Brian Lane - Mind Games with a Serial Killer

She lost her train of thought when he brought her attention to something else,

“…‘Dan’s Feed and Seed’ will have any kind of seed you’re hunting for. I worked there before I joined the service. I’ve checked with the county tax assessor and found out the land is not owned in that area. All around it is owned by the state forestry department. But the meadow is sitting in the middle of a half-acre of land that has never been claimed. So you won’t be trespassing on anyone’s property. And by now, that little matter will be taken care of.”

To Jeannie, it seemed as if they had only left the meadow a few minutes before. But already they were turning onto the road that Jeannie’s parents lived on. She knew how to get back to the meadow, but she didn’t know how they had traveled that distance as fast as they did.

At the gate he stopped and held her hand a little tighter. She turned in the direction he was looking. The sun was just dipping behind the mountains in the distance.

“That’s where I have to go, over the mountains and across the sea. But I’ll be coming back soon. Maybe too soon.” He turned back to her. “Jeannie, once again, I’m asking you to marry me. We can still catch the Justice at his chambers, before he goes home.”

Jeannie was near tears when she answered him. “Lee you’ve made it very hard for me. But I still have to say no. You’re very sweet and I almost wish things were different. But I’m still going to marry Ricky. I’m sorry, Lee.” There was definite pain in her heart now.

He smiled weakly and then kissed her. She didn’t resist him. “Goodbye Jeannie. Please remember your promise. I leave ‘Tran-quility Garden’ to you. Remember me and my love for you. Don’t forget me.”

With that, he turned on his heel and swiftly walked up the street, towards a group of trees. At the edge of the trees he stopped and turned back to Jeannie. She was still standing at the gate and he raised his hand. She heard his words softly in her ears, “I love you, Jeannie.”

She glanced up, beyond him and the trees and saw the mountains, remembering his words “… over the mountains and across the sea.” Then she remembered a letter from him, not too long ago. A letter she never answered.

When she looked back down, he was gone, disappeared through the trees. She looked harder, through the trees, but still couldn’t see him. It was swiftly getting darker. She glanced at her watch for the first time since they had left. She was astonished when she saw it was only 5:30. She raised her arm to listen. The watch was still ticking. The walk couldn’t have taken only an hour and a half! Yet, when she walked into the house, she saw the time was only 5:30.

She went to the kitchen and started preparing dinner. Several times she had started to tell her parents about Lee’s visit that day, but she couldn’t keep the thought long enough to say anything.

For the next two days she found her thoughts returning to Lee and his visit. When she went to the seed store, she found there was already an order for seeds waiting for her, in her name. On the second day after Lee’s visit, she went back to ‘Tranquility Garden’ and started planting seeds.

She felt oddly at peace when there. And she came to find out, that while she was there, the time seemed to stand still. She felt she had been there hours but when leaving she would glance at her watch and see only a short time had passed. Three times that day she had gathered her things together and started leaving. She never had the desire to look at her watch while in the meadow itself.

On that second day, after visiting ‘Tranquility Garden’, Jeannie had received a letter from the county tax assessor’s office. Inside she found the deed to a section of land. Roughly locating it on a map, she found that it was in the vicinity of ‘Tranquility Garden’. The deed was in her name and was free of all costs for the next ten years. It was paid for and made out in her name. Lee paid for it and had the paperwork completed Thursday, August 20th. That was Lee’s birthday. Then she started as she realized that was the day he came for the visit. Today was the 22nd, Saturday. She felt that cold chill come over her again. The same way she felt when she was talking to Lee. What was going on? she thought.

Thursday, Lee had visited her; also that was the day the seed order was placed and that’s when the tax assessor was paid. Well, he could have done all of that before he came to visit her. But why did he do it? He didn’t know what my answer was going to be. And why didn’t he cancel them when his proposal was refused? She couldn’t understand his reasoning.

Before she could think any more on the matter, she heard the phone start ringing. Then her mother was calling to her, “Jeannie, will you answer that? My hands are greasy.”

“All right, mother,” she answered and moved to the phone. “Hello?”

“Hello, Jeannie? This is Rob. Mom would like you to come over here, just as soon as you can. It’s very important.”

She noticed a slight trembling in his voice.

“What’s the matter, Rob?”

“I’m not sure. But it’s something to do with you.”

“All right, I’m on my way.” She hung up and told her mother she was going over to Rob’s house and would be back soon.

Walking the three blocks to Rob’s house she wondered what was wrong. How could she have something to do with anything there? Rob was Lee’s younger brother. Could Lee have written something to their mother? About ‘Tranquility Garden’? Yes! That must be it. She should have gone over there sooner to tell his mother where it was and what he had said about it.

Jeannie found her steps quickening as she thought of Lee.

Finally reaching the house, she knocked on the door and was startled when it was immediately opened. Lynn was standing there, tears streaking her face. “Momma’s in the kitchen, Jeannie.”

Jeannie was really getting worried now. Lynn was Lee’s only sis-ter and they were closer than most sisters and brothers.

When she walked into the kitchen, Lee’s mother rose from a chair, crying and handing two letters to her, left the room.

Jeannie sat down at the table and started reading the letters. The first was from Lee, dated Wednesday, the day before his visit. The letter was to his mother.

Wed. 19 Aug. 1970

Dear Mom,

How are you and the family? I’m ok. This has to be short because I’m assigned to go out on a patrol in a little while. The fighting has been pretty thick lately. The Viet Cong have been hitting real hard and we’ve been notified to be ready to move out at a moment’s notice.

It got pretty bad this morning. The Cong hit us at daybreak and hit us hard. You remember Johnny Jackson? I wrote you about him before. Well, he got in the way of one bullet, nothing serious. He laughed about it, after he finished cussing. It went through his right forearm and caused him to be airlifted out this afternoon. Anyway we lost about 15 men. We got some reinforcements when they took out Johnny.

Mom, this part concerns Jeannie. I know, she’s getting married to Rick. But I want you to tell her to wait before she gets married. Tell her that I have something very important to tell her and something that she has to see. I’m coming home Saturday. My tour of duty over here ends Friday and I leave Saturday. I should be home by Monday sometime. But I need you to tell Jeannie that I am coming home and need to see her before the wedding.

Well, it’s almost time for me to leave for patrol. We’re supposed to be patrolling around the province of Quangtri. That’s pronounced Kwäng-Trãy. There was some action reported near there yesterday.

There’s the first call. I’ll write more tomorrow morning when I get back.