Nobody Knows Your Secret

3

Hadley followed the stranger's car out of town.

"Careful. Don't get too close. He'll spot us," Maury said. "If he does, he'll bolt like a rabbit."

"You watch too many cop shows," Hadley said. "Besides, this is a curvy, two-lane road. The only place to bolt to is over the side of the mountain. That's a really nice car, Maury. I wonder if it's stolen?"

"Do you think it is?" said Maury. "It looks really expensive."

Hadley didn't answer.

"I do. I wonder who died and left Teddy Croft a golden goose," Maury said. "Maybe, he hitched up with some rich old woman. You know the kind. Old as last year's pot roast. Lonely. Needy. Two feet in the grave and peering out over the top of the hole. Begging for the attention of a man. Any man.

I'll bet Teddy's stole some dead person's identity. You know what I mean. He poses as another guy, this Joe Blow. That way, it wouldn't show up he was still married to Rayna. That could explain how he's fallen off the grid.

Why, if he's posing as somebody else, Teddy could have married the old gal on the spot. Had her change her will, you know. Leave the whole kit and caboodle to him. Knock her off, then bingo! Teddy hits the jackpot!

Then, he wouldn't have to steal a fine car like that. Just go to the lot, pick out whatever strikes his fancy. Then, boom! Drops a pile of loot and drives it back here to HopeRockCounty."

"You got some imagination, little sister," Hadley said.

"Well, if that is what happened," Maury said, "I don't want him eyeballing us. Don't get so close that he can make out who we are. We could be next on his list. 

Teddy might be a serial killer, for all we know. I do not want to be next! Not so close, I told you! He mustn't see it's us who are following him! If it is Teddy, he knows us, Hadley, and we can identify him! That marks us as dead, for sure."

"I think you're overreacting, Sis," Hadley said. "If he happens to look in his rearview mirror, he'll only catch an eyeful of two slightly, over-the-hill joy riders wearing huge sunglasses that cover half their faces. Teddy Croft hasn't seen us in years."

"Can you be so sure about that?" Maury asked.

"Well, no," Hadley said. "But I think there's a pretty good chance I'm right. I think there's nothing to worry about. He'll peg us for tourists who are out sightseeing. Nobody ever takes this road but farmers and tourists, Maury. And I left the tractor and the plow at home."

"Balls o' fire! Hadley! Hadley! Look at that! He's turning into the wildlife rescue! What if Teddy's going after Ruth!"

***

"Tarnation! Going after Ruth!" Hadley exclaimed. "Wait a minute!"

Hadley took her eyes off the road for a second to glance at Maury.

"What are you talking about?" Hadley said. "Why would he do that? Ruth was away at veterinary school when Teddy disappeared. Why would he be after Ruth? Did you eat mushrooms for lunch? I think you're hallucinating."

"Yes, I did," Maury said. "But only on my sub sandwich. Gosh, if Teddy Croft is a serial killer, a mass murderer, then he's crazy! Logic doesn't come into play, here! Not when you're talking lunatic-madman-serial-mass-murderer. Oh, Hadley! I'm so worried, I could bust out in hives! We're probably dealing with a psychopath! Stomp on the gas! Hurry up! Oh, sweet molasses! We've got to save Ruth!"

Hadley made a sharp right into the amusement park entrance. It was always jarring. Spooky. Turning into a place where fun had died was unnerving. Like visiting a graveyard and seeing someone else there dressed in black and carrying a sickle on Halloween night.

***

Ruth Elliot, a local vet, inherited the land from her uncle, Vance Odis, an amusement park developer whose dreams went bust in the 1970s. 

Poor Vance. 

It seemed his efforts had been cursed from the start. He closed the gates to the park and lived out the remainder of his life quietly in his small, white-frame house on the side of Hiker's Bluff.

The property sat abandoned for years. Odis had no children. His wife was dead. When his last will and testament was read, Ruth was left everything Vance owned. 

She sold her uncle's house and the lands he owned in Hiker's Bluff, but she kept the large tract on the mountain where the old amusement park lay in ruin. 

Located in the center of the park was a large nature area. Ruth converted the outbuildings into a recovery area for injured and orphaned wildlife.

***

MEGAMountainFunlandPark was the dream of a die-hard Walt Disney wannabe. The amusement park idea was born and nurtured in the fevered mind of a man whose youth was spent following his vagabond father all over the world, chasing one get-rich scheme after another. All the places where the Odis family made their home were burned into Vance's mind.

As a young boy, he'd lived in one storybook location after another. Vance never forgot the impressions those exotic locales left on him. The vibrant greens of the African jungle, the golden sunsets of the South Pacific islands, the mesmerizing and ever-changing hues sunlight played on the walls of the Grand Canyon. 

All of his childhood recollections glowed in his memory like the iridescent paints of an artist's palette. Those memories fueled Vance as he built his amusement park in the backwoods of the Blue Ridge Mountains. He dreamed of a place where fun, excitement, and a white-knuckle adrenaline rush were everyday experiences.