Chapter 60: The Subtle Hints Of Unrest

Interior, Earl's Diner, Temperance, South Dakota...

The bottom of a round half-empty glass had been the only thing that Brick Kenneally had been staring at for the past half hour as he attempted to put together what little he could of what they knew about his current ongoing missing person's case. He had not felt right ever since he'd run into Layla's father, their first meeting not at all what he expected when he looked into the rather unseemly man's eyes. He'd been a mortal whelp like any other, but there was something downright unsettling about the man that seemed to nag at Brick and wouldn't let go.

The brooding werewolf had stared down into the bottom of his glass trying to shake the uneasy feeling about Jarrett Quinn but it wouldn't allow it.

"Somethin' ain't right about what went down," he said finally drinking down the remainder of his drink in one go before slamming the glass on the end of the bar. "She just suddenly skirts out on her old man and a kid to end up getting killed by a man who is most likely the asshole that took the girl?"

"What do you mean?" asked Rooster taking a drink from his coffee mug.

"The blonde," said Brick turning his attention to the old-timer. "Something ain't right and it's got to do with her and whatever actually happened to her."

Rooster nodded figuring as much himself as he did his best to recall how she'd been when he saw her last.

"It makes no sense to just up and leave a kid and run off with a man that already has one," said Brick balling his fists as he pondered the nature of what he was being asked to believe. "Ain't no fuckin' way that goes down, she had to have left for a reason, and given how creepy Jarrett Quinn is that reason definitely has got somethin' to do with his sorry ass."

Rooster seemed to have been following him in his assessment of Jarrett Quinn.

"Folks around town don't seem all that fond of him either," he said observing the reaction people had to him. "They say he's a real piece of work alright, how much you wanna bet he had been quite a handful back then?"

"Figured as much," replied Brick not at all liking the sound of it due to the old bastard being Layla's father. "Find out as much about that son of a bitch as you can, starting with the day he moved here to Temperance with his wife and daughter, then get me something on the blonde, there is more to her just taking off."

"What are you thinking, that Quinn had a hand in it?" asked Rooster with an arched brow.

"Oh I'm sure he had more than a hand in her leaving and he probably failed to mention this little detail to the feds and his own daughter," replied Brick with a glint of knowing behind his eyes. "Man reeks of something akin to guilt and it's overwhelming."

"Caught that too did you?" asked Gunner with a sly grin as he walked up toward both Brick and Rooster. "Reckon I've seen my fair share of folk like him in my time and I can tell you they are as cowardly as the day is long in the summertime."

Brick had not liked the idea of Jarrett Quinn being anywhere near Layla and he liked it even less that the bastard might have been responsible for her not having her mother around and lied to her face about it.

"Gentlemen, get to looking into those leads," said Brick turning his attention toward the door. "I got somewhere to be."

The older werewolves watched as Brick made a B-line for the door and toward his bike. They knew all too well that he'd become upset since meeting his young woman's father and with these new questions and allegations sure to arise, he was rightly concerned for her.

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Brick took off the moment he climbed onto his bike and road back toward The Quinn residence. He was sure that Jarrett would be watching Layla like a hawk after their trip out to his place and the subsequent revelation that his ex-wife had met with an unfortunate end. The real question had been whether or not he'd been responsible for it. If so, Brick was more than prepared to do what he had to do in terms of crushing the mortal man if only to protect his new lady.

The roar of his bike's engine had echoed as he raced through the town and along the highway his mind once more on Layla who had become much more to him over their short course of interaction since their first meeting. He was bonded to her truly now and if she had been in danger, he'd make sure the one responsible for her turmoil would suffer unimaginable horrors and agony they wouldn't believe.

The look on Layla's face when she'd seen the picture of her dead mother as the sketch had not been lost on Brick as he continued to ride his bike along the winding road and toward The Quinn residence.

He had not stopped thinking about his time with Layla at the old mill and wondered if she'd been doing the same, aside from catching up on her sleep. It was a shame she had not come to the diner but all things considered there was a lot to process in terms of their relationship going to another level and the strange aspect of his latest missing person's case. He had hoped for Layla's sake that her mother didn't have anything to do with the little girl going missing and that her father was mostly full of hot air and had not done what Brick's instincts had been telling him that he'd done.

The mark of a murderer had not been something easily forgotten, especially not to one as experienced in the art of taking life as a former soldier like Brick Kenneally. He knew the thousand-yard stare and the disconnection from the world all too well and Jarrett Quinn reeked of death from the moment he arrived from his apparent fishing expedition.

Instinct had dictated that something wasn't at all right about the reclusive Jarrett Quinn and Brick was determined to get to the bottom of it.