Free A Vision of Murder by Price McNaughton

child. She saw Sissy’s thin hand poised above
the horn. She better not , Mrs. Dodd thought savagely, putting an extra
spring in her step.
    Sissy must have read the
threat from Mrs. Dodd because her hand froze before slowly wilting down to her
side. Mrs. Dodd finally reached the passenger side door, leaning heavily
against it and gasping for air before wrenching the creaky old door open.
    “Did you find anything?”
Sissy asked sweetly in her high pitched voice. Her clear blue eyes were open
wide with expectation. Her round face reminded Mrs. Dodd suddenly of a large
baby. She even had a ribbon holding a mass of predictably dyedblonde curls up. One of those women who refuse to
get old , Mrs. Dodd thought disgustedly.
    She shook her head in reply.
“Not a thing. I couldn’t get close to that dad-burned house.” She surveyed her
pants gloomily. They were muddy and ripped with briars still stuck on the left
leg.
    How lucky that Lorene had to
go out ,
Mrs. Dodd thought as she stuck one tiny finger through a large tear in her
pants. Sissy glanced at it and tittered, “Lorene is going to die when she sees
what you did.”
    “Unlike you, Sissy, I don’t
let my daughter treat me like an old lady. I’m still the boss of me,” Mrs. Dodd
proclaimed with a shake of her head, her lips pursed. But inside, she knew that
was not true. Lorene was going to die when she saw those pants. Another
daughter dead , Mrs. Dodd thought morbidly.
    “I saw the police car leave
over thirty minutes ago,” Sissy fretted. “Where have you been? It’s hot out
here.”
    “I’m an old lady! You try
climbing through those woods,” Mrs. Dodd replied smartly.
    “And all for
nothing, huh?” Sissy asked, pulling the car back onto the road despite the warning sounds of
clanks and hisses.
    “Sissy, this car is on its
last leg.”
    “Like us,” Sissy tittered
again before continuing, “but you better be thankful for this old lady.” She
patted the dash fondly. “She’s all we’ve got.”
    “True,” Mrs. Dodd muttered.
She was not allowed to drive anymore, but Sissy was still able. Mrs. Dodd would
rather have died than admit to Sissy that her inability to drive was not
physical, but rather due to Lorene’s orders. Instead, Mrs. Dodd simply used
Sissy as a taxi most of the time, claiming that her eyesight was failing.
    She clenched her small hands
tightly together in excitement. This afternoon had been one of the luckiest of
her life. When Sissy pulled her groaning car into the driveway, Mrs. Dodd would
admit that at first she was not very happy. But then the clouds had cleared and
Lorene had gone out to her garden. Mrs. Dodd, though distracted by Sissy’s
incessant chattering, was still able to discern Lorene chatting over the fence. Lorene’s not even been out there ten minutes!
    Maybe she’s talking to the
psychic again ,
she had thought, rising slowly from the table and struggling to shush Sissy,
who would not take a hint.
    But she had not even made it
to the window when her daughter had practically flown through the door, her
hair in disarray. Grabbing her purse, she turned to her mother.
    “Mother, I have to run out
on some errands.” She glanced back towards her garden fretfully. “Oh dear, my
garden!” she almost wailed.
    Mrs. Dodd had never seen her
so upset. “What’s wrong?”
    “That horrible flood seems
to have knocked over several of my plants and busted a window in the
greenhouse. If it frosts this weekend, well, it will just kill all my plants.
I’m going to run over to Ridgeville and see if I can get a replacement pane
before it closes. Will you be alright here?”
    “I’ll be fine…” Mrs. Dodd
started before being interrupted by Sissy.
    “I’ll keep her company,”
Sissy chirped cheerfully.
    Lorene paused in the doorway
and smiled serenely at them, “Now you girls be good,”
she said.
    The two old ladies watched
her leave, backing carefully out of the driveway. Mrs. Dodd positioned herself
carefully in