Golden Trail (7 page)

Merry was done too.

“Suit yourself but one thing. I got here
tonight and she was in her head. Roc goes into her head for only
one reason, and that’s when she’s got her feelings hurt. I know it
isn’t her fuckwad husband because she won’t even speak to him
except through an attorney and she tells me all about that shit. My
guess is, whatever went down this morning between you and her, you
scored a direct hit. I love you, man, you know it, sucked losin’
you when you two disintegrated and I’m fuckin’ thrilled to have you
back, but I love her a fuckuva lot more than you and I find out
she’s in her head because you can’t let go of something that
happened
eighteen years ago
and still feel like gettin’ your
licks in, you got me to worry about. You get me?”

“Like I said, Garrett, I’ll talk to her,”
Layne gritted from between his teeth.

“Yeah,” Merry replied, watching him closely,
“I know you will. I know from this conversation that you got her
best interests at heart too, no matter that other shit. You just
gotta know that she’s not in a good space right now. She’s the town
chump, sleepin’ on her brother’s couch and knowin’ dirt is sittin’
at a desk next to her brother, that same dirt ordered a hit on her
ex-boyfriend. She’s exposed, Tanner, vulnerable. I do not get a
good feelin’ about you havin’ a chat with her when she’s this way
and the only reason I’ll allow it is because I trust you. Don’t
fuck that up.”

Layne knew Merry loved his sister, more than
anyone on this earth, but he was done.

“One more word, Merry,” Layne said softly.
“You know me better than that shit. One more word, I’m gonna take
it personal.”

“Any other time, I’d know she could fight
her corner –”

“This morning, I didn’t know she’d left
Astley and I didn’t know any of this shit. You also know what
happened between us and you know what it did to me. Cut me some
fuckin’ slack.”

“Yeah,” Merry said quietly, his face had
changed, it had gone soft, but his eyes had grown intense. “Yeah,
brother. I know what it did to you.” He paused, leaned in and his
voice dropped even quieter. “I know what happened too, I know more
than you, brother. I know
why
it happened so maybe you’ll
cut
Roc
some slack.”

Layne felt his body freeze again but before
he could say a word, Merry finished.

“Got a date.”

Then he reached down, nabbed his smokes off
the table and walked into the house.

Layne grabbed his smokes too and shook one
out.

Today was a two cigarette day.

Absolutely.

White Hat

At two o’clock that morning, Layne stood
outside Merry’s condo door and knocked, loudly.

He’d gone home, he’d made certain the boys
had their homework done and he’d gone to bed. He was going to sleep
on it, think on it, consider his strategies after he fucked things
up so royally that morning with Raquel.

Then he couldn’t get it out of his head.
None of it. Her husband fucking around on her. Her sleeping on her
brother’s couch for two months. Her going in to do whatever the
hell she was going to do to find dirt on Rutledge but mostly
whatever the hell she was going to do to get Rutledge to trust
her.

So he got up, got dressed, got in his truck
and went to Merry’s.

Merry’s car wasn’t in the lot; he was
sleeping elsewhere that night, as usual.

Rocky’s Mercedes was there.

When she didn’t answer, he knocked
louder.

He heard her at the door before he saw her,
hopefully checking the peephole. Then the outside light came on and
the door opened. She was standing there and with one look at her,
the breath went clean out of him.

First, because she was wearing a big
t-shirt. She’d worn big t-shirts to bed, his, when they were living
together (and before, she’d confiscated several while they were
dating). This one was a blue, Indianapolis Colts tee and he knew it
wasn’t Jarrod Astley’s because the man was taller than her, but
slim, and she swam in it. If he thought about it, he’d have guessed
she’d graduate to silk, satin and lace. She had not. Something
about this hit him and it hit him hard.

Second, because she had her hair down. He
hadn’t seen much of her the last year he was home but it wasn’t
exactly a bustling city they lived in. He saw her – at Mimi’s, at
Frank’s, coming out of Reggie’s with a pizza, at the grocery store.
She always had her hair up, in a ponytail, a twist, a clip, a bun.
Now it was down and it was longer than he expected. Longer even
than when they were together. Long and thick and tousled around her
face, over her shoulders, down her chest. Christ. Gorgeous.

“Is everything all right?” she asked, her
voice sounding funny, scared and he knew she was worried about
Merry.

And he took advantage of that fear. Instead
of answering straight away, like she had that morning, he walked
right through her but he stopped close, closed the door and locked
it before he moved into the condo and saw the bed pulled out of the
couch, the covers mussed. Merry had a multitude of beds he could
choose to sleep in; he should let Rocky have his.

Once he successfully gained entry, he turned
to her. “If you’re worried about Merry, he’s fine. He’s probably a
lot more than fine just about now.”

She stared at him unblinking then she turned
to the door then she looked back at him.

“What time is it?” she asked.

“Why’d you come to the hospital?” he asked
back and watched her body lock. There was only one lamp lit in the
living room but he saw it lock to statue-still as the confusion and
sleep swept out of her face and she went on alert.

“Sorry?”

“When I was shot, why’d you come to the
hospital?”

She straightened her shoulders. This took
effort, he could tell, but she did it. It also took time. Just a
bit of it but enough for her to come up with a believable lie.

“You were at Jarrod’s hospital and I just
happened to be –”

He cut her off. “Bullshit, Roc, you left
Jarrod two months ago.”

He watched her lips thin and she glared at
him.

Then she whispered, “Merry,” and he knew
he’d thrown Merry right under the bus. He also didn’t care.

“Why’d you come to the hospital?” he
repeated.

“Why are you here?” she asked.

“Answer me, Rocky.”

She crossed her arms on her chest. “Go home,
Layne.”

“Okay, you don’t wanna answer that,” he
shrugged, took a step toward her and stopped, “then why’d you come
by this morning?”

“I think you ate the reason why tonight,”
she answered.

“Bullshit again, Raquel. You know Merry and
I talked tonight.”

“Yes, well,” she threw a hand out and then
crossed it right back on her chest, “I had an alternate reason for
coming to your house this morning. After your fond farewell,
however, I decided I no longer have that reason.”

He took another step toward her and she held
her ground but her eyes flashed their warning and he stopped.

“We should talk about that,” he said
softly.

“Oh no. No we shouldn’t. I think you said
enough this morning.”

“Rocky, you showed up out of the blue,
stormed into my house, fed my dog, made me a cup of coffee, gave my
boy advice on what to have for breakfast and I haven’t spoken to
you in eighteen years except groggy in a hospital bed after being
shot three times,” he reminded her.

“Yes, I can see that’s reasonable, now that
you explain it. I can see why you’d speak to me that way
considering I…” she leaned in and finished on a hiss, “
made you
a cup of coffee.
”

“You’re bullshitting me again,” he told her.
“You get what I’m sayin’ to you.”

She shook her head and said, “Go home,
Layne.”

“We gotta put this behind us, for your Dad
and your brother.”

“I tried to do that this morning. It didn’t
work. Once bitten, twice shy. I think the avoiding each other
tactic is a better strategy. Let’s go back to that.”

“You didn’t try to do that this morning,
Rocky. You came by, olive branch extended, but only so you could
soften me up for the blows you’d deliver later.”

Her upper body jerked back. “What?”

“Rutledge?”

She looked away but when her eyes came back
to him, they were narrowed. In that second, she’d braced for attack
and
she’d dug in. He knew it.

“That’s none of your business.”

“That wasn’t what Merry told me tonight. He
told me you were looking for firepower.”

“Yes, but like I said, after our chat by my
car, I’m no longer looking for that. Not from you.”

“And who’s gonna take your back in this
crusade, Roc? ‘Cause trust me, sweetcheeks, you go in without
backup, you are gonna be fucked.”

Her face turned to marble before her lips
moved. “I’ll be fine.”

“You’ll be fucked.”

She leaned in again. “I’ll be
fine.
”

“Lotsa reasons a dirty cop goes dirty. But
unlike a criminal, he’s got more reasons not to get caught. He gets
caught, he loses everything. He loses face, he loses family, he
loses respect, he loses his badge, he loses his career and he goes
to a place he does not wanna go. Boys in prison, they don’t like
cops. He’s either dead or he’ll wanna be. That means a dirty cop
who hasn’t made all he needs to break away clean and disappear is
gonna get antsy when he feels heat. And by antsy, I mean
desperate.
”

When she replied, she did it quickly and
quietly. “I know that.”

“I know you know that which makes me wonder,
your Dad uses a cane when it rains but is reminded every day when
he wakes up alone, why you’d put that shit out there for him to
experience again.”

He heard her suck in breath.

Merry told him to go easy on her but he had
no intention of doing that. Too much was at stake.

“Carson Fisher was dead three days after he
was sent down,” he reminded her.

“Layne –”

“Shiv to the gut, they didn’t twist it, they
yanked it straight through him, straight through his heart. He bled
out about a second after he hit the ground.”

“Be quiet,” she whispered.

Layne wasn’t quiet. “Your Mom went down so
he could avoid that.”

“Be
quiet,
” she whispered louder.

“Your Dad went down for the same
reason.”

“Stop it, Layne.”

“
I
went down six weeks ago for the
same fuckin’ reason, Rocky.”

Her arms uncrossed, she leaned forward
sharply and she yelled, “
Stop it, Layne!
”

“Merry doesn’t want you out there with
Rutledge and I figure your Dad doesn’t know about this but if he
did, he wouldn’t want you out there either.”

“You forget, Layne, that Dad knew exactly
what you’re telling me and he still stayed on Fisher,” she shot
back.

“True enough but he had no idea he was
puttin’ more than his ass on the line. You asked him now, I bet
he’d tell you he’d stand down.”

“Then you don’t know my father very well,”
she returned.

He had to admit, she was probably right
about that. She was also wrong about it.

“He fucked up,” Layne told her.

“He did not, he did the right thing. Shit
like that happens to cops every day. He knew the score, so did
Mom.”

“You sure about that?”

“Absolutely.”

“Got yourself all talked into it, then,” he
noted.

“Go to hell, Layne.”

“Sweetcheeks, your Dad thought Cecilia or
you were in danger, he would have done things differently.”

“He wouldn’t stand down.”

“No, but he would have made you safe.”

She tossed her hair then said, “You’re
right. That’s a good idea, Layne. I’ll let Dad in on this. He won’t
like it, it’ll probably piss him off, but, like Merry, and you, he
won’t stop me but at least he’ll be in the know and he can do what
he wants with that knowledge.”

“Merry’s right, you’re smart. None of us can
out you which means none of us can stop you. You got us all
cornered.”

She didn’t reply, just stood there and
glared at him.

“Problem with that is, if I remember the
story right, your Dad talked to your Mom. The deal was, something
happened to him, she took what he left her to the cops. That’s why,
after Fisher dropped your Dad, he went for your Mom.”

He watched her face get pale as she
swallowed but she didn’t speak or lose the fire in her eyes.

“Now, it’s the other way around,” Layne
continued. “See, he’s guessin’ now, which boy enlightened me. He
can’t be sure and he can’t ask questions. So he’s off-balance. But
he makes you, he knows Merry’s made him. So he drops you then goes
after Merry. Maybe your Dad. Maybe me too.”

Rocky remained silent.

Layne went on. “I was in surgery, then
unconscious. Tell me, Roc, what were Tripp and Jasper like when you
saw them at the hospital?”

She spoke then. She whispered, “Shut up,
Layne.”

“You recognize the look in their eyes?”

“Shut up.”

“See that somewhere? The mirror, maybe?”

“Go to hell!” she shouted and whirled, her
hair flying out behind her, she stomped to the door, unlocked it
and yanked it open. Standing there holding it, she turned back to
him. “Get out.”

He walked right up to her, wrenched the door
out of her hand and slammed it. Then he moved into her, she
retreated and he backed her up until she was against the wall and
he kept going until their bodies touched. Then he caged her in, one
hand flat against the wall at her waist, the other one at her
shoulder.

She put her hands on his chest and then she
put pressure there.

“Step back!” she demanded.

“All that worth it to you? You think your
Mom would be proud?”

She stared in his eyes and she did this
awhile.