Read Online A Ghostly Grave by Tonya Kappes - Free Book Online

Chicken’s mouth dropped. “You think she’d kill me for the money?”
    â€œYou had an agreement, didn’t you?”
    â€œHuh.” Chicken’s mouth dropped again. The creases around his eyes deepened into a frown.
    â€œDid the agreement have anything to do with the money?” Not that the end result about money wasn’t enough of a motive, but I had to know what Marla Maria had to do to get the money. “Did she have to follow through with something in order to get the money?”
    â€œMarla Maria has to take care of Lady Cluckington just like I did in order to get the money.”
    â€œWhat do you mean ‘take care of’?” I asked.
    At this point in the investigation, I had to get the particulars. Every single detail mattered.
    â€œMarla has to feed her, bathe her, groom her, and keep her cage clean.” As he read off Marla’s chores again, he held up his fingers, counting them out. “And she has to enter her into all the prize hen pageants.”
    I held my hand up in the air to stop him. “You already told me about the chores. Till me more about the pageants.” I slowed the hearse down once we made it into the square. There were so many people still setting up for the evening’s big festival kickoff. Tonight was the annual hoedown and chicken dinner.
    â€œThat’s the problem, and that is where Sugar comes in.” Chicken peered out the window. “Marla never went to the pageants with me so she had never seen how to show a prize hen as fine as Lady.”
    Chicken paused. He swallowed back tears.
    â€œAre you okay?” I asked pulling into the Sleepy Hollow Inn. I put my phone up to my ear to pretend to talk on it. I didn’t want to risk anyone seeing me and telling Granny I had another case of the Funeral Trauma. “I know it’s hard to relive all of this, but in order for me to mark Marla Maria off the suspect list, I need to know everything.”
    Unfortunately, the more he told me, the more Marla Maria looked guilty.
    â€œI’m sure Sugar was there to get Lady for practice. The big state fair is coming up and it’s a surefire way to get into the national competition coming up in three months.” He smacked his fist on the dashboard. “I’m sure Marla Maria is avoiding Sugar. I never wrote in the agreement that she couldn’t avoid Sugar. Marla is a smart one.” He tapped his temple. “She ain’t no dummy.”
    â€œLet me get this straight.” Getting Chicken to tell me what the agreement was about was like pulling candy out of a kid’s hand. “You have this land in Lexington that is worth money. The agreement states that Marla Maria has to take care of Lady exactly like you did, but Sugar is the one who is to take Lady to the pageants and show her?”
    He nodded.
    â€œAnd Marla Maria knows that if she isn’t home, Sugar can’t make good on his promise?” I had to get clear, straight answers. Especially before my romantic dinner with Jack Henry. The quicker we get Chicken back in the ground, the faster I can get on with my love life and future with Jack.
    â€œYes. Sugar is a realtor in Lexington. I bought the property from him years ago. We became fast friends.” Chicken had a faraway look in his eyes. “Marla Maria never hid her feelings about Lady. Over the years, Marla Maria got more and more jealous. Every day she said nasty things about me and Lady.” He swallowed hard. “Sugar and I were getting Lady ready for a show and Marla Maria told us that she wished Lady would get out of her cage and claw our eyes out with her talons.”
    â€œWow. That’s harsh.” Need I remind him of a woman scorned? Only this time it was by a chicken.
    â€œThat’s not all.” Worry crept into Chicken’s eyes. “After Sugar and I got Lady loaded up and on the road, she got out of her cage and flapped all around, almost