"All right, relax," says Laine, and the thug relaxes on command like a well-trained dog. Well, that worked for now. What's the next step?
Pick back up the bad cop act. Looks like you have a good strategy going. Let Laine keep going with his strategy. Maybe it's time for him to take over. Take both options. Let Laine keep being the one interrogating the thug, but make sure the thug never forgets that you're not on his side.