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Kefler shook his head with a grin. "If I'd caught him, I would have knocked him around a little, ya know? Made him hurt. He was useless to me dead."
"Perhaps it was an investment in teaching others to pay on time," Nik suggested.
"Naw, your girlfriend, now she would be an investment. A dead Eddie was just money outta my pocket. Killing him would be like slicing my own wrists. Besides, didn't Ms. Martin witness that murder? Seems to me she's of the opinion someone else killed him."
Nik ignored the reference. "What about Reed Holbrook? I understand you two are working together in certain business ventures."
Kefler's gaze narrowed on him. "What business is this of yours, Mr. Steele?"
"We're discussing Eddie and your connection to him, Kefler, not me," Nik reminded him.
Kefler gave a short laugh. "Good thing my honey likes yours; otherwise I'd have to kill you."
Nik ignored that as well. "Was Eddie trying to sell Holbrook information or 208
sabotage the Nelson job on your orders?"
Kelfer's gaze reflected surprise. "I have no idea. But hey, everyone is trying to make a decent buck these days, right? The fucking economy sucks."
"Seems strange to me, Martin, the three of you make a very interesting little triangle."
"Yeah, ain't that some shit?" Martin laughed with sly humor. He was getting nowhere here, Nik admitted. When it came right to it, the fact was all roads were leading back to Maddix, not away.
"Thanks for your time, Martin, and for wasting mine." He stood to his feet, watching from the corner of his eye as Ian followed suit. "We'll be leaving now."
"Steele." The other man rose slowly. "Look, all
shit aside, my honey asked for my help here. She likes Ms. Martin more than she should, and I try to please her whenever I can. I can tell you this: you're chasing shadows. Word on the street is confusing with this one. The strangest tale I've heard so far is that whoever killed Eddie Foreman wasn't Maddix Nelson, but it was still Maddix Nelson. And that comes from a crackhead with more drugs in his veins than blood. Take it however you will." He'd take it as it was. A lame-assed story from a crackhead who loved his drugs more than he loved living.
Nodding sharply, Nik turned and, followed by Ian, made his way from the house. There were no more answers to be found this way, because those Nik had unearthed so far kept leading him back in one direction.
"What now?" Ian asked as they were driving from the mansion and heading back to Mikayla.
"Now, I find Maddix."
209
Chapter 23
Mikayla spent the time at the house in the sewing room with Kira sitting quietly on the sofa across from the worktable. She worked, trying to keep her mind off the fact that Nik wasn't there with her. That she wasn't with him.
What was he learning? she wondered. Had Martin Kefler even known anything that could have helped?
"Do you miss being at the shop every day?" Kira finally asked as she brushed thick black hair from her face and regarded Mikayla with serene gray eyes.
"I miss it," she admitted. And she did. "Once this is finished, I can go back."
"Will it ever be finished, Mikayla?" Kira asked then. "Do you think your life will ever return to what it was?"
"No."
Life couldn't be the same, it could never be as good, once this was over, because Nik would be gone.
"Letting go is hard," Kira said softly.
And it was. Mikayla had made the first step to letting him go this evening, and she had known inside exactly what she was doing. She was giving him the rest of the distance he needed to completely step away from her.
"You love him," Kira said then.
