Golden Trail (9 page)

“That was taken about three weeks after we
started going out. She was seventeen,” Layne told his boys.

“Wow. She’s pretty,” Tripp mumbled and his
head came up to look at his Dad. “But she’s prettier now.”

He wasn’t wrong.

“Seventeen?” Jasper asked, his tone biting.
“That’s sick, you were twenty-one.”

Jasper wasn’t wrong either. Twenty and
twenty-four was okay, nineteen and twenty-three was still good,
anything below that, the guy in his twenties, the girl in her
teens, was frowned upon in that ‘burg.

But he didn’t give a fuck then and, thinking
about it for the first time in over a decade, he didn’t give a fuck
now.

“Look at her Jas,” Layne urged quietly and
Jasper held his eyes, Jasper’s belligerent, then he looked down at
the photo.

“It’s safe to say, her brother and Dad
weren’t all fired up that she caught my eye,” Layne continued. “She
was in high school, I’d graduated Ball State and was at the
Academy. The first six months I was with her, every date we had
happened at her Dad’s house. He wouldn’t even let me put her in my
car. He got to know me and that changed. We moved in together a
month after she graduated from high school and we lived together
for two years.”

He knew Jasper would do the math, he already
did. Layne’s son was far from dumb.

Layne carried on. “She went to Butler. She’d
drive into Indy every day to go to class, worked at Frank’s as a
waitress on the weekends. I worked for the ‘burg’s PD.”

Jasper looked from the photo to him and
Layne went on.

“You see her?”

“Yeah, I see her,” Jasper replied.

“Three weeks before that photo was taken, I
saw her, took one look at her and I knew. She was it. I didn’t care
if she was seventeen. She was it. You want something bad enough,
you know it’s right, you know it’ll be worth the wait. So I waited
and I was right, Rocky was worth it. Until you two came along, she
was the best thing that happened to me in my whole goddamned
life.”

Tripp was staring at him, his mouth had
dropped open. Jasper was shielding his response.

“Look at that picture, Jasper, and tell me
that girl wasn’t worth the wait,” Layne said quietly.

Jasper licked his lips and then sucked them
between his teeth.

Layne waited.

Then Jasper showed him that he had broken
through.

“I know it because she’s the coolest teacher
in school,” Jasper informed him.

“Yeah?” Layne asked, curious, even though he
told himself he did not want to know.

“Yeah,” Tripp put in. “She’s like, that
Dead Poets Society
dude except a lady. She even shows that
movie in her class. Kids are always hearing that she’s gettin’ into
trouble with the principal because of something she’s done. Half
the time, they aren’t even in the classroom but doin’ all sorts of
shit all over the school. You get in her class, you got so many
field trips, it’s awesome. I hope I get her. She even lets kids
read
comic strips
for
credit.
”

Yes, another indication that Rocky was a
nut.

“You have her yet?” Layne asked Jasper.

“Had her when I was a sophomore and she was
awesome so I’m takin’ Advanced English Lit next semester. I hope I
get her because Mr. Halsey is a moron,” Jasper replied.

Layne hoped he got Rocky too. Jesus, Halsey
had been there when Layne had been at that school. He must be a
hundred years old.

Jasper cut into his thoughts. “If she was
the best thing that happened to you, how’d it go bad?”

Layne answered without hesitation. “She left
me. She didn’t say why. One day it was good, really good, the next
day she was gone. Everything that was hers was out and she was
gone. She didn’t talk to me, she didn’t explain it. We weren’t
fighting. It wasn’t turning bad, and you know when that happens
even though sometimes you don’t admit it when it’s happening. But
it wasn’t. It was good one day and she was gone the next. I reckon
she had her reasons but the right thing to do was share them. She
never did that. To this day, I have no clue why it ended; all I
know is that it did. Whatever happened I might not have been able
to fix but after what we had, she should have showed me the respect
of tellin’ me where it went wrong.”

“Did you ask?” Jasper asked.

“Yep, about a hundred times, on the phone,
when she didn’t hang up on me. Showin’ up at her Dad’s house, at
her school, at Frank’s. She shut me out. Eventually, I had to man
up and move on. So I did.”

“To Mom,” Tripp guessed.

“To your Mom,” Layne confirmed.

“But Mom wasn’t the best thing to happen to
you,” Jasper noted, his eyes locked on Layne and Layne gave it to
him straight.

“No, Jas, she wasn’t. She’s a great Mom and
a good woman but she was not a good wife.”

Jasper surprised the hell out of him when he
nodded.

Then, always sharp, Jasper noted, “Word is,
Mrs. Astley is gettin’ a divorce.”

“Word is correct,” Layne affirmed.

“She want you back?” Jasper asked, clearly
having spent some time considering why Rocky was there yesterday
morning.

“No,” Layne answered.

“So why was she here?” Tripp put in, also
clearly having thought about Rocky’s visit.

When Layne answered, he did it honestly but
he didn’t do it fully.

“Her brother is a good friend, so’s her Dad.
She and I are connected. We’ve been tryin’ to avoid each other but
me gettin’ shot made that less easy for her to do. We’re workin’
shit out.”

“You gonna go for it?” Jasper asked.

“Can’t tell the future, Jas, if I could,
we’d be livin’ in Rio and you’d each have your own jet,” Layne
answered, hoping to inject humor into the discussion which, already
not the most comfortable, was getting even less so and Tripp
laughed.

Jasper’s lips twitched and he shook his
head.

“You should go for it,” Tripp suggested and
Layne’s surprised eyes cut to his younger son.

“Tripp, don’t, Pal. Okay? Whatever happens,
happens but Rocky and me, we may sort it out so she’ll be over at
her Dad’s when Dave has a barbeque but she won’t be ironing your
boxers.”

Tripp kept his eyes on his old man then he
nodded and whispered, “Right,” but, fuck him, Layne still saw hope
there.

Deciding their conversation was done, Layne
indicated their bowls with a dip of his head. “Get those in the
dishwasher, get your books, get to school.”

Tripp moved instantly. Jasper stayed where
he was and studied Layne for awhile before he followed his
brother.

Layne timed his next for when Tripp was in
the garage heading to Jasper’s Charger and Jasper was almost at the
utility room door.

“Jas, a second,” Layne called, Jasper
stopped, looked at him and Layne got closer. “You’re stayin’ with
me next week but when you talk to your Mom and when you go home, I
want you to keep your eyes and ears open.”

Jasper’s body went tight as did his face.
“Why?”

“Don’t know, not yet, but I need you to be
my ears with your Mom.”

Jasper’s eyes narrowed, not in anger at
Layne, but in understanding. “Stew?”

Layne nodded and gave his son the truth.
“He’s an asshole. I don’t like him with your Mom. She’s got her
sister in town, friends and she’s also got you, your brother and
me. Of all of those, all she’s really got to look out for her is
you, your brother and me. We gotta look out for her. I’m gettin’ a
bad vibe and I want you to keep sharp. You hear anything or even
feel anything, you tell me. Yeah?”

Jasper stayed silent and stared at Layne for
a long time. Then something lit in his eyes, something Layne hadn’t
seen since Jasper was a little kid. Something Layne missed like
he’d been breathing half the amount of oxygen any other human
needed and the other half just came whooshing into his lungs.

Then he muttered, “Yeah, okay Dad.”

Layne wanted to touch him, Christ, his hand
itched to curl around Jasper’s neck but he checked it.

“Do me a favor and keep this conversation
from Tripp. Right now, you and me are workin’ this. We need Tripp,
I’ll let you know.”

Jasper nodded.

Layne jerked his head to the door. “Go to
school.”

* * * * *

“Can’t do it, Drew, wish I could but I gotta
focus on shit that pays,” Layne told Drew Mangold.

He was at the Station because he wanted to
talk to Colt, Sully and Mike about Stew.

He’d been to the Station a couple of times
since he’d been released from the hospital but Rutledge had not
been there any of those times.

Rutledge was there now. Layne had locked
eyes with him as he’d walked up the stairs ten minutes ago. He’d
buried the burn seeing that asshole ignited inside him. Then he’d
tipped up his chin, lifted a hand and gave him a flick of two
fingers. Rutledge had visibly tensed when he’d seen Layne but his
face went slack when Layne greeted him like he always did if he was
at the Station when Layne walked up the stairs.

Layne knew a lot of the men in that
Department, most of them he knew well, some of them had worn a
uniform at the same time Layne had.

Rutledge was not one of those men. He hadn’t
been around for very long and most of what Layne knew about him was
that he was dirty so he didn’t want to know much more.
Unfortunately, since he was dirty, Layne had to investigate him so
Layne knew Rutledge a lot more than he wanted to and none of what
he knew was any good.

Layne couldn’t begin to guess what was going
on in Rutledge’s mind after Layne behaved like normal. He could
think it was indication that Layne had learned his lesson and
backed down. He could wonder if he’d been wrong about what he
suspected Layne was doing before he told whoever was pulling his
strings to order the hit thus wondering if he acted rashly. He
could be considering both or something else. Layne hoped he was
considering both. They needed him off-balance and guessing not only
the extent of their knowledge and who held it but also what they’d
do next.

Colt, Sully and Mike weren’t there and Drew
had corralled him to tell him about some weird shit that was
happening at the Christian Church. Drew wasn’t wrong, it didn’t
sound good, but Layne couldn’t look into it.

About two days after Layne came home and set
up shop over Mimi’s, Merry punted him a case. Something the cops
couldn’t stick their noses into and something that the interested
party couldn’t pay a private detective for, especially not at
Layne’s rates. It wasn’t a big deal, doing some searches, printing
out credit history, it took him ten minutes. But he’d done it, he’d
done it gratis and he shouldn’t have. It was the beginning of what
Merry called Layne’s “Robin Hood Caseload”. Merry regularly punted
shit he knew needed looking into, people he knew who needed help;
all of them unable to pay for it, and Layne took them on and took
care of their shit. The problem was, shit like that spreads so
Sully and Sean jumped on the bandwagon. Then Drew.

The only ones who didn’t do it were Harrison
Rutledge, Alec Colton and Mike Haines.

Rutledge didn’t because he didn’t know Layne
and because he didn’t give a shit if someone was in trouble and
needed help.

Layne figured Colt and Haines knew it was
happening and didn’t interfere but they also didn’t participate.
What Layne didn’t know was if it was because they disagreed with
him doing it or they didn’t want to take advantage of a
friendship.

Gabby didn’t lie, he charged top dollar
because he gave quick, efficient, confidential service on any
matter you could possibly need a private investigator for. He’d
travelled a lot, had an extensive and varied set of skills and
people all over the country knew of him or had worked with him. He
came highly recommended. Because of that, his reputation had
preceded him and he had clients even before he’d located office
space.

Most of his clients came from Indianapolis
which meant most of his work was there. He had some clients from
the ‘burg but they lived in developments like where Rocky used to
live.

With a healthy bank balance and money coming
in, this meant he could carry a Robin Hood Caseload. Being out of
work for five weeks and his nest egg depleted, this meant he needed
to focus.

This sucked, especially after what Drew told
him about what he suspected was happening at the Church.

“Seriously man, this is what I think it is,
and I got a bad feeling it is, then…” Drew was trying to persuade
him but Drew trailed off when his eyes went over Layne’s shoulder
and his face grew distracted.

Layne turned to see what caught his
attention but he heard her heels on the floor before he saw
her.

Rocky was walking across the room.

Strike that, Rocky was
strutting
across the room wearing a skirt much like yesterday’s, this one the
color of cranberries, just as tight but there was a sexy slit up
the front so you saw a hint of her inner thigh every other stride
she took. She had on a black blouse, this one almost see-through, a
black camisole under it and it fit her perfectly, too perfectly,
like yesterday’s blouse. She also had on a pair of shoes the color
of her skirt, the leather shiny, the heel high and thin, no strap
this time and they were the absolute definition of fuck-me shoes.
Her hair was twisted in a complicated knot at the nape of her neck
and she had a little leather purse that matched her shoes on a
short strap that tucked it under her pit.

She strutted through the room smiling,
giving little waves to men she knew and also giving absolutely no
indication that she knew all the men watching her, and every man in
that room was watching her, was struggling to control his dick
getting hard.

She rounded Merry’s desk and Layne watched,
with no small amount of irritation, as she stood there looking at
it for a moment as if searching for something. Then she found it,
reached for a piece of paper and pen and leaned over, ass in the
air, skirt stretched tight across it –
and
her hips
and
upper thighs, leaving nothing to the imagination – and
she started scribbling.