The May Day Murders
Page 31
“What’s to become of him, you think?”
“Roger thinks he’ll plead insanity. Probably spend the rest of his life in an institution. He’s got to face charges in New York and Colorado, too, keep in mind. They’ll put him away for good, one way or another, you can rest assured.”
“No chance of the death penalty?”
“Nope, I don’t think so. The guy’s a nut and they won’t hang a nut.”
“God help us all if he escapes!” Ann exclaimed.
“Tell me about it.”
“One thing has really been bothering me,” Ann said. “And that’s why Marsha never told me about her and Sara’s little scheme at the basketball game. I remember telling her about Stanley asking me out at the time and she just chuckled and never said any more about it. That wasn’t like her, to keep something from me like that.”
Sam heaved a sigh. “Do you suppose that Sara Hunt may have had something to do with that? I mean, you and Sara never got along and Marsha was hanging out with Sara around that time. Maybe Marsha felt a little ashamed at herself having been a part of the scheme and was simply too embarrassed to fess up to it.”
“You may be right, come to think about it. I can see Marsha reacting that way.”
“At any rate, It was a deadly mistake on her part, in retrospect,” Sam added grimly.
“I know.”
“I have a confession to make,” Sam announced. “I wasn’t going to tell you this, but I’ve just decided to tell you after all. It might make you feel a little better.”
“What is it?” Ann asked suspiciously.
“You weren’t the only one suckered by Stanley Jenkins. I was, too.”
“What do you mean?”
“The night that Shelley Hatcher came to see me was the first time I’d seen her since our divorce. It was really late at night-about 2:00 A.M.-and I wondered at the time why in the hell she’d come out of the clear blue like that after all of this time. When I asked her about it, she told me that she wanted me to see her photo portfolio so I could give her my assessment of it. It had been pouring rain to beat the band that night and she had traveled all the way from Kentucky just to show me her fucking portfolio? Well, I was skeptical, to say the least.
“Anyway, I looked it over-it was okay but not that great-and I started thinking that she had really come over to get some romantic thing going. Well, one thing led to another and we ended up sleeping together that night. Of course, I figured that my hunch was right-“
“Why are you telling me this, Sam?” Ann interrupted, angry and hurt.
“Hold on, sweetie-there’s more.”
“I don’t want to hear it!”
“Yes, you do. Hear me out, okay? I promise you that you’ll want to hear this.”
“Okay, if you insist,” Ann replied irritably.
“It turns out that Shelley had truly come to show me her portfolio. Earlier that day, Shelley had been at a McDonald’s having lunch-she works at a jewelry store in Ashland-and she just so happened to have taken her portfolio with her. A man sitting at her table saw her looking through her pictures and asked if he could take a look at them. Shelley said sure, so the guy checked out her photos. When he was through, he told her that they were excellent, adding that he of course wasn’t a photo critic by any stretch of the imagination.
“He then asked Shelley if she had shown her portfolio to someone in the business recently-to get an honest professional opinion. She mentioned that the only pro she could think of offhand was her old mentor at the newspaper she had used to work at, which of course happens to be yours truly. The stranger insisted that she should by all means look me up and show me her work as soon as possible; that, for all she knew I could line her up with some work. This got her wheels turning and the seed was planted for her to pay me a visit. Now, would you like to take a stab at who this stranger was?”
“Stanley?” Ann replied, incredulous.
“Right, it was our boy.”
“But why?”
“Don’t you get it? Stanley wanted to assure his success with you so he was determined to do anything he could to achieve that goal. He knew that if he could somehow get Shelley and me back together, even if it was only for a chat, there was the slim chance that it would somehow get back to you. That would of course caused more dissension between us, which we know it did, and as a result would sort of help clear the way for him to get you to fall for him that much easier.”
“Jesus!” Ann cried. “He was certainly methodical! How did you find all of this out?”
“Shelley called me last week and told me the whole story after she’d seen Stanley’s photo in the paper. She feels horrible about it because she realizes now what she had done. But there’s no way that she, or any of us, could have even guessed that Jerry Rankin was in fact actually Stanley Jenkins. In fact, Roger and everybody else involved in this case have all but agreed that Stanley might never have been caught if it hadn’t been for that Polaroid Amy sent me. As a matter of fact, we can thank our daughter for solving this case!”
“Our daughter and her father,” Ann corrected.
“Well, yeah, I guess you could say that,” Sam said humbly.
A short pause, then Ann said, “Sam?”
“Yeah, babe.”
“Do you really think it’s over between you and Shelley Hatcher? I mean, totally over?”
“Definitely,” Sam replied flatly.
“You sure?”
“Sure I’m sure. Beyond a shadow of doubt,” Sam emphasized, wondering what this line of questioning was leading up to.
“Are your parents still flying up for Thanksgiving?”
“Yup. They’ll be here on the 22nd. Why?”
“I was just thinking, why don’t we all have Thanksgiving together-like a family. Just like we did last year.”
“Are you serious?” Sam asked, not believing his ears.
“Yes, I’m serious. I don’t want to be alone anymore, Sam. I miss you and I miss the three of us being a family. Amy does, too. And the mere thought of going through the Holidays without you is unbearable. In fact, I don’t think I could do it.”
“Does this mean…?’
“Yes, Sam. I’m ready to come home. God, am I ready!”
Sam nearly leaped out of his chair, “You don’t know how happy I am to hear that, honey! It’s been a living hell not having you and Amy around. I miss you two so much, I-”
“Let me say it first,” Ann interjected. “I love you, Sam Middleton. Always have, always will. For better, or for worse, I love you!”
“I love you too, honey!” Sam said, as a thought suddenly came to mind. “But what about Amy and school?”
“I’ve already spoken to Amy and the school’s principal about it. She’ll have to finish this semester and then she can transfer her credits to Smithtown High. Amy’s all for it and can’t wait to see her old friends again.”
“That’s great! When does the semester end?”
Christmas break, December 20, I believe.”
“Think we can wait until then?”
“We’ll have to, unfortunately, but we’ve always got the weekends in the meantime.”
“I guess that will have to do.”
“Do you have a stove in that bungalow of yours, Sam? For a turkey?”
“Uh, yeah. It’s not too big but it should be able to accommodate a fair sized bird.”
“That’s good,” Ann said, a trace of disappointment in her voice.
Sam knew what was eating her: the reality of the three of them living in this tiny house in the boondocks. He already had an answer for that.
“By the way, I forgot to tell you,” he said. “I was at the bank a few days ago and ran into Paul Malone. It seems that he’s getting transferred to Columbus at the beginning of the year.”
“You’re kidding!” Ann cried. “So he’s moving his family up here?”
“Yup.”
“And the house?”
“Putting it up for sa
le next week.”
“Oh God, Sam. I don’t believe it! Is there any way-”
“That we could get our old house back?” Sam finished the sentence for her. “That shouldn’t be a problem, if that’s what you want to do.”
“Oh Sam, yes! Let’s do it!”
“Consider it done.”
“Wait until Amy hears this! She’s almost missed that house as much as I have. She bitches about this place all the time. God Sam, you’re wonderful! I love you so much!”
“That goes for me, too. And tell that kid of mine the same, okay?”
“I will. I’d better go now. I think I’ll take a walk and try to come back down to earth, I’m so excited now, I’m almost sick!”
“I know what you mean. I’ll call you tomorrow, honey. We’ve got a lot of planning to do.”
“Okay. Love you, dear!”
“Love you, too.”
Sam was grinning ear to ear as he hung up the phone. He breathed a deep sigh, slid a fresh sheet of paper into the carrier and hit the keys with a flourish:
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