A Shadow of Death in The Woods (21 page)

Chapter 34

Lydia IV

Lydia was confused. She didn’t like being confused. All of her life she was smarter than the people around her and she was always able to figure things out. She loved mathematics because it was a logical structure that made sense to her. She had a very limited social life so that area was less certain to her and she avoided it, which is why she had a limited social life. Circular process. Jack had her very confused.

He was an Officer-of-the-Club, which she knew was very special to Bob and she respected Bob’s opinions. There were four Officers-of-the-Club: Bob, Paul, Mike and now Jack. No one ever told her what you had to do to become an Officer-of-the-Club. She knew you were voted in but that alone wasn’t enough. No one would talk about it. But over the years she had put two and two together and she was sure she knew the basic requirement. To be considered a candidate you had to do something very special for an existing Officer and she was pretty sure that it involved killing someone. This was why there were very few Officers and why they didn’t look for more Officers. This was speculation and she didn’t dare ask questions for confirmation. Some things you are better off not knowing. Besides, if she was correct, no one would tell her.

Another strange thing about The Club was that the only members were the Officers and their wives, if they had one. So it wasn’t a real club. All the Officers worked for Bob’s company in some way although, in Mike’s case, he had other interests as well. In fact Lydia was sure that the Officers-of-the-Club had something to do with infusing Bob’s company with cash. The company was a failed coal company. When Bob got out of the army, he brought Paul and Mike back with him. The three of them would disappear from to time to time with no explanation and soon after there was money to invest to convert the company into a successful construction business.

If this scenario about The Club was correct, then Jack was a killer. He had killed someone to protect Bob and Jane. She had thought about this a lot and she even figured out who he killed. If she was right, Jack killed those two perverts found in the woods that the sheriff declared a murder-suicide. A murder-suicide? Yeah, right. The sheriff probably figured that the perverts got what they deserved and thought it was easier to let things lie. The sheriff wasn’t known for his high energy. He was honest but he was a mountain man and knew how to get along, when to investigate and when to fold.

Okay, if this was all true, then Jack had killed two men. This made no sense. She didn’t like Jack right from the start but that was because he was a man and he moved into The Cabin permanently. He was in her space. In the first week or two if Jack had made the wrong move, she would have shot him. Instead of having her worst fears confirmed, Jack had treated her with nothing but kindness. Even when she got mad at him and accused him of bad things, Jack reacted only with kindness and understanding. He didn’t seem like a killer.

Like the time she accused Jack of stealing her cat. She was still a little upset about The Cat. Why did The Cat like Jack so much? The Cat seemed to like Jack much more than The Cat liked her. She was the one who saved The Cat from the street. She fed him, took him to the vet and gave him everything. Jack comes along and The Cat wants to be with him more than with her. It irked her. Then he installed a cat door in his apartment. What was she supposed to think? It looked like cat thievery, right? His story was that The Cat was scratching his door and meowing. Actually, she knew that this was true and it made her even madder. The Cat was a male cat. Maybe the whole thing was a man thing. It scorched her butt.

Then there was yesterday when he took her looking for flowers in the forest. And this wasn’t the first time with flowers. The first time was the business party at The Cabin. She found out that the idea for getting flowers for the ladies was Jack’s idea. He had gotten her a flower that was special to Jack. At the time it upset her because she thought he was coming on to her but he didn’t. He was the same calm, kind Jack throughout the business event. Now he took her into the woods looking for wild flowers. She could tell that it was all about the flowers. He was so knowledgeable about the flowers and he was so intent on finding them. He seemed to enjoy the flowers more with her there but his focus was on the flowers, not her. What a strange man.

Then there was the episode in the forest that scared her so badly. She thought Jack was going to pass out. In fact, he did pass out but he came to right away. It scared her because he is so huge she could not have gotten him out of the forest if he really passed out. She was sure that he had some kind of flashback to something that bothered him a lot. Was it the killings? It would fit but there was no way of knowing.

This stranger dropped out of the sky so to speak. She had finally loosened up enough to call him Jack and the truth of the matter was that she was closer to Jack than any other man except her father and Bob.

Bob had talked her into accepting that Jack was going to live at The Cabin. She could tell that Jack was very special to Bob and Jane. There was nothing that Bob wouldn’t do for Jack.

It took a while to figure out the job situation though. On the surface of it, it looked as if Bob gave Jack a job as a favor. Anyone who knew Bob would have a hard time believing that. Bob was all business when it came to his business. From what she could see, Bob was paying Jack a lot of money. Bob would never do that unless he felt he was getting something for his money. The other people on the board would not allow it either. So she had concluded that Jack was good at finances. She knew he was a smart guy.

Bob would not have just given a job to Jack. He would let him live in The Cabin though. And at first that it is what she thought was going on but as time rolled on she could see that Bob really wanted Jack to manage The Cabin and he was thrilled to have Jack take over Uncle Jake’s job when Uncle Jake died.

Bob told her several times that she was safer there with Jack in The Cabin than she was alone. She knew that Bob worried about her safety in The Cabin. That is why he had Mike install so much security. She had since concluded that Bob was probably right. Jack was even tempered and treated her the way she wanted to be treated. And God knows he was big enough to protect her.

His size put her off at first. It was ironic. In high school she would have loved to have a tall boy to date her. She was about six feet tall, taller than most men. Jack towered over her. At first she didn’t like it. Maybe he intimidated her. When she saw what a kind man he was, her feelings on this changed.

So what does it all mean? How can a killer be kind? How can a killer want to go looking for wild flowers in the forest? She was sure that Jack really liked flowers and that it was not just a show. There was no reason for him to fake it. Flip it around. How could a flower lover kill two men? Was this the reason that Jack might be having flashbacks? That would fit but real life wasn’t like mathematics. Things happened in life just because they happened, not because it was logical. Maybe that is what happened to Jack. Maybe something happened and Jack killed those two perverts. Maybe it was eating Jack from the inside.

She watched how the other Officers-of-the-Club interacted with Jack. Paul was hard to read in spite of the fact that among all the Officers Paul was the most mathematical. He loved spreadsheets and calculating what jobs were going to cost. He loved the logic of planning the big projects. In spite of that Paul was mostly an enigma to her. Paul was always polite to her but he may having been doing that out of deference to Bob. Lydia liked Paul’s wife, Liz. She was a genuinely warm person.

Mike was a case. She had trouble trusting Mike although she had no reason to distrust him other than he was a man. He had never done anything to make her think it but she considered him a killer. She had no proof or evidence but she had that feeling about him. He treated her well but again this might have been out of deference to Bob. She absolutely loved Mike’s wife, Frankie. Frankie was a blond but probably, aside from Lydia, was the smartest one in the group. Frankie had great insights into people. When Lydia saw how Frankie took a liking to Jack, it had affected Lydia’s opinion of Jack a lot.

Then there was Jane. Jane worshiped the ground that Jack walked on. Jane was mature enough to not let it show but Lydia had known Jane for a very long time. She understood and liked Jane. Jane had always been kind to Lydia and put up with Bob’s taking care of her. Some wives would have been jealous even though Bob thought of her as a daughter. Jane was a good soul.

Lydia concluded from all of these observations that Jack was here to stay as long as he wanted to stay. Bob and Jane were ready to give Jack anything he wanted. Perhaps one of the things that swayed Lydia’s thoughts about Jack was that he took nothing from Bob and Jane without earning it. Even staying at The Cabin was actually part of his compensation. Jack had many privileges like being able to go in Momma’s back room where only Bob and Jane were allowed to go. She knew of no one else, not even Paul or Mike, who could go into the back room without an invitation from Bob. Jack never abused these privileges and he was focused on earning what he received. Jack was honest and hardworking.

He was also lonely. That was why he kept inviting Lydia to his apartment for meals. It had embarrassed her at first because he wouldn’t let her pay for the food. But then she saw how much pleasure it gave him to have her eat with him so she agreed to do it. Well, the other thing was that he was a great cook. Chef is probably a better word. Lydia had trouble boiling water without burning it so she wasn’t an expert on food preparation. She did know one thing and that was his meals were great.

She felt bad about his family situation. He lost his wife, two children, his job and moved here with next to nothing. All of his worldly possessions fit in his pickup. That had to have been very difficult. Oddly, though, it was another reason that she was able to be around Jack because he was actively avoiding women. She knew that women were hitting on him often but he didn’t want to become involved again, at least not now.

So Lydia didn’t know what to think about Jack. The evidence seemed to say he was a killer. It was a fact that he was a lover of wild flowers, kind, honest, honorable, hardworking and a chef. The only thing wrong with him was that he was a man and Lydia just couldn’t trust men. She had trouble with the idea but she was trusting Jack more and more. It was the first time that it had happened to her since high school. Maybe The Cat was right after all.

Chapter 35

Summer

Summers in the West Virginia mountains are awesome. “Awesome” is an overworked word and has become part of slang. That is a tragedy because “awesome” is the perfect word to describe the summer mountains.

It was warm but the altitude kept it reasonably cool. There was enough rain to keep the fields green. If you took the trouble to look, there were flowers in the forests.

I spent as much time as I could wandering the trails near The Cabin. I found a remote field accessible only on foot that reminded me of the field where my sister and I went in the summers. The field was on a hill and toward the top there was a rock that I liked to sit on. Briers grew around the rock and near the briers grew black-eyed susans. We used to pick them and take them to Mom. As I sat in the West Virginia field, it seemed to me that I could hear my sister’s laughter as she ran up the hill with skirts flying. Those were grand days before she died from leukemia. After she died I was unable to go to that field. It was too sad for me.

That was a long time ago and now this field seemed a quiet place where I could think. Occasionally a sadness would overtake me but most of the time I found the field restful.

One day I had an especially strong feeling that I could hear her laughter. It was a happy sound but it brought tears to my eyes. Then I heard a voice say, “Hello, Jack.” I was so startled that I jumped. It was Lydia.

She took one look at me and realized that she had intruded on a private moment. She apologized. It was shocking enough to find her in this field but the fact that she apologized was overwhelming. I don’t think I had ever heard her apologize for anything. She was more apt to be on the attack.

She sat down beside me and I didn’t protest. It wasn’t my field. It wasn’t my rock.

She said, “I am sorry to have disturbed you. I saw you and wanted to say hi.”

I told her that it was okay and it was.

She said, “I have never seen you so sad. I know you miss your children and are often lonely but I have never before seen such a sad face.”

You ever have one of those moments where you say something but don’t know why you said it? Well, one occurred then. I told her about my sister and going into the field to pick black-eyed susans.

“I didn’t know you had a sister but then there is a lot about you I don’t know.”

“I seldom talk about her because she died many years ago when we were only children. I still miss her though, especially her laughter. She was such a happy person until she got sick and even then she was very upbeat. I was never able to understand why she had to die. It was my first lesson showing that life is not fair.”

Lydia and I spent a nice time together and then went back to The Cabin. We didn’t speak of it but I knew that Lydia would never talk about our encounter. She sensed that she had touched a private part of me.

The summer rolled on and, except for missing my children, life was good. The truck garden turned out to be very successful. But there was one thing that Bob had neglected to tell me when he set me up with Marty.

Early in the summer when the plants were beginning to come up I went to the garden with a six pack of beer. I stopped at the house to say hi to Marty’s wife, Louise. She saw the six pack and got hysterical. She wanted to know what I was doing with it. I told her I was taking it to the garden so Marty and I could have something to drink in the hot sun. She got very angry and asked me if Marty was drinking again. Right away I knew there was a problem. When I got her calmed down, I found out that Marty was a recovering alcoholic. Funny, I had worked with him a lot and didn’t know.

I hid the six pack and asked her if she knew how to make lemonade. She was embarrassed and said she knew how but she didn’t have any lemons. I knew they didn’t have money for much so I told her that the lemonade was on me if she would go to the store for the lemons and sugar. I told her she could take my pickup right after I unloaded the lumber down by the garden.

She got in and we drove down to the garden. I had brought the lumber to build an shelter to shade us from the sun while we rested on breaks. There was no shade near the garden. It was the only flaw to the otherwise ideal garden spot.

I told Marty what I wanted to do and we picked out a location and unloaded the lumber and tools that I brought. I gave Louise some money and told her to go to the store for lemonade ingredients and makings for sandwiches. Off she went.

I brought a posthole digger and dug holes for corner posts. I nailed on some two by fours and then nailed on boards for a roof. By the time Louise got back with the lemonade and sandwiches, the shelter was mostly up. I even made a little table out of lumber scraps and sawhorses. With the chairs I brought along we had a nice little picnic set up.

From then on I made sure that I had no alcohol around Marty. He turned out to be a great worker and as far as I could tell was off the booze. I think he had seen the light.

In fact, he turned out to be such a good worker, I hired him as a handyman at The Cabin. I also had him take care of the landscaping. The garden work was sporadic and the part-time work at The Cabin filled in nicely. It gave Marty and Louise enough income to live on. Then our cleaning woman quit and I hired Louise to clean The Cabin. The only reason she didn’t work outside her home was that they had only one vehicle and baby sitters were expensive. This way she was able to ride to The Cabin with Marty and I told her to bring the girls along. It worked out well and for the first time in a long time they had enough money to cover bills and get caught up.

I was a little miffed that Bob never mentioned to me that Marty was an alcoholic. But Bob was that way. When he wanted something, he piled the words up to create the image that he wanted you to have. His ability to do this had made his company hugely successful. Still sometimes I thought it would have been better if he was more forthright. In life you get what you are served and not necessarily what you order.

It turned out that Marty was handy with tools and was good at growing produce. The garden was producing beyond my expectations. As the different produce matured, we harvested it and Marty and Louise sold the excess produce at farmers’ markets. It was all organic and we were able to get premium prices. The money started rolling in but of course I had made a large cash layout in the beginning with fixing Marty’s barn, buying the tractor and other equipment, seeds and chicken manure. I didn’t care about the money because I was earning so much working for Bob. What I was after were the organic veggies.

I wanted to can some and freeze some of my share of veggies. That was a huge amount of work and required more capital. I bought the equipment and we prepared the food in a community effort with Marty, Louise and me. Lydia joined us too. I had pretty much been feeding Lydia because she never cooked and you can eat only so many peanut butter sandwiches. The four of us worked hard on canning and freezing days. It was a lot of work.

Part of Marty’s job was to keep the hiking trails clear of brush. That wasn’t going so well because he was busy with the garden, canning, freezing and work around The Cabin. So I had Marty hire a helper. We had a little tractor with a trailer that we took on the trails and cut back the brush. Bob wanted us to kill all the poison ivy within a hundred yards of either side of the trails so his guests wouldn’t get poisoned if they were allergic. I am allergic to poison ivy so I was happy to do the killing. Poison ivy, along with poison oak and poison sumac, has an oily sap, urushiol, that most (70 percent) of people are allergic to. We cleared a wide path free of poison ivy. There was plenty of work to do.

Lydia was at The Cabin all summer. She worked on a consulting contract most of the summer. It was an applied math modeling project and not the statistical work that she usually did. It was a big challenge and despite her brilliance it got her down a little. At one point she panicked, thinking that she was not going to be able to complete the project. I did a lot of computer programming in college and during the summer breaks. That and working for Woody is how I paid for my college. So I took some time off from my job and helped her. We created block diagrams of the model and I guided her on writing a subroutine for each block along with a test program. It was slow and it frustrated Lydia who liked to jump to answers. The slow, methodical process paid off though. By the time we had all the subroutines written and validated, it was virtually guaranteed that the main program would work. It was technically a stiff mathematical set of differential equations so we had to manipulate the executive program to account for the different speeds to keep the execution time practical. In the end it worked well and she was able to complete the study. I had a lot of fun and found it interesting working with Lydia. We had progressed a long way from the gun toting days to where we could work easily together. I actually enjoyed spending time with her during the summer. Who is crazy now, I asked myself.