A Vision of Murder Read Online Free PDF

set to the road in locations,
while large, old houses stood in the distance. It was old enough and far enough
from town that it was quietly becoming countryside. The
old general stores that had once serviced the area were falling slowly into
disrepair.
    Beautiful Crescent was out
in the country as well, fairly close to Beardsley Lane. It curved in a
moon-shaped crescent, though it was such a long road
that one easily forgot that it curved at all. At the end nearest town, a small
subdivision had been built. It now connected Beautiful Crescent to both
Beardsley Lane on the west side and the town on the east side.
    “Where are we starting?”
    “The quarry, if the roads
aren’t too bad.” 
    Water rushed over the roads
already, sweeping away debris. I seriously doubted that the old dirt road to
the quarry would be passable.
    Lightning flashed again
overhead as the rain slowed to a drizzle. “It’s over already?” I sighed with
relief.
    “Nope.” Simms shook his head. “This
is just the first round. There’s another line of storms behind this one.
They’ll be in later tonight.”
    Fifteen minutes later, we
were bouncing over the potholes on the quarry road. I gripped the cage that
separated me from the men, my fingers turning white with the effort. Dunn had a
tight grip on the door frame, but still almost slammed his head against the
roof. “Mind slowing down?” he growled out, his eyes sparking angrily.
    “We want to beat the storm, don’t we?”  Simms almost
sounded cheerful.
    Finally, we slowed to a
stop. I slowly released my numb fingers from their death-likegrip on the cage, flexing them back to feeling.
Although a wooded area could be seen in the distance, we were nowhere close to
it. I glanced around apprehensively.
    “Any
feelings?” Dunn asked, twisting in his seat to stare back at me. I looked back and forth
between the two waiting men. Sighing, I collapsed against the seat and rubbed
my temples in a circular motion.
    “Let me try.” I
concentrated, blocking out the tapping of the spattering rain on the roof. A
car was driving down the street. The wind thrashed the trees angrily and the
girl smiled. I ignored her and focused on the surroundings. The sign
whipped back and forth in the wind. I paused.
    “Are there any roads close
to these woods?”
    “Just the
one that we’re on.”
    “This isn’t it.”
    “How can you be so sure?”
Dunn asked. His eyes surveyed the area critically. “This would be the perfect
place for a murderer to hide a body.”
    “Because I
saw the street sign. This road doesn’t have a street sign on it. If there’s not
another road around here, then this couldn’t possibly be it.”
    Simms nodded and started the
car, but Dunn objected. “We’ve come all this way. What if you’re wrong? We
could miss him!”
    “I’m not wrong!” I insisted.
I knew this wasn’t the place and I didn’t have time to argue with him. The wind
was already picking up. I was afraid if we waited much longer we would be stuck
out in the storm.
    “She’s the psychic,” Simms
said wryly. Carefully, he began driving forward, looking for a good spot to
turn around. The road was narrow and the sides were rivers of mud. Dunn stewed
in his seat.
    “You don’t believe me, but I know it’s not here. Let’s just move on,” I pleaded. He didn’t respond.
    Finally, after what seemed
an eternity, we were bumping our way back out onto the main road. The sun was
setting, giving the already dark, stormy day an eerie gray quality. I thought
of going out into the storm to look for a body. To say the least, I didn’t
relish the idea.
     
    Mrs. Dodd had been quite
busy all day. She knew her daughter looked on her as a little old lady who
puttered around the house while she was at work, but that was far from the
truth. Mrs. Dodd had her business and her daily adventures. The trick was to
not let her daughter know about them.
    Mrs. Lorene Robinson had
long treated her mother as a dotty old lady,