Golden Trail (88 page)

“Got it,” Ryker growled.

“You hear anything before I get there,
report back,” Layne ordered, flipped his phone shut and opened it,
scrolling down to Devin.

“Layne,” Rocky whispered and Layne felt the
air in the car had changed from cheerful to tense.

“Tripp, on your phone, call Giselle, yeah?”
Layne ordered, ignoring Rocky.

“Right, Dad,” Tripp replied.

He put his phone to his ear and heard Devin
answer, “Miss me already?”

“Alexis McGraw is gone,” Layne told Devin
and heard the hiss of Rocky taking in a breath. “She’s supposed to
be shoppin’ with her mother but Lissa came home and she’s gone. No
note. I’ve got Ryker started. I need to drop off Keira so I need
you to get to him.”

“Copy that, out,” Devin said and
disconnected.

“You can take me wherever you need to go,
Mr. Layne. I can get Mom or Joe to come pick me up,” Keira offered
quietly from the back. “I’ll call them now and they can meet me
there.”

“That’d be good, honey,” Layne replied.
“It’s thirty-four Easton Street.”

“Okay,” she whispered and he heard her
digging through her purse.

“Hey Giselle, what’s up?” Tripp said into
his phone and Layne held his breath. “Oh, cool. Yeah, we got Gram
off okay…” he went on and Layne let his breath go.

Rocky’s hand came to his knee and squeezed,
he covered hers with his and squeezed back. Then he drove carefully
with precious cargo, the whole time his foot itching to press down
the accelerator.

* * * * *

The minute they got to Lissa’s house, doors
opened, all of them on his truck and the front door of the house.
Ryker prowled out first, followed by Devin, Colt, Sully and Merry,
Lissa coming out last to stand on the little stoop. She didn’t look
good; she looked terrified out of her mind.

Rocky hustled Keira to Lissa; Layne, Jasper
and Tripp went to the men, Jasper stopping a few feet away. He was
on his phone, Layne didn’t know why and he was focused on the
matter at hand so he didn’t pay attention.

“Around noon,” Ryker stated before Layne
even stopped. “A silver BMW. That bitch was behind the wheel.”

Towers.

Fuck.

“Who saw?” Layne asked.

“Neighbor across the street. Bitch is nosy
as hell, ugly too, but, swear, bro, her info helps, I’ll fuckin’
kiss her,” Ryker answered. “Said she didn’t think anything of it
because Lexie walked right up to the car, seemed excited to see
her, got in and they went.”

“No one else in the car?” Layne asked.

“Nope,” Ryker answered.

Layne’s eyes slid through the group. “What
else we got?”

“Not much, man,” Colt muttered, his eyes on
Ryker, his body alert for Ryker to blow. “Lissa’s been calling
Alexis’s friends. No one knows about any plans. This is a sneak
attack.”

Layne’s phone rang, he pulled it out, saw
the display said, “Dave Calling”, he flipped it open and put it to
his ear.

“Dave, I’m in the middle of –”

“Somethin’s goin’ down,” Dave cut him off.
“I’m on duty at your office, listenin’ to Rutledge. He just had a
conversation with someone, tellin’ them it’s too hot, he was
freaked, though he didn’t provide details. Whoever it was, they
didn’t listen. Now I got silence and I’m watchin’ his car move.
Looks like he may be headin’ out of the ‘burg.”

Devin had planted the bugs and then Layne
had planted a tracking device on Rutledge’s car. Even though things
had cooled down to the point they were ice cold, both were still
monitored in the office twenty-four seven.

“Where?” Layne asked.

“He’s on Green and looks to me he’s on his
way to 74,” Dave answered.

“Right, two hours ago, Alexis McGraw got in
a car with Nicolette Towers,” Layne told him.

“Shit!” Dave hissed.

“Keep an eye on him,” Layne ordered. “Got
some of the boys here, we’ll get someone on his ass.”

“Right, out,” Dave said and
disconnected.

Layne flipped his phone shut and looked at
Merry. “Was anyone sitting on Rutledge?”

“The investigation is ongoing but wrapping
up since we don’t have enough. Just shitty police work so he’s not
gonna get a good performance evaluation but it looks like he’s
gonna be cleared. He didn’t bolt which looked good for him. Cap
rescinded the unit on his tail,” Merry explained.

“You need to call it in, he’s headed to
Indy, looks to hit 74. He needs to pick up a tail on his way. He
just had a conversation with someone, tryin’ to convince them it’s
too hot then he took off,” Layne told them and Sully had his phone
out before Layne was done speaking.

Sully stepped away and Layne heard Jasper’s
phone ringing behind him. He turned and swept his son with a glance
to see Jasper was still hanging back, body partially turned away,
eyes to the ground, focus intense.

Before he could ascertain what Jasper was
doing, he sensed Ryker was on the move and he turned to see Ryker
heading toward his bike.

“Ryker,” Layne called, moving behind
him.

“I’m headed to I-74,” Ryker grunted.

“Ryker,” Layne put a hand on his big arm but
Ryker shook it off and kept moving.

“Call me, you got info on where he’s goin’,”
Ryker swung a leg over his bike, settling as he put his key to the
ignition.

Layne’s hand shot out and he yanked the keys
from his friend.

Ryker’s head turned to Layne and he had that
scary look on his face.

“Not a bright idea, bro,” he growled.

“Not a bright idea to get on your bike,
pissed and lookin’ to do damage. We can hope nothin’s happened yet.
It does, it doesn’t, Alexis and Lissa are gonna need you right
here, not have to find their time to visit you and talk to you
through glass,” Layne returned.

“She has my girl,” Ryker growled.

“I know and it isn’t helpin’ matters, us
spendin’ time havin’ this conversation. Get off your bike,” Layne
ordered.

Ryker glared at him.

“Dad,” Jasper called, Layne took a chance
and turned his back on scary, pissed off Ryker to see Jasper was
jogging up to him.

“Tiffany’s not answering her phone,” Jasper
told him when he got close.

Fuck!

“I got her number after the last thing and
I’ve been callin’ her. Know someone who’s got some of her friends’
numbers and her home number and they called. She’s not at home,
parents said she was goin’ to hang with some of her girls. None of
her friends have heard from her and they didn’t have plans.”

“I’m on that,” Colt muttered, pulling out
his phone.

“Dad,” Jasper called his attention.

“What, Bud?”

Jasper looked funny and Layne knew that
look. He hadn’t seen it from Jas in years. It was hesitant, unsure,
like Tripp looked when he had to say something he thought might
sound stupid.

Jasper sucked it up and said softly, “Okay,
Dad, stick with me, yeah?”

“I’m with you,” Layne spoke softly back as
he felt Ryker getting off his bike and Tripp, Devin and Merry got
close.

“I know we don’t have a lotta time but will
you let me talk this out?” Jasper asked and Layne nodded.

“Okay,” Jasper whispered then took a big
breath. “I’ve been thinkin’ about all this stuff and somethin’
never sat right with me ‘cause that Youth Group guy has been around
for ages, like,
months
, right?”

“Right,” Layne agreed.

“So, I don’t know how they think or how they
work but to work three girls, it doesn’t seem like it would be
worth that investment, takin’ that long to do it,” Jasper went on
and Layne’s eyes moved to Devin whose jaw was tight.

His eyes went back to his son. “Go on,”
Layne prompted.

“So, it just seemed funny to me but I don’t
know how they work so I didn’t think about it much until you told
us to go to Giselle’s folks’ house and get the list of her friends.
We worked our way through that and none of her friends had much but
one of the names on it was Tara Murdoch. I thought that was weird
‘cause Giselle doesn’t hang with Tara,
no one
hangs with
Tara. She’s weird, a goth, loads of piercings, black lipstick,
total attitude and not the good kind. She’s fourteen, Dad, and
she’s got tattoos.”

Fuck
.

Layne looked at Tripp. “Tara Murdoch a goth
last year?”

Tripp shook his head.

“She tight with Giselle last year?” Layne
continued.

“Yeah, Dad,” Tripp whispered. “They were
best friends.”

Fuck!

“Giselle tell you why she’s not Tara’s
friend anymore?” Layne went on.

“We never talked about it but Tara went
goth, that’s not Giselle’s scene. That kinda thing happens with
girls all the time. One day they’re tight, the next day they’re
not,” Tripp replied.

“You guys talk to her when you were doin’
the rounds?” Layne asked Jasper.

“No, we went to her house and…” he shook his
head, “she was there, standin’ in the front window, watchin’ us
with this weird look on her face. Just standin’ there watchin’ us.
We rang the bell and knocked but she didn’t move. Just stood there
watchin’ us. I thought it was some goth shit and I knew she wasn’t
tight with Giselle so I figured she didn’t have anything for us so
we walked away.”

Layne nodded at Jasper. “You got anything
else?”

Jasper nodded, sucked in breath and replied,
“Summer Collins and Hannah Blair. Mitch had clocked both of them at
a party, end of school last year. Giselle, Tara, Summer and Hannah
were known to be the talent comin’ up from junior high. All the
guys knew about them. Giselle was shy. Tara turned goth. Summer is
more shy than Giselle, she doesn’t go to games, doesn’t go out for
pizza, she just goes to school, doesn’t have any friends that I
know of, and she goes home. Sometimes she also doesn’t wash her
hair. Just kinda tries to fade, you know?” Jasper asked but didn’t
wait for a response, he continued. “But it’s Hannah. Hannah
disappeared.”

Layne turned to Merry. “You get a report on
Hannah Blair goin’ missin’?”

Merry shook his head but Tripp spoke. “She’s
in the hospital Dad. Everyone knows about it, she wigged out this
summer. Word is, she’s, like, catatonic. Doesn’t talk to anyone.
Not her parents, her friends quit visiting her. She’s just like,
gone.
”

Fuck, fuck,
fucking hell.
Devin was
right. They’d missed something. Nicolette Towers had already thrown
a party.

“They all go to Youth Group?” Layne asked
Tripp.

“Don’t know for sure but I think so. I know
Tara did,” Tripp answered.

“Brunette, blonde, redhead?” Layne
asked.

“Tara was blonde, but now her hair’s black,”
Tripp answered. “But yeah, Summer’s got red hair and Hannah was
dark.”

Layne looked at Merry but he was already
pulling out his phone, muttering, “Got it.”

“I take it, it wasn’t stupid,” Jasper
mumbled and Layne’s eyes went to his boy to see he was not looking
good. He was looking sick. He thought he fucked up.

“Jasper, shake that off. You couldn’t save
them but now they may be able to save Alexis and Tiffany. Focus on
that. Yeah?”

“I should have said something.” He was still
mumbling but he was doing it looking sicker.

“Shake that off Jasper, I need you to
think,” his eyes cut to Tripp, “I need you both to think. Any other
girls? A trio. Blonde, brunette, redhead. They were normal girls
last year, attractive girls, and did an about face over the summer.
They could be Freshman or Sophomores, they went to Youth Group but
they don’t go now.”

Tripp shook his head. Jasper was
thinking.

“Jas,” Layne prompted.

“No,” he replied. “But to be sure, I’d need
my yearbooks.”

“Where are they, our place or your
Mom’s?”

“Mom’s,” Jasper answered.

“You think of someone, you call Merry right
away, not me, Merry. Yeah?” Jasper nodded and Layne looked at
Devin. “Take the boys to their Mom’s.” Devin nodded, moving to the
Calais and Layne looked at Tripp. “You too, Pal. Seventh and eighth
grade last year, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Tripp muttered and jogged after
Jasper and Devin.

Merry and Sully came up to Ryker and
Layne.

“Tennessee needs a call, Sul, they need to
yank Goulding,” Layne told him. “He held out on us. He delivered at
least three girls to a party, maybe more. If he didn’t deliver
them, he primed them. We need to find out everything he knows. We
need to know if there are more girls. We need him broken.”

Sully nodded and again stepped away,
flipping open his phone.

Merry said, “I gotta get to the
Station.”

“Right,” Layne replied but Merry was already
on the move.

“What’re you thinkin’ you can get from these
girls?” Ryker asked low from Layne’s side and Layne looked at
him.

“Maybe a location, though I doubt she’ll
double up. Definitely cause for a warrant,” Layne answered.

“Obviously none of them talked,” Ryker
noted.

“Probably too scared,” Layne replied.

“So maybe they won’t talk now,” Ryker
observed, his face and body tight. He was a man who liked to be on
the move, in the thick of things, with Alexis on the line, this was
killing him.

“Marissa Gibbons was hard as nails, Ryker,
and she talked because she didn’t want another girl to face what
happened to her. They’ll talk.”

“It’ll take time, they’ll –” Ryker
started.

“Patience, brother,” Layne whispered and
Ryker got scary again.

“Your girl isn’t right now keepin’ company
with sheer evil, bro,” he whispered back.

Layne held his gaze. “Stick with me, big
man.”

Ryker held his eyes and a muscle danced in
his cheek. Then he looked to the house and muttered, “Gotta check
on my babe.”

Then he walked to the house.

Layne looked at his shoes, thinking,
fuck, we fucking missed something
.