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From beneath scraps of paper, business cards, time cards, and files of material lists Nik pulled a small index card free.
"Reed Holbrook" and three phone numbers. Home, cell, and office were listed.
"Reed Holbrook," she said softly. "That's the owner of Holbrook Construction out of D.C. If I'm not mistaken, Reed is a hometown boy, too. He and Maddix grew up in the same area of town."
"Do you know everyone in Hagerstown?" Nik frowned back at her. Lifting her brows, she shot him a cheery smile. "Don't make the mistake of going to the store with me. It takes me hours to shop once I stop and say hello to everyone I know."
The look he gave her was one that baffled her for a few moments. As though he couldn't imagine having to deal with stopping to talk to anyone at a grocery store. She was well known; she couldn't help it. She enjoyed people, and she enjoyed being social.
"It looks like we need to talk to Reed Holbrook then," Nik stated as he turned away from her and pocketed the card.
"Are we finished here then?" She stared around the room, wondering how they could possibly be certain they hadn't missed anything else.
"We're finished here." He nodded.
"We didn't go through everything," she pointed out.
"We'll have it all later." His voice was pitched low, carrying no farther than her, as she stared back at him in surprise, then excitement.
"We're sneaking back in tonight?" Mikayla could feel the anticipation beginning to surge through her, even as he stared at her in something akin to horror. The excitement glowing in her eyes, frankly, scared the shit out of him, Nik thought. The idea of breaking into the Foreman home and stealing papers had her all but rubbing her hands in glee.
He was creating a monster.
"No," he enunciated clearly. "We are not." Gripping her arm, he steered her to the doorway as a little pout shaped her lips.
"That's so not fair. You shouldn't do this stuff by yourself. You need a lookout." She was laughing at him. It was in her voice and in her eyes.
"Don't you h
ave dresses to make?" he growled, wondering how the hell he was going to maintain the emotional distance he was trying to keep between them.
"Maybe this is more fun." Her brows arched as he opened the door and stepped into the short hall. "Besides, I called Bailey and Kira. They're going to meet me at the house this evening instead."
Gina Foreman was waiting for them in the living room, her gaze somber as they 150
walked toward her.
"Did you find anything?" she asked.
"Nothing yet, Mrs. Foreman," Nik answered her.
She nodded slowly as her lips turned down with an edge of bitterness. "At least someone is trying to find out what happened. It gets hard working at the police station, wondering if the chief is lying, wondering what really happened." She shook her head as she shoved her hands into her jeans pockets. "It destroys your faith in people." Nik watched as Mikayla crossed the room and wrapped her arms around the other woman as though a hug could fix anything. Everything.
"I'm sorry," he heard Mikayla whisper. "I'm so sorry, Gina." The woman's arms went around her as Gina nodded, sniffed, and, strangely enough, seemed to find strength from that hug.
"You call me if you need me." Mikayla stepped back and gave the other woman's arms a brief rub. "I mean it. Come by the shop, whatever." A timid, saddened smile pulled at Gina's lips. "Thank you, Mikayla." And she suddenly sounded as though somewhere, somehow, she had found hope. Would he have felt differently after his daughter's death if he had felt such hope?
Nik wondered as he and Mikayla left the house. Would he have made different choices, found other ways to strike back at the men who had killed his family?
If Mikayla had been a part of his life would she have shared her fairy charm with him and helped heal those shattered remnants of his soul?
It was possible, he admitted. She seemed to carry with her a capacity for love that astounded him. But even more, an ability to find softness within people that they didn't know existed.
Within Nik she had found emotions he'd never wanted to feel again. Emotions he feared could well and truly destroy him.
"I want to head to D.C., see if we can get in to see Holbrook," he stated as he took the I-70 interstate exit. "Foreman had to have been in close contact with him if he had his home number."
"Holbrook Construction doesn't have the reputation Nelson does, either," Mikayla mused as he glanced at her. "There's been several charges leveled against him for attempting to sabotage other jobs, bribing employees of other firms, and finding ways to force companies out of their contracts so he could pick them up. Nothing was proven, but the accusations are there."
