Golden Trail (77 page)

Tyler stared at him.

Then he asked, “I won’t get in trouble?”

“Can’t tell the future,” Layne replied.
“Your folks’ll probably be pissed. Girls and their parents know you
aren’t afraid of usin’ a date rape drug, you won’t get a date until
you go to college. As for the cops, you cooperate, they might feel
generous.”

Tyler hesitated so Cal entered the
conversation.

“Best deal you’re gonna get, boy,” he
growled.

“God!” Tyler, backed into a corner, for once
in his life without his Daddy’s money or hotshot CEO bluster to
hide behind to keep him safe, exclaimed, “This is jacked up!”

“Yeah, it is,” Jasper told him. “It’s
totally jacked, Tyler. So, maybe, take a second to think about this
shit and do right, you freakin’ moron.”

Cal cut his eyes to Layne and Layne watched
his friend’s lips twitch while he pressed his own together.

Then Layne looked to Tyler. “What’s it gonna
be?”

Tyler stared at him again then his eyes did
a sweep of Cal and Jasper.

Then he flipped open his phone, pressed a
few buttons, put it to his ear and after a few beats, said,
“Mom?”

* * * * *

Colt and Sully left the interrogation room,
both their jaws tight, their faces hard.

They left behind Tyler Berger and his father
Travis. Travis Berger was probably an inch shorter than Layne but
no less fit. But whereas Layne worked at being lean and strong,
Travis Berger worked at bulk and intimidation. The man was a brute
in a suit and his son was definitely a Mama’s Boy. Layne reckoned
Tyler got to be a punk because Dad worked long hours, Mom was a
pushover and Dad wasn’t all that thrilled with the results of his
inattention but his priorities were fucked. One look at those two
and it was evident that career was definitely more important than
family. Watching them for half an hour, it wasn’t only evident, it
was definite. Travis Berger barely knew his boy and what he knew he
didn’t like much.

Cal and Layne were both in the observation
room and the air was thick and volatile. They’d watched Colt and
Sully work the kid and they’d done it in silence. The silence was
because even a word could spark the invisible fuse in the room and
when it did, that fuse was short and, once lit, the room would
explode.

Travis had let Colt and Sully go all out on
his boy, he hadn’t intervened once. He was now standing in the
corner, staring down his nose at his son, legs planted wide, arms
crossed on his barrel chest, face a mask of pissed way the fuck
off.

The door barely closed on Sully when Travis
spoke. “What’d I say?”

Layne watched Tyler stare at the table in
front of him but he whispered, “Dad –”

“Three strikes,” Travis cut him off. “I told
you after you kept fuckin’ around and didn’t listen to me, you had
three strikes left. Now, one was that pot I found in your room two
weeks ago. Two was that fuckin’ party and I saw your Mom’s Royal
Doulton smashed, Ty. To bits. She loves that shit. God knows what
other damage was done. I work hard, Ty, I work fuckin’
hard
to give you and your Mom nice things, I go away for work and come
home and I get
this?
” He sucked in breath, his face twisted
with rage, gearing up for the worst part and he continued. “And
three is you
drugging
Joe fuckin’ Callahan’s daughter in
order to
get in her pants.
”

Layne had been right. Tyler had been hiding
something and what he’d been hiding was that Cosgrove gave him the
drug to frame Jasper. He was supposed to give it to Keira, lead her
away, get her in a compromising position, “find her” and tell
everyone, including the cops, he saw Jas do it. Considering he’d
given her Rohypnol, even Keira wouldn’t have known who slipped her
the drug or what happened to her because she wouldn’t have
remembered. Jasper would have been fucked, his future ruined, his
reputation destroyed and he’d lose his girl.

Cosgrove didn’t go so far as to tell Tyler
to compromise Keira, just to remove her shirt and undo her jeans.
Under not-so-delicate pressure from Colt and
we’re-all-men-we-get-it bullshitting from Sully, Tyler had given up
that he felt this was a golden opportunity he wasn’t going to pass
up. His intention was to take advantage of Keira who he suggested,
lamely and by no means convincing anyone in that room, had a thing
for him.

What he didn’t plan on was that Jasper and
Keira were as tight as they were and Keira wasn’t big on leaving
her boy’s side so she didn’t except to go to the bathroom and, on
the way back, accept an ill-advised shot after which she wasted no
time in getting back to her boyfriend. He also didn’t plan on
Jasper turning the tables and enhancing his reputation by publicly
taking care of his girl.

The door opened and Sully and Colt walked in
but Cal and Layne didn’t move, Cal probably couldn’t move for fear
he’d commit murder.

Tyler’s head came up, “But Dad –”

Travis Berger leaned forward and roared,
“
Shut the fuck up!
Jesus Christ, whose kid
are
you?”
Tyler blanched and Travis threw his hands out then clenched them in
fists. “You
drugged
a girl for fuck’s sake! Who does
that?”

“Dad, Coach Cosgrove said –”

“I don’t give a fuck what that twat said.
Jesus, Ty, Jesus, the man beats his wife and kid. Jesus. You see a
man like that, that man hands you an illegal substance, you call
the fuckin’ cops, you do
not
take direction from him!
Fuckin’ shit.” Travis shook his head but his eyes didn’t leave his
son. “Jesus fuckin’ shit. What do I even do with you? I gotta deal
with you and I don’t even wanna
look
at you.”

Tyler’s face crumpled and Layne knew he was
going to cry. He didn’t need to see that shit so he forced his eyes
away, reached out to flip the switch to shut off the audio and
looked at Colt.

“You thinkin’ what I’m thinkin’?” he asked
and Colt nodded.

“Yeah, man, but you don’t know what I know,”
Colt replied and Layne felt Cal move to position himself at Layne’s
side.

“What do you know?” Cal growled and Colt and
Sully looked at him.

“Hendrick’s County Hospital had seven
admissions last night, six females, one male. All unconscious or
incoherent on admission for reasons unknown until the test results
came back and all of them had been roofied. Last, all of them had
been drinkin’ at J&J’s Saloon,” Sully answered.

Layne shook his head. Cal planted his fists
on his hips.

“Was Cosgrove seen at J&J’s?” Cal
asked.

“Yep, Cheryl clocked him, pointed him out to
Darryl and Darryl showed him the door. That said, it was Saturday,
it was a madhouse as usual and Cheryl, Morrie, who was also on, nor
Darryl know how long he was there before Darryl chucked his ass
out,” Colt answered.

“So, Cosgrove is metin’ out payback. I
confronted him, Cal’s providin’ safe harbor for his wife and kid
and you’re both sittin’ sentry, that the play?” Layne asked but he
knew, that fucking dick, he knew.

“That’s my guess,” Colt replied.

“Goes without sayin’, I want his ass in a
cell,” Cal snarled.

“Goes without sayin’,” Colt agreed.

“Also goes without sayin’ I want that
punk-ass piece of shit in that room to face some serious as fuck
consequences,” Cal went on, jerking a finger to the observation
window.

“Goes without sayin’,” Colt repeated.

“Good news on that is, it’s pretty clear his
Dad’s feelin’ much the same way,” Sully murmured.

“No, Sully, he’s not. He’s not feelin’ the
same thing I’m feelin’ right… fuckin’… now.” Cal’s voice was a
scary whisper.

“I get you, man,” Sully whispered back but
his whisper was conciliatory. “I’m just sayin’ you won’t have a
battle on your hands on top of all this shit. He’s not gonna fight
his son’s side ‘cause he knows his son doesn’t have a side. He
didn’t step in once when we were questioning him. He’s gonna let
that boy swing.”

Cal was silent and so was the rest of the
room, everyone stuck with pretty fucking unhappy thoughts.

Sully broke the silence. “Got shit to do. A
bulletin to put out. Bar patrons to interview. Shit like that. Am I
gonna be able to get down to that or am I gonna get a busted lip
and split knuckles losin’ my fight to lock down you three
badasses?”

Layne and Colt instantly relaxed, Colt’s
lips even formed a small smile.

Cal didn’t think anything was funny. Then
again, Cal’s stepdaughter narrowly missed getting raped the night
before. It was going to take awhile before Joe Callahan cracked a
smile.

“We’re good, Sul, do your work,” Colt
muttered, Sully studied Cal, must have read what he wanted to read,
he nodded and walked out.

Cal turned to Layne. “You straight with your
kid?”

“Yep,” Layne answered.

“You gonna share that shit?” he jerked a
thumb at the observation window.

“Not sure about that,” Layne replied because
he wasn’t sure. He shared what Tyler Berger and Adrian Cosgrove had
planned, Jasper would be uncontrollable. He knew it because that
shit happened to Layne, he’d be uncontrollable.

Cal nodded. “I’ll talk to Vi. Keira’s not
only supposed to be off her phone but she’s also grounded until
next Monday, no studyin’ at Jasper’s house, no visits from Jasper,
no dates. I’m thinkin’ after what went down last night, it wouldn’t
be good to keep her from Jasper or Jasper from her. I’ll talk
Violet into lettin’ Jasper come over.”

Translation: I’ve been reminded my girl is
vulnerable and it’s been proved your boy has her back so he’s just
been recruited to keep having her back indefinitely.

“Be appreciated,” Layne murmured.

Cal nodded and walked to the door. Before he
opened it, he turned back.

“Lotta boys would do different, they got a
hot, unconscious piece in their car. Lotta boys wouldn’t even
bother takin’ her to their car much less makin’ sure she’s
safe.”

“Jasper’s not a lotta boys,” Layne
replied.

Cal held Layne’s eyes. Then he nodded. Then
he left.

“You gotta be all kinds of stupid to fuck
with Joe Callahan.” Layne heard Colt mutter and he looked to him to
see Colt staring into the interrogation room.

“He’s seventeen, Colt, his brain is in his
dick and you’ve seen Keira. That kid had no shot and he’s not used
to not havin’ what he wants and he’s got no qualms about doin’
whatever he feels like doin’ to get what he wants. Cosgrove knows
this kid. Cosgrove knew exactly what he was doin’. And Cosgrove’s
convinced himself after spendin’ years cowing his wife and son that
his balls are big enough he could take on a badass like Joe
Callahan. Bad luck that Tyler threw that party and Jasper and Keira
gave him his shot.”

Colt turned to Layne. “You gotta be all
kinds a stupid to fuck with Cal but Cal’s retribution would be
swift and painful. Yours, man, slow and lasting.” When Layne’s eyes
met his friend’s, Colt finished, “What I’m sayin’ is, you’re
standin’ here, so I’m guessin’ you’re takin’ this a lot better than
I expected.”

“I started my day with Gabby in my face,
spent most the rest of it listenin’ to the masterminds behind a
child prostitution ring havin’ a twenty minute conversation and
then a lot of nothin’. I got a good kid and he made the right
decisions last night which means right now we’re dealin’ with
justice not tragedy. I’m feelin’ pretty good about that and I’ve
gotta hold onto the good because fuck knows what’s gonna hit
next.”

Colt grinned. “What’s next is, it all
eventually goes away and you’re left with wakin’ up next to Raquel
Merrick every day and goin’ to sleep next to her every night.”

Layne grinned back. “Yeah, that’s the plan,
except she was there when Gabby came over to throw down this
morning and Rocky wasn’t down with that. First time in two decades,
brother, I took a moment to reflect on what it would be like to
have a shy, retirin’ woman sharin’ my bed.”

“How long’d that moment last?” Colt
asked.

“About a nanosecond,” Layne answered.

Colt’s grin got wider as he laughed
softly.

Then Colt quit laughing and his face got
serious. “I had shy and retiring. Trust me, brother, it’s not all
it’s cracked up to be.”

Layne wasn’t around when Colt was married to
Melanie Seivers, who was painfully shy and retiring, but his mother
was and the tragic, lost love of Alexander Colton and February
Owens was ‘burg lore. That meant Vera Layne and her cronies had
spent a lot of time chewing over the fact that Alec Colton and
Melanie Seivers were not a match made in heaven. Layne knew this
because Vera knew Colt was a friend and she repeatedly shared her
cronies’ conclusions. No one was surprised by Colt and Melanie’s
divorce. And no one was surprised when Colt hooked back up with
February, a woman who was not shy and retiring by any stretch of
the imagination.

“So you got yours, I got mine, what the fuck
are we standin’ in a little room for?” Layne asked.

Colt’s grin came back. “Fuck if I know.”

“You got anything to brief me about that
other shit?” Layne asked, moving toward the door.

“Nope,” Colt answered, following him and
they stopped. “Same as this mornin’. We talked to IMPD and they
know all about Nicolette Towers. What they don’t know is where she
keeps her stable. We have boys on her tail at all times and she’s
steerin’ clear of that location and Rutledge is steerin’ clear of
her. He doesn’t leave the ‘burg and he’s been nowhere near her.
We’ve clocked her with some of her muscle so we’re puttin’ names
and faces to her crew but she’s not leadin’ us to her girls and
neither are they.”

“She know she’s been made?” Layne asked even
though she gave no indication of that during her conversation with
Jeremy that day.

“Nope,” Colt shook his head. “Rutledge
doesn’t either considering he visited a known prostitute last
night, took his twenty minutes, got his blowjob and went.”