Page 110 of Always Be an Us

Darkness spreads across Nate's cheeks and if I didn't know better, I would think he was blushing. He also avoids Jensen's eyes when he answers, "Yeah, well she shouldn’t have been fu– hanging around with the enemy."

He almost said something rude again, but his eyes cut to me quickly and he switched out the word. Good. He's not as dumb as he looks.

I decide at that point that I won't get anything more from Nate Huntley today. Heated as I still feel, I might kill him before I get to the bottom of the mystery. Plus, I still have work to complete at the hotel. I can continue the interrogation later.

"Hold him," I tell Jensen. "I'll be back tomorrow."

Jensen nods, and I take my leave. On the way to work, I think about Nate Huntley and how to get him to tell me the truth.

Once I get to work though, I'm soon confronted with a bigger issue.

"Hey, boss." The lead contractor says, walking out to meet me in the parking lot. As I get out of the car, the trees whistle around us hinting to the bad omen that is currently stamped on the contractor’s face. A few of his men are on the roof, but they stop what they're doing to watch. "We have a little problem."

"What is it now?"

"Our mini excavator suddenly ran out of steam this morning. There's something wrong with it. We've called the technician to come look at it, but he's saying it might take a while to fix."

I pinch the skin at the base of my nose and try not to yell.

"Can’t you get another one?" I ask when I feel like I can talk again.

"We can try," he says. "But it might be hard. The other one is a Bellamy and it’s currently in use. Plus, it's gonna cost more for us to get it over here."

Fuck. Yet another delay, and more money. Although the nature of construction often comes with a lot of snags, there usually aren't this many in such a short time.

Is it bad luck or by design?

It’s probably time for me to talk to Micah.

I walk into my office and shut the door, closing out the construction noises and the wind.

Frederick, the PI, is in my office when I get there. I find him crouched on the floor analyzing something.

"They supposedly caught the guy who’s doing this," I tell him.

"Oh." He faces me and raises an eyebrow. "So my work is done?"

"I’m not convinced they got the right guy," I say. "You were able to get some prints, right?"

"Not great ones but I can cross reference them at the station."

I nod. "Did you get any more evidence?"

He shakes his head. "It’s going to take longer than I thought. It’s hard because your place is in the middle of nowhere and there are no cameras. I have to rely on mostly eyewitness testimony from people I know nothing about." He shakes his head. "Either way, I'll have to go into town and ask them about what they saw."

"Alright." I pause and then add, "The guy they caught seems to have some kind of relationship with Emma’s grandfather. The old man helped him out in the past. He's claiming to also be the one who broke into Emma’s home."

"Why would he do that?"

"That's what I can't figure out. I want you to go over and see if you can find anything linking the two crime scenes."

"Right," he says and leaves.

With all the snags in construction, I have to delay the arrival of my New York team, and my work day is also cut dramatically short. But before I leave, I finally called Micah.

"Hello?" He answers on the fifth ring, his lazy tone triggering my bad temper.

"Is this your doing, you bastard?"

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