Denise Swanson - Murder of a Small-Town Honey

"How did you get in?" Skye was groggy and had diffi­culty focusing her eyes.

"Don't you remember? You gave me a key when you moved in. Maybe you do have a concussion." May came over and perched on the edge of the bed.

Skye sank against her pillows and pulled the sheet over her head. "I knew that action was going to come back to haunt me. I told you it was only for emergencies. Like if I locked myself out or something."

"This is an emergency. You didn't answer your phone, and they said you called in sick at school."

Skye sat up reluctantly. "Okay, you're here. What's up?"

"I wanted to make sure you were all right." May looked hurt. "After all, I have one child in jail and then one almost gets burned up ..."

Skye hugged her mother. "You're right." Knowing what would cheer May up, she added, "Want to fix me some breakfast?"

May bounced from the bed. "Sure, what would you like? French toast, waffles, bacon and eggs? You name it."

"Tea and toast would be great. I don't have the stuff to make all those other things."

"How about I go and get you some groceries?"

"No, thanks. I'll just take a nice hot shower, and you can get my tea and toast ready. Okay?" Skye headed for the bathroom.

Twenty minutes later, she emerged, wrapped in her robe, to find her mother sitting in the kitchen drinking coffee. Skye's Earl Grey was in her favorite cup, two packages of Sweet 'N Low placed beside it. A plate with toast had been set next to her tea. The butter dish and a jar of marmalade were also on the table.

"Wow, this is service. Thanks, Mom."

Her voice catching, May smiled angelically. "I could do this for you every day if you moved home."

Skye picked up her cup and drank without replying. In­stead, she told May what she'd found out so far and what had happened last night, leaving out the part about finding the envelope. May was thrilled that Simon had been added to their ranks of investigators.

"Who brought you the yellow roses?" May looked at Skye as if her prize heifer had just won a blue ribbon at the county fair.

"Simon."

"Do you like him?" May started putting the breakfast things away.

"Yes," Skye admitted, taking a last sip of tea before her

mother whisked the cup from her hand. "But we've only had one date."

"When are you going to see him again?" May asked, ze­roing in on the important issue.

"Probably tonight." Skye stretched and yawned. "I guess I'll get dressed."

"What do you mean, probably?" May seemed to see that blue ribbon disappearing in the breeze.

"We've got a date, but I'm not sure if I'll feel up to it."

"It would make you feel better to have some nice com­pany, I'll bet."

"I should go see Vince again," Skye said, teasing her mother.

"Abby is going tonight, and Dad and I are going after lunch."

"Well, if I can get some rest this afternoon I'll probably feel more like seeing Simon."

May got the hint. "I'll clean up here and let myself out. Why don't you go back to bed?"

"That's a good idea, Mom. Thanks for taking care of me."

As soon as May left, Skye hopped out of bed and grabbed the envelope she'd found the night before. She carefully bent the metal clips into an upright position and eased her fingernail file under the flap.

It opened with minimal tearing. She emptied the con­tents on the bed. Two small reels of home movie film and a dozen negatives landed on the blanket. Skye picked up one of the negatives. Each had four or five pictures in a hori­zontal strip.

She switched on her bedside lamp and held the negative up to the light. After turning it several times and trying to look at it from the opposite side, she still couldn't tell who the people were, but she could see that they were definitely in the throes of some sort of passion. She examined all the negatives carefully and was pretty sure the man was the

same in all the pictures. His partner appeared to be different in each one, although whenever a third person was involved she seemed to be the same person.

The reels of movie film proved even more difficult to decipher. Skye thought the film might be eight-millimeter or super eight, whatever the stuff was they used before VCRs became common.

When the phone rang, she was trying to figure out who would know about that sort of thing.

Simon's voice washed over her when she picked up the receiver. "Hi, are you okay? I just heard about your adven­ture last night."

"My head still hurts and I'm a little sore, but otherwise I'm fine."

"When I tried calling you at school, they said you were out sick."

Skye pushed the mess on her bed aside and curled up with her back against the pillows. "After last night I wasn't up to crazy kids and demented parents."

"Why did you go investigating without me? I thought we were a team." Simon's tone was only half kidding.

"I went to visit Vince in jail last night. After I talked to him I had a hunch."

"So, did you find anything?"

Skye took the nail file she'd discarded earlier and ran it across her thumb. "Yes. I wonder if I interrupted someone else searching the station or what?"

"What did you find?"

"I think it would be better if you saw it rather than if I tried to explain it." Skye put everything back into its enve­lope.

"Okay. How about if I come over now?"

"Ah, why don't you give me an hour to ... ah ... do a few chores?" Skye stalled, realizing her hair was a mess and she didn't have any makeup on.

"All right, but make sure your doors and windows are

locked. That person who conked you on the head and set the fire didn't just happen to be there. He must have been following you."

Skye rushed around straightening up the cottage, doing her hair and face, and finding something suitable to wear. It was a tough choice, considering what an odd second date this was.

She settled on black leggings and a white oversized tunic top and was waiting at the door when Simon arrived.

He handed her a box of Godiva chocolates.

Skye led him to the sofa. "Thanks for the truffles. They're my favorite."

"Have one."

"A little later. I haven't eaten anything but toast since lunch yesterday. I'm afraid Godivas are too rich for me right now."

"Why don't I go pick something up?" Simon started to rise.

"That would be great, but I want you to see what I've found first." Skye handed him the envelope and explained how it had come to be in her possession.

He looked through the contents. "So you had this the whole time you were hit on the head, crawled out of a burn­ing building, and were found searching the police chief's drawers?"

"Yes, what do you think of it?"

"I agree with you. It's the same man all the way through but with different women. Although when there are three people, the second woman seems to be the same in all the pictures. Too bad we don't have any way of running this film."

"Yeah, I guess I'll have to turn it in to the police after all. I can't quite see anyone around here printing it for us." She narrowed her eyes in concentration.

Simon thought for a minute. "Mike Young is the only person I know who has a darkroom."

"That's not a good idea. Mike is one of our top sus­pects."

"True. How about the rest of them?"

"Okay, I'm pretty sure Darleen and Chief Boyd are in the clear. Her problem is with Mike, not Honey, plus she has an alibi. And since I only suspected him because of her. .." Skye trailed off, having gotten lost in her own logic.

"That makes sense, although like you said earlier, I have to wonder what she was paying Honey to keep quiet about."

"Charlie has an alibi. I checked with Fayanne and she backs him up. I'll have to call him to find out what time the school board meeting ended last night. If it was after I was attacked, that would put Lloyd out of the running too."