Page 78 of Family Jewels

A grin spread across Neely Kate’s face.

“Don’t tell me you’re going to go stir up trouble with Leah.”

She released a short laugh. “Nope. She caught me lookin’ at her, and she’s savin’ me from gettin’ up.”

I turned to see the brunette strutting toward us. She had on dark, tight jeans and a white tank top that left little to the imagination. Her face was heavily made up, and she looked liable to use her stiletto boots as lethal weapons.

Leah put her hands on her hips and popped her hip to the side. “Well, well. Fancy seein’ you here, Neely Kate. Slummin’, are you?”

Neely Kate was all innocence when she looked up at her. “I’m not sure what you’re talkin’ about, Leah. I’m enjoying a working lunch with my friend.” She cast a glance at Leah’s friends, who were watching with rapt attention from their table across the room. “But from the looks of your friends, you’re up to the same. Y’all lookin’ for work after that strip club south of town closed?”

Leah scowled, wrinkling her forehead with deep creases.

“Be careful,” Neely Kate said. “If you leave your face like that, you might get wrinkles. You don’t want your tips to go down.”

Leah’s face turned red. “What are you doin’ here, Neely Kate?”

“I already told you.”

“I know you’re spyin’ on me.”

Neely Kate did a double take. “What are you talkin’ about?”

“I know you and your friend”—she gave me a look of disgust—“are working for my brother, looking for my grandmammie’s necklace. I don’t have nothin’ to do with it.”

Neely Kate lifted her chin with attitude. “I never suggested you did. Why would I think such a thing?”

Leah was clearly struggling to form a response, so I decided to give it a go. Neely Kate was being way too antagonistic to get anything out of her. “Leah,” I said, “we’re only trying to help your brother. I’d like to offer my condolences on your sister-in-law’s death.”

She released a bitter laugh. “Rayna? The world’s a better place without that bitch.”

I gasped.

“Don’t look all shocked, Miss Goodie Two-Shoes,” she sneered. “You’re not so perfect.” She nodded toward me. “Oh yeah, I know all about yourhelpin’Skeeter Malcolm last winter.” She gave me an exaggerated wink.

I tried to hide my surprise. “I helped apprehend a man charged with murder. Skeeter Malcolm cooperated with the police to set up the sting operation. There’s nothin’ more to it.”

“Were you sleepin’ with him? Because Skeeter Malcolm wouldn’t be caught dead cooperating with the police. Unless he was doin’ it for a piece of ass,” she said with a leer. “I heard Skeeter really knows how to please a woman. Is it true?”

The blood left my head. A waitress at Merilee’s, a restaurant I used to frequent downtown, had asked me the same thing a month ago, albeit in a less tawdry way. I hadn’t taken to it any more kindly then.

“Rose sleepin’ withSkeeter Malcolm?” Neely Kate laughed like it was the most ridiculous thing she’d ever heard. My cheeks flushed. Did she really think the idea of me sleeping with James was so preposterous? But she paid me no mind and pushed on. “Your delusions are getting worse, Leah. Maybe it’s time to up your antipsychotics.”

Leah’s face turned even redder.

“You’re barking up the wrong tree,” Neely Kate said with plenty of attitude. “And you’re so obviously trying to throw us off that I have to wonder what it is you’re hiding. Could it be that you reallydoknow something about Raddy’s missing necklace?”

“It’s nothisnecklace!” she shouted. “It should be mine. But he gave it to the stupid bitch he pretended to marry. It’s mine, and I want it back!”

I stared at her in amazement, but Neely Kate’s previous amusement had taken a more pensive turn. “Maybe we can help you out.”

Leah looked suspicious. “What do you mean by that?”

I had to wonder myself.

“Do you know why Raddy really wants it?” Neely Kate asked.

“No,” Leah said hesitantly. “Why?”