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  The Layton Shayne Mysteries:

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  Black Hearts Dance

  Gray Days and Wicked Ways

  Gray Days and Wicked Ways

  A Layton Shayne Mystery

  Gerald Lopez

  Previously published

  under the pseudonym Antonio

  Begin Reading

  Table of Contents

  Copyright Information

  Copyright © 2016 by Gerald Lopez

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Cover Art Copyright © 2016 by Gerald Lopez

  Acknowledgments

  My special thanks go to the following:

  To John for his helpful comments and suggestions.

  To my wonderful Beta readers for their comments, and often extremely helpful suggestions.

  And to my best friend J. C. for always being there.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Contact the author

  About the author

  Other books by Gerald Lopez

  Gray Days and Wicked Ways

  A Layton Shayne Mystery

  Chapter 1

  An Old Friend Touches Base

  “HOLY SHIT!” I SAID. “Is this Buck Taggerty on the line?” I had my cell phone on speaker since I was driving.

  “Don’t tell me you forgot who I am already, Layton,” Buck said.

  “I’d never forget someone I worked a case with,” I said.

  “Hi, Buck,” Alex said. “How did your retraining with Miss Lucy go?”

  “We heard through the grapevine that you’re still an agent with the organization,” I said.

  “Yeah,” Buck said. “And I’m actually heading a new team with Sassy Jones and two of the agents that were training with me. We’re going to be in charge of recovery cases. I know that means the organization doesn’t think we’re as good at being agents as you are, Layton—but that’s cool.”

  “I thought you did fine working with us on our last case—against those zombies,” I said.

  “Guess what, guys?”Buck said.

  “What?” Alex said.

  “I’m in love!” Buck said. “And he actually loves me back. Layton, you’d love the guy, he likes wearing flip-flops like you—and you should see all the high tech weapons and spy gear he owns. His dad is some kind of weapons inventor and expert. We’re gonna be training for our new positions as recovery agents with him and Sassy. Oh my God, I forgot to mention my guy is Sassy’s brother. Can you believe it?”

  “Is he a little person too like Sassy?” I said.

  “No,” Buck said. “He’s gorgeous like his sister, but in a different way. What have you guys been up to?”

  “Oh, I took on a private case to help get rid of ghosts at a haunted house that was for sale,” I said. “Alex traded two properties he inherited from his godfather for the house, so we’re homeowners now.”

  “That’s so cool!” Buck said. “Did you get rid of the ghosts?”

  “Y’up,” I said. “You’ll have to come visit with your new beau one day.”

  “I’d love to, once we finish training and stuff,” Buck said.

  “Hey, Buck,” Alex said. “Have you ever had to deal with a Diony on any of the cases you worked on for the organization?”

  “Oh yeah,” Buck said. “Those Diony people are bad news, so are their female counterparts those blasted Nymphettes. How come you’re asking about Diony?”

  “This guy that helped us on the haunted house case used to live with a Diony and didn’t know it,” Alex said. “He’s a really nice guy.”

  “Uh-oh,” Buck said. “Did you two fall for him? Those Diony guys have supernatural powers of attraction you know.”

  “Did you fall for the Diony you dealt with or his significant other, Buck?” I said, then scratched my bare knee with my hand.

  “Heck no,” Buck said. “I don’t tend to go for those big, butch, and burly men. I like the preppy ones. Those Diony always pick guys that look like leather men, Daddy types—yuck. But everyone around the Diony’s boyfriend, on the case I was working, was just drooling over him. I was immune, since I didn’t find him even a little attractive—he was big and butch. But having him around trying to help us nab the Diony just got
everyone all horny. You two know how much I hate being around people like that.”

  “Yeah, we know,” I said.

  “What was the cure to the horniness?” Alex said.

  “Oh, the organization had to give everyone this nasty blue stuff to drink and… well you and Layton will learn about that firsthand, I would guess,” Buck said.

  “The organization will probably send someone over to give us the same blue stuff,” I said. “And I think it’s better if we don’t know what’s coming.”

  “It’s a good thing you and Alex are so in love, Layton. Maybe you won’t be as affected by the Diony’s boyfriend.”

  “Ex boyfriend,” I said. “And we already had an extremely intense threesome with him that ended with us all declaring our love for one another.”

  “Hmm… wow,” Buck said. “You two must’ve really liked the guy then. The Diony effect is really strong on people who are naturally attracted to the Diony or their boyfriend.”

  “Will the blue stuff make us find him unattractive?” Alex said.

  “No, it won’t do that,” Buck said. “It’ll get rid of about seventy-five or eighty percent of the supernatural effects. But the real feelings will still be there, magnified by twenty to twenty-five percent.”

  “Should we move him in, Buck?” I said, then turned for a second and grinned at Alex.

  “Probably,” Buck said, in all seriousness. “Some people can deal with the effects of it all, but the fact you already had a threesome with him means your feelings run deep. I’d rather you two moved him in, and not broke up over him.”

  He sounded upset, so I tried to reassure him. “It’s not like that, Buck. Alex and I are more in love than ever. But, I have to admit that we’re also in love with the other guy and it feels pretty darn strong.”

  “Well, maybe there’s some other supernatural stuff going on, too,” Buck said. “You guys better be careful.”

  “We will be, Buck,” Alex said. “Thanks for worrying about us. Layton and I are going to relax at a fancy inn while we wait for Sassy to call about the job she has for us.”

  “Good,” Buck said. “I love you guys and don’t want to see anything bad happen to either of you.”

  “We love you too, Buck,” I said. “And we’re both happy you found someone.”

  “And we’ll have you and your guy over for dinner soon,” Alex said.

  “I almost forgot to ask,” Buck said. “Are you two going to be daddies thanks to Charity?”

  “Looks that way,” I said. “Charity’s missed her period. Our new house is so big that she and her fiancé Linus are going to move in with us and we’re going to raise the kid or kids together.”

  “Awesome,” Buck said. “Wouldn’t it be funny if she ended up having triplets, the way you hate the number three?”

  Alex laughed.

  “Oh it’d be something alright,” I said. “I am sort of beginning to warm, up to the number three somewhat… in certain areas of my life.” I grinned and thought of the three-way I had with Alex and Forrest.

  Buck laughed loudly, then spoke. “With all those people living in your new house it’s gonna be like some sort of Justice League. All of you are kind of like superheroes fighting the dark forces out there in the world.”

  “I just wish we had actual superpowers,” I said.”

  “Anyway, I just called to let you guys know I passed my retraining with Miss Lucy and stuff. Enjoy your stay at the inn.”

  “We will,” I said. “Enjoy your new man.”

  “Oh, I will,” Buck said. “Bye.”

  “Bye,” Alex and I said in unison.

  I ended the call and chuckled. “Can you even begin to imagine what Buck’s man must be like?”

  “I’m sure he’s a great guy, just like my ‘great guy’,” Alex said. “Well, maybe not as awesome as all that, but I’m sure he’s nice.”

  He turned and kissed my neck softly which sent shivers up and down my body.

  “I can’t wait till we get to that hotel—I mean inn,” I said. “Oh shit! I forgot to make reservations again.”

  “I didn’t,” Alex said. “We’ve got a room waiting.”

  “What would I do without you?” I said.

  “We wouldn’t feel complete without one another, would we, Layton?”

  “Nope,” I said.

  “Forrest was affected by his Diony ex lover, that means he must be constantly living with what feels like a loss of himself on some level,” Alex said, then crossed one of his legs over the other.

  I reached over and rubbed his soft bare foot. If I hadn’t been driving, I would’ve given into my foot fetish and kissed it. “I wonder if Forrest is missing us. We know he gives off some sort of supernatural aphrodisiac, but he was definitely feeling strongly toward us, too.”

  “I guess we’ll learn more when we meet with someone from the organization,” Alex said. “We’re on the outskirts of Mt. Ore, Layton.”

  “You’re excited about visiting this inn, huh?”

  “It looked interesting the last time we were here and I’m anxious to see more. I forgot to mention that we’ve been invited to have dinner at Frankie and Jimmy’s tonight.”

  “Dessert too I hope,” I said, thinking of Jimmy’s decadent specialty dessert.

  “Jimmy told me to let you know he’ll be saving you a slice of his orgasmic delicacy.”

  I reached over and held Alex’s hand. Life was good and I felt content as we drove to the inn. The Mt. Ore Inn was located at the end of the quaint downtown Mt. Ore with its colorful shops, at the bottom of the hill on a large lake. Gray clouds had filled the sky and everything looked gloomy, but the inn and property still made a pretty picture, with its large old trees and lush plantings. We passed a rustic stone fence where I saw a wooden board with “Established 1905" engraved on it. I caught Alex’s attention, then pointed to the sign.

  “I’ll have to come by and take a picture later,” Alex said.

  “Very nice,” I said, as I drove up to check in.

  The yellow, two and a half story, rectangular main building had a porch across the front with fancy white trim and rockers that were beckoning me. As soon as I’d parked in front of the building, Alex looked my way, smiled, then spoke.

  “I’ll take care of checking us in, Layton. Why don’t you relax in one of the rocking chairs?”

  “I knew there was a reason I loved you so much,” I said, then smiled.

  We exited the truck and went up the stairs of the expansive porch in front us. Alex walked inside and I sat in one of the rocking chairs. I closed my eyes, stretched out my legs and thought about how lucky I’d been to find Alex and to have found a home where we could settle down. Hell, even thinking of Carson Court as just a home was crazy. The word “crazy” made me think of our time there with Forrest. An angry woman arguing with a man wearing a chef’s hat and uniform, jarred me from my thoughts.

  “Those freakin’ Marines!” the tall, thin woman with dark brown, multi-layered hair that cascaded below her shoulders said. “They had the nerve to ask to hold a party in our dining room.”

  “Melinda, calm down,” the chef said, then nodded toward me. “We have a guest.”

  “Mommy, when can we have cake,” a little boy about five or six said as he walked around the short, heavyset chef and stood in front of his mother. He brushed his chestnut brown hair away from his face and looked at his mother with big, inquisitive brown eyes. His hair, which was a bit long in front, was straight and styled in what I always jokingly referred to as the “bowl” haircut. He looked at me, smiled, then waved. I waved back.

  “Melinda, you don’t want to refuse this party,” the chef said. “It’s good money.”

  “Shit!” Melinda said, then turned to face me flustered. “I’m so sorry. I’m not acting like a very good owner slash manager right now, am I?” Using the back of her hands she wiped tears from her eyes.

  “We all have bad days,” I said, in a matter of fact way. The sky outside was
still gray and the sun hadn’t poked out yet from behind the clouds—it seemed to fit the inn owner’s mood. Melinda, the aforementioned owner, noticed me looking at the weather and responded.

  “My grandmother from Brazil used to have a saying when weather like this came around. She used to say—loosely translated, ‘gray days and wicked ways’. I think she believed the weather reflected people’s moods… or made them do wicked things.”

  “Was she right?” I said.

  “Maybe,” Melinda said. “I would say a father forgetting his son’s birthday is pretty wicked, indeed.”

  “Doesn’t sound like something a Marine would do?” I said. “If nothing else, duty is something we believe in strongly.”

  “My apologies again, not all Marines are bad,” Melinda said. “Unless you’re a friend of my no-good husband, then I take back the apology.”

  “I left the military a while back and I just moved down here from out West,” I said. “There was nobody I served with that was from this area. What’s your husband’s name?”

  “Callum Baker,” Melinda said. “You probably don’t know him… and be glad you don’t. I know I’m sorry I ever met him.”

  “Melinda,” the chef said. “Not in front of Brandon.”

  Melinda’s son looked at her, slapped her leg, then went to sit in a rocker two down from where I was sitting.

  Clearly distraught, Melinda put her hand to her head, then turned to me once more. “I’m not myself today, Mr.—what is your name?”

  “I’m Detective Layton Shayne,” I said. “Do you need help, Ma’am?”

  “Oh… I need help alright,” Melinda said, then laughed. “I loved my husband believe it or not. And I trusted him. I appreciate your offer of help, Detective Shayne, but been there done that—the whole detectives thing. Chef Brogna, please see to it that Detective Shayne receives a nice bottle of wine from us during his stay. To make up for my rudeness.”