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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

I sat in my car for a long time, thinking about the fake blood on the windowsills. It had been a terrifying sight, more frightening still because it was so odd. Food coloring in Karo syrup, painted on the windows like blood? Why would someone want to do that? I was still in my car when I saw Derek and Sidra emerge from the house with Nick. He led them around to the back of the cabana, and a moment later I could hear Sidra’s muffled scream. I assumed Angelina and Marion were distracting Carlos in the house.

I started my car and pulled out, turning right from the driveway and then right again on the first road. It ran alongside the Smythes’ estate, and I followed it almost to the end where a low wire fence marked the back boundary of the Smythes’ property. I parked my car and got out, examining the shoulder of the road for tire marks where Alan Bennet might have parked his car among the trees the night before. There weren’t any telltale tracks, but as I headed for the barn I could see where he had crossed over the fence. There was a patch of tall grass bent down from footsteps, a bend in the wire where almost any full-sized adult could have easily climbed over. I did so now, making my way across the grassy field to the barn.

I opened the door to the barn and stepped inside, propping open the door to let in the sunlight. It was a dark building, two stories tall, with an empty loft spanning half of the upper level. Along the wall to my left was a huge green John Deere tractor. On my right was an old couch with the same blanket I had seen spread across it the night before now neatly folded at the end.

It was just a creaky old barn, filled with the smells of dirt and mold and damp hay. Though I didn’t exactly know what I was looking for, I stepped further inside and began poking around among the tool boxes and lawn clippers, hoping that something might turn up. In the back of my mind, I was wondering if a little mischief had been the ultimate purpose of Judith’s meeting with Alan out here the night before. It was just a hunch, but as I poked around, I hoped to find a bucket with traces of the fake blood or perhaps whatever had been used to wipe the blood on the windowsills. But my search turned up nothing, and finally I gave up.