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I thought about offeringWe didn’t want to spook her Neasn’t wearing his, but he didn’t offer the for them back that he wanted to avoid

Giselle, in her jeans, Nikes made for fashion not exercise, and a T-shirt tied in a side knot at her waist, squinted up at Newman She also wore a checked flannel shirt that looked

big enough to belong to one of the men in her life It could have been a boyfriend or even her father Not all strippers live wild lives offstage She looked like a college student named Becky or Jennifer who had rolled out of bed and thrown clothes on toclass There was almost no trace of the exotic Giselle from the promotional photos on the strip club’s website, but then, how many performers actually look like their head shots?

Even after we’d both introduced ourselves as marshals, Giselle still kept her attention on Newman, as if I didn’t count as much She wasn’t the first person to discount the woes, but it answered one question for e If she’d been more bisexual except as part of her act, she would have looked at e wouy, and I was sonored like an obstacle to his attention or irl world, where there are no friends and all that ets the lad for the umpteen-irl culture

“I felt so bad for Jocelyn when I realized she was here, e with ave a little shiver and hugged herself through the flannel I debated whether her reaction was real or acting, and decided it was real I didn’t think she had the acting chops to fake her skin going even paler in the light

“It’s a terrible thing,” Newreed

Giselle shivered again “It was such a good night, and then to go home to” She looked up at Newman “Is it true that she found the body?” Her voice lowered on the last part as if she was afraid to say the words too loudly

“It was a shock for her, as you can iine,” Newman said

Giselle nodded and hugged herself again

“Did you have to clear it with Barry that you were going to take a custoe with you?” I asked

She rolled her eyes, her pretty face looking sour and unhappy “I cleared it with him”

“Why did you have to clear it with Barry?” Newman asked

I answered, “Custoe”

Giselle looked atand nodded “How do you know that?”

“I’ed to a dancer” I said it just like that, no explanation that it was male, or more than one