Free A Vision of Murder by Price McNaughton Page A

her chair, allowing Sissy to keep up her steady stream of talk for
the next hour.
    Suddenly she jumped. “Sissy,
do you want to have an adventure?”
    “Not really,” Sissy replied,
puzzled.
    “ Hmmmm ….”
Mrs. Dodd considered things for a moment. “Well then, will you take me to town?
I want to pick something up for supper and get out a little bit.”
    “Sure,” Sissy replied.
    Mrs. Dodd had practically
flown to the car. She waited impatiently for Sissy to totter down the side
stairs, clutching at the railing, and then over to her car.
    “Are you sure it will
start?” Mrs. Dodd said fretfully, peering now and then out of the window.
    “Why yes,” Sissy said,
raising her eyebrows in surprise. “Why are you in such a hurry?”
    “I’m not,” Mrs. Dodd replied
sharply. Finally, the car started and they moved slowly down the road, still
wet and covered with leaves.
    They passed several
neighbors, all of whom Sissy had several comments on.
    “Why, there’s old Mr.
Franklin, remember him?” she asked, not pausing for an answer. “I heard he’s
going to be put in that retirement home soon by that no good son of his that
moved back last January. What’s his name?”
    “Sam,” Mrs. Dodd replied.
They passed Mr. Franklin quickly as he tottered down the road.
    “And there’s Patricia
Swanson!  Trying to look young again. Just look
at that skirt!  Her husband would roll over in his grave if he could see
her now. I always thought she might have had something to do with him dying.
You worked with him then, didn’t you?” Sissy asked again, but since she knew
the answer, she barreled forward. “She’s one of the most jealous ladies I know.
And vindictive too!  Always cutting those young girls out of those jobs at
the salon, she can’t stand to have anyone around that might look better than
her.”
    Mrs. Dodd nodded serenely,
her eyes searching the road ahead.
    “And
Jackson Reilly! Such a pity about his wife.”
    “What’s he doing here? And
what happened to her?” Mrs. Dodd asked. She had always liked Jackson. His
family had lived next door to hers when Lorene and Mary were little. How many
times that boy had stolen cookies from her cookie jar, she couldn’t count. But
after struggling for years to get over Mary’s death, she had finally given in
and sold the family farm, determined to put the past behind her. She sometimes
thought that Lorene resented her for selling the old place. It had been in the
family for years.
    Mrs. Dodd focused on what
Sissy was saying. “He’s back visiting his family. I thought for sure I had told
you all about this!” Mrs. Dodd did seem to remember faint utterings about a
death in the Sims family. Sissy continued, “Well, you know they just got
married a year or two ago now. Lived up in Chattanooga. A couple of months ago, she had a terrible wreck. She died instantly. He’s been
down here trying to get things sorted out. He said he’s moving his mother back
up to Chattanooga with him. She’s going to help him with the baby. Help him and
save him all that time of driving to check on her.”
    Mrs. Dodd knew that old lady
Reilly was not in good shape, but she had steadfastly refused to leave her old
home for years now. The lure of a forsaken grandchild must have tugged at her
heartstrings.
    “Well, I hate that for him,”
Mrs. Dodd said morosely. How strange that tragedy should strike him. She
remembered when he was only a small child at Mary’s funeral. She had thought
then that no misfortune could ever befall him. Nothing would come in quick
retaliation to him like it did to so many others. Not such a sweet boy as he
was. “But sadness comes to us all I guess.”
    Mrs. Dodd sighed heavily,
but perked up instantly when she heard Sissy exclaim, “And there’s the
psychic!” She dropped her voice to a whisper. “An odd one, she is, if you ask
my opinion.”
    “Why are you whispering,
Sissy?” Mrs. Dodd scowled, exasperated. “She can’t hear you in the