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Back A Penny for Your Thoughts Save as PDF
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

Following his lead, I typed in all of the information I had gathered thus far. Then I earmarked the names of the people I now suspected of killing Wendell: Alan Bennet and Judith Smythe. Because I couldn’t positively rule them out yet, I also highlighted Derek Smythe and Gwen Harding, though I doubted either one of them had done it. Apparently, Angelina had a pretty good alibi; at the time of the murder, she had been seen grocery shopping at a local store, and the checker confirmed her presence there. I made notes to that effect, but did check off her brother, Nick, as a possible suspect just in case his alibi wasn’t as airtight as the police thought. At the time of the murder, Nick had been in the city with Marion, helping her shop. Marion had been positively ID’d by a sales clerk, but I didn’t know whether Nick and Marion had been together the entire time, or if he could possibly have had a chance to slip away for a while and pay a visit up the back stairs to Wendell’s office. That left Sidra, who had the best alibi of all; she had been at a Bible study at her church, as attested to by her pastor.

To my mind, that left two strong suspects, Alan and Judith, and three weak-but-still-possible suspects, Derek, Gwen, and Nick. Wendell Smythe didn’t seem to have any enemies. His will had already been read and held no surprises—everyone had been treated fairly. So what was it, what could’ve made someone want to kill him? I created a new category—motive—then typed in my best guesses.

For Alan Bennet, I knew, his motive would probably have been about money. I was suspicious of anyone who lived above their means, but Alan’s marital history alone pointed to a man willing to go to a lot of trouble for the almighty dollar. I considered the ways he would benefit financially from Wendell’s murder.

The most obvious way, of course, was taken in light of his relationship with Judith. Thanks to her inheritance from her father, Judith was now a much wealthier woman. If Alan’s intention was to marry her, then I supposed it made certain sense to see that she was as wealthy as possible first. On the other hand, the timing seemed kind of dumb. After all, why not marry her first, then kill her father?

Of course, increasing Judith’s wealth wasn’t the only possible motivation for Alan. It could’ve been company related. Perhaps he had been diverting funds from Feed the Need into his own personal account, and Wendell had found out about it. Rather than facing the music, Alan could’ve killed Wendell to protect himself.