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  “Yeah, Tanner, you are,” Merry shot back. “You’ve been blown.”

  “You can’t work it,” Layne pointed out.

  “I won’t be. Rocky is,” Merry returned.

  Every muscle in Layne’s body contracted.

  “What?” he whispered.

  “She’s gonna cozy up to Rutledge, get in on the inside,” Merry shared.

  Layne’s fingers curled into fists and he turned fully to face his friend. It took a lot out of him but he didn’t grab his collar and shake some sense into him – or beat it into him – both of which he’d prefer to do.

  “Are you fucking insane?” Layne asked.

  “She’s all over it,” Merry retorted and Layne sucked in a breath and it made a sound like a hiss.

  Then he looked at the yard.

  She would. Rocky would. She’d be all over it.

  He now had proof that Raquel was just as nuts as ever and her brother surpassed her by a long fucking shot.

  “She doesn’t know what she’s doing,” Layne pointed out.

  “We’re talking. She’s learning. She’s good,” Merry replied.

  He looked back at his friend. “News flash, man, I took three because of this shit six weeks ago and I know what I’m doin’. You want that to happen to your sister?”

  Merry leaned into Layne and he saw it in his face. It wasn’t stark, he was trying to control it, but it was there.

  Fear.

  “It was her idea,” he whispered.

  “Fuck me,” Layne whispered back and it hit him.

  She knew. Merry told her everything. She knew there was a dirty cop in the Department. She knew it was Rutledge. She knew Merry couldn’t work it so he farmed it out to Layne. She knew Layne got too close and Rutledge got tweaked and Layne got ambushed. And, it was worthwhile to repeat, she knew there was a dirty copy in the department.

  And she knew her father’s partner twenty-four years ago was a dirty cop. She knew that her father knew it. She knew that her father was working at proving it and he got close. And she knew because she’d heard the break in, she’d heard her mother’s shouts, the partner’s replies, she’d called 911 then she’d heard the shots and she only stayed alive because she was smart enough to hide and the partner had to get out before he could find her because the sirens were approaching. Before the cops could stop her, she saw her mother’s dead, bloody body in the front entry of this same fucking house. And she knew her father had been hit the same night and left for dead but, by a miracle, he’d survived. Dave hadn’t made his wife’s funeral because he was in a hospital room with a tube down his throat. Merry and Rocky had gone with their grandparents. He also knew she’d testified at the hearing.

  And Layne knew this because she’d told him, in the dark of night, in their bed, her body pressed to his, hers trembling like she was freezing to death.

  And Layne knew one last thing.

  Raquel Merrick Astley would do anything to take down a dirty cop.

  “I can’t talk her out of it, man,” Merry was still whispering.

  “You should have never told her, Merry, Jesus!” he exploded. “What was in your fuckin’ head?”

  “She… Tanner… fuck,” Merry hissed. “When you got shot… fuck… let’s just say, Roc was not good. She kept at me, wanted to know what you were workin’. And, big man, you know, you know, when Rocky keeps at you, you got no choice but to talk. Fuck, more than once in my career I wished I had her in an interrogation room with me. She’s the master.”

  He knew this. She wanted to know something, she was a dog with a bone, and not just any dog, a vicious pit bull. She never let anything go. Hell, their first Christmas together, she knew every last present he gave her before she opened them. He’d learned to go shopping last minute on Christmas Eve or the day before her birthday and then come home and keep her occupied in a multitude of ways where she couldn’t use her mouth to speak and he’d had to do it for as long as he could so she’d be exhausted or she’d always know what gifts he’d bought her.

  He’d thought it was kind of cute and he definitely liked the exhausting her part.

  Now he did not find it cute.

  Merry interrupted his thoughts.

  “Did you hear me, Tanner? She was not good when you –”

  Layne cut him off, his mind on other things, namely keeping Raquel Merrick Astley alive until her next birthday.

  “I’ll talk to her,” he declared.

  “Oh boy,” Merry muttered, rocking back on his heels and looking to the heavens.

  Layne ignored him. “She start this gig?”

  “Not yet,” Merry answered.

  “What’s her plan?”

  “You’re not gonna get it outta her head,” Merry warned.

  “What’s her plan, Merry?”

  Merry pulled in a breath then blew it out. Then he said, “She’s gonna reel him in.”

  “Come again?”

  “She’s gonna get on his radar, hopin’ he’ll be interested, which I know he will, then she’s gonna get him to ask her out and get close.”

  Layne felt the leg of lamb, cooked with rosemary and garlic and served with roasted potatoes, homemade tzatziki sauce and fresh, still hot from the oven, homemade pita bread followed with homemade baklava smothered in a sugary honey roil in his stomach.

  “She intends to sleep with him?” he whispered.

  Merry gave him an unhappy look.

  Then he said, “We’re talkin’ Rocky here, brother. My sister goes the distance.”

  “Fuck,” Layne was still whispering. “Fuck!” he repeated, not in a whisper.

  “You talk to her, she’s gonna be pissed… at me,” Merry informed him.

  “I’ll take that chance,” Layne snarled.

  “Fuck, now you’re pissed at me,” Merry muttered, studying him.

  “Believe it, brother,” Layne clipped. “You should have nipped this in the bud.”

  Merry threw his arms out. “This is Rocky!” He took a step closer to Layne. “We been skirtin’ this awhile, Tanner, but here we are. It’s over, long over, but we all know shit’s so fucked up between you two, it isn’t ever gonna get sorted. We also know shit’s so wound up between you, there’ll always be a connection. No,” his hand came up almost in Layne’s face, close enough for Layne to snap his mouth shut, not close enough for Layne to feel the need to take a swing, “do not bullshit me. There’s shit you don’t know and I’m not gonna tell you but let’s just say the last eighteen years you aren’t the only one been lickin’ those wounds, keepin’ ‘em fresh.”

  Another shot to the gut, this one bounced around, tearing through a variety of organs.

  “You are shitting me, Merry, she walked out on me,” Layne ground out.

  “I’m not goin’ there,” Merry shot back.

  “You brought it up,” Layne bit off.

  “I’m just sayin’, you are not comin’ at this in a position of not bein’ in the know of what I’m dealin’ with here. Roc gets somethin’ in her head, nothin’s gonna shake it out and you and I both know it. The other part of this is, even with that, you aren’t in the position to do dick about it.”

  “You wanna bet?” Layne asked quietly.

  “Yeah, I’ll bet. Tell me somethin’, brother, she went all out tonight, why isn’t she here?”

  Layne straightened and didn’t answer which he knew, fuck him, was the answer.

  “Yeah, that’s what I thought. She wanted to be in on our little chat.” Merry indicated the two of them with a hand jerking back and forth. “Tonight was her idea. Dad didn’t win a fuckin’ leg of lamb in a poker game, for fuck’s sake. Rocky bought it. She isn’t stupid enough to think she can head into this without as much firepower at her back as she can get. She went to your house, proverbial olive branch, and you shoved it up her ass. I get that right, brother?” Merry asked cuttingly.

  Layne didn’t answer this time because he was grinding his teeth.

  “You’re blown,” Merry state
d. “You got two sons, an ex-wife shacked up with the town asshole and three bullets for your troubles. Rutledge knows you took your shot, he nearly took your life makin’ his warning for you to back off so I reckon, since you’re still breathin’, he figures he’s got nothin’ to fear from you. He can only guess I gave you the intel. You’re close with every cop in that department, half of us you worked with when you served.”

  “Yeah, but I’m closest to you and Colt,” Layne reminded him.

  “And?”

  “And because of that he’ll make Rocky in about a second,” Layne bit out.

  “Yeah, and Rocky knows that. What Rutledge doesn’t know is that I’m close to my sister and I talk to her. Not a lotta cops share shit like this with their sister. Wife, maybe, their sister? No freaking way.”

  “That is, if their sister didn’t hear their mother get murdered by a dirty cop in their own damned house,” Layne reminded him and watched Merry flinch. “He’ll make her.”

  Merry recovered quickly. “She’s not dumb, Tanner. She’ll play it smart.”

  “He’ll make her,” Layne repeated.

  “He won’t make her, big man. Shit, he’s got someone in that Department on his ass. Because he felt the heat from you, he doesn’t know if it’s me, Colt, Sully or Haines. He’s too busy tryin’ to figure out which one of us made him to even think about makin’ Rocky.”

  Layne was done with this conversation.

  “I’m gonna talk to her,” he stated.

  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.

  Chapter Three

  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.”