, you see. I came back to the States in January and did some surveillance, discovered that you were still with Sam Middleton and had a daughter. So I decided to buy this place and ride out the tide. Then fate entered the picture this spring. You and Sam got divorced. I sat around and waited to see what you were going to do, and to my surprise and delight you moved to Columbus. My course was suddenly set: I would eliminate everyone who had ever stood in my way of getting to you. Then, I’d make my ultimate move.”