A Sinister Sense by Allison Kingsley Page A

lying.”
    “Sometimes I can and a lot of times I can’t.”
    She hadn’t meant to sound so bitter. Stephanie reached out to pat her arm. “I’m sorry, Clara. I didn’t mean to bring up bad memories.”
    Clara nodded. She’d given her cousin a brief version of what had happened in New York, but had told no one the whole story. The truth was, she wasn’t ready to talk about it. Or even think about it. Maybe she never would be ready. “Well, I guess it won’t hurt to give it a shot with Buzz Lamont. If we can find out where he lives.” Her memory prodded, she dug in her pants pocket for the note she’d scribbled the night before. “Speaking of which, I had a sort of vision last night.”
    Stephanie sat up, her eyes bright with expectation. “Another one? What was it?”
    “Nothing much. Just a sign swinging in the wind. Some of the letters were too faded to read, but here’s what I remember of it.” Handing the note to her cousin, she added, “See if this means anything to you.”
    Stephanie studied the note. Frowning, she shook her head. “It doesn’t make sense.”
    “Try and imagine it with other letters in between.”
    Stephanie started muttering. “Winfutmel…Winningfutmel…Windingfutmel…”
    Molly’s voice made them both jump. “What are you doing?”
    Stephanie quickly folded the note and shoved it in the pocket of her blue smock. “Just playing word games. Did Mrs. Riley buy anything?”
    “No, but she ordered a couple of books.” Molly wandered over to the counter and picked up the coffeepot. “It’s quiet out there today.”
    Stephanie questioned with her eyes, a message Clara instantly understood. Her cousin wanted to know if it was okay to tell Molly about their investigation. She gave her a quick nod of approval. Stephanie answered with a finger jabbed in her direction.
    Taking that to mean she was to open the conversation, Clara said lightly, “I guess you heard the latest news about Rick?”
    Molly nodded as she walked over to the couch. “I still can’t believe it. He seems such a nice guy.” She shot a wary glance at Clara. “You must be really upset about all this.”
    “I’m upset at people jumping to the conclusion he’s guilty,” Clara said, her voice sharp with annoyance. Catching her cousin’s quick frown, she added more calmly, “Stephanie and I plan to do something about that.”
    Molly looked at Stephanie, who beamed at her. “We thought you might like to help, too.”
    A multitude of expressions crossed Molly’s face. It was obvious she was struggling between her conviction of Rick’s guilt and her loyalty to her friends.
    Clara decided to help her out. “He didn’t do it,” she said firmly. “We are quite sure of that.”
    “I really want to believe you, but the cops say—”
    “Never mind what they say,” Stephanie said, beating Clara to the punch. “It’s what
we
believe that matters. You can’t have forgotten that you were in the same boat last year, Molly. Everyone thought you were guilty until we found the real murderer.”
    Molly’s face turned pink. “Of course I haven’t forgotten. I owe you guys a lot. It’s just that…well, the mayor sounded so convinced…”
    Clara made a guttural sound in her throat. “Don’t get me started on that. He’s just looking for a boost to his political career. Rick didn’t kill that man, and we’re going to prove it. Are you in or not?”
    Molly stared at her for a long moment, then shrugged. “What do you want me to do?”
    Both cousins let out a sigh of relief.
    “See if you can make sense of these letters,” Stephanie said, handing Molly the note.
    Molly studied it, her brows drawn together as she concentrated. “What is it?”
    “I saw it on a sign somewhere,” Clara said quickly, before Stephanie could answer. “Some of the letters are missing. We were wondering if you recognized it.”
    Molly shook her head and handed the note back to Stephanie. “Sorry. It doesn’t mean anything