A Dime a Dozen Read online

  HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS

  EUGENE, OREGON

  All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version® NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

  Cover by Dugan Design Group, Bloomington, Minnesota

  Cover photo © iStockphoto / Ken Wiedemann

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or to events or locales, is entirely coincidental.

  A DIME A DOZEN

  Copyright © 2003 by Mindy Starns Clark

  Published 2011 by Harvest House Publishers

  Eugene, Oregon 97402

  www.harvesthousepublishers.com

  ISBN 978-0-7369-2958-5 (pbk.)

  ISBN 978-0-7369-4174-7 (eBook)

  The Library of Congress has cataloged the edition as follows:

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Clark, Mindy Starns.

  A dime a dozen / Mindy Starns Clark.

  p. cm. — (The million dollar mysteries; Bk. 3)

  ISBN 978-0-7369-0995-2 (pbk.)

  1. Women philanthropists—Fiction. 2. Nonprofit organizations—Fiction. 3. Migrant agricultural laborers—Fiction. 4. Great Smoky Mountains (N.C. and Tenn.)—Fiction. I. Title.

  PS3603.L366 D56 2003

  813'.54—dc21

  2003002446

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, digital, photocopy, recording, or any other—except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

  Printed in the United States of America

  11 12 13 14 15 16 17 / LB-KB / 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  Contents

  Acknowledgments

  One

  Two

  Three

  Four

  Five

  Six

  Seven

  Eight

  Nine

  Ten

  Eleven

  Twelve

  Thirteen

  Fourteen

  Fifteen

  Sixteen

  Seventeen

  Eighteen

  Nineteen

  Twenty

  Twenty-One

  Twenty-Two

  Twenty-Three

  Twenty-Four

  Twenty-Five

  Twenty-Six

  Twenty-Seven

  Twenty-Eight

  Twenty-Nine

  Thirty

  Thirty-One

  Thirty-Two

  Thirty-Three

  Thirty-Four

  Thirty-Five

  Thirty-Six

  Thirty-Seven

  Thirty-Eight

  Thirty-Nine

  Forty

  Forty-One

  Forty-Two

  Forty-Three

  Forty-Four

  Forty-Five

  Forty-Six

  Forty-Seven

  Forty-Eight

  Forty-Nine

  Fifty

  Fifty-One

  Contact the Author

  About the Publisher

  For my daughter Lauren…

  When God gave me you, He gave me the sunshine

  to hold in my arms. You are so kind, so gifted,

  and so beautiful inside and out.

  I love you!

  Acknowledgments

  Many, many special thanks:

  To my husband, John Clark, J.D., C.P.A., for being a writer’s dream come true. With your advising, editing, brainstorming, insight, child care, support, and love, you are making every step of this magical journey a true joy. Honey, I couldn’t do any of it without you!

  To my editor, Kim Moore, of Harvest House Publishers: Kim, you exemplify God’s grace in all that you do.

  To Kay Justus, for coming through for me in ways too numerous to count: You are my PCAW, always.

  To my father, Robert M. Starns, M.D., for excellent medical advice and information.

  To my brilliant readers Jackie Starns and Shari Weber.

  To all of those who filled in the gaps of my knowledge: Daniel Bailey, Cecilia Baldini, Charles and Kay Buchanan, Ariane A. Chavez-Luviano, Alice Clark, Emily Clark, James B. Hedrick, Wells and Frieda Justus, C.J. and Melissa Martin, Dave Snyder, Adam Sullivan, David Sullivan, the owners of Old Pressley SM, and the friendly, helpful staff at the Hendersonville, NC, Visitors Center.

  To everyone who went to my website (www.mindystarnsclark.com) and entered my Name-the-Charity contest, especially the winners Barbara Pistache, David Tinker, and Kim Colley.

  To the great minds at CWG, DorothyL, and MMA, for advice and support.

  Thanks to all of you!

  Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

  LUKE 12:7

  One

  I’d never been part of a sting before. Sure, I’d blown the whistle on some defrauders in the past, and I had seen more than one person arrested because of felonious deeds I had brought to light. But this time was different. This time the crime was still in the process of being committed. Worse than that, most of the people at this party were involved.

  I stood near French doors that led to the patio, holding a soda in my hand and looking out through the glass at the pool sparkling in the cool March afternoon. Behind the pool was a small lawn dotted here and there with ornamental groupings of shrubbery and plants, all surrounded by a high, thick hedge. I knew that a team of cops was on the other side of that hedge, ready to enter from every direction as soon as I gave the signal.

  “Callie, would you like a hamburger? Maybe a hot dog?”

  My hostess appeared in front of me bearing a platter of raw meat shaped into patties, and I assumed she was on her way back outside to the grill. My eyes focused on the marbled beef, and then at her expectant face. She was the very picture of charm and hospitality. Oh, and theft.

  “No, thank you,” I said, forcing a smile. “I’m fine.”

  Her hands were full, so I opened the door to let her out. Music poured into the house, compliments of large speakers mounted under the eaves.

  “You should come too,” she urged loudly as she handed the platter off to her husband, Skipper. “It’s a gorgeous day.”

  “In a while, perhaps,” I said as I let the door fall shut between us. She turned her attention to a group of guests near the pool, and as she worked the crowd I thought, You don’t want me to go outside, Winnie. The last thing you want me to do is go outside.

  I glanced at my watch, wondering how much longer this would take. The police had instructed me to wait until all of the elements had fallen into place, and so far that hadn’t happened. The tension was getting to me, so I set my glass on a nearby countertop and made my way through the small crowd in the kitchen to the upstairs bathroom. I needed to be alone, to catch my breath, to make a call.

  Once I was locked inside, I pulled out my cell phone and dialed the number of the police captain. He knew it was me and that I couldn’t say much on my end for fear of being overheard.

  “Looks like things are moving along as expected,” he said.

  “Yes.”

  “Have they brought out the hamburgers yet?”

  “Oh, yes. Everything’s in full swing.”

  He chuckled into the phone.

  “I hope they’re enjoying it while they can,” he said.

  “They seem to be.”

  “We’re all set on our end. Soon as the guy shows up, we’
ll text you.”

  “I’ll be ready.”

  “You found the garage?” he asked.

  “Yep.”

  “Empty?”

  “Except for the boxes in the freezer.”

  “Perfect. Simply perfect. Hang in there, kid. We’re on the homestretch.”

  I hung up the phone and slid it into my pocket, wondering if all would go off as planned. There were so many elements coming into play here, and it was important that they close in at the moment when we could nab the greatest number of guilty parties. I shook my head, marveling at the situation I now found myself in. This wasn’t how I usually spent my Saturday afternoons!

  As the Director of Research for the J.O.S.H.U.A. Foundation, my job was to investigate charitable organizations in order to verify their suitability for a grant. I had come here to get a closer look at Dinner Time, a food bank and soup kitchen for the homeless in a suburb of San Francisco. I had gone “undercover” by posing as a volunteer to get a good look at the organization from the inside. Almost immediately, however, I realized there was something stinky in the sauce. Dinner Time may have been providing food to the homeless, but it was also providing a handy second income to its founders and many of its employees by way of food donations that were ending up in places other than on Dinner Time’s tables.

  Even this party was an appalling, blatant display of theft, and, according to my source, they had similar such events every few months. From the chips and hamburgers to the condiments, most of the food being consumed here today had actually been donated to the charity, intended for the poor. Instead, our hosts had simply loaded many of the boxes into their cars and driven the food home for this impromptu party. Any minute now a local food supplier would show up and collect his share of the take, which was waiting for him in the garage. Unbeknownst to any of them, however, much of the donated food this time was marked, from the codes printed on the bottom of the mustard bottles to the labels on the frozen steaks in the freezer.

  A knock on the bathroom door startled me from my thoughts.

  “Just a minute,” I called, and then I washed my hands in the sink and glanced at my reflection in the mirror. My own image still surprised me sometimes. Four months ago I had gone from having long hair to short, from wearing my hair in a tight chignon at the back of my neck to having just enough length to frame my face and touch at my collar. I liked the new look, both because of the years it seemed to take from my features and the way it worked with my usual attire of suits and dresses. I’d spent this week in more casual clothes, however, and today was no exception. I had on jeans and a lightly knit tan shirt, and I felt I looked the part I was playing—that of a woman interested in some simple volunteer work at the local soup kitchen. Little did they know that I was something much more threatening: an investigator with a mission to ferret out the bad guys in the nonprofit world and bring them all to justice!

  I opened the bathroom door and found a familiar face waiting to get in, an employee of Dinner Time named Clement Jackson.

  “Oh, hey, Callie,” he said, “I didn’t realize that was you in there.”

  “No problem.”

  I moved out of the way so that he could pass me and go into the bathroom. As he closed the door behind him, I made my way back downstairs to the kitchen.

  Clement was such a dear man, a tireless worker who served full time at the food bank for a salary so low I didn’t know how he managed to make ends meet. He wasn’t aware that I knew his salary rate or anything about him beyond facts he had mentioned to me in casual conversation. He had told me about his lovely wife of 36 years, his five grown children, his eight grandchildren. But the scope of my investigation had included all of the employees and volunteers of Dinner Time, so I also knew his address, his work record, and much more. In the end, he had turned out to be one of only three people connected to the center who apparently weren’t involved in the theft of the food.

  I was so glad, because it confirmed what I had felt to be true about him all week, that he was a wonderful person with a true heart for charity. His personal side mission was to collect and distribute free used books to all of the children who came to the food bank and, whenever he had time, to sit and read to them and encourage them to read more for themselves.

  “Reading can get you through some mighty tough spots,” I had heard him say more than once this week. “Even if your feet can’t always go somewhere else, your mind sure can.” Poor Clement was going to be stunned when this sting came together, for he believed most people were motivated by the same altruism and good faith he himself possessed.

  “Callie, can I get you something to drink?”

  This time, Winnie’s husband, Skipper, was playing the host, walking toward me with a newly filled ice bucket.

  “No, thanks,” I replied. “My drink’s right over here.”

  As if to prove it, I walked to the spot where I had left my soda, picked it up, and swirled the liquid. Skipper’s very presence made me so nervous I didn’t dare speak for fear I would begin to babble. Unfortunately, he persisted.

  “How about a little ice then,” he said, using the tongs to load up my drink with ice. Holding my tongue, I watched as he clunked square cubes into the glass I was holding in front of me.

  “So what do you think of our weather here in California?” he asked. “Winnie said you just recently moved here, right?”

  Actually, I hadn’t told her that. What I had said was that I had never lived in California before, implying, I guess, that I lived here now. It was the kind of half-truth that going undercover necessitated and the very reason I hated playing a role. As a Christian, lying was hard for me to rationalize, even when the ends seemed to justify the means.

  “It’s certainly a beautiful day today!” I said, glancing toward the window. I was desperately trying to think of some other sort of socially acceptable patter when I was saved by the bell—or the ring, to be exact, because Skipper’s cell phone began ringing from his hip pocket.

  With a smile, he thrust the ice bucket at me, extricated the phone, and turned it on.

  “Skipper here,” he said amiably, winking at me as he did so.

  Clutching the ice in front of me, I took a step back, wondering if I could seize the moment and get away before his conversation was finished. Unfortunately, it seemed to last all of about 15 seconds. He said, “Yep. Okay. See ya,” and then hung up the phone.

  “You’ll excuse me, won’t you, Callie?” he asked smoothly, slipping the phone back into his pocket.

  “Of course.”

  I held the ice bucket toward him, but he didn’t take it.

  “Um, could you bring that ice out to Winnie?” he asked. “I need to get something from the garage.”

  Without waiting for a reply, he turned and walked down the hall. I stood there for a moment, knowing I couldn’t do as he had requested without taking a step outside myself. Instead, I passed the bucket off to someone else who was heading that way. As the door fell shut behind him, I felt my cell phone vibrate in my pocket. I moved away from the crowd and went into the empty dining room. Holding my breath, I whipped out my phone, pushed the button, and looked at the screen. As expected, it was a text from the captain: Our guy just turned into the driveway. Give it about two minutes and then take a peek in the garage.

  Okay, I texted back.

  I then pocketed my phone, glanced at my watch, and waited, my heart suddenly pounding in my chest. For an absurd moment, I wondered if there was any hidden firepower here, if perhaps Skipper and Winnie kept a Colt .45 tucked in the nearest flowerpot or something. Just because their crimes of theft were of a nonviolent nature didn’t mean they didn’t know how to defend themselves when push came to shove. As it was about to.

  At one minute, forty-three seconds, I heard my name called from the other room. I looked through the doorway to see Clement just coming down the stairs on the other side of the kitchen. Clement, who could be in the line of fire if things went down in a nasty way. Clemen
t, who was heading toward me with a genial smile, eager to start a chat just when it was time for me to move.

  “I need a favor!” I said urgently, walking forward to meet him. “I can’t find my contact lens. I’m afraid it came out in the bathroom. Do you think you could go back up and look for me? Check all over the floor, the sink, you know.”

  “Well, I’ll try, Callie,” he said, nodding his head, the tightly curled gray hair a sharp contrast to his brown skin. “But my eyesight’s not so good myself. Come up and we’ll look for it together.”

  I glanced at my watch. Two and a half minutes.

  “You go on up,” I said. “I’ll be there in just a bit.”

  “Okay.”

  “And, listen, if you can’t find it, at least stay there and guard the door until I get there. I don’t want someone else stepping on it and breaking it.”

  “All right.”

  He dutifully trudged back up the stairs as I slipped from the kitchen, walking toward the long side hall Skipper had gone down less than three minutes before. I reached the door of the garage at the end, put my hand on the knob, and turned it.

  The door swung open to reveal Skipper and another man lifting boxes into the open trunk of a black Cadillac. Both men looked up to see me, their faces about as guilty as two boys caught dipping their fingers in the peanut butter.

  In a way, that’s exactly what they were doing.

  The men recovered quickly. Both put the boxes into the trunk, but the man I didn’t know turned and stepped away where I couldn’t see his face. Skipper, on the other hand, took a step toward me, putting on a wide, fake smile.

  “Can I help you, Callie?” he asked.

  “I’m sorry,” I said. “I was looking for some more soda. Maybe root beer?”

  “There’s nothing like that out here,” he replied. “Try the pantry, off the kitchen.”

  “Okay, thanks,” I said, returning his fake smile before stepping back out of the garage and pulling the door shut.

  I turned on my heel and walked up the hall with my heartbeat pounding loudly in my head. Despite the chatter and confusion around me, I made straight for the French doors, opened them, and stepped outside. This was my signal to the police who were in hiding on the other side of the hedge, watching the party, waiting to pounce. Once on the patio, I simply kept walking through the loud music, heading around the pool and toward the backyard.