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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

“It wasn’t any big deal,” she said. “Alan loved Mr. Smythe so much, he just wanted something to remember him by.”

“So he had you steal a million-dollar shirt?”

“No, it was only worth about a hundred dollars. Alan told me which one to take; he said it was the least valuable part of the collection. He said that if we took it, he would always have something precious to remember his dear friend Wendell by.”

I sat quietly and looked around, wondering if all women were suckers or just those unfortunate enough to have come up against the charms of a hunk like Alan Bennet. Poor Angelina, finally slim and desirable after years of being overweight and unwanted; she hadn’t stood a chance against a smooth operator like him. What would she do when she realized the item she had stolen was priceless, that the entire reason Alan had romanced her was to get at that shirt?

I didn’t know, and I didn’t want to know. But it’s better she hear it from me, I thought, than from some stranger or on the news. I took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.

“Well, Angelina,” I said finally, gazing out across the gorgeous wooded vista in front of us. “A lot’s been going on today. I think there are a few things you need to know.”

Forty-Eight

Forty-Eight

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I recapped the day’s events to Angelina as she listened, stunned, beside me. Halfway through my explanation, I convinced her to get into my car. I wanted to go back to the Pike Ridge airport; there was a chance, albeit a slim one, that Carlos had climbed from Judith’s car into Alan’s while they were parked at the apartment complex. If so, then Carlos could have hidden in the back of Alan’s car all the way to the airport.

We headed there now, and by the time I was finished with my story, we were pulling into the airport parking lot. As we came to a stop, I spoke sternly.

“I know you’re upset,” I said. “But the priority for us right now is to find Carlos. There’s a chance he’s hiding around here somewhere. You need to put all of this stuff with Alan out of your mind and concentrate on the task at hand. Understood?”

“Of course.”

We got out of the car and looked around, surprised to see several news vans in the parking lot. The police cars, however, had all left.

Angelina and I walked around to the front of the main building, nearly walking into one newscaster’s on-air report. She was standing facing the camera with the runway in the distance behind her.

“…but fortunately for Smythe Incorporated, the airplane’s engine difficulties forced a delay in takeoff, giving the police time to reach the airport and apprehend the suspect…”