At
age twenty-seven, Steve was no stranger to slacking on the job, in spite of
growing up in a working middle-class neighborhood in Queensbury, New York.
Currently, he held a job as a forest ranger patrolling the tourist attraction
of scenic Prospect Mountain in Lake George, New York. As usual, Steve was on
his second break even though he merely started his shift less than two hours
ago. His routine was to walk up a hiking trail to his favorite spot overlooking
the Adirondacks Mountains to relax and enjoy the scenery while smoking a
cigarette. He remembered as a child coming here with his parents and
always liked the peaceful surroundings, the sounds of birds chirping, and the
magnificent views of the lake in the distance.
Steve
pulled out a pack of cigarettes from inside his jacket pocket and placed one
cigarette between his lips and lit it. Moments later after taking a few puffs
inhaling the dark fumes into his lungs, he felt something hit him on his neck
right below the right ear. With his left hand he felt the object and instantly
knew that he had been struck by a sharp instrument. Steve fell backwards and
started to gag spitting out blood. He had been stabbed through one side of the
neck with the knife exiting out of the other side. A figure of a tall man came
into his view, leaned over, and yanked the twelve-inch hunting knife out of
Steve’s neck. Cigarette smoke was seeping out of both wounds on the neck as
blood began to ooze out. The lifeless body laid as the killer stripped Steve
out of his ranger uniform. Finally, the killer kicked the corpse down the
cliff. There was a deranged smirk on the killer’s face, as he stood there
looking at the body rolling down the steep rocky embankment.
Two
hundred and twenty five miles away in Montclair, New Jersey, four college
friends were about to begin a Labor Day weekend trip to Prospect Mountain in
upstate New York. The meet took place on the front steps of the maroon brick
building better known as Dickson Hall, which served for many years as the
gathering place for college students attending Montclair University. Rays of
sunshine played peek-a-boo through the branches of the maple trees surrounding
the building. The grounds were covered with perfectly manicured lawns
surrounded with various patches of summer flowers.
Kathy
was the first to arrive driving her white RX5 BMW, which had been a present
from her parents when she graduated high school three years earlier. Kathy was
considered a rich snob by most college students who had the privilege of
meeting her either on the grounds or in a classroom setting. No matter where
she went, Kathy had a certain presence about her that people could not easily
ignore and her persona did catch the attention of everyone around her.
Sitting
next to her was Janet, which unlike Kathy had to struggle through most of her
life. She came from a poor family living in North Newark, where her mother
solely raised her with five other siblings. Her major in college was criminal
justice and all she ever dreamed of was someday becoming a detective and start
her own investigation involving her father’s so-called disappearing act...
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