Denise Swanson - Murder of a Small-Town Honey

"I drove by there at ten, and the lot was still full of cars," Simon said.

"Well, since we know it's not Vince," Skye looked hard at Simon and he nodded, "who is left?"

"Only Abby and Mike, if we're still using your original list."

"Abby is very strong and jealousy can be a powerful emotion. Or she could be the woman in these pictures, and Honey decided to start blackmailing her now that she was dating Vince again.

"On the other hand, Mike could be the man in these neg­atives. We know he was being blackmailed."

"Could it be Darleen in the photos?" Simon took one out of the envelope and examined it again.

"I didn't know her in high school, but unless she's changed a lot, the body type is all wrong."

They thought in silence, until Skye's stomach growled audibly.

Simon got up. "This is silly. You're hungry. Let me get us something to eat, and then I'm sure we'll both think more clearly. What do you feel like?"

"Would you mind driving over to Clay Center? I'd love some chicken from their restaurant."

"No problem. Clay Center's only ten miles away. The restaurant you mean is the Shaft, right?"

Skye nodded.

"It shouldn't take me more than forty-five minutes. Meanwhile, don't let anyone in. I talked to Wally this morning. He said that if you hadn't been hit with a cheap aluminum flashlight that broke open after the first whack, you could have been in real trouble."

"I'll lock the door as soon as you leave."

CHAPTER 25

Bridge Over Troubled Water

Skye decided to take another look at the police report on Mike Young. She grabbed an apple from the fridge and curled up on the sofa with the pages. The police had set up surveillance at the local drive-in and caught him selling marijuana, LSD, and heroin to a high school crowd. He never did admit who his supplier was.

His original sentence was three years, but he Jiad been a model prisoner who attended church and took vocational school courses in photography, so he was released in little more than eighteen months.

She put the report down suddenly. What was that noise?

Skye rose from the couch and looked out the window by the front door. The Impala was alone in her driveway. A breeze rippled through the leaves on the trees, but nothing else moved.

Sitting again, she looked at her watch. It was two-thirty in the afternoon. Simon had only been gone a few minutes.

This time the noise was louder and sounded like it came from her bedroom. Skye picked up the baseball bat Vince had given her as a housewarming gift and walked over to the half-shut bedroom door. She nudged it all the way open using her foot and, with the bat at the ready, looked into the room.

It was as she had left it. Sighing with relief, she let the bat down from her shoulder and relaxed. At that moment, someone wearing black driving gloves grabbed her arm, spun her around, and put a gun to her temple.

"You thought you were so smart, Miz Psychologist. Spy ing on people, searching places you had no right to be. sticking your nose where it didn't belong," Mike Young jeered as he dragged Skye through the great room, pausing only long enough to snatch the envelope containing the reels of film and the negatives from the coffee table. "Judge not, that ye be not judged."

"Mike, you sound angry," Skye responded automati­cally.

He slapped her across the face with the gun, and she felt the pain explode in her cheek. "Don't use that psycho-shit on me. They tried that while I was in prison. You'd better think of Matthew, chapter three, verse seven: 'Flee from the wrath to come.'"

They were in the foyer now. Mike grabbed her purse and dumped it onto the hall table. He snatched her keys and pushed her out the front door and down the steps.

He wrenched open the passenger door and shoved her into the car. "Slide all the way over. I can't be seen driving your vehicle."

Afraid that another blow to the head would make her pass out, Skye scooted over quickly. "Why are you doing this, Mike?"

She threw both hands up to ward off the impact when he raised the gun to hit her again.

Mike pushed his face into hers. "Don't ask stupid ques­tions. You searched Honey's condo and the old train station. This is what you found." He held up the envelope contain­ing the film and negatives.

"How do you know all that?" Skye shrank as far away from him as the seat would allow and attempted to get the keys into the ignition.

"Once the police had searched Honey's condo, I placed a surveillance camera in the hall outside. I saw you pick that lock like a pro. You and that grave digger were in there a long time, but you didn't come out carrying anything, so I

had to follow you to see what you found." Mike frowned. "Now start this car, and don't forget to fasten your seat belt. We don't want the cops pulling us over." He buckled his own belt, then waved toward the road with his gun. "Drive down Stebler and take a left on Basin."

As Skye backed the car out of the driveway, she quickly scanned the area, but the road was deserted. "That's how you found me at the railroad depot."

"Yeah, I followed you from the time you left work. Until you led me there, I had forgotten about Honey using that place as a hangout. I didn't think you were going to find anything until you went back and crawled under that counter." Mike slid down in the seat until he wasn't visible from outside the car. His gun was now aimed at Skye's heart.

"Why didn't you take the envelope when you hit me on the head?" Skye turned her head to look at him, and the car swerved.

"Drive straight, or I'll kill you right here." Mike shoved the gun into her side. "I didn't take the envelope because you didn't have it in your hand. It was possible you hadn't found anything. Before I could search you, I saw the police car cruise by and slow down, so instead I figured I would burn up whatever evidence there was. Better safe than sorry."

Skye carefully made the turn onto Basin. She was look­ing desperately for some way to save herself, but made her voice remain calm and professional. "What exactly is the evidence?"

"You idiots are too stupid to live. I can't believe you or your boyfriend couldn't figure out what was going on in these pictures."

"How do you know we didn't figure it out? Simon's at the police station this very minute telling Chief Boyd everything."

Mike snorted. "Good try. Simple Simon has gone to get

his poor sweetums something to eat, not to tell the police anything. No, Simon is no threat to me. Only you and these damn movies."

When she had to stop at the light on Basin, Skye consid­ered jumping out of the car, but there were few other vehi­cles and no pedestrians to try to signal for help. "How do you know that?"

"Turn right here."

"Where are we going?"

Mike ignored that question and answered her previous one. "I know your boyfriend hasn't got a clue because I bugged your house right after I saw the surveillance tape from Honey's condo."

Her mind frantically searched for a plan. "So, what was Honey blackmailing you over?"

"Nosy right up to the bitter end, aren't you?" Mike never took his eyes off her. "If you must know, after Honey left town she hooked up with a bunch of other young girls who had run away. They all wanted to be actresses, so she brought them down here and she and I put them in the movies. I played the male lead, and Honey made an occa­sional guest appearance."

Skye drove along Maryland until she got to Kinsman, where Mike told her to turn left.

He continued, "We sold those movies through ads in porno magazines. Then I was busted for drugs and went to prison. During that time Honey got a job at the Chicago TV station. She was a gofer for some local celebrity. The money wasn't the best, but she was hooked on the idea of show business.