“First I have to take care of you.” Bonnie raised the knife and Lucy ducked just as it came slashing past her shoulder, tearing the sleeve and missing her skin by millimeters.
Lucy jumped back and crouched, staring at Bonnie, incredulous. She couldn’t believe this was happening. The woman was really attacking her with a carving knife. The blade was at least ten inches long. Lucy’s first instinct was to run, but she didn’t dare turn her back on Bonnie. So she began inching backwards along the path, feeling her way among the slippery rocks and roots while maintaining a defensive crouch, holding her hands in front of her face. If only she could get out of the bushes and into the open, she’d have a chance. She didn’t think Bonnie would actually stab her to death in broad daylight, in front of the neighbors. That’s when her foot slid out from under her and she tumbled onto her back. Bonnie was over her in a flash, pressing her knee against Lucy’s middle. Lucy could see glints of sun reflecting off the blade as she brought it down.
Flat on her back, with Bonnie pressing her against the ground, Lucy’s only option was to catch her wrist and try to flip her over. Bonnie had the advantage, being on top, but Lucy managed to use her leg for leverage. Bonnie rolled backwards, and Lucy rolled on top of her, still holding onto the arm with the knife. On her back, Bonnie was able to deliver a good enough kick to Lucy’s diaphragm that she lost her grip. Gasping for air, Lucy tried to roll over enough to get her hands beneath her so she could push herself upright. Realizing that she had left her shoulder vulnerable, Lucy tried to scramble to her feet but lost her footing and fell face downwards, slamming her cheekbone into a rock. The pain felt like a knife driving into her face; she struggled to keep from passing out and knew she had to get back on her feet but her body just wouldn’t cooperate. She felt as if she was drowning in freezing water—she knew how to swim but she couldn’t make her arms and legs do what she needed them to do. She couldn’t save herself, Bonnie was going to kill her. Tears sprang to her eyes.
“Bonnie, enough. Put the knife down.”
It was Coach Buck.
“No. She knows. I have to kill her.”
“It doesn’t matter. It’s over. I called the police. I’m going to turn myself in.”
“You can’t do that!”
“I can’t not do it,” he said. “I can’t live like this anymore.” He held out his hand. “Now, give me the knife.”
Bonnie’s eyes darted from Lucy to her husband and back again. “It’s just you and me. Nobody knows. We can kill her and everything will be all right again.”
“Bonnie, it’s not all right. Because of me three people are dead. That’s too many. It’s over. I’ve been living a lie and I can’t do it anymore.”
From the distance Lucy heard a siren approaching, then several more. The cavalry was coming. She passed out.
CHAPTER 22
HOUSEWIFE CHARGED IN DOUBLE SLAYING
By Edward J. Stillings, Staff Writer
GILEAD—Prudence Path housewife Bonnie Burkhart’s days were filled with carpooling, homemaking, and baking until yesterday when the mother of six-year-old twin daughters was arraigned in Gilead District Court on two counts of first-degree murder. Prosecutors charge that Burkhart, 35, was responsible for the stabbing death of Mary Catherine (Mimi) Stanton, 39, on September 3 and the drowning death of Thomas Preston O’Toole, 41, on September 12. She was also charged with the attempted murder on September 26 of Lucy Stone, a reporter for this newspaper.
District Attorney Frederick P. Smith told Judge Wilfred P. Lawless that Burkhart committed the murders in an attempt to protect her husband, Buck Burkhart, 55. Buck Burkhart, who coached the Tinker’s Cove Warriors to an unprecedented 3-0 winning season, has admitted that he was wanted by Massachusetts police in connection with a 1976 bank robbery that resulted in the death of a Boston police officer, John Joseph O’Toole. Police killed two of the robbers, later identified as members of a radical leftist group known as the People’s Liberation Front, but Burkhart, who was never identified, escaped and successfully eluded capture for nearly thirty years.
“This man,” said Smith, pointing to Coach Burkhart, “whom we know as Buck Burkhart, upstanding citizen, educator, coach, and father, has been living a lie. He now admits he was the getaway driver in the robbery that took the life of Officer O’Toole.”
Bonnie Burkhart, who entered a plea of not guilty, displayed no emotion during the brief arraignment proceeding, but Coach Burkhart listened with his face in his hands as Smith described the alleged murder of Mimi Stanton by his wife. “When Bonnie Burkhart realized that her new neighbor on Prudence Path was the daughter of John Joseph O’Toole, the police officer killed in the robbery for which her husband was wanted, she feared her husband would be recognized, so she took matters into her own hands. She viciously stabbed Mimi Stanton to death in her own kitchen, using the victim’s own carving knife. And what was Mimi Stanton doing when she was killed? She was baking cookies for a charity bake sale.”
Burkhart is also charged with murdering Stanton’s brother, Thomas Preston O’Toole, by drowning. Investigators allege that Burkhart met O’Toole, a recovered alcoholic with no permanent address, in the Tinker’s Cove harbor and supplied him with a bottle of bourbon. When he became drunk she tipped him into the water, holding him down with one of the life-saving poles that are kept at the docks in case someone accidentally falls into the water.
Judge Lawless refused bail for Bonnie Burkhart, who will be held in the County Correctional Institution pending trial in Gilead Superior Court. A pretrial conference date was set for October 20. The judge also approved extradition of Buck Burkhart to Massachusetts, where he will finally face charges for the murder of Officer O’Toole. Under Massachusetts’s felony murder rule, anyone who participates in a robbery resulting in a death can be charged with first-degree murder. If found guilty, both Burkharts could receive life sentences. Their young daughters are in the care of relatives under the supervision of the Department of Social Services.
All charges have been dropped against Fred Stanton, who had previously been charged with his wife’s murder.
Retired Police Chief Oswald Crowley will take over Burkhart’s job as coach of the Tinker’s Cove Warriors football team. (See related story: Crowley vows zero-tolerance for hazing, Chapter 2.)
“Wow, that’s quite a story,” said Sue, folding her copy of the Pennysaver and laying it on the table. The Gang of Four was gathered at Jake’s for their Thursday morning breakfast together and Lucy had brought copies of the paper for everyone to read.