Golden Trail (The 'Burg #3)(181)

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.”

“Collecting types,” Merry murmured and Layne nodded.

Layne looked back at Rocky. “She place the woman there?”

Rocky nodded to Layne. “Yes. Said she was touchy.”

Layne bet she was.

Jesus.

“Said she gave her the creeps,” Rocky continued and got closer to Layne. “She said she didn’t have a problem with Gaines until he took her to that woman and she definitely has a problem with him after last night. He was just the Youth Minister and she didn’t really think much of him, except he was the Youth Minister and he was cute. But she didn’t like that woman.”

“Was the touching inappropriate?” Layne asked and Rocky shook her head.

“No, just familiar and frequent. She played with their hair, positioned their bodies for the photos, put makeup on them but it was all normal photo shoot stuff as far as Giselle knew. Except Giselle said it was a lot of makeup and Giselle didn’t like the poses.”

Christ.

“So why didn’t she call her parents to come and get her?” Layne asked and Rocky shook her head again.

“I don’t know, sweetheart. She’s fourteen and she was freaked. She said if her parents knew she did the photo shoot, they’d be angry. They’re overprotective, especially after her sister got sick. That’s why she didn’t phone them. She thought she’d be in trouble if they found out. She wasn’t thinking straight, just got scared and hid. Tripp called and texted and her parents called and texted and the more they called, the more scared she got. But she got my call and she thought she could trust me so she called me back.” She paused, Layne nodded and Rocky continued. “The photo shoot was about a month ago but nothing after that even though Gaines offered it, Giselle wouldn’t do it and she doesn’t think Alexis or Tiffany did either but they were trying to talk her into it. They’d made a girl pact, it was an all or nothing thing. Then she said Gaines spent a lot of time with her after that, talked to her a lot, tried to make friends and she felt weird about it because he was pushing another shoot. She said she’d swear she’d sometimes see him, when she left school, in his car outside her house but she’d look again and he wasn’t there so she thought she was seeing things. But last night, she wasn’t seeing things.”

No, she wasn’t seeing things.

Ryker needed this intel, if they were doing it to Giselle, they could be doing it to Alexis.

“This happened last night, why’d she cut Tripp out at school yesterday?” Layne asked.

Rocky’s expression cleared and her lips twitched. “Alexis’s advice. Told her she was making it too easy on Tripp. Told her to play hard to get. That was nothing to do with Gaines or any of this. She’s almost more worried that Tripp is going to be mad at her than she is about her parents or Gaines.”