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Yeah, she could see how that would work. No doubt his buddy Maddix Nelson had arranged that one. Sometimes, Maddix made no sense whatsoever. For a killer, he was doing everything he could to cooperate with Nik, rather than trying to cover any information Nik might find.
Nik was snarly, growly, and uncommunicative as they drove to Gina Foreman's home. Mikayla was glad to see this part of the ride come to an end. Gina met them at the door, her expression concerned, her eyes dark from weariness as she stood back and let them in.
"Please, sit down," she invited as they stepped into the worn, though spotless, living room. "I have to leave for work soon, so we'll need to hurry." Mikayla perched on the edge of the couch as Nik sat back beside her and Gina took the chair across from them.
"I'm getting the house ready to sell," Gina sighed as she looked around. "It's lonely here alone."
"I'm sorry, Gina." Mikayla reached across the narrow coffee table to grip the other woman's hand as it lay in her lap.
"Thank you, Mikayla." Gina nodded as Mikayla pulled back. "And thank you and your family for the flowers as well. They were appreciated." Nik refrained from staring at Mikayla in shock. This woman had refused to talk to 148
Mikayla after the funeral, yet Mikayla acted as though she thought nothing of it? She had to be the most gracious person Nik had ever known. Even his own sisters would have been biting the other woman's head off at this moment.
"Mrs. Foreman, I just have a few questions," Nik promised as he leaned forward.
"Was Eddie acting strangely before his death? Was anything unusual going on?" Gina shook her head slowly, thoughtfully. "He was often tense, yelled a lot. Though he was worse in the months before he was killed." Nik bet he was. Eddie Foreman had been up to something; Nik could feel it. He just had to figure out what.
"Did he have enemies?" Nik probed.
Gina's lips curled mirthlessly. "Plenty. A lot of people didn't like him, Mr. Steele. He could be offensive."
"What about Jarvis Dalton?" Nik asked, wondering where the other man really tied into things. "Did he have problems with him?"
"Jarvis?" Surprise showed in the woman's face. "They were friends. Jarvis was one of the few friends Eddie had. As far as I know they had no problems." To give Mikayla her due, her surprise didn't show on her face, though Nik felt her stiffen beside him.
"Did you know Eddie fired Jarvis a couple weeks before he was killed?"
"Fired Jarvis?" Gina stared at them in confusion. "Why would he do that?"
"According to Jarvis, Eddie accused him of stealing." Nik watched her face closely, her eyes. Gina Foreman acted like a woman who had no idea what he was talking about.
"I wouldn't put it past Jarvis to steal," she finally breathed out roughly. "But I didn't know about it."
"Was Eddie having money problems?" Nik probed further, trying to find an angle, any angle to push him in the right direction.
"Money was always tight; it still is." Gina shrugged. "But no more than usual."
"Did Eddie have an office?"
Gina nodded slowly. "He turned one of the bedrooms into an office."
"Could we check through it?" Nik asked her. "Maybe there's something there that can help me figure out what happened."
"This way." Gina stood and led the way down a short hall to a bedroom. "Just please hurry; I have twenty minutes before I have to leave." She turned and left the room and a second later Nik heard another door close, likely her bedroom. He turned to Mikayla.
"What do you think?"
She sighed deeply. "I think Jarvis was lying and Gina is telling the truth."
"What is Jarvis lying about?" Nik asked curiously as he moved to the cluttered desk.
"That I don't know," Mikayla answered softly. "I don't know him really well, but he kept shifting his eyes away from you, even though he was trying really hard not to." She winked back at Nik playfully. "He must watch too much CSI. "
"Ya think?" he grunted as he shot her an irritated look. There was a hint of softening in the hardened attitude, though, as though the icy demeanor was deliberate. Sitting behind the wide desk Eddie had used, Nik began 149
looking through the papers as Mikayla wandered through the room. Eddie hadn't been big on neatness, she noticed. The office was piled with papers, magazines, a few books, and a lot of dust.
Moving back to the desk, she eased in behind the chair Nik was sitting in and laid her hand on his shoulder as he went through the papers, looking for what she wasn't certain. She doubted Nik even knew exactly what he was looking for. His body tensed, though, as she braced herself with her hand on his shoulder and leaned forward to watch what he was doing.
