Golden Trail (The 'Burg #3)(93)

And now she was greeting him, excited and happy.

“Hey sweetcheeks,” he greeted back.

“We’re having hot beef sandwiches for dinner,” she informed him and then finished, “with cheese.”

“Sounds good, Roc, but I’m gonna be late.”

There was silence then a disappointed, “Oh.”

Fuck. He liked Rocky excited and happy, he was not a big fan of Rocky disappointed.

“Colt came by, we need to talk,” he explained.

“Um… okay. Are you going to be long?” she asked and Colt moved, Layne looked at him and saw he was leaning forward.

Colt dropped the legal pad in front of Layne and the words, “Do you sweep?” were written on it.

Layne’s eyes went to Colt. He wasn’t talking about the floors. He was talking about bugs.

“Might be awhile,” Layne said to Rocky but his eyes never left Colt as he nodded his head.

Colt sat back and held Layne’s gaze.

Rocky hesitated then replied, “I’ll wrap them up. We’ll take them with us and eat on the road.”

“Perfect, baby,” he murmured. “Gotta go.”

“Okay, Layne. Tell Colt I said hi.”

“Will do, Roc, later.”

“Bye.”

He flipped his phone shut and Colt didn’t hesitate before saying, “It’s clean?”

“It’s clean,” Layne replied, moving the phone in his hand, sliding it between his fingers, end to end, then flipping it around and doing the same. “What’s up?”

“We got a situation,” Colt replied.

“That being?” Layne asked.

“Sean’s sister,” Colt told him and Layne’s brows went up.

“Sean’s sister?”

“She’s got a tumor on her pituitary gland,” Colt answered.

That sucked. Sean was a good man, a good cop, a newer detective in the department, he was young, his sister younger but it would suck that anyone was sick. That said, Colt didn’t need to give him this information and therefore Colt had another reason for giving him this information.

“You’re tellin’ me this because…?” Layne prompted.

“I’m tellin’ you this because it’s benign, it won’t kill her but it messes with her hormones. She’s gotta have replacement therapy her whole life or she’ll feel like shit. She got diagnosed, had neurosurgery where they got most of the tumor but before they got the tumor, it damaged the gland. That’s not unusual, Sean says the damn thing is the size of a pea and it’s not easy, maneuvering up there. They go through the freaking nose.” He shook his head then went on. “But the gland doesn’t work right and she’s not feelin’ better. She’s got two kids, an asswipe of a husband who bagged on her when she started to get sick, before she was even diagnosed. He’s gone and not comin’ back. Now they’re tellin’ her she has to have an injection, she has to take it every day and they say it’ll help her get back on her feet, feel more like herself. She can’t work but part-time, doesn’t have the energy, quality of life is shit, she needs this injection.”

“Okay, Colt, now you’re tellin’ me this because…?” Layne repeated.

“Because, with part-time work, her insurance won’t cover the entirety of the injection and it’s expensive.”

“You takin’ a collection?” Layne asked but he knew he wasn’t.

“They say sometimes it takes as long as six months for it to really kick in. She’s got a good job, pay’s all right, but part-time isn’t gonna cut it. Until she gets back on her feet, goes back to full-time, gets decent insurance, she’s gonna need help and that help’s gonna be expensive.”

Layne stared at Colt and Colt stared back.

Then Layne whispered, “He’s vulnerable.”

He meant Sean. Sean wanted his sister to feel better and her kids’ life to get better.

Which meant he needed money to do it, a lot of it, more than a cop made unless that cop was dirty.

“Someone’s recruiting,” Colt whispered back.

Colt knew about Rutledge. This didn’t surprise Layne, not much got by Colt and Rutledge’s slipshod police work would definitely not be lost on Colt.

Colt also knew about Layne and, more than likely, Merry. This also didn’t surprise Layne.

“I have to let that cool down,” Layne said quietly.

“I get you, that doesn’t mean it’s not still hot,” Colt replied. “You gotta know what you’re workin’ and who you’re up against.”

“You gonna let Sean go down?” Layne asked and this did surprise Layne. Those boys took care of their own, like they were blood brothers. And even if they didn’t, Colt, being Colt, wouldn’t let Sean go down.

“You aren’t the only one lookin’ into this,” Colt returned, he was ticked, not angry, irritated that Layne would even think that. “I understand why Merry didn’t go to the Captain because, bein’ how the Captain is, that’s not a great play and that’s the reason I’m not makin’ that play either. I’ve never seen this shit before but I’ve heard of it. That small of a Department, this small of a town, that shit leaks out, we’re all tarred with the same brush and Cap will f**k it up and it’ll be sure to leak. If we take care of this internal, private, that doesn’t happen. But it’s gotta be taken care of.”