Page 41 of Trailer Trash

“Yeah, for nearly a year . . . until I met Branson.” But I didn’t want to talk about Branson. I wasn’t ready to go to that dark place yet. “Zelda’s niece Stella came to live with us after I showed up. She was a couple of years older than me, and despite everything my momma had put me through, I wasn’t as worldly as I thought.”

Jed’s gaze stayed on me—interested but not judgmental.

“I was lookin’ for jobs at the grocery store and retail stores, but Stella wasn’t havin’ none of that. She wanted a more glamorous job, so she started workin’ at Slick Willy’s. Miss Zelda knew Stella had some kind of night job, but she didn’t know what. Stella told her she was workin’ in a bar, which was technically true, just not the full truth. So Stella claimed she was makin’ all this money, while I was still broke and desperate. I’d find a job, but it would never last because I didn’t have a car and my rides didn’t always come through. Stella started trying to convince me to work with her. She promised to give me a ride every night. Finally, after two months and havin’ even less money than I showed up with, if you can believe that’s possible, I told her yes.”

“So you became an exotic dancer.” His voice had a strange tone of detachment.

“I know how it sounds.”

Jed leaned closer. “Neely Kate. I’ve spent more time running the Bunny Ranch than Skeeter. I know the girls who work there. Most are down on their luck, and some of them are supporting kids because their loser partners left them with no financial support. That’s why Skeeter and I insist on paying them a set wage and giving them benefits.”

“How can you afford it?” I asked. “Stan hardly paid us anything. All our money was from tips . . . and extras.” I tried not to shudder at the thought.

Jed’s eyes darkened. “There are no extras at the Bunny Ranch except for lap dances. There’s no sex in the club. Period. And we encourage the dancers not to arrange it after working hours. You’re right, though, the business can’t afford it. It loses money just about every month.”

“And yet you keep it open?”

“What would happen to those women if we closed it? They’d end up working for some shady place like the exotic club that opened in Fenton County last fall. Or worse.”

Skeeter Malcolm purposely hung on to a business that was losing him money so he could give desperate women jobs? Truth was, I’d never thought much of Skeeter. I’d always lumped him into the same category as Stan, who didn’t give a fig about the women who worked in his club. Sometimes Skeeter had served as a means to an end, but Rose’s friendship with him had never sat easily with me.

Maybe there was more to him than I had thought. Rose always told me there was goodness in him, and here was Jed saying the same thing.

Jed gave me a wry smile. “Before you think Skeeter is completely altruistic, he uses the deficit as a tax deduction. Still, it’s a pain in the ass to run. The sheriff’s always sticking his nose in the business. It would be easier to close it, but Skeeter insists on keeping it open.”

The sheriff. Had Joe been there? What did he think of the women there? Did he find them disgusting? Would he think the same of me?

How about Rose?

I glanced up at Jed. “When Rose and I went to Gems last fall . . . I told her I learned how to pole dance in my cousin’s garage. I don’t want her to know the truth.”

“I’m not gonna tell Rose anything about our trip. Whatever she learns will come from you. I’m a vault.”

“I suppose you’d have to be, after working for Skeeter all these years. So many secrets . . .”

“Including the fact that the Bunny Ranch is losing money. We like to keep that info under wraps.”

I gave him a soft smile, honored that he’d shared it with me. “I won’t tell anyone.”

“So you started working for Stan . . .” Jed encouraged.

My mind went back to that first night and how scared I had been. I couldn’t go there, not right now. I felt too content sitting here with Jed. I wasn’t willing to lose that feeling yet. Still, he deserved answers. Skeeter was forever making him do things, and Jed didn’t always know the why of it. It was obvious Jed hated it. He deserved better than that from me.

“Neely Kate.”

My eyes lifted to his again.

“You tell mewhatyou wantwhenyou want. Okay? Only when you’re ready.”

“But you need to know to help me.”

“You’re an investigator and you haven’t done half bad. I’m content to be your backup until you’re ready to talk. All I ask is that you give me warning before we walk into something dangerous.”

“Youreallythink I’m an investigator?” I asked. I was still trying to convince Rose of it.

“You and Rose have solved a heap of mysteries, and then you found that necklace half the county was lookin’ for. No one else figured out where it was.”

I grinned. “Sorry about shoving you into that pile of pig crap.”

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