Chapters (62)
- Cover
- A PENNY
- Dedication
- Acknowledgments
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- Forty
- Forty-One
- Forty-Two
- Forty-Three
- Forty-Four
- Forty-Five
- Forty-Six
- Forty-Seven
- Forty-Eight
- Forty-Nine
- Fifty
- Fifty-One
- Fifty-Two
- Fifty-Three
- Fifty-Four
- A Sample Chapter of Don’t Take Any Wooden Nickels
- About the Author
- Other Books by Mindy Starns Clark
- About the Publisher
“Oh, no,” I whispered. Carlos’ stupid secret code! My computer was in the car. I ran down the stairs and out of the door just as Sidra and Derek were rounding the side of the house.
“He’s not anywhere,” Derek said breathlessly.
“He left me a note!” I said. “It’s in code. I need a keyboard.”
I grabbed my computer and ran with it to the table in the drawing room. I sat down and opened the lid.
“Angelina’s stuff is gone!” Nick cried, running into the room. We all hesitated, looking at him. “Searching for Carlos, I went in her room. Her suitcase and most of her clothes are gone.”
We all looked at each other, and I couldn’t help but think this all grew stranger by the minute.
“She was not here when I got up this morning,” Nick continued when no one spoke. “Today is her day off. I wondered where she had gone, but I did not really think anything of it until now.”
The police began asking Nick questions about Angelina. As they did, I turned back to the computer, which was now up and ready to use. I read Carlos’ note again, trying to figure out what he meant. Move your fingers to the bottom row of the keyboard, it said, so I set the note next to the computer and studied it. The first word was “dqoo83.” I put my fingers on the keyboard in the home position, then slid them down one row. I closed my eyes and pretended that my fingers were on the home row. I then typed “dqoo83.” When I opened my eyes, I saw on the screen that I had actually written “callie.”
“That’s it!” I said. Quickly, I typed in the rest of the message. When I was finished I leaned forward and read what I had written.
callie, it said, i think aunt judith is running away. shes got suitcases in her car and everything. im going to hide in the trunk and see where shes going. ps if i never come back call the police.
“He’s with Judith,” Marion said, clutching her chest with relief.
“Derek,” I said evenly, “I think you’d better tell your mother about Judith and her little nighttime ‘activities’ that Carlos discovered.”
He spoke quietly, filling her in on the events of two nights before when Carlos and I caught Judith in her vandalism red-handed. Despite all of that, I, too, felt relieved. At least Judith hadn’t taken Carlos away intentionally. The greater question remained, however: Wherever Judith was headed, whatever she was doing, once she found Carlos and realized he had been waiting inside her trunk, spying on her—what exactly was she capable of doing to him?
Forty-Four
Forty-Four
“This is my fault,” I said softly, swallowing hard. “Carlos wanted to be a detective, like me. I told him the situation could be dangerous, but he wouldn’t listen.”