He scanned the lot and the church and saw no Rocky.
He parked by her car, unbuckled his seatbelt, leaned to his glove compartment and pulled out a Maglite and a pair of black leather gloves. Then he got out of his car, pulling on his gloves and walking through the parking lot like he, personally, owned the church and he found the side door slightly ajar. She hadn’t left it that way on purpose. The latch hadn’t caught when she slipped through.
He opened the door just enough to steal through and stood still, no alarm, no beeps warning him to enter the code. He turned and saw the white of the security box by the door, the panel looking in the dark like it was hanging down. He flipped on his Maglite, shone it on the box, saw the panel was hanging down but didn’t see any wires protruding. He traced the door with his Maglite and found the sensors on the door, their wires intact. He leaned into the security box and saw the lighted display saying “unarmed”.
How did she disable the alarm?
He moved cautiously through the vestibule outside the sanctuary and remembered coming to this church with his mother. He hadn’t been there in years. He also remembered Rocky came to this church with Merry, Cecilia and Dave. And lastly, he remembered, when Cecilia died, Dave quit bringing the kids.
He kept the Maglite pointed down but forward and made his way through the vestibule, saw it and stopped, flipping off the Maglite.
There was a windowed room but the window was internal, no windows to the outside. Layne tried to remember and he thought it was an office, the windows facing into the vestibule. From it, a dim light shone.
He moved there, around the corner to the opened door and saw Rocky sitting on a desk chair, a file in her lap, her head bowed over it, deep in concentration, her gloved hands moving the papers, a small Maglite between her lips.
He felt at the wall and switched on the light.
She let out a small scream and pushed back, rolling the chair across the small room and slamming against a filing cabinet, her head snapping back, the Maglite falling out of her mouth and clattering to the floor as she stared at him with lips parted, eyes huge.
“Hey sweetcheeks,” he greeted.
“What are you…” she swallowed, looked out the window into the vestibule then back at him. “What are you doing here!” she hissed.
“Funny, that’s what I was gonna ask you.”
She flipped the file shut and stood. “Layne, turn out the light!”
“No windows to the outside, no one knows we’re in here, no one can see the light and I need it so I can see you when I throw you over my shoulder and,” he leaned forward and barked, “haul your ass outta here!”
She jumped toward him and lifted a hand. “Keep your voice down!” she whispered.
“Baby, no one knows we’re here!”
“Okay, so keep your voice down because you’re freaking me out!”
He leaned back and crossed his arms on his chest. “I know what wouldn’t freak you out, Roc, bein’ at home in your bed where you’re supposed to fuckin’ be.”
“Layne –”
“How’d you disable the alarm?” he asked.
“Disable the alarm?” she asked back, looking confused and, fuck him, he was pissed but he had to admit she looked cute.
“Yeah, Rocky, it’s a church but every place has shit to steal. This place has a security system. How’d you bypass it?”
“I punched in the code,” she told him.
He stared at her.
Then he repeated, “You punched in the code.”
“Well…” she said, “yeah.”
“How’d you get the code?”
“Layne –”
“Are you not gettin’ that I don’t let shit go?” he asked. “How’d you get the code?”
“Well…” she trailed off and looked into the vestibule.
“Raquel,” he warned.
Her eyes shot to him. “Okay, well, do you know Sharon Reynolds?”
“Do I need to know her for this story to go faster?”
Her eyes narrowed but she kept talking. “She works in the office here.”
“And?” he asked when she didn’t go on.
“And, she also works in the office at the school. She’s part-time for both.”
“Ah,” Layne said, his head tipping back and his gaze hitting the ceiling.
“Anyway,” Rocky said sharply and Layne’s eyes went back to her.“I remembered her complaining once that the pastor is a security freak and changes the alarm codes so often she never remembers them. She comes in every once in awhile when no one is around and has to punch them in and she’s gotten them wrong so many times and set off the alarm, now she writes them down and keeps them in her wallet.”
“Reason one for the pastor to be a security freak and reason one to lose his office lady,” Layne noted.
“Layne!” she snapped.
“So, you got the code how?”
“I, um…” She stopped and bit her lip.
“Baby –”
She interrupted him quickly. “When everyone in the office was at lunch, I went to her desk and got into her purse.”
“Fuck me,” Layne whispered.
“No one saw!” she cried.
“Okay, how’d you get the door open?”
“Shouldn’t we be, I don’t know, taking pictures of the personnel file or something?” she asked.
He dropped his arms and took a step toward her.
She took a step back, putting her hand up and saying quickly, “Okay!” She dropped her hand and explained, “Sharon’s always losing her keys. She’s famous for it. She leaves them everywhere. It’s crazy. So, um… while I was in her purse, I uh… kinda nabbed them.”
Layne closed his eyes.
“It’s okay,” she assured him and he opened his eyes. “She was going on and on this afternoon about how she,” Rocky tucked the file under her arm, lifted her hands and did air quotation marks, “lost her keys and tomorrow I’ll just,” she did air quotation marks again, “find them.”
All right, it was safe to say he was done.
“Rocky, what’d I tell you about this shit?” he asked.
“Layne –”
“Put the file back and get your ass to your car.”