“That was taken about three weeks after we started going out. She was seventeen,” Layne told his boys.

“Wow. She’s pretty,” Tripp mumbled and his head came up to look at his Dad. “But she’s prettier now.”

He wasn’t wrong.

 “Seventeen?” Jasper asked, his tone biting. “That’s sick, you were twenty-one.”

Jasper wasn’t wrong either. Twenty and twenty-four was okay, nineteen and twenty-three was still good, anything below that, the guy in his twenties, the girl in her teens, was frowned upon in that ‘burg.

But he didn’t give a fuck then and, thinking about it for the first time in over a decade, he didn’t give a fuck now.

“Look at her Jas,” Layne urged quietly and Jasper held his eyes, Jasper’s belligerent, then he looked down at the photo.

“It’s safe to say, her brother and Dad weren’t all fired up that she caught my eye,” Layne continued. “She was in high school, I’d graduated Ball State and was at the Academy. The first six months I was with her, every date we had happened at her Dad’s house. He wouldn’t even let me put her in my car. He got to know me and that changed. We moved in together a month after she graduated from high school and we lived together for two years.”

He knew Jasper would do the math, he already did. Layne’s son was far from dumb.

Layne carried on. “She went to Butler. She’d drive into Indy every day to go to class, worked at Frank’s as a waitress on the weekends. I worked for the ‘burg’s PD.”

Jasper looked from the photo to him and Layne went on.

“You see her?”

“Yeah, I see her,” Jasper replied.

“Three weeks before that photo was taken, I saw her, took one look at her and I knew. She was it. I didn’t care if she was seventeen. She was it. You want something bad enough, you know it’s right, you know it’ll be worth the wait. So I waited and I was right, Rocky was worth it. Until you two came along, she was the best thing that happened to me in my whole goddamned life.”

Tripp was staring at him, his mouth had dropped open. Jasper was shielding his response.

“Look at that picture, Jasper, and tell me that girl wasn’t worth the wait,” Layne said quietly.

Jasper licked his lips and then sucked them between his teeth.

Layne waited.

Then Jasper showed him that he had broken through.

“I know it because she’s the coolest teacher in school,” Jasper informed him.

“Yeah?” Layne asked, curious, even though he told himself he did not want to know.

“Yeah,” Tripp put in. “She’s like, that Dead Poets Society dude except a lady. She even shows that movie in her class. Kids are always hearing that she’s gettin’ into trouble with the principal because of something she’s done. Half the time, they aren’t even in the classroom but doin’ all sorts of shit all over the school. You get in her class, you got so many field trips, it’s awesome. I hope I get her. She even lets kids read comic strips for credit.”

Yes, another indication that Rocky was a nut.

“You have her yet?” Layne asked Jasper.

“Had her when I was a sophomore and she was awesome so I’m takin’ Advanced English Lit next semester. I hope I get her because Mr. Halsey is a moron,” Jasper replied.

Layne hoped he got Rocky too. Jesus, Halsey had been there when Layne had been at that school. He must be a hundred years old.

Jasper cut into his thoughts. “If she was the best thing that happened to you, how’d it go bad?”

Layne answered without hesitation. “She left me. She didn’t say why. One day it was good, really good, the next day she was gone. Everything that was hers was out and she was gone. She didn’t talk to me, she didn’t explain it. We weren’t fighting. It wasn’t turning bad, and you know when that happens even though sometimes you don’t admit it when it’s happening. But it wasn’t. It was good one day and she was gone the next. I reckon she had her reasons but the right thing to do was share them. She never did that. To this day, I have no clue why it ended; all I know is that it did. Whatever happened I might not have been able to fix but after what we had, she should have showed me the respect of tellin’ me where it went wrong.”

“Did you ask?” Jasper asked.

“Yep, about a hundred times, on the phone, when she didn’t hang up on me. Showin’ up at her Dad’s house, at her school, at Frank’s. She shut me out. Eventually, I had to man up and move on. So I did.”

“To Mom,” Tripp guessed.

“To your Mom,” Layne confirmed.

“But Mom wasn’t the best thing to happen to you,” Jasper noted, his eyes locked on Layne and Layne gave it to him straight.

“No, Jas, she wasn’t. She’s a great Mom and a good woman but she was not a good wife.”

Jasper surprised the hell out of him when he nodded.

Then, always sharp, Jasper noted, “Word is, Mrs. Astley is gettin’ a divorce.”

“Word is correct,” Layne affirmed.

“She want you back?” Jasper asked, clearly having spent some time considering why Rocky was there yesterday morning.

“No,” Layne answered.

“So why was she here?” Tripp put in, also clearly having thought about Rocky’s visit.

When Layne answered, he did it honestly but he didn’t do it fully.

“Her brother is a good friend, so’s her Dad. She and I are connected. We’ve been tryin’ to avoid each other but me gettin’ shot made that less easy for her to do. We’re workin’ shit out.”

“You gonna go for it?” Jasper asked.

“Can’t tell the future, Jas, if I could, we’d be livin’ in Rio and you’d each have your own jet,” Layne answered, hoping to inject humor into the discussion which, already not the most comfortable, was getting even less so and Tripp laughed.

Jasper’s lips twitched and he shook his head.

“You should go for it,” Tripp suggested and Layne’s surprised eyes cut to his younger son.

“Tripp, don’t, Pal. Okay? Whatever happens, happens but Rocky and me, we may sort it out so she’ll be over at her Dad’s when Dave has a barbeque but she won’t be ironing your boxers.”

Tripp kept his eyes on his old man then he nodded and whispered, “Right,” but, fuck him, Layne still saw hope there.

Deciding their conversation was done, Layne indicated their bowls with a dip of his head. “Get those in the dishwasher, get your books, get to school.”

Tripp moved instantly. Jasper stayed where he was and studied Layne for awhile before he followed his brother.

Layne timed his next for when Tripp was in the garage heading to Jasper’s Charger and Jasper was almost at the utility room door.

“Jas, a second,” Layne called, Jasper stopped, looked at him and Layne got closer. “You’re stayin’ with me next week but when you talk to your Mom and when you go home, I want you to keep your eyes and ears open.”

Jasper’s body went tight as did his face. “Why?”

“Don’t know, not yet, but I need you to be my ears with your Mom.”

Jasper’s eyes narrowed, not in anger at Layne, but in understanding. “Stew?”

Layne nodded and gave his son the truth. “He’s an asshole. I don’t like him with your Mom. She’s got her sister in town, friends and she’s also got you, your brother and me. Of all of those, all she’s really got to look out for her is you, your brother and me. We gotta look out for her. I’m gettin’ a bad vibe and I want you to keep sharp. You hear anything or even feel anything, you tell me. Yeah?”

Jasper stayed silent and stared at Layne for a long time. Then something lit in his eyes, something Layne hadn’t seen since Jasper was a little kid. Something Layne missed like he’d been breathing half the amount of oxygen any other human needed and the other half just came whooshing into his lungs.

Then he muttered, “Yeah, okay Dad.”

Layne wanted to touch him, Christ, his hand itched to curl around Jasper’s neck but he checked it.

“Do me a favor and keep this conversation from Tripp. Right now, you and me are workin’ this. We need Tripp, I’ll let you know.”

Jasper nodded.

Layne jerked his head to the door. “Go to school.”

* * *

“Can’t do it, Drew, wish I could but I gotta focus on shit that pays,” Layne told Drew Mangold.

He was at the Station because he wanted to talk to Colt, Sully and Mike about Stew.

He’d been to the Station a couple of times since he’d been released from the hospital but Rutledge had not been there any of those times.

Rutledge was there now. Layne had locked eyes with him as he’d walked up the stairs ten minutes ago. He’d buried the burn seeing that asshole ignited inside him. Then he’d tipped up his chin, lifted a hand and gave him a flick of two fingers. Rutledge had visibly tensed when he’d seen Layne but his face went slack when Layne greeted him like he always did if he was at the Station when Layne walked up the stairs.

Layne knew a lot of the men in that Department, most of them he knew well, some of them had worn a uniform at the same time Layne had.

Rutledge was not one of those men. He hadn’t been around for very long and most of what Layne knew about him was that he was dirty so he didn’t want to know much more. Unfortunately, since he was dirty, Layne had to investigate him so Layne knew Rutledge a lot more than he wanted to and none of what he knew was any good.

Layne couldn’t begin to guess what was going on in Rutledge’s mind after Layne behaved like normal. He could think it was indication that Layne had learned his lesson and backed down. He could wonder if he’d been wrong about what he suspected Layne was doing before he told whoever was pulling his strings to order the hit thus wondering if he acted rashly. He could be considering both or something else. Layne hoped he was considering both. They needed him off-balance and guessing not only the extent of their knowledge and who held it but also what they’d do next.