Layne let them into his office and he’d barely taken off his coat and settled in his chair, Blondie sitting sentry beside his desk, when Ryker spoke.

He was sitting across from Layne and his posture wasn’t lazy, it was alert to the point of being wired.

“You used to be a cop,” Ryker stated bizarrely, this not being the opening Layne expected, not that he knew what to expect.

“Yeah,” Layne returned guardedly.

“On the ‘burg’s PD,” Ryker growled and Layne studied him a moment before he nodded. “Still close with those pigs?” he asked and Layne’s neck muscles contracted.

“Yeah, Ryker, I am and you already know that. I gave that comment a pass once but head’s up now that I’m not a big fan of my boys bein’ called pigs and I’m not likely gonna give that comment a pass again,” Layne replied softly.

“They’re pigs,” Ryker shot back and Layne leaned forward, not a deep lean, enough to show Ryker he, too, was on alert and he was losing patience.

“I get you’re a badass, Ryker, but this is my place, my office, you show respect here, do you get me?”

Ryker didn’t hesitate before he went on. “One of ‘em in particular.”

Layne stared at him, understanding, and he went hyper-alert.

Then he growled, “Stop f**kin’ around, what’s got you tweaked?”

“My babe’s got a daughter,” he stated.

“And?” Layne prompted.

“Name’s Alexis,” Ryker told him.

Holy f**k.

It was Ryker’s turn to study him and he did, then he nodded. “I think you get why I was willin’ to be all over that shit.”

“Talk to me,” Layne ordered low.

“Yesterday, last night, this mornin’, I was all over that shit,” Ryker said.

“What’d you get?”

“Man and woman, comin’ and goin’, no schedule, but they’re both busy. The Youth Minister and his woman. Though, not sure she’s his woman. They walked to their cars together, no touchin’, just talkin’. He’s either whipped or she’s the one with the balls. He’s not the big man with her, she was the one with the ‘tude. She threw a stick and told him to fetch, he’d run.”

When he stopped talking, Layne urged, “Keep goin’.”

“Late night visit, bro, around eleven thirty, one of the tenants of The Brendel took a walk.”

Layne’s entire body got tight but he didn’t say a word.

He didn’t have to, he knew it when Ryker stated, “You get me.”

He got him. Rutledge.

Rutledge went to church every Sunday. Rutledge lived at The Brendel. Gaines acted like he was untouchable because he was, he had a dirty cop in his pocket, or, more to the point, whoever the woman was, she did.

Ryker leaned forward. “You tell your boys at the pig factory about this shit, you got problems… with me. This shit we work, you and me,” he lifted a big hand and motioned between the two of them, “the cops aren’t in this.”

“Only dirty cop in that Department is the one you saw.”

“You sure about that?” Ryker asked.

“Yeah,” Layne answered.

“Well, I’m not,” Ryker returned. “My guess, that shit comes down from the top.”

“The Captain?” Layne asked.

“He’s so dirty, he stinks.”

“He’s not dirty, Ryker, he’s ambitious, blinded by it.”

“Like I said, dirty,” Ryker retorted.

Layne rolled his chair to the desk, leaned his forearms into it and laid it out. “This is my investigation. I don’t like partners, especially partners who keep shit from me, like their woman’s daughter bein’ a favorite of the guy I’m investigating. That said, I’ll work with one when it suits me. Even though it’s uncool you kept that shit from me, workin’ with you suits me. Needless to say, seein’ as I don’t like partners, I don’t like men takin’ over my investigations. I got shit invested in this, I got a plan, we’re workin’ this my way.”

“You got a girl who’s got that assclown under her skin?” Ryker shot back and before Layne could answer, Ryker did it for him. “No, you don’t. My babe’s worried but she don’t wanna upset Alexis. Alexis’s Dad is a dickhead. Always cancellin’ on his weekends, breaks Alexis’s heart. He pays child support about once every six months, if Lissa’s lucky. She don’t have a lot and she can’t give Alexis a lot but she works her ass off to give her what she can and that means Alexis don’t see her Mom much either. Alexis likes this Youth Group, she likes this guy and has friends there. Alexis hasn’t found much she likes. Lissa wants her to have what she wants. We been talkin’ ‘bout that shit and she’s been callin’ me down but I been meanin’ to look into it for awhile. Now, I’m lookin’ into it.”

Layne got where Ryker’s woman Lissa was coming from and also where Ryker was coming from.

Even so, it didn’t matter. “You shouldn’t have hesitated, now it’s too late, the wheels are in motion and both my boys are caught up in it and I’m not gonna have you jack them up.”

Ryker stared at him then sat back and whispered, “Cosgrove.”

“Come again?” Layne asked.

“Alexis has a date tonight, her first, with Seth Cosgrove. You set that up?”

Layne didn’t answer.

“Only thing would get her out from under that f**kwad is Cosgrove. Alexis won’t shut up about him. She thinks that Youth Minister is the shit but she thinks the sun shines outta Seth Cosgrove’s ass,” Ryker told him.

“Lissa religious?” Layne asked.

“She prays but she don’t pray to a God in a house that let a jackal in,” Ryker answered.

“Then she needs to suck it up. You and I both know that is not a good place for Alexis to be. Alexis freaks, she freaks, but get your woman to pull her daughter’s ass outta there,” Layne advised.

“That ain’t gonna work, Alexis is a handful.”

“Then you step in.”

“Not my place.”

“You bangin’ her Mom?” Layne asked and Ryker’s jaw got tight.

“Not my place,” Ryker repeated.

“How long you been bangin’ her Mom?” Layne pushed.

“Bro,” Ryker leaned in warningly, “not my place.”