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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

Finally, everyone quieted down and waited as he spoke.

“Yes,” he said, listening, “go ahead.” He waved for a pen and paper, and Yolanda handed him hers. “Got it. Yes. Okay.”

Then he hung up.

“Well?” Keegan asked as we were all waiting, holding our breath.

“They got the number,” Sollie replied. “The call to transfer the funds came from a pay phone in Pike Ridge.”

“Pike Ridge?” Keegan asked. From what I could recall, Pike Ridge was a small suburb west of the city, not too far from the Smythes’ house, about half an hour from where we were. “Have they got somebody on it?”

“Units have already been dispatched to the scene.”

“What’s in Pike Ridge?” another cop asked. “Besides some expensive houses and a few shopping centers?”

Sollie shook his head.

“I’ll tell you what’s in Pike Ridge,” I said suddenly, thinking of Tom and his trip to the funeral via helicopter. “An airport. There’s a small airport in Pike Ridge.”

Forty-One

Forty-One

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The cops drove westward through the city, sirens blaring as they wove in and out of traffic. The detectives had, of course, called ahead to the Pike Ridge police and told them to seize Alan Bennet, probably at the airport. But Keegan and Sollie still wanted to get there as soon as possible themselves to question Alan once he had been arrested. I followed along behind the last cop car, matching their speed in my fancy Lincoln as we flew through the city.

Harriet had opted to take a cab from the Smythe offices to her cousin’s house where she would wait for further word from me. I was glad she had some place to pass the time; I knew she had a real aversion for things like high-speed pursuits and apprehending suspects.

As I drove, I thought about Alan, and I wondered if Judith was with him. Despite all the illegal things Judith had done thus far—from diverting funds out of Feed the Need to vandalizing her brother and his wife—I had a feeling that maybe Alan was acting alone in the murder with Monty Redburn as his accomplice. Smythe Incorporated was partly Judith’s company now, her inheritance. It didn’t make sense that she would rob herself—especially not for a paltry 1.5 million dollars. Her stake in the company had to be worth at least ten times as much.