Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of addiction.

Mo and Dale go to Lavender’s house and find that his house is messy and that he’s still in bed. Mo worries that Lavender is depressed, which is explained when he reveals that he is $1,000 short for car parts and might not be able to participate in the Sycamore 200. Mo has worries of her own, as the Colonel still hasn’t called, but she offers to help Lavender raise money for his car. Lavender graciously accepts the help but tells Mo that she’s under no obligation. He hopes that he can win the race and earn some money to support his mother, who has been having a hard time since their father started drinking heavily.

Mo and Dale go to the church to look for more clues and find Thes, who gives them a photocopy of Mr. Jesse’s last monetary donation. In the church, Mo overhears a woman yelling at her daughter about being more confident and singing better, and Mo decides to intervene. When she realizes that it’s Anna-Celeste, it doesn’t stop her from telling Anna-Celeste’s mother that Anna-Celeste is a great singer and that she shouldn’t talk to kids that way.