The smile shifted to one of anticipation. "Once this is over, it would be nice to take what's owed me. The little bitch was teasing the hell out of me before she dropped me cold after she accused my father of murder."
"Shut your damned mouth, Luke," Maddix ordered his son furiously before Nik would make a move to shut his mouth permanently. "I told you to stay away from that girl before any of this happened. She's too good for your spoiled, whorish ways."
There was an edge of contempt in Maddix's tone that surprised Nik. Luke was Maddix's only child, a son at that, and obviously spoiled past redemption. The fact that Maddix was taking a stand when it was obviously too late made no sense to Nik.
"His mother raised him," Maddix explained with a glare toward his son. "Until she couldn't do a damned thing with him, either."
"He's twenty-seven years old. Throw his ass out and let him figure it out on his own," Nik stated coldly. "For now, he can sit tight and keep his mouth shut or he'll deal with me."
He slid Luke a cold, hard look as the other man opened his mouth to speak again. Just as quickly, Luke settled back and merely glared mutinously back at them.
"Why are we here, Mr. Steele?" the councilwoman asked then, clearly as bored with events as Nik was becoming.
Nik turned his gaze to her, revealing nothing. "To satisfy my curiosity, perhaps," he stated.
The real reason was to gauge the honesty of Maddix's alibi. Guilt was never as cleverly hidden as others believed it was. Bringing them all into the same place as they had claimed they had been the first time gave Nik a chance to decide if they were lying or if that meeting had truly taken place.
"I wasn't even in this damned room," Luke muttered. "I was upstairs. If I remember correctly, Dad was rather insistent that I not stay."
Maddix's lips tightened as his expression turned reproving. "He was drunk."
"I was." Luke smiled sardonically.
"I was by the pool." Glenda waved a graceful hand toward the pool outside the office. "I don't involve myself in Maddix's business affairs."
No doubt. Not for the first time Nik was amazed at familial interactions. They were nothing like his family, back in Russia, before he'd lost all he held dear. His may not have been willing to stand up to their government to help Nik, but they all knew better than to disrespect their parents. He and his brothers and sisters had worked from an early age and learned to take care of themselves. Nik had never been able to make sense of men and women like Luke Nelson and Maddix's trophy wife.
"Was there anything in particular that you needed to know, Mr. Steele?" The chief of police watched him with barely disguised animosity. "Or are you just checking us out?"
Nik allowed his lips to quirk mockingly. No doubt the police chief had investigated him. Nik could see it in Riley's eyes, in the hunger to make an arrest that could possibly be the turning point of his career. Possibly. If he could actually come up with any proof to back the rumors that circulated in certain circles where Nik Steele was concerned. Thankfully, they were rumors. Even the U.S. government, armed forces, and law enforcement agencies often depended on the information he provided and even, at times, his services.
"Just checking you out," Nik agreed as he crossed his arms over his chest and turned his gaze back to the son. "You know Ms. Martin then?"
"I spent the better part of three months wining and dining her," he grunted. "She was ready to put out when she decided to try to ruin Father for whatever reason." He glared back at Maddix. "Not that I could blame her much."
Nik watched Maddix roll his eyes. "He begged that poor girl for a date for two years. She finally gave in to him just to shut him up."
Luke snickered at the comment, his gaze filled with sarcasm as he stared back at Nik. "She's a frigid thing, I have to say, but I could have melted her."
Frigid? Mikayla?
There was no doubt in Nik's mind that Luke Nelson hadn't had a chance at Mikayla. She had been anything but frigid the week before on Nik's back deck.
"Did any of you know Eddie Foreman?" Nik asked as he turned to the others in the room.
"I rather doubt it," the councilwoman informed him as she smoothed back a strand of her carefully colored blond hair. "Our meeting that night concerned city business interests that Maddix is a part of, not his construction business."
That was pretty much what Nik expected. His reasons for being here had very little to do with the questions or any information that could be gained on the foreman.
Nik was learning quite a bit, though, more than he had expected. There was a lot to be learned from simply watching.
"What do you have so far, Nik?" Maddix rubbed at his forehead at he cast the others a disgruntled look.
"Nothing yet." Nik cast Luke Maddix another look, one he was certain was filled with confidence. "I've moved in next door to her, though. She's a nice girl."
"I told you she was." Maddix shook his head. "I thought she was too good for this."
Luke was glaring back at him now.
"How long before she learns why you're here, do you think?" Luke grunted with bitter amusement. "It's not as though you're hiding it. Do you think she's going to thank you for lying to her?"
Nik arched his brow. "In this situation, lying isn't an option." He shrugged. "She'll learn soon enough and I won't deny it. I've told her no different."
He would give Luke Nelson no ammunition against him, or Mikayla. It wouldn't matter whether others knew why he was there or not. Maddix had called Nik to find out why Mikayla was lying. The problem was, he couldn't tell which one of them was lying, her or Maddix. It was a disturbing realization.
"Do you think we haven't checked you out, Steele?" Animosity thickened Luke Nelson's voice.
"Enough, Luke," Maddix growled.
"Tell him, Riley." Luke's sneer in the chief of police's direction was snide and filled with derision. "You can't arrest the bastard, though, can you? Can't or won't. Maybe you're just too damned scared?"
Chief Riley's wide, square face tightened in anger as Nik merely shook his head. "He can't arrest me." Nik stared back at the chief. "I have yet to break a law."