Murder of a Small-Town Honey

pleating its pages.

'Why did they want to question you? What do you have to do with Mrs. Gumtree?'

'It's a long story.' Vince looked embarrassed.

Skye looked at her watch. 'Then you'd better get going.'

'Well, for starters, they found my styling shears in her neck.'

'How can they be sure they were yours?' Skye grabbed the magazine from his hands.

'They had the shop's name engraved on them. But everybody in town gets their hair cut here. Anyone could have taken them without my noticing.'

'Wonderful.' Skye thought for a moment. 'There must be something else.'

'In real life Mrs. Gumtree was Honey Adair. Her agent finally returned from his weekend trip and identified her late yesterday afternoon.'

When Skye looked puzzled, he explained, 'I dated Honey in high school, the end of my senior year. Don't you remember?'

'Now I do. She was really tiny—I was so jealous. The couple of times I was near her I felt like the Incredible

Hulk. The name didn't ring a bell because Mom and Dad only referred to her as That Awful Girl.' Why didn't they like her?'

Vince shrugged. 'Honey was pretty wild. She was in­volved with the druggies at school, and everyone said she slept around.'

'Did she? With you, I mean?'

'Oh, yeah.' Vince squirmed. 'That's a big part of the problem.'

'They suspect you because of an affair that took place sixteen years ago? Have you seen her since high school?' Skye was getting confused.

'She left town the day we graduated. I don't think she's ever been back.'

'Wait a minute. She lived with Uncle Charlie, didn't she? I remember—she was his real niece.'

'Right. His youngest sister was her mother. Her parents were killed in a car crash the summer before her senior year, and she moved here from Chicago to live with him.' Vince began to fold the towels in the laundry basket next to the dryer.

'It was during that time that he told me to stop coming over to visit. I was really hurt,' Skye said in astonishment.

'He probably wanted to protect you from Honey's bad influence.'

'Even so, with Mom and Dad being so close to Charlie, I'm surprised they didn't at least try to pretend they liked Honey.'

'Honey made it difficult for people to ignore her bad qualities. Charlie had a real rough time that year. I think he was mortified by her behavior. All I could see was how pretty she was,' Vince said, looking off into the distance.

'Typical male. Thinking with your crotch instead of your brain.'

Vince punched Skye in the arm. She yelped and grabbed for his ponytail. She missed, lost her balance, bumped into

a chair, and went sprawling on the floor. Brother and sister both broke into gales of laughter.

They eventually stopped giggling and Skye got back into the chair. 'I still don't understand why a high school romance makes you the prime suspect. Anyone who came into the salon could have stolen the scissors.'

'I haven't told you the worst part.' Vince squatted in front of her. 'The morning of our high school graduation Honey asked me to take her for a ride. When I picked her up, she told me she was pregnant and I was the father. All she wanted from me was enough money for an abortion and to get away from Scumble River. Honey hated this town. She said it was full of hicks.'

'What did you do?'

Vince glared. 'What could I do? I went home, cleaned out my savings, and gave her the five hundred dollars. She promised not to tell Mom and Dad or Charlie, and I thought that would be the end of it.'

'It wasn't, though, was it?' Skye guessed.

'No. In December of that year I got a phone call from her. Luckily, none of you were home. She said she'd de­cided to have the baby after all and she wanted me to pay child support.'

'Oh, my God!' Stunned, Skye sagged in her chair.

'That certainly was my reaction too.' Vince smiled grimly. 'I've been sending her money every month since that phone call.'

'Was it a boy or a girl?'

'A boy. Wade. She only let me see the baby once. Proba­bly to convince me to pay up. But twice a year I'd get pic­tures and copies of his report cards. I never knew where she was. The money went to a post office box in Chicago, and she met me at Louis Joliet Mall.'

'Did you know she was Mrs. Gumtree?' Skye reached into her tote and found her notebook.

'I've never seen the TV show, and I didn't look closely

at the posters until this morning. Even then I'm not sure I would have recognized her. The makeup was remarkable.'

'This must have had something to do with you needing money?'

'Yeah, she called a week ago and said she wanted to send Wade to private school, and I needed to send her twenty-five hundred dollars by September fifth.' He went back to folding towels.

'Have you sent it?'

'No. Since I've been going out with Abby I've started to think about a lot of things. I told Honey I wasn't sending any more money until after she agreed to regular visits. She threatened to talk to Mom and Dad, which is what she did every time I balked at giving her more money. But I stood firm this time.'

'You paid all these years just because she threatened to tell Mom and Dad?' Skye asked incredulously.

'That was part of it. They've never been very proud of me, and I thought this would make them think even less of me. Mostly, though, it just seemed like the right thing to do. If I had fathered a child, I should support it. Honey's expla­nation of why I shouldn't see him seemed logical. Why confuse the kid with a parent who wasn't going to be around?'

'What made you change your mind?'

He shrugged. 'I'm not sure. Maybe because he was turn­ing sixteen. I don't know. All I wanted was to see him. I told her I wouldn't even mention I was his father.'

'She refused?' Skye was sure she already knew the an­swer.

'After calling me everything but a gentleman, she hung up. There was a message on my answering machine the next day saying she would talk to me Sunday.'

'Sunday was the day she was killed. I wonder if she planned to talk to you in person,' Skye speculated. 'How much of this do the police know?'

'Only about the styling shears and that we dated in high school. They didn't mention a child at all, but I told Loretta the whole story.'

'Good. Who else knows?'

'No one.' Vince looked uncomfortable.

'Tell me the kinds of questions the police asked.'

'Where was I when the murder was committed? When did I last see Honey? Things like that.'

'Nothing about money or the child. Interesting.' Skye jotted down a note on her pad. 'Where were you when she was killed?'

'Home, alone, getting ready to pick up Abby for the pa­rade.'

'Did anyone come to the door or call you on the tele­phone?'

'No. I picked up Abby about twelve-thirty. Since we were going to watch the parade from the roof of the salon, and it wasn't supposed to start until one, we didn't need to get here early in order to get a good spot.' The sound of the front door opening distracted Vince momentarily.

'From the questions the coroner was asking me,' Skye said, 'they seem to think she was killed shortly before I found her, which would be around eleven-thirty. Plenty of time for you to stab her, go home, shower, and pick up Abby looking fresh and clean.'