Page 16 of Skinwalker's Bane
His gaze met hers. “I’m starting to think Lincoln made some of those mistakes,” he said softly. “I’m afraid that if I keep digging, I’ll uncover even more.”
His fear, freely admitted, made her heart beat heavily. “I didn’t know any of this about him and I was in a position to know everything. I feel ignorant. That doesn’t happen to me very often.”
The silence that stretched was heavy with their combined fears.
He really had the most amazing eyes, she decided. They were a true, unblemished light blue, the tint everyone called ‘sky blue’ even though no one knew what a sky looked like.
Adam stirred. “I should leave before Nichola gets back from wherever,” he said.
“If I think of anything, I’ll let you know.”
“I’d appreciate that.”
“Good luck with your investigation.”
“I’ll need it,” he admitted. “You were my only lead as far as figuring out what the hell Lincoln was into and you’re a dead end.”
“The creditors won’t tell you anything?” she asked.
“They’re all saying the details are confidential,” Adam replied.
“That’s worrying,” she admitted. “If their dealings had been above board and honest, they shouldn’t have any issues talking about them with the person who might be able to settle the debt.”
“Right.” He met her gaze again. “I don’t know how to break the wall down, either. This is not exactly my kind of thing.” His tone was candid.
She felt a touch of pity for him. “You understand, don’t you, the stakes involved in your investigation?”
“Noa was talking about triggering an economic depression,” Adam admitted. “I’m not sure what that is. It sounds pretty bad.”
“A depression would be the most immediate result,” Devin said. “The economic pressure from the depression would topple the Captain and her government. The Panthers, who sponsor her, would possibly crumble, too. There are a lot of wealthy people who have their money tied up in tankball and that would impact them.”
Adam’s eyes narrowed. “And a lot of people who depend on other, richer people for a living.”
“Which is why the economy would dig itself into a depression,” Devin added. “If no one has any credits to spend on anything extraneous, then more people would lose their livelihoods.”
“Cai said they would be forced to get rid of money. Take the ship back to the years when there was no money. Everyone bartered and got basic energy credits. We’d be virtually starting again.”
“That’s true,” Devin said slowly, thinking it through. “I can think of a few people who would think that is a good idea, though.”
“Cavers?” Adam asked wryly.
“Them, too,” she admitted. “I was also thinking of the chronically lazy people who can’t seem to pick themselves up anddosomething useful.”
Adam shook his head. “There’s lots of people like that in the Wall district. Some of themcan’tpick themselves up. It’s not the simple equation you make it out to be. Take a walk through the district one day. Talk to the people there. If you want to be captain, you should know their stories.”
“I know their stories,” Devin told him. “Too well.”
He considered her curiously and she realized she had said too much. She got back to her feet. “Well, I don’t want to keep you from your work…”
She disengaged the sound bubble and walked him to the office door. He was taller than she had remembered. The width of his shoulders tended to offset the height when she was not standing close enough to compare him against her own.
He shoved his hands into his pockets. “Thanks for hearing me out,” he said gruffly.
“You’re welcome,” she said, just as stiffly.
He stepped out the door and she closed it. At the last second before it fully closed, he looked back at her.
She was left with an impression of a single blue eye, drilling into her, seeing everything there was to see. That was the gaze of a man who worked on the very edge of personal safety, every single day. He would be used to monitoring, to noticing every little detail, for details could kill them out there. Lincoln had told her once, in a quiet, odd moment, that a sharp tool, left free to float about at the end of a tether, instead of being pinned down on the tool board next to the skinwalker using it, was as dangerous as any asteroid. A skinwalker could run into the tool and tear open their suit.
