Well, at least that was good.

“You want us to sit on him or you want us to get him to talk?” Devin asked.

“Sit on him. Let me see what’s happenin’ here,” Layne answered. “But forward thinkin, you need to make him talk, use Ryker. Let him loose. No rules. Scare the piss out of him. He needs to be more afraid of us than that bitch he works for but no visible marks,” Layne instructed.

“Tanner,” Merry whispered and Layne’s eyes cut to him.

“You didn’t hear that,” Layne whispered back.

“We makin’ a double agent here?” Devin asked but he knew, he was clarifying.

“That bitch know we got him?” Layne asked.

“Far’s I know, no,” Devin answered.

“I’ll call when I know more. He may walk out of there in cuffs or we may need him. We need him and you can’t break him, again, he walks out of there in cuffs. You can, he’s just switched sides.”

“Oh,” Devin whispered, “we’ll break him.”

Disconnect.

Layne flipped his phone shut.

“Brother,” Merry murmured and Layne looked at him.

“We rush this, we take him down and him alone. We turn him, we get her and Rutledge.”

Merry got close. “This may have escaped you, Tanner, but we got a tweaked teenaged girl in there. Her parents are gonna blow this and you do not want your end messy.”

“I know her parents are gonna blow this, Merry, that’s because it’s blown. But if I make a mess, you gotta do what you gotta do to clean it up and you gotta keep a close eye on Rutledge if he hasn’t already disappeared. He intercepted the missing person call last night. Went to the Speakmons’ house alone then sat on it.”

Merry’s brows went up.

“Yeah, you haven’t heard about it means he didn’t share. You got a teenaged girl missin’ in this ‘burg, every cop in the Department will know and every one of them would be on the hunt. Whatever happened, they thought she was gonna blow them. He intercepted that call means he knew the Speakmons would call it in. That means he was waitin’ for it. That means somethin’ happened last night with at least Gaines, maybe the woman. He can’t hide his shit anymore, Merry. That proves he’s linked to at least Gaines. We got them both. Gaines comes in limpin’, that’s the least of your worries.”

Merry got closer, “I want Rutledge out now.”

“I got no problem with her losin’ her protection,” Layne returned. “But you call it out now, you have to open an investigation. You got dirt, he’ll need to explain, boys’ll be lookin’ over their shoulders, whisperin’ but that shit takes a long time, Merry. And he’ll bolt but, like I said, he could have already bolted. You hold out, we get what she’s got on him, he’s never seen again.”

“Then no investigation, I’m just swingin’ my ass out on this right alongside yours, brother. I want him just as tweaked as that girl is in there,” Layne studied him and Merry nodded. “Yeah, brother, I heard her.” He leaned in closer and his voice dropped lower. “I f**kin’ heard her.”

“Means you could get dead and I could get dead,” Layne whispered back.

“His desk is beside mine,” Merry hissed.

Jesus, the Merricks.

“Patience, Garrett.” Layne kept whispering.

“She said, ‘I won’t do it again,’.” Merry reminded him.

“Patience, brother. We’re close.”

“I want this done,” Merry repeated his sister’s words of that morning.

Layne leaned to an inch away from his friend. “I do to, Merry but cool it. Let’s see what she has to say. Then we’ll decide the way to play it.”

Merry stared in his eyes then he nodded.

Vera approached. “Parents are coming over now,” she whispered.

Layne nodded to his mother and wrapped an arm around her.

“I don’t think I want to be your receptionist anymore, honey,” she said when she rested her weight into his side.

“Didn’t think so,” Layne murmured, giving her a squeeze then going alert when Rocky stood, she rested a hand on the side of Giselle’s head then slid it down to cup her cheek. Then she bent low, said something, turned and walked out of the room.

“Vera, would you –?” Rocky didn’t finish, Layne’s mother hustled into the room toward Giselle.

Rocky’s eyes went to Layne then to her brother then she walked down the stairs.

Layne and Merry followed her.

She was in the kitchen and they barely got close to her before she started whispering.

“He came after her last night, when she was walking to the game. Gaines. Said he’d give her a ride. She said no. He stopped and got out of the car. She said no again. He made a grab for her and she took off. At first she hid. Then she waited. Then she came here thinking he might go to her house. She broke in through a window.”

“Why didn’t she call her parents?” Layne asked and Rocky locked eyes with him.

“They took pictures of her.”

Layne’s stomach pitched and Merry jerked away, probably looking for something to throw and Rocky moved forward, her hand curling around her brother’s bicep and he stilled.

“Not like that but it still wasn’t good and she didn’t like it,” Rocky whispered quickly then her eyes went back to Layne. “She said they were pictures with her clothes on. She says they told her they were recruiting models, she’d go to New York City, she’d be in magazine ads. She did it with Alexis and another girl. Tiffany Emmerson. She didn’t say anything about the pictures because Alexis and Tiffany were excited about it, talked her into keeping quiet but she still didn’t like it. But him being alone, making a grab for her, that’s what freaked her out. She said even a Youth Minister should know not to offer a ride to a girl alone and definitely not push it when she declines.”

Smart girl, thank f**k.

“Tiffany Emmerson sixteen, long, dark hair?” Layne asked and Rocky’s eyes got wide.

“Yes,” she answered.

“Drive a red Ford Focus?” Layne went on.

“I don’t know. Why?” Rocky answered.

“Hunch,” Layne muttered, knowing exactly who Tiffany Emmerson was, too old but up for it except she didn’t know what “it” was. Fuck. He looked at Merry. “That’s a blonde, a redhead and a brunette.”