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His gaze flicked back to her, and what she saw in those few seconds rocked her to her soul.
The ice was there, but beneath it lurked a bleak sorrow, a dark agony that had her chest clenching in pain for him. As though the silent battle between them was touching shadows inside him that he had no desire to revisit.
The deaths of his wife and child? Mikayla wondered.
Had something renewed that nightmare inside him and left him remembering the pain he must have felt at their loss?
"Next we see about revisiting Jarvis and politely inquiring as to why his alibi didn't hold up.
Then I'll need to see why Reed Holbrook preferred not to speak with us." There was a flash of predatory determination in Nik's gaze that sent a shiver up her spine. And she hadn't missed the adjustment from "we" to "I." He had no intention of taking her with him when he discussed this with Reed.
Mikayla could only shake her head. "I understand your reason for following the trail as you are, but you're not mentioning what part Maddix may have played in this."
"For the sake of argument we'll say Maddix did it." Nik leaned forward as he stared back at her implacably. "Right now, he's getting away with it. His alibi is solid. If you want to break that alibi, you follow the trail. It's that simple."
"Then there's a chance he killed Eddie because Eddie was working with Reed Holbrook?"
"And the fact that Reed is refusing point-blank to speak to us tells me there's a chance he has something to hide. It's beginning to appear as though that something could be the fact that he was paying Eddie Foreman to sabotage the job." Mikayla stared back at Nik thoughtfully. "I think I remember something in the paper last year. There were several delays on the job because the foundation of the building had to be redone when the building inspector found a crack in the cement. I heard Maddix fired the entire cement crew when that happened." Nik nodded. "We follow the trail and see where it goes."
"But you still don't think it's going to go back to Maddix," she guessed. Nik shot her an irritated look before propping his arms on the table and staring back at her. "Mikayla, I believe you think you saw Maddix. I truly do. But Maddix Nelson is not a stupid man. He knew when he hired me I'd get to the bottom of this. He laid down a hell of a lot of money to ensure that I did. So no, I don't think he did it."
"Maybe he's smarter than you're giving him credit for," she suggested, trying to ignore the twinge of hurt the explanation sent rushing through her. "Maybe he knew what you'd do and he's planned for it."
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Nik shrugged at that. "That's always possible. Not likely, but possible." The smile that crossed his lips had nothing to do with amusement and much to do with potential lethal intent.
It still left Mikayla confused. Personally, she thought questioning Maddix until he broke was a good idea. It worked on CSI, right? Though she knew it wouldn't work on Maddix, at least she would gain a measure of satisfaction.
"I need to take care of some things." Nik rose from his chair, pushed it in carefully, and stared back at her. "I'll be in the guest room working." In other words, he intended to use work as an excuse not to sleep with her. Mikayla watched as he left the room before rising and cleaning the dishes silently. She felt off balance now, uncertain what to do. She wanted to touch him, to hold him, to ease the bleak pain from the far corners of his gaze, but she had no idea how to do it. That left her alone, and she'd never realized how lonely alone could be until now. Nik was on the verge of throwing something. It had been almost a decade since he'd put his fist through a wall, but the urge to do so now crawled through his system like a potent disease.
Distancing himself from Mikayla was killing him and hurting her. But that distance was all that was left to save his soul when this was over. Walking away from her would be impossible otherwise. Staying with her would only endanger her, and he couldn't face that, either.
He paced the small bedroom, his gaze rarely falling on the open laptop and the files he had pulled up earlier, before showering. Information on Reed Holbrook, Jarvis Dalton, Eddie Foreman, and Maddix Nelson were waiting for Nik's perusal. He already suspected Eddie Foreman had been either stealing materials and substituting inferior grade or deliberately sabotaging the job for Reed Holbrook. Either way, as Maddix's current foreman had stated, it was a recipe guaranteed to fuel Maddix's temper but not enough to cause him to kill.
As he paced to the window and the heavy shades that blocked the view of the backyard, the cell phone at his hip vibrated.
Nik grabbed it like a lifeline, desperate to find something, anything, to keep him from crawling over Mikayla like a wild animal in need.
"Hey there, sexy," Kira drawled.
Nik heard her husband in the background, former Navy SEAL Ian Richards, laughingly protesting.
"What did they find?" Nik wasn't interested in their byplay; he was interested in Ian and John's secretive visit to the Foreman home. Frankly, tonight Nik couldn't handle it. It reminded him too damned much of what he didn't have with Mikayla. Kira and Bailey's earlier visit had been strained. They had sensed the tension between him and Mikayla and he knew it. Questions were coming. They were questions he didn't want to ask.
"Interesting stuff," Kira stated. "Ian and John just got back from the Foreman home. Mixed in the mess of a filing system the man had was the blueprint of the job site he was killed on. There were some distinct X's marked on it. Ian said they were particular weak spots. Places where the foundation and skeleton would have to be strengthened by using specific materials. One of those locations was of the foundation that last year Nelson had to completely replace when the inspector found a crack forming in the 155
cement. There were also vague notes that could have been referencing where lesser-grade materials were used in other areas. Ian and John's assessment is that he was deliberately sabotaging the building, and I agree with them."
Nik raked his fingers through his hair with a tight grimace. Evidence was mounting against Maddix, which meant Nik was going to be making another trip to talk to him. Unfortunately, this time Nik had a feeling he'd be taking Mikayla with him. Hardheaded damned stubborn woman, he thought, she was going to be the death of him.
"Ian did a little research into Maddix," Kira continued. "He has a temper, and he and Eddie Foreman had gone head-to-head before, but Eddie was pissing a lot of people off before he died."
"He's pissing me off now," Nik growled.
"Maddix's alibi is solid from the reports you sent me and the follow-up Ian did today," Kira informed him. "Robert Cronin checked out as well, but the information he gave hasn't yet been confirmed by any of our contacts, though it is early for information there to be coming in. If Maddix was involved with the underground gambling world, then we'll know soon. Eddie Foreman was involved, though, even our contacts knew him, and they didn't like him any more than anyone else did. He owed everyone money."
"Mikayla's certain it was Maddix; that means we're looking for someone attempting to frame him for whatever reason. Let's go deeper into Eddie and Maddix's past, see what we can find out," Nik suggested.
