Denise Swanson - Murder of a Small-Town Honey

"When I got out of prison, we both wanted to go straight, so we parted amicably. Or so I thought. A few months later, just as things started going good for me with the studio and the church, Honey called me. She demanded money, or she'd show everyone in town the dirty movies

we'd made. It seems she had gone to my apartment after I was arrested and taken all the negatives and reels of film.

"The amount of money she wanted wasn't too much, so I paid."

Skye frowned. "Was she willing to expose herself? She was in those pictures too."

"Not in all of them. It would have been easy enough for her to pick out ones that only I appeared in."

"So, you were behind all the Chokeberry Days pranks. You were trying to get them to cancel the festival, so Honey wouldn't come back to town."

"You need to show how smart you are to the bitter end too, don't you?" Mike's voice was disgusted. "You never did learn your place."

Skye hardly heard his insults. She had realized they were coming up to a one-lane bridge, where Kinsman crossed over the river. He's going to kill me when we get to wherever we're going or he wouldn't be telling me all this. I'm a good swimmer and I'd rather die trying to save my­self than be shot like a helpless little girl. I'll have the ele­ment of surprise. If I drive off the bridge on his side, I can have my door open before he knows what's happening.

"You were paying her for a long time, so why did you decide to kill her now?" Skye asked to keep him distracted.

"Because she raised the payment to fifteen hundred. She had found proof that some of those girls in the movies with me were underage."

They were approaching the bridge. Skye asked one last question, hoping to keep him talking, so he wouldn't notice her slipping out of her Keds. "Did you mean to implicate Vince by using his shears?"

"Nah. I didn't go there to kill her, but shejust wouldn't back down. When I put my hand in my pocket and found the scissors I knew it was a sign from God. 'My father hath chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scor­pions.' I had to kill her. She would have ruined me in this

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town. Then I searched the trailer for the film, but it wasn't there and people started pounding on the door. It was eas\ to slip away without anyone noticing."

As the car started over the bridge, its tires made hollow thumping sounds on the narrow planks of wood used to guide vehicles safely across. Skye had been going the legal limit of fifteen, but now she pushed the speed up to thirty-five. Taking one last look at the madness gleaming in Mike's eyes, she said as she whipped the wheel to the right. " 'Don't mess with a woman,' Helen Reddy, nineteen sev­enty-three."

The next few seconds seemed to tick by in slow motion as the Impala burst through the flimsy guardrail and be­came airborne. Skye held on to the driver's door handle with all her strength, and prayed that her seat belt would hold.

She heard Mike groan as the car lurched and he was jerked toward her. In a quick glance to her right she saw that Mike's seat belt had prevented him from sliding very far in her direction. The Impala hit the water, floated for a moment, and rapidly sank until it settled on the passenger side on the river bottom.

Skye sat for a moment, dazed by the impact and by the chaos she had put into motion with a turn of the steering wheel. Finally, she stole another peek at Mike. He had been pulled down and to the right. Cracks radiated in the passen­ger-side window around the place where his head had slammed into the glass. He looked dazed, but had not dropped the gun.

Skye quickly unbuckled her seat belt and struggled to wrench the door open. It was much harder than she ex­pected. The force of the water acted as a wedge to hold the door closed. She could hear the blood pulsing in her head as she fumbled for the crank to roll down the window and relieve the pressure. Muddy water gushed into the car, and she was afraid she would drown if she didn't act quickly.

mi*, i*.,. _,

She put all her weight behind one mighty shove, and the door flew open. She quickly thrust herself through the opening. Once out, she shot to the surface, sputtering and coughing.

Immediately she began to swim for shore, worried that Mike would be coming after her. She struggled up the riverbank and turned to look.

There was no sign of Mike. Then she remembered: Jed hadn't fixed the latch on the passenger-side seat belt. Once it was buckled, there was no way to unfasten it.

CHAPTER 26

On a Clear Day

Skye sat silently in the passenger seat of the old Buick Regal as it rattled into her parents' driveway Wednesday afternoon. Although she was physically present, much of what was happening around her seemed to be playing on a movie screen rather than in real life. She watched May hurry out of the kitchen and Jed appear from the garage. She saw an unspoken signal go between her parents, broad­casting that neither recognized the car or the heavily tat­tooed man who got out of it.

As Jed stepped forward, the boy in the backseat bounced out and opened the front passenger door. He reached in and grabbed Skye's hand, pulling her out of the car like a stuffed toy.

He was the first to speak. "This here is Miz Denison. She's from my school. I found her by the river. You her folks?"

Hurrying forward, May put her arm around Skye, who was still soaked despite the heat's rapid drying power. "Yes, she's our daughter. What happened to you, honey?"

Skye didn't answer, and the boy chimed in, "She ain't said much since I found her."

Jed walked over to the tattooed man and stuck out his hand. "Jed Denison."

"Earl Doozier, and this here's Junior." He shook hands with Jed.

"Thanks for bringing her home. What happened?" Jed gestured to Skye, who stood dripping onto the gravel.

Junior spoke up. "I was play in' near the river when this car started across the old bridge. Sudden like, it sped up, and then just drove offa the bridge—exactly like on TV. In a few minutes I seen Miz Denison swimmin' to shore. Then I ran home and got Daddy." Jed swore under his breath. May exclaimed, "Oh, my God! Oh, my God!" "She wanted Daddy to jump in the river to see if this here Mike guy was still livin', but Daddy don't know how to swim. When she found that out she made us drive rick­ety-split to the police station, and she went in and came out right quick. Then we brung her here. Think she was tryin' to kill herself?"

Skye spoke up for the first time. "Junior, I wasn't trying to kill myself, but someone was trying to kill me."

May, who had been herding them all toward porch chairs, halted abruptly. "Everyone, sit down," she ordered. "Skye, tell us what happened."

Her audience sat listening intently as Skye relayed the events prior to her trip off the bridge.

"What happened when you stopped at the police sta­tion?" May jumped up from her perch on the table edge and began to pace back and forth.

Sighing, Skye closed her eyes. "I didn't want to find myself in the backseat of Chief Boyd's squad car again, so I told Thea the story and asked her to send the rescue squad. I probably should have gone back to show them the exact spot, but I just couldn' t."

Junior had seated himself at her feet and was leaning against her leg like a puppy. "Don't you worry, Miz Deni­son, they'll find it right off. You can see the car from the bridge. I looked when we drove over."

Skye turned to her father. "Well, that's it for the Impala." A slight smile hovered at the edge of her lips. "Guess I'll fi­nally have to get a new car."

Skye woke up with a start. Where am I? She slowh scanned the walls and realized she was back in her old room at her parents' house. Memories of the last few days were nudging their way through the sleep-induced haze when May popped her head into the room.