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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

Last night Detectives Keegan and Sollie had come and picked up Marion themselves, treating her as kindly as possible under the circumstances despite the mandatory handcuffs. I had followed along to the police station and stayed with her through questioning until her own lawyer could get there. A high-powered corporate attorney, he seemed fairly clueless about criminal procedure, but he promised to hire her the best criminal lawyer money could buy first thing in the morning.

I had returned to the house late in the night to find Derek waiting up for me. I was afraid he would be angry with me for forcing his mother to turn herself in, but mostly he was just confused. He wanted the whole story, though when it came to his mother’s confession, he seemed more sad than surprised. Asking me about her chances in court, I told him I thought they were pretty good. She had turned herself in, after all, and I doubted any judge would have the stomach for the harsh sentencing of a sweet middle-aged lady, however misguided and wrong her actions may have been.

“She’ll do some time,” I had said to Derek, “but I would hope for the minimum.”

Derek, in turn, filled me in on the events at home. He told me that Nick had been taken to the emergency room for stitches and then on to jail, primarily for the crimes of aiding and abetting and obstruction of justice. Angelina was home and had gone on to bed after giving Derek and Sidra a full explanation of all of the events they had missed out on while they were seeing to Carlos’ injured leg. They believed her story about Alan’s lies that the Jefferson shirt was essentially worthless, and they weren’t going to press charges against her for stealing it.

As for Carlos, he was fine after his big adventure, sound asleep in his room in the main house where he belonged. Derek and Sidra were committed to working through the problems in their marriage, he told me, and that began with the three of them living together again as a family.

After my conversation with Derek, I had managed to get a few hours of fitful sleep. Upon awakening this morning, I had packed my few belongings, given the clothes I had borrowed from Judith back to Angelina, and said my farewells. I was sorriest to say goodbye to Carlos, who now looked at me with something approaching hero worship. Not only was I a real spy, but I had managed to save his life and deliver him to safety. I knew I had found a lifelong friend, and I promised to be an e-mail pen pal to him for as long as he wanted.