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Back A Penny for Your Thoughts
Chapters (62)
  1. Cover
  2. A PENNY
  3. Dedication
  4. Acknowledgments
  5. One
  6. Two
  7. Three
  8. Four
  9. Five
  10. Six
  11. Seven
  12. Eight
  13. Nine
  14. Ten
  15. Eleven
  16. Twelve
  17. Thirteen
  18. Fourteen
  19. Fifteen
  20. Sixteen
  21. Seventeen
  22. Eighteen
  23. Nineteen
  24. Twenty
  25. Twenty-One
  26. Twenty-Two
  27. Twenty-Three
  28. Twenty-Four
  29. Twenty-Five
  30. Twenty-Six
  31. Twenty-Seven
  32. Twenty-Eight
  33. Twenty-Nine
  34. Thirty
  35. Thirty-One
  36. Thirty-Two
  37. Thirty-Three
  38. Thirty-Four
  39. Thirty-Five
  40. Thirty-Six
  41. Thirty-Seven
  42. Thirty-Eight
  43. Thirty-Nine
  44. Forty
  45. Forty-One
  46. Forty-Two
  47. Forty-Three
  48. Forty-Four
  49. Forty-Five
  50. Forty-Six
  51. Forty-Seven
  52. Forty-Eight
  53. Forty-Nine
  54. Fifty
  55. Fifty-One
  56. Fifty-Two
  57. Fifty-Three
  58. Fifty-Four
  59. A Sample Chapter of Don’t Take Any Wooden Nickels
  60. About the Author
  61. Other Books by Mindy Starns Clark
  62. About the Publisher

I put back the cash and closed the drawer, looking, finally, at the row of photos she had clipped to the side of her mirror. One was of an Italian-looking family, all smiling, clustered in front of a ristorante. There were several school-type photos of dark-haired, dark-eyed children with “to Aunt Angelina” scribbled on the backs. I looked closely at the next photo, showing Angelina wearing jeans and a T-shirt, leaning against the base of some sort of monument, grinning seductively at the camera. With her hair down, she looked very carefree and sexy. On the back of the photo she had scribbled some hearts and written “our special place.” I wondered who the other half of “our” could possibly be. Judging from the way she gazed at the camera, whoever took the picture was definitely the object of her affection.

I tucked that photo back into place and then pulled down the last one. It was of a heavy girl with a chubby face and Angelina’s features. Thinking at first that it might be a sister, I did a double take when I realized that it was a picture of Angelina herself. She used to be overweight, I recognized with a start. That explained the ill-fitting uniform, the relatively small number of clothes in the closet. The size-24 coat must be hers, I thought, saved as a reminder of heavier days.

I put the picture back, then left Angelina’s room and headed up the stairs.

I wanted to start with Wendell’s dialysis room, but I wasn’t exactly sure where to find it. Opening a door near the end of the hall that I had originally assumed was a closet, I discovered a huge, sumptuous-looking black leather reclining chair next to a machine that was obviously the dialysis unit. Behind the chair were shelves filled with tubes, bandages, syringes, and other medical supplies. In front of the chair was a sturdy built-in cabinet holding a nice television, a VCR, and stacks of video tapes.

I walked to the shelves of medical supplies, poking around until I found a small refrigerator containing two entire boxes of injectable insulin bottles, the same size and brand as the one I’d found in Nick’s room. At least I knew now that the killer, whoever it had been, wouldn’t have had any trouble procuring the murder weapon. All they had to do was come in here and take a bottle from the box.