A Vision of Murder

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Authors: Price McNaughton
Tags: Suspense, Mystery
car and if
she’s going to hear you psychically, then whispering won’t make any
difference.”
    Sissy blushed and clenched
the wheel, refusing to say anything else until they pulled in at the Quick
Mart.
    The shopping mart across
from the police station was crowded, but Mrs. Dodd lingered, allowing Sissy to
collect the gossip from each cashier at her convenience. She peered cautiously
through the plate glass window at the doors to the police station, watching
everyone who entered and exited.
    “Sissy!” she called. “Let’s
go. I want to run another errand before I go home.”
    Thankfully, nothing
spectacular for the older gossips had happened in the town recently. Scandal
was what interested Sissy, not murder, so the discovery of the body had not
weighed heavily on her otherwise occupied mind. She knew that no one in the
small town had been murdered and that was all she needed to know.
    Sissy’s world revolved
around the small town. The going ons of outsiders to
Temple didn’t interest her in the least bit. It was not hard to pull her away
from the mundane gossip of the discovery of another dead body that seemed to
interest the cashiers so.
    “All they can talk about is
that dead body,” Sissy complained as she heaved herself into the car. While she
was a small lady, she gave the appearance of being rather pudgy and large.
    “I know. I was listening,”
Mrs. Dodd said, “and they don’t have the slightest clue what they’re talking
about. No information at all.”
    “Where are we going?”
    “Out near
the edge of town. I want to gather some collard greens.”
    Sissy peered doubtfully at
her. “Alright, but don’t take too long. It’s too hot out today to be sitting in
a car.” Mrs. Dodd was glad that Sissy had not tried to argue with her. She
wasn’t in the mood.
    The long line of traffic that
Sissy usually held back dwindled slowly down to a couple of cars, one of which
was a police car. Mrs. Dodd watched it turn off on a narrow, washed out gravel
road.
    “Stop here, Sissy!” she
said, as they turned into a narrow bend. “This looks like a good place.”
    Sissy’s voice brought her
suddenly back to the present.
    “You didn’t find any collard
greens in all that time?” Sissy asked, breaking into Mrs. Dodd’s thoughts.
    “Not a one,” Mrs. Dodd
replied, “and I lost my grocery bag in the woods, too.”
    “I didn’t think you would
find any,” Sissy remarked, “and you’ve ruined your pants looking. I wonder what
that police car was doing?” she said thoughtfully.
    “Wasn’t this around where
that body was found?” Mrs. Dodd asked innocently.
    “I do believe it was. I bet
they were investigating.” Sissy sighed. “I do feel bad for that girl, but she
wasn’t a local, you know.”
    Mrs. Dodd only nodded in
reply.
    Mrs. Dodd made it home long
before Lorene. She changed quickly, hiding her pants in the bottom of the trash
like she always did when she wanted to get rid of something before Lorene saw
it.
    The older lady was exhausted
after her trek in the woods and the sleepless night before. What had been so
easy for her before was now getting harder and harder. She resented the old age
that had crept up on her and slowed her down.
    She settled herself in her
comfortable blue armchair ready to watch the psychic’s house next door, but
promptly she began doze.
    “Mary!” Mrs. Dodd called.
“Mary! It’s time, Mary! Time to come home!”
    “Mother!” She woke with a start.
Lorene was standing over her, shaking her gently. “Mother! You need to get in bed. You might fall out of this chair and hurt yourself.”
    “Lorene! What happened to
you?” Her daughter was covered in mud and dirt from head to toe. Leaves clung
to her hair, which hung down from a loose bun in strands.
    “I was trying to cover the
hole in my greenhouse. It’s supposed to storm again tonight.”
    “Did you get your window
pane?” Mrs. Dodd asked, allowing Lorene to help her to bed. “I’ve never heard
of

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