entire family gone crazy?" Leonard said. "Ruth Ann, would you please stop looking at me like that!" She looked away. "Thank you!"

"What you come up here for?" Shirley said.

"I didn't come here to have a damn gun pointed at me, for damn sure!"

"Sorry 'bout that."

"Shirley, that makes me feel so much better. I came here to get Ruth Ann. I think Mother might be looking to do her harm."

Ruth Ann groaned.

Shirley said, "Why you think Momma would harm Ruth Ann?"

Leonard told them about the gopher poison in the closet, the upheaval in the kitchen and the burnt will on the stove.

"Momma!" Ruth Ann said, shaking her head. "It's hard to believe!"

"It's hard to believe," Shirley said, "because it isn't true. Momma didn't do it. I know my momma,before she hurt someone else, if she hadn't already. One hand on his back, he walked out to the cruiser. Picked up the mike, put it down. No, he wouldn't issue a BOLO for Ida. He had to find her himself.

Lester was home, but he hadn't seen Ida or Ruth Ann. No one answered the door at Robert Earl's house. The young woman at Shirley's home said Shirley was gone, claimed she didn't know when Shirley would be coming back and couldn't recall the last time she'd seen her. Obviously lying. Why? He didn't have a clue.

Wal-Mart, Fred's, Piggly Wiggly, the library, he went inside each and traversed every aisle. No sign of Ida or any of her children.

Waiting for the lone light on Main Street to turn