Free Dancers in the Dark by Charlaine Harris

his sides. He said, “Calm yourself, Mr. Kryder.” Judith was in the room now, a butcher knife in her hands. She danced back and forth, reluctant to stab Sean but determined to help her husband.
    Sean liked the Kryders.
    â€œPlease be calm, both of you,” he said, and the quiet of his voice, the stillness of his posture, seemed to strike both of the Kryders at the same time. Will stopped struggling and looked at Sean’s white face intently. Judith lowered the knife, and Sean could tell she was relieved to be able to.
    â€œShe calls herself Rue May now,” he told them. “She’s going to the university, and she has a cat named Martha.”
    Judith’s eyes widened. “He does know her,” she said.
    â€œHe could have found that out from surveillance.” Will was not so sure.
    â€œHow did you meet her?” Judith asked.
    â€œI dance with her. We dance for money.”
    The couple exchanged a glance.
    â€œWhat does she do before she goes on stage?” Judith asked suddenly.
    â€œHead up, chest out, shoulders square, big smile, pretty hands.” Sean smiled his rare smile.
    Will Kryder nodded at Judith. “I reckon you can let go of me now,” he told Sean. “How is she?”
    â€œShe’s lonely. And she saw something the other night that scared her.”
    â€œWhat do you know about her?”
    â€œI know she was a beauty queen. I know she danced in a lot of contests. I know she never seems to hear from her family. I know she has a brother. I know she’s hiding under another name.”
    â€œHave you seen her stomach?”
    â€œThe scars, yes.”
    â€œYou know how she got that way?” Kryder didn’t seem to be concerned with how Sean had come to see the scars.
    Sean shook his head.
    â€œJudith, you tell him.”
    Judith sat on the couch beside her husband. Her hands clasped tightly in her lap, she appeared to be organizing her thoughts.
    â€œI taught her when she was in tenth grade,” Judith said. “She’d won a lot of titles even then. Layla is just...beautiful. And her mother pushed and pushed. Her mother is an ex-beauty queen, and she married Tex LeMay after she’d had two years of college, I think. Tex was a handsome man, still is, but he’s not tough, not at all. He let LeeAnne push him around at home, and at work he let his boss stomp on what was left of his...manhood.”
    Sean didn’t have to feign his interest. “His boss?”
    â€œCarver Hutton III.” Will’s face was rigid with dislike as he spoke the name.
    â€œThe family that owns this town.”
    â€œYes,” Judith said. “The family that owns this town. That’s who Tex works for. The other LeMay kid, Les, was always a dim bulb compared to Layla. Les is a good boy, and I think he’s kept in touch with Layla—did you say she calls herself Rue these days? Les is off at college now, and he doesn’t come home much.”
    â€œCarver IV came back from his last year of college one Christmas, two years ago,” Will said. “Layla’d been elected Christmas Parade Queen, and she was riding in the big sleigh—’course, it’s really a horse-drawn wagon, we don’t get snow every year—and she was wearing white, and a sparkly crown. She looked like she was born to do that.”
    â€œShe’s a sweet girl, too,” Judith said unexpectedly. “I’m not saying she’s an angel or a saint, but Layla’s a kind young woman. And she’s got a backbone like her mother. No, I take that back. Her mother’s got a strong will, but her backbone doesn’t even belong to her. It belongs to the Social God.”
    Will laughed, a small, choked laugh, as if the familiar reference sparked a familiar response. “That’s the god that rules some small towns,” he said to Sean. “The one that says you have to do everything exactly correct, follow