The May Day Murders (33 page)

Ann heaved a sigh then stood up and
left the room. As she descended the stairs, she suddenly wished
that Sam were there to take care of this matter instead of her
having to handle it herself. She never had been very good at this
sort of thing.

When she entered the living room, Jerry
was still standing in the same spot as when she’d left.

“
Is Amy all right?” Jerry
asked.

“
She’ll be O.K,” Ann
replied.

“
We should make him
apologize to her,” Jerry declared, glaring at Larry.

“
I don’t think she wants an
apology as much as she wants to just go to the dance and have a
good time.”

She faced Larry. “You’re very lucky
that my daughter doesn’t want me to press charges against you,
Larry. If this dance didn’t mean so much to her, I’d be calling the
police right this minute. I am going to call your parents,
though—what is your telephone number?“

Larry cringed. “Please, Mrs. Middleton,
don’t call my folks! They’ll kill me!”

Jerry peered angrily at the boy. “Well
buddy, you should have thought about that before you decided to be
a peeping Tom. Now tell Mrs. Middleton your phone number before I
beat it out of you!”

“
Jerry!” Ann
cried.

Jerry stared at her and his expression
softened. “I’m sorry, Ann. It’s just that this whole thing has made
me really angry. This young man is a sicko and I don’t have much
patience for his kind. If Amy were my child, I’d force him to
apologize to her, then call the police and have them book the
little bastard.”

“
Well she’s not your child.
And furthermore, I don’t like the use of violence in any size,
shape or form. There’s been enough of that already.” Her agitation
with Jerry’s poor handling of this matter was just now beginning to
sink in.

Jerry went over and placed his hand on
her shoulder.

“
I’m sorry, Ann. It just
hasn’t been a very good day.“

Ann shrugged. “It’s all right Jerry, I
know that you mean well. But I’m in between a rock and a hard spot
now and I just want to get this matter resolved as soon as
possible. This dance means so much to Amy—I really don’t want this
to ruin it for her.”

Jerry nodded and turned to Larry. “Give
us your phone number, Larry.“

Knowing he had no choice, Larry recited
his telephone number. Ann went into the kitchen and dialed the
number. When Larry’s mother answered, Ann identified herself and
explained to her what had happened. His mother had been defensive
at first, apparently refusing to believe that her son was capable
of doing such a thing. But Ann could also sense that Mrs. Underwood
knew her son wasn’t quite above it either.

She asked to speak to her son and Ann
put him on. Ann stood by and could tell by the expression on his
face and the gist of his dialogue that Larry Underwood was getting
a royal tongue-lashing.

Moments later, Larry handed the phone
back to Ann and his mother informed Ann that she didn’t drive but
she had told Larry to come straight home. And if he hadn’t arrived
home in 10 minutes, she would call his father at his job and have
him go out and track him down. This, Larry’s mother assured Ann,
was the last thing Larry wanted to happen. Ann thanked her—perhaps
a little too curtly—and hung up the phone.

“
All right, Larry. You can
go on now,” Ann said as she led him back to living room.

Jerry was standing by the door and
opened it for him. “We don’t want to see you around this house ever
again, Larry.Is that clear?”

“
Yes sir.”

Before leaving, Larry turned to Ann and
said, “I’m sorry Mrs. Middleton.”

Ann replied, “You should
be.”

Larry turned and went out the door. Ann
and Jerry both stood and watched Larry Underwood as he sauntered
down the driveway to the street. His gait was slow and Ann had a
feeling that he wasn’t looking forward to arriving home and facing
the wrath of his mother and father.

“
I hope his parents ream him
out good,” Jerry declared. “That’s one sick kid.”

Ann waited until Larry was out of sight
then closed the door. “Jesus, what an ordeal,” she sighed, leaning
back against the wall. She looked at Jerry. “Do you think he was
the same one who has been making the obscene phone
calls?”

“
Who knows? I wouldn’t put
it past the little hoodlum.”

Ann smiled. “Thanks, Jerry. I’m sure
glad you came around when you did.”

Jerry returned the smile. “As I told
you before, that’s what I’m here for.”

“
I’d better go see how Amy’s
doing.”

“
Do you think she’d mind if
I take some pictures?” Jerry asked. “My camera is out in the
car.”

Ann shook her head. “I don’t think
so—she sure hammed it up for you last weekend.”

“
Great—I’ll go get it.”
Jerry said and headed for the front door.

Ann glanced at the clock on the mantle
and hoped that Amy was almost ready—Jason would be arriving any
minute now. She ran up the stairs and found her daughter sitting at
the vanity putting the finishing touches on her makeup.

“
You look beautiful,
sweetie!” Ann exclaimed as she walked over to her. She could tell
by Amy’s reflection in the mirror that she was really starting to
get nervous about the big dance.

“
I’m glad you’re here, Mom.
Can you put this necklace on for me?”

“
Certainly,
honey.”

Amy reached for the diamond necklace
that Ann had recently bought for her and handed it over. Ann stood
behind her daughter, placed the necklace around her neck and
fastened the clasp.

“
There you go. Is everything
all right, honey?”

Ann shrugged her shoulders and
continued applying her lip gloss. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

“
Nervous?”

“
A little.”

“
Are you over the little
episode that just happened?”

Amy paused a moment, then nodded.
“Yeah. I take it you called Larry’s parents?”

Ann nodded. “Yes, and his mother wasn’t
pleased with him at all. Larry has now gone home to face the
music.”

“
Thanks, Mom, for not
calling the cops,” she said sincerely.

“
You’re welcome, sweetie. I
just want you to go out and have a great time tonight,
okay?”

“
I will, Mom.”

Amy stood up and fiddled with her hair
a little then turned around and faced her mother. “What do you
think?”

“
You look simply wonderful,
honey. Jason is very lucky to be taking the most beautiful girl at
Woodcrest High to the dance!”

“
Right, Mom,” Amy replied,
rolling her eyes.

“
Mr. Rankin would like to
take some pictures, if that’s all right with you.”

Amy cast her mother a pained look. “Oh,
I guess so. As long as he makes it really quick.”

Just then the doorbell rang and Amy’s
face lit up.

“
He’s here!” My God, I hope
I look all right! Oh, look at this hair—Mom, go down and stall
Jason for a few minutes, okay?”

“
Your hair looks fine, Amy.
Relax!” Ann chuckled.

“
Please, Mom!”

“
All right. I’ll go stall
him for you.”

Ann went back downstairs and opened the
door. Jason Walborn stood there with a sheepish grin on his
face.

“
Hello, you must be Jason,”
Ann smiled, holding the door for him to enter.

“
Yes. How are you Mrs.
Middleton?”

“
Just fine.” Ann shook his
hand and glanced at Jerry. “This is Mr. Rankin, Jason. A, er,
friend of mine.”

“
Nice to meet you, Jason,”
Jerry said as he shook his hand.

Jason Walborn was as tall if not taller
than Jerry Rankin with sandy hair cropped short, angular jawbones,
and deep set blue eyes. He was dressed semi-formally in a sport
jacket, shirt and tie, and a pair of khaki Dockers.

Ann led the two men into the living
room. “Would you like to sit down, Jason? Amy should be down
shortly.”

“
Sure,” he replied, sitting
down on the sofa.

“
Amy tells me that you’re a
soccer player.”

Jason nodded. “Yeah, we won the
division championship last year.”

“
I didn’t know that. That’s
wonderful!”

“
Yeah, we had a really
awesome team last year.”

There was an uncomfortable silence for
a moment, then Jerry said, “What kind of car are you
driving?”

“
A Honda
Prelude.”

“
You must have a job then, I
assume.”

“
Nah. My parents bought the
car for me.”

“
I see,” Jerry replied, his
sudden distaste for the obviously spoiled young man apparent on his
face.

Moments later, Amy came down the stairs
and entered the room. “Hi, Jason!”

Jason stood up and strode over to her.
“Hi. You look totally awesome!”

Amy blushed. “And so do you! Will you
go get the flowers, Mom?”

“
Sure, honey,” Ann
replied.

Ann went into the kitchen to fetch
Jason’s boutonniere and Amy’s corsage from the fridge. The two kids
managed to attach their flowers to one another as Jerry looked on,
brandishing his camera.

“
Just a couple of shots?” he
said.

Both Amy and Jason sighed and allowed
Jerry to pose them in front of the mantle.

“
Here we go,” he said
encouragingly to the young couple. “Let’s see a smile!”

Amy and her date grinned nervously as
Jerry Rankin snapped a shot.

“
That was great! Just one
more! Get a little closer,” he commanded.

Jason and Amy stared at one another and
smirked. Jason put his arm around Amy and smiled confidently. Jerry
snapped the shot and placed both prints on the coffee
table.

“
These are looking great,”
he said as the images began to appear. “Take a look at how cute you
two look together.”

Amy and Jason joined Ann and glanced at
the photos.

“
Yeah, we really look cool,
Mr. Rankin,” Amy commented less than enthusiastically, “Can we go
now?”

“
I’ll go get your jacket for
you,” Ann told Amy. She fetched Amy’s coat and helped her on with
it, kissing her daughter’s cheek afterwards. “Have a wonderful
time, honey!”

“
Thanks Mom.”

“
And drive carefully,” she
added to Jason.

“
I will, Mrs. Middleton,” he
assured her.

Amy stepped out on the porch, Jason
following behind.

“
Bye mom,” she said as she
led her date away from the house.

“
Don’t be late!” Ann called
after the departing couple.

Ann and Jerry stood inside the doorway
and watched as the two got into Jason’s Prelude. After they had
backed out of the driveway, Ann closed the door and
sighed.

“
I hope Amy watches out for
herself. That Jason boy is much too old for her.”

“
She’ll be all right, Ann.
Amy seems to have a pretty good head on her shoulders from what
I’ve seen.”

Ann said, “Yes, I suppose you’re right.
That is, as long as she stays sober. Come to think of it, I could
stand a drink about right now. Do we have enough time?”

Jerry smiled. “Of course. The lanes are
open until midnight.”

“
Let’s have a drink, then. I
really need one after all of this!” Ann exclaimed.

“
Lead the way—I’m right
behind you,” Jerry said cheerfully.

CHAPTER 20

One month earlier, Stanley Jenkins
quietly swung the door open, stepped onto the roof and closed the
door behind him. It was even darker on top of the ten-story
apartment building than he thought it would be and for a moment he
considered using a flashlight before abruptly dismissing the idea.
He waited a couple of minutes for his eyes to adjust before making
his way toward the corner of the roof.

There was just enough available light
for him to see where he was going without being seen by any of the
tenants in the neighboring apartment buildings. It hadn’t been
particularly easy locating a building with both easy access to its
roof plus an unobstructed view of Sara Hunt’s apartment. But as
usual, Stanley’s patience and perseverance had paid off. He thought
of how much easier it had been entering her apartment unnoticed the
other night and the irony in it that made him grin. New York City,
in spite of its immense population, wasn’t any safer from Stanley
Jenkins that Bum-Fuck, Iowa.

Had he known before that Sara Hunt’s
apartment was going to be so laughably accessible, Stanley would
have devised a much simpler game plan for this mission and thereby
made things much easier on himself. He would have simply chosen a
night when Sara’s roommate wasn’t there with her, unlocked her
apartment door with the copy of the key he’d made, then gone in and
taken care of business. But that would have been too easy (and not
nearly as much fun) so he’d opted to stick with his original plan
of getting to know Sara a bit better before murdering her. He
always enjoyed a challenge and what secret agent worth his oats
didn’t? Bond had never once done things the easy way and that’s
what made 007 the legend that he was.