Our DEAD GIVEWAY 2006 Contest 2nd Place Winner:

WHAT I REALLY WANTED
by Douglas Campbell

FIRST LINE TAKEN FROM DRIVEN TO DEATH by CAROLYN ROSE

That looks more like human sacrifice than a wedding ceremony, I thought. The groom, Jimmy Blaine, kept looking at his bride with stone cold contempt, like an executioner preparing to slit the virgin's throat. Except he wasn't marrying any virgin. Nervous too, constantly twisting his Blaine ring, the one every family member wears, gold and diamonds, inscribed with their names. I almost felt sorry for him, knowing I'd be sleeping with his new wife every week, but I never liked Jimmy. Oh, but I loved his bride, Danielle.

I'd loved her for ten years, since I first laid eyes on her in high school. Waves of long black hair, shapely, slim and graceful, the cheerleader everybody stared at. Proud and full of herself maybe, but with good reason. It hurt, watching them get married, wishing I was standing in Jimmy's shoes. But I've never managed to get anything I've really wanted, so what's new? What worried me about Jimmy's behavior was thinking he'd found out what happened to his brother.

It was big news a few months ago, the disappearance of Archie Blaine, youngest son of the family who'd made a fortune in home construction. I grew up with the Blaines. Now I'm their landscaper. Typical pair of sons, Jimmy the dutiful one, sharp businessman, hardworking, sober. Ugly mean streak, though. In high school he nearly killed a kid just for knocking over his bottle of pop. Took five of us to pull Jimmy off him. Archie the black sheep, spent every dime partying and gambling, till Papa Blaine cut off the cash flow. A charming scoundrel. It was no pleasure putting that bullet through his head. Amazing though, how a guy loses his charm when he starts blackmailing people.

Yeah, I knew where Archie was. So did Danielle. And we knew he wasn't going to be making any surprise appearance at the wedding. Or anywhere else.

Strangely enough, Jimmy adored his dope of a brother. "I wish I could enjoy life like he does," Jimmy told me once. Pathetic, a whole family of dopes. Rich dopes.

Damn near floored me when Danielle offered me $50,000 to kill Archie. Seems she fell for his charm and slept with him a couple of times. "Now he wants $5,000 a month or he's going to tell Jimmy," she told me. That girl knew where the bread was buttered. Archie had the charm, but Jimmy had the money.

And I spotted myself an opportunity. "I don't want your money," I said. "I want you. Two hours with you, once a week."

Either she felt something for me, or saw an easy way to save herself a bundle. "I can do that," she said. "After the wedding, though. When things settle down."

"I can do that," I said.

Beautiful - something I really wanted, at last.

But in the receiving line at the reception Danielle pulled me close, pretending to hug me. "Jimmy knows!" she whispered.

"How, for godsake?" I whispered back, but some fatass pushed me down the line before she could answer.

I went over it again. It was the perfect murder, damn it, not a loose end anywhere and no way in hell anybody would be stumbling across Archie's body. Not in this century anyway. How could Jimmy know?

When they left, through the hoopla and rice throwing, Danielle's pretty brown eyes caught mine. "Help me!" they screamed.

Then someone said Jimmy and Danielle were spending their wedding night downtown, Hotel Olympia, the honeymoon penthouse, with an observation deck 27 stories above the concrete. I thought of that stony look on Jimmy's face, that kid he nearly killed, and got a nasty, nagging feeling about his plans for his bride. I knew I had to drop in on them, check on her. Danielle and I were married too, after all. By murder. And I honestly loved her, dope that she was.

So I followed them into the city, a place I hate, all the confusion, the labyrinth of streets and alleys, twists and turns. Too much like the human soul.

I went into the Olympia and rode on up. As soon as I stepped out of the elevator I heard them shouting. The door was ajar, so I went in.

Jimmy had her lifted up over by the railing of the deck, and Danielle was screaming, both hands twisted into Jimmy's shirt, clinging. I ran for her, but too late. Those beautiful eyes latched onto mine again, for just a moment. Then Jimmy broke her grip and pitched her over the railing, still screaming. Still in her wedding dress.

"God almighty, Jimmy, why?" was all I could say.

He spun around, flushed, his eyes huge. "She killed Archie," he said. "Slept with him, then killed him. She hired some hit man."

"Who?"

"The bitch wouldn't tell me!"

So she covered for me. Honest to god, I think that woman cared for me.

"How do you know all this?"

"She confessed." He pulled a ring out of his pocket, gold with diamonds, a Blaine ring. Archie's. "I found this in her purse this morning."

The stupid ring! That greedy little dope, Danielle. She must have snatched it off Archie's finger before I hauled him away.

"She got what she deserved. She's a murderer!"

"So are you, Jimmy."

"That wasn't murder! That was justice!"

I wasn't going to argue the point, not with sirens starting to howl. Not a good idea to let the cops find you at a crime scene. I wasn't guilty anyway. Sure, I pulled the trigger, but Danielle caused it all. She bought her ticket for that flight she took.

Just my luck, I thought, as I rode the elevator down and slipped out the hotel's side door. Danielle's dead meat, and I'll never collect one payment of what she owed me. What I really wanted. I killed a man for nothing.

Damn it all. I should have taken her money.

Douglas Campbell lives, writes, runs and plays his guitar in southwestern Pennsylvania. He works for the West Virginia University Libraries in Morgantown, WV. His flash fiction has appeared previously in Literary Potpourri and Flashshot.