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causing us to wreck.”
    I gasped. Marla Maria was looking guiltier by the minute.
    â€œWhen I got the car under control and pulled over, I went back to investigate how Lady got out of her cage.” Chicken shook his head like he was trying to shake the memory from his mind. “Someone had cut the lock.”
    â€œDidn’t you put Lady in the car and then get in?” Something wasn’t adding up. How did he not see someone cut a lock?
    â€œSugar and I went back in to grab a snack for the road. I had no idea where Marla Maria was because I walked around yelling for her trying to tell her good-­bye.” He sucked in a deep breath. “I have a secret video camera system installed. No one knows about it.”
    â€œWhat?” My mouth dropped.
    â€œYeah.” He grumbled. “Lady didn’t win the show because she was still so upset about being loose in the car. Prize hens don’t like to be in cars. I went home and rolled back the video tape. Marla Maria was walking away from the car when Sugar and I were inside getting a snack.”
    My heart dropped. I truly didn’t want to believe that Marla Maria had anything to do with Chicken’s death. Memories of them flooded my mind. I recalled how proud he was when Marla was by his side. He even looked like a proud banty rooster with his prize chicken. Not that he looked like a rooster nor she like a chicken, but it seemed fitting.
    â€œThere you are!” Granny yelled from the front porch of the Inn. My eyes glanced over to the big tree in the yard. Granny’s moped was chained up to the tree with a heavy-­duty industrial chain and lock.
    â€œWe will talk in a minute,” I told Chicken, and put my phone down before I got out of the hearse. There were so many more questions I needed to ask about the agreement and the property.
    â€œMorning ladies,” I stood at the bottom of the Inn steps and said hello to Mable Claire, Granny, Beulah Paige and Hettie Bell. I felt I should keep a safe distance from the four of them doing Godknowswhat to their bodies. Plus, I had heard some of those positions made some people pass gas, and I didn’t want to be downwind from any of them. Granny included. “What are y’all doing?”
    The women were in the downward dog position. The only yoga position I knew other than the Prasarita Padottanasana pose that Beulah had demonstrated.
    â€œWe are getting in touch with our feelings.” Mable Claire waddled up to stand. Her fuller hips jingled from coins in her pocket. Mable Claire could be heard before she came into view. As long as I could remember, she loaded her pockets down with change and handed out a dime here and there to children she saw. “You know”—­she picked at the bun on the top of her head—­“you should join the Auxiliary. We’d love to have you.”
    Beulah popped up. If the downward dog was supposed to calm her, it wasn’t working. Mable Claire’s suggestion of me joining the Auxiliary made Beulah as nervous as a cat in a roomful of rocking chairs.
    â€œYou can’t ask someone to join the Auxiliary, Mable Claire.” Beulah scolded poor old Mable. “She has to be formally checked out and an invitation sent. We have to vote on who we invite.”
    â€œWe know Emma Lee. She’s a pillar of the community, not to mention”—­Mable Claire gave me a theatrical wink—­“she has that hot hunky Jack Henry by her side. I personally wouldn’t mind having him as a speaker at our meeting on how to stay safe in our unsafe town.”
    â€œUnsafe town?” I asked.
    â€œOh yes.” Mable Claire’s eyes darted around to each of us. “Zula told us about the murder charges against Marla Maria.”
    â€œGranny!” My jaw dropped. She had gone and done it now. Jack Henry was going to be spitting mad when . . . when . . . It was probably already around town