Layne felt his body freeze.

The he repeated, “Come again?”

“We’ll talk about it later,” Dave said.

“We’ll talk about it now,” Layne replied. “He’s moved another woman in?”

Merry turned away from the counter, wiping his hands on a dish towel.

“Been steerin’ clear of this, big man, but you have to have heard,” Merry said.

He hadn’t heard. Everyone he knew in that town knew he and Rocky had had a thing. No one said boo about her to him.

“Heard what?” Layne asked.

“Fucked around on her all the time,” Merry informed him. “Far’s I can tell, since about a week after they said ‘I do’. Nailed every nurse in his hospital. Every nurse’s aide. Every decent looking patient, probably.”

“You are shitting me,” Layne whispered.

He could not believe this mainly because it was unbelievable. Not once, not even once had he considered stepping out on Rocky when he was with her. He didn’t have to. She was great in bed, she loved sex, she was good at it and she wanted it often. Her appetite was so healthy, she’d nearly killed him but it was a death he didn’t mind dying. Outside of bed she was affectionate, attentive, funny and almost always in a good mood, unless she had a headache, was stressed about a test she had to take or they were fighting about something, which they did a lot, which meant they could make up a lot. She could cook. She kept a clean house. Even working as a waitress on the weekends and going to school full-time, she still took care of him in every way there was to take care of a man and she took care of their apartment, their bills, the food, their lives. Except for paying the rent and utilities, taking out the trash and helping her do the dishes every once in awhile, Layne hadn’t had to lift a finger.

Who would step out on something like that?

“She’s already filed,” Dave said and finished before walking away with the platter. “She’s through.”

Layne watched Dave disappear into the dining room then he turned to Merry.

“She okay?” he asked.

“Nope,” Merry answered. “She had no clue. Whole town’s talkin’ about it, have been for years and she’s the putz. She found out, moved out and he moved his new girl in. She’s twenty-three. Spittin’ image of Roc fifteen years ago. She’s also a cheerleader for the Pacers.” Merry got closer and his voice dipped lower. “She’s a freakin’ Pacemate, big man. That dick’s got courtside season tickets and has for the last ten years. If shackin’ up with some hottie almost half your age who dances on court at halftime isn’t in your face, nothing is. So, no, she’s not okay.”

Layne did not know much about Jarrod Astley. He knew he was from Indianapolis, Broad Ripple. He knew he was nine years older than Rocky. He knew he was Chief of Surgery at Presbyterian in Indianapolis and supposedly a hotshot since he’d been Chief of Surgery for five years which made him young when he earned the post. He’d seen the man, not often, a few times around town. He was good-looking enough, in a stick up his ass kind of way. He struck Layne as ice cold which Layne thought didn’t work with Rocky, who was anything but cold.

Now, he knew the man was just a plain fool.

“Jesus,” Layne muttered, tilting his head to the side and looking at the floor.

He was wondering, again, why she’d come to his house that morning.

He was also wondering why she’d come to his hospital room, looked at him the way she did, touched him, put her mouth to his.

Rebound or something else?

“Tanner,” Merry called and Layne looked at him.

“Let’s eat,” Layne said and watched as Merry’s eyes flashed then his face closed off, not giving away anything.

Then he smiled huge, a cover, grabbed a basket that had something wrapped in a clean dish towel and he replied, “Fuckin’ A, bubba.”

* * *

Layne inhaled from the cigarette, took it from his lips and exhaled.

He had one smoke a day, after dinner with a beer or, if the day had been shit, a whisky. Since quitting ten years ago, he only had the one a day.

Unless the day was really shit.

He looked to Merry as Merry exhaled. Merry didn’t have one smoke a day. He had a lot more.

They were both standing outside but Dave, not smoking, was sitting on a garden chair. The boys were in the house watching some movie on TV.

“So Stew’s fucked her over?” Dave asked.

Layne had told them about Gabby’s problem.

“Yeah,” Layne answered.

“Can’t say I’m surprised,” Dave muttered.

“That’d be because it isn’t surprising,” Layne muttered back.

“I’ll keep my ear to the ground, big man, but, with Stew, it could be anything,” Merry told him.

“It’s bad shit, she’s in danger, I gotta know,” Layne said to Merry.

“What’d you get on your searches?” Dave asked.

“He’s maxed out,” Layne answered. “Overdrawn at the bank, credit cards over the limit, hasn’t paid any bills in over six months, debt collectors circling, his truck has been shopped out for repo. She’s been holdin’ on but the last three months she’s struggled. Utilities are only two months out but I figure she pays them so she won’t get shut off. She was always current, always paid on time and the last six months, she’s been juggling, payin’ late, fallin’ short, payin’ minimum payments instead of payin’ the full amount. Now, outside the utilities, she isn’t payin’ at all. She didn’t often carry debt, except around Christmas. She’s been inchin’ up but, last two months, she’s shot up and she’s also maxed. They’ve both been declined for new cards, him twice in the last month and she’s tried taking out three.”

“That’s not good,” Merry mumbled.

“Nope,” Layne agreed. “She makes decent money and never lived beyond her means. We bought that house together sixteen years ago. Her mortgage is low. He lost his job, which he hasn’t, she could take him on. She’d feel the hit but she can do it. This kinda shit, he owes someone. Gambling. Betting. Something.”

“I’ll ask around,” Dave offered.

“It would be appreciated,” Layne replied.

Merry crushed his butt into the ashtray on the outdoor table and twisted his head to his Dad.

“Got a date, Dad,” he said and Layne smiled.

Merry was Jasper except forty years old. He’d been married once, for six years. Before and since, he played the field as often as he could. Like his sister, young, he’d been a knockout and age hadn’t touched it, in fact, it seemed to enhance it so Merry’s field was wide and varied.

Layne’s smile died when Dave got up from his chair and headed into the house, muttering, “I’ll leave you to it.”

Layne took one last drag and then crushed out his cigarette on the exhale knowing now this invitation to dinner was more than a family get together.

Layne watched Dave close the backdoor then he locked his eyes on Merry.

“What?” he asked instantly.

“You know we gotta talk, it’s been six weeks,” Merry replied quietly, his eyes on his Dad’s dark backyard.

“Yeah, we’ll talk but not now. I took a hit –”

He didn’t finish when Merry’s eyes sliced to him and he growled, “Yeah, you took a hit.”

He was talking about Layne getting shot.

“I didn’t mean that kinda hit, Merry, the hospital bills wiped me out. It kills to say it but I can’t focus on that right now. I gotta take cases that pay.”

“You’re off on this one,” Merry declared and Layne felt his neck muscles contract.

“No, Garrett, I’m not,” he said softly.

“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.