Golden Trail (64 page)

“Well, I’m not,” Ryker returned. “My guess,
that shit comes down from the top.”

“The Captain?” Layne asked.

“He’s so dirty, he stinks.”

“He’s not dirty, Ryker, he’s ambitious,
blinded by it.”

“Like I said, dirty,” Ryker retorted.

Layne rolled his chair to the desk, leaned
his forearms into it and laid it out. “This is my investigation. I
don’t like partners, especially partners who keep shit from me,
like their woman’s daughter bein’ a favorite of the guy I’m
investigating. That said, I’ll work with one when it suits me. Even
though it’s uncool you kept that shit from me, workin’ with you
suits me. Needless to say, seein’ as I don’t like partners, I don’t
like men takin’ over my investigations. I got shit invested in
this, I got a plan, we’re workin’ this my way.”

“You got a girl who’s got that assclown
under her skin?” Ryker shot back and before Layne could answer,
Ryker did it for him. “No, you don’t. My babe’s worried but she
don’t wanna upset Alexis. Alexis’s Dad is a dickhead. Always
cancellin’ on his weekends, breaks Alexis’s heart. He pays child
support about once every six months, if Lissa’s lucky. She don’t
have a lot and she can’t give Alexis a lot but she works her ass
off to give her what she can and that means Alexis don’t see her
Mom much either. Alexis likes this Youth Group, she likes this guy
and has friends there. Alexis hasn’t found much she likes. Lissa
wants her to have what she wants. We been talkin’ ‘bout that shit
and she’s been callin’ me down but I been meanin’ to look into it
for awhile. Now, I’m lookin’ into it.”

Layne got where Ryker’s woman Lissa was
coming from and also where Ryker was coming from.

Even so, it didn’t matter. “You shouldn’t
have hesitated, now it’s too late, the wheels are in motion and
both my boys are caught up in it and I’m not gonna have you jack
them up.”

Ryker stared at him then sat back and
whispered, “Cosgrove.”

“Come again?” Layne asked.

“Alexis has a date tonight, her first, with
Seth Cosgrove. You set that up?”

Layne didn’t answer.

“Only thing would get her out from under
that fuckwad is Cosgrove. Alexis won’t shut up about him. She
thinks that Youth Minister is the shit but she thinks the sun
shines outta Seth Cosgrove’s ass,” Ryker told him.

“Lissa religious?” Layne asked.

“She prays but she don’t pray to a God in a
house that let a jackal in,” Ryker answered.

“Then she needs to suck it up. You and I
both know that is not a good place for Alexis to be. Alexis freaks,
she freaks, but get your woman to pull her daughter’s ass outta
there,” Layne advised.

“That ain’t gonna work, Alexis is a
handful.”

“Then you step in.”

“Not my place.”

“You bangin’ her Mom?” Layne asked and
Ryker’s jaw got tight.

“Not my place,” Ryker repeated.

“How long you been bangin’ her Mom?” Layne
pushed.

“Bro,” Ryker leaned in warningly, “not my
place.”

Layne held his angry gaze and said quietly,
“Don’t give me that badass bullshit. You care about this kid, you
didn’t, you wouldn’t have spent the time you spent surveilling
Gaines’s apartment. What you’re doin’ isn’t for Lissa so much as
it’s for Alexis, you know it, I know it, you deny it, I’m tellin’
you that’s bullshit. She doesn’t have a Dad? Be a true badass,
Ryker, and give her one by protectin’ her from what you and I both
know is some seriously bad shit.”

Ryker glared at him but didn’t answer.

So Layne continued. “I call the moves on
this investigation. You make the moves I call. You don’t then you
go it alone, but I’m tellin’ you right now, you fuck up what I got
goin’ on and you put my boys’ asses further out there than they
already are, we got problems.” Layne paused then whispered, “I’m
not someone you mess with, Ryker. I think you already get that and
my guess is that you don’t want a demonstration of why. Do not make
me demonstrate why. Clear?”

Ryker kept glaring at him but still didn’t
answer.

“I got a meet with Colt in about fifteen
minutes. Girls are on the line and we got no choice but to go in
hard at every angle we can manage. Colt isn’t stupid and he knows
what’s happening in his Department. He’ll take care of that. Now,
you got two jobs, one is to do what I tell you to do and the other
one is to get your woman’s daughter outta that mess. You with me?”
Ryker didn’t respond so Layne prompted, “I need to know you’re with
me.”

Ryker hesitated only a beat before he
grunted, “I’m with you.”

“Then you stay for the meet with Colt. You
need to know all that’s goin’ down but you’re gonna hear shit that
doesn’t leave this office. I find out it leaves this office then
I’ll know who shared and that is not gonna make me happy.”

“Think I’m done with you threatenin’ me,
bro,” Ryker growled.

“Got two boys, a woman, a dog and nearly
three months ago I took three bullets because of this shit,” Layne
said softly and Ryker’s brows went up. “Yeah, you heard about it.
Two and two are makin’ four and I mean that for both of us. Now,
you think I’m gonna go through that again, put my boys and woman
through that again, you think wrong. I’ll do what I gotta do to
prevent that. So, boilin’ that down, big man, I’m not makin’
threats.”

Ryker stared at him. Layne sat back, grabbed
his coffee off the desk and took a sip.

When he put the coffee back to his desk,
Ryker spoke.

“One thing,” he said.

“Yeah?” Layne asked when he said no
more.

“Cosgrove better be into her. This is just a
mission and he leaves her crushed –”

Layne interrupted him and fought back a
grin. He couldn’t have been sure Ryker was doing what he was doing
for Alexis rather than the best head he ever had that he got from
her Mom. Now he knew this was for Alexis. He also knew what kind of
man Ryker was.

“My boys understand there’s no collateral
damage. They’ll have briefed Seth. Jasper would have found another
way to steer her clear if he thought Seth wasn’t into her. That
means Seth is into her.”

“He better be,” Ryker returned.

“Relax, brother, he is.”

Ryker glared at him some more. Then he
nodded.

Then Layne said, “You got just about enough
time to get a coffee from Mimi before Colt gets here.”

“Don’t drink that fancy-ass shit,” Ryker
stated.

Layne took another sip.

“You’re missin’ out,” he muttered after his
sip.

Ryker looked at Blondie. “Fuck me, bro, a
badass who drinks sissy coffee and owns a yellow lab.” His eyes
came back to Layne, his attitude shut down and he grinned his ugly
grin. “Gotta say, impressed you could pull that off.”

Layne put his cup down and pulled his phone
out of his pocket, suggesting, “Maybe you should get Alexis a
puppy.”

Ryker sat back and stretched his legs out in
front of him, still grinning, the showdown was over, Layne was
again his bud and Layne relaxed in his chair.

“They already got three cats and two
hamsters. Don’t need no dog,” Ryker told him.

Layne flipped his phone open, scrolled down
to Devin, hit go and looked at Ryker, muttering, “Your call.”

“What?” Devin answered in his ear.

“Give me Marissa Gibbon’s cell number,”
Layne replied.

“Why?” Devin barked.

“Just do it, old man, I’ll brief you later,”
Layne told him.

Devin sighed then gave him the number that
Layne wrote down on a legal pad on his desk.

“Boys are with Gabby for the week and I’m at
Roc’s the next two nights,” Layne told his friend.

“I’ll inform the President,” Devin replied
then disconnected.

Layne grinned at his desk then punched
Marissa Gibbon’s number in his phone.

“Marissa Gibbons?” Ryker asked as Layne’s
thumb hit the buttons.

“I’ll tell you later,” Layne murmured and
put his phone to his ear.

* * * * *

“This is the last time we meet,” Layne said
to Colt who was sitting by Ryker in his office, his fingers toying
with the flash drive with Gaines’s pictures that Layne gave him.
“If they haven’t already, Rutledge, Gaines and the woman are gonna
start bein’ more vigilant and they don’t need to see you comin’ and
goin’ from my office.”

Colt nodded and leaned forward. “Copy that
but I gotta know, man, why am I here and Merry isn’t?”

“Merry and I got family issues,” Layne
answered, Colt’s brows went up and Layne felt Ryker’s gaze grow
intense.

“Rocky?” Colt asked.

“Yep,” Layne answered.

“Somethin’ I can do?” Colt offered.

“Can you pry Merry or Dave’s heads outta
their asses?”

Colt smiled. “Probably not.”

“Then no, there’s nothin’ you can do,” Layne
answered.

Colt leaned back but kept Layne’s gaze.
“We’re goin’ hard means you’re swingin’ your ass back out there
again.”

“Had the head’s up to beat all head’s up on
that, brother, this time, also got backup,” Layne replied, jerking
his head to Ryker.

Colt didn’t even look at Ryker. Colt was
undecided about how he felt about Ryker.

Therefore he said, “Stay sharp.”

Then he stood, glanced through Ryker and
walked out the door.

Layne stood too, picking his keys up from
the desk, he walked to his storage room, Blondie following him.

“You think he’s gonna be able to keep his
shit quiet?” Ryker asked Layne’s back as Layne unlocked the storage
room door.

“You live in this ‘burg,” Layne said by way
of response.

Ryker didn’t like that response and told
him. “Was that an answer?”

Layne opened the door and turned to Ryker.
“This is a small town but shit goes down in a small town just like
in the big cities. It might not be as relentless, but people steal,
people deal, people rape, people beat their wives and kids. Colt
and his woman caught the attention of a sick fuck who obsessed on
both of them since high school and ended up hackin’ through people
in four states. He took that guy down and saved three lives. He
knows his shit. I think he can keep our investigation of a dirty
cop quiet.”

Ryker nodded.

Layne walked into the storage closet, turned
on the light and started sorting through his collection of bugs
while Blondie sniffed the corners.

* * * * *

“Have you
seen
this fuckin’ guy?”
Devin asked in his ear.

Layne was standing outside Conesco
Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, his dog sitting next to him, breathing
heavy, her tongue hanging out, her nose pointing in the direction
of anyone who walked by. He was leaning against his truck which was
parked three cars down from a yellow Corvette.

“You can trust him,” Layne told Devin,
referring to Ryker.

Layne had talked to Ryker and given him the
equipment. Then he’d called Devin and briefed him about what he was
going to be doing that day. He had not, however, shared much about
who he was doing it with.

“This is a delicate operation and this guy
is a fuckin’ bull, as big as one and I bet he snorts like one too.
He has no idea what he’s doin’. And, I’ll repeat, he’s a
fuckin’
bull.
I’d rather go in alone than go in with this guy takin’ my
back,” Dev replied.

“You can trust him,” Layne repeated.

“He’s gonna blow the whole thing. It’s
impossible for this guy to be invisible.”

“The Brendel has twenty-four seven security,
guards patrolling, cameras and he managed to surveil the place for
seventeen hours without raisin’ alarms. I think you’re good,” Layne
assured.

“I work alone” Devin returned.

“So do I but twice I trusted him and twice
he’s not let me down.”

“I don’t like it,” Dev clipped.

“I don’t care. He’s takin’ your back.”

“Boy –”

Layne pulled out the heavy artillery. “His
woman’s girl is a favorite of Gaines’s.”

Devin was silent.

Layne kept going. “I want ears in there and
I want them in there today. Plant the bugs, get me a goddamned
print for them both, get anything else you can get and get the fuck
out. He’ll cover you however he’s gotta do that but trust me, old
man, he’ll do it.”

There was a moment of silence then, “He
doesn’t, you get the blame,” Devin returned then disconnected.

Layne flipped his phone shut and leaned to
the side to give Blondie’s head a rub as he shoved it in his
pocket.

He was waiting for Marissa Gibbons to finish
Pacemate practice. She told him to meet her there. He didn’t like
it, it was too open. He didn’t want people to see them together the
day after people could have seen her walk out of his office. But
she wasn’t going to miss practice and he didn’t have time to wait,
so he was meeting her there. Tonight, he’d tell Rocky about her.
He’d wanted to avoid doing that, for Roc
and
for Marissa,
but now he had no choice. If Astley hadn’t called off the dogs,
that asshole would use anything to get back in with Roc and Layne
had to head him off.

The girls came out, all wearing varying
degrees of tight workout gear but Marissa came out scanning for
him. She saw him, said something to her girls then broke off as the
rest of them eyed him. When Blondie saw Marissa was on approach,
she got up to all fours and her body went in full wag.

“Cute dog,” Marissa remarked when she
arrived, bending to give Blondie a rubdown.

Layne didn’t reply. He kept his gaze to her
girls who were finding reasons to hang so they could watch Marissa
with who they wrongly assumed was Astley’s replacement.

“Get them to go,” Layne ordered and Marissa
straightened.

“What?” she asked.

“Your friends. Get them to go. Now.”

“They’ll eventually –” she started and
Layne’s eyes sliced to her.

“I told you over the phone the shit I gotta
talk to you about is important. But it’s shit you do not want them
to hear. Get them to go.”