by Stacy Green
“Like you did with Mark Todd?” Amy said sharply.
“I’m sorry?” Nikki turned around, working to keep the frustration out of her tone.
“That didn’t come out right,” Amy continued, taking a moment to collect her thoughts. “I can’t imagine what it’s like to see the protestors when you go to the sheriff’s office, and with everything being dredged up by the media, how will you stay focused on my daughter?”
Nikki hadn’t seen anything on the news about Mark’s appeal, but she realized now that the local paper was probably making it a front-page story.
“Mark Todd is in prison, where he belongs. And I learned to compartmentalize my life a long time ago.” Nikki hoped she’d had her last conversation about Mark Todd.
Six
Nikki wrapped her scarf around her face. Beyond the bare trees, a group of kids skated on the lake. The county closely monitored the lake’s ice, but Nikki didn’t care if six feet of ice covered the water. It only took one weak area to crack and pull someone under, especially kids.
“You skate?” Miller asked.
“Not very well. And never on the lake.” She and Miller bent their heads against the wind as they made their way down the trail toward the Hansons’. “What do you think of the dynamic between John and Amy?”
“She’s grieving and he’s in shock,” Miller said. “I think she blames him more than she wants to admit.”
“Do they have a history of marital issues?”
“Not that I know of.” Miller had zipped his collar up to his nose again, his voice muffled against the heavy material. “We investigated the two of them closely after the girls first disappeared. Pretty standard relationship, but losing Madison has definitely caused a big divide between them.”
Nikki wondered if that was the only rift between the couple as she checked her phone for an update from Liam. He’d found a handful of registered sex offenders outside of Washington County who had been convicted of crimes involving girls around the same age as Madison and Kaylee. Local authorities had agreed to check in with the men and get back to Liam.
“Liam’s working through the local sex offenders list, and he’s expanded the target area.” Nikki glanced at Miller. She didn’t want him thinking they questioned his investigation. “It’s probably a long shot, but we have to be thorough.”
Miller smiled faintly. “Don’t worry about pissing me off. I failed the girls. I couldn’t find them, and I worked around the clock.”
“I’m sure you did everything you could.” Nikki tightened the scarf around her face, and her breath immediately fogged up her sunglasses.
“I was so ticked off at Hardin when he called you. But I’m glad he did.”
“That’s the one thing bugging me,” Nikki said. “Why didn’t Hardin call in the FBI earlier? Two missing kids usually warrants additional resources.”
“He said we could handle it. Initially, we’d hoped they’d decided to run off. Maybe Kaylee wanted to get out of town and Madison had followed, hoping to talk some common sense into her. As the days went by, we realized that wasn’t the case. But Hardin still believed we had the resources to find them.”
“Calling in the FBI is always a difficult decision,” Nikki acknowledged. “There’s always at least one officer who resents the intrusion, and with Hardin being an elected official, he probably wanted to show the community his people could handle it. To tell you the truth, I was surprised to hear he’d become sheriff. He never struck me as the political type.”
“I don’t want to be disrespectful, but you can see his… weight is an issue. He’s diabetic and being in the field was getting tough for him. Plus, he likes being in charge.” Miller shook his head. “You remember when his niece used to come to the parties and drink and then rat us out after she left?”
“No,” Nikki said. “When was that?”
“Our senior year she moved to Stillwater. Every damned time she showed up, the party was doomed.”
Nikki forced a laugh. She’d been otherwise occupied senior year. The initial days after the murders were a blur, including the trial. Once Nikki realized college was the only way to escape her past, she’d thrown herself into school and shut the rest of the world out.
“Shit.” Miller stopped and glared up at the gray sky. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking.”
“It’s okay.” She didn’t expect people to walk on eggshells around her. Still, a familiar knot formed between her shoulder blades. “I’m going to get a room in town for a few days. Any suggestions for a decently priced place near the sheriff’s station?”
Miller pursed his lips. “There are a couple of places with suites for business travelers right off the interstate. They’re only ten minutes or so to downtown. You’ll have more room and not be so close to the protestors.”
“Good point.” Nikki made a mental note to reserve a room when they were back in the car.
She tried to imagine the trail in the fall. It was paved and wide enough for three or four people to pass through. With the trees shedding leaves, the lake would have been visible. All in all, it was a peaceful place. A safe place, where two teenaged girls could easily be so caught up in conversation that someone could have snuck up on them. But witnesses who saw the girls said the trail had been relatively busy that day because of the nice weather. How did Madison and Kaylee disappear without anyone noticing something was wrong?
“Are we getting close to the Hansons’?”
Miller looked like he wanted to say more, but he only nodded. “It’s the gray one on the left. I called them last night and told them we’d found the girls dead. They’re expecting us.”
When they got inside the house, Mrs. Hanson insisted on making everyone coffee, fluttering around her large kitchen like a nervous bird. Her son and husband sat on the sofa waiting nervously, Miles looked like his mother—both were blond, a bit on the chubby side, with the kind of fair skin that demanded sunscreen year-round. Mr. Hanson’s brown hair and dark eyes made him the odd man out.
Miles eyed Nikki. “You’re not wearing high heels. Female FBI agents always wear heels on television.”
Nikki stuck her foot out. “These babies keep my feet warm in minus thirty-five degrees. And don’t believe everything you see on TV.”
Miles looked down at the cookies his mother had placed in front of him. His round shoulders sagged. “I think it’s my fault they’re dead,” he said, reminding everyone of why they were there.
“Miles.” His mother pressed a kiss to his head. “That’s not true. How could you think that?”
Tears welled in his blue eyes. “They were coming to my house.”
“Miles, that doesn’t make it your fault,” Nikki said. “Madison and Kaylee wanted to hang out with you.”
He scrubbed his eyes and stared at his plate. “No, they didn’t.”
Nikki rested her clasped hands on the table and gave him an encouraging look. “Is there something you haven’t told the police?”
Miles’ chubby fingers trembled. “I didn’t want to lie to the police. That’s why I never said anything.”
“What are you talking about, son?” Drew Hanson said. “You told me they stood you up.”
“Not lying to the police is a good thing.” Nikki’s gut told her the girls never planned on coming to Miles’ house. “Did Kaylee and Madison ask you to lie about something?”
“They wanted me to tell their parents they’d spent the afternoon here,” Miles said. “Maddie wouldn’t say where they were going, but she begged me to cover for them. I said okay. But then they disappeared, and the police wanted to know if they showed up here. I said no, because they hadn’t.”
Drew Hanson sighed. “You did the right thing by not lying to the police. But you should have told them that Maddie asked you to lie.”
Miles stared at his father. “I didn’t want to get in trouble.”
“Miles is a good kid,” his mother spoke up. “He’s never in trouble.”
“It’s oka
y,” Nikki said. “Did Maddie give you any details about where they were really going?”
“No, I swear. I didn’t want to cover for them, but Maddie always helped me with my math homework, and we’ve been friends for a long time. She’s responsible, too… or she was, anyway.”
“How long have you known Kaylee?”
“I just met her after she started hanging out with Madison.”
“What did you think of her?” Nikki asked.
“She was nice. Not like I thought she’d be.”
“How’d you think she would be?” Miller asked.
Miles flushed. “She got kicked off the volleyball team for fighting. I thought she’d be mean. Plus, she’s got a reputation for being kind of…” He flushed. “A thot.”
“Thot?” Miller asked.
“That ho over there,” Nikki said dryly. “A lovely term from social media. Why did she have that reputation?”
“Girls who didn’t like her started it, I guess. I heard she’d slept with a bunch of guys and even gave one a…” He turned red and looked at his mouther. “Well, you know… in the locker room. But Madison said those were all lies. She said Kaylee was a virgin.”
“You think Madison was right?”
“I didn’t know at first, but after I hung around with Kaylee, I did. She’s so shy and quiet. She was, I mean.” He stared at his plate. “I can’t believe they’re gone.”
“Bullying has become an everyday occurrence for these kids.” Drew Hanson sighed. “The things social media exposes them to, the pressure it adds, is unreal. And it’s the perfect rumor mill.”
“Sergeant Miller told me you were Kaylee’s English teacher?” Nikki asked.
Hanson nodded. “She had real talent. Her short stories were layered with the sort of emotion and substance usually seen in college writing.”
“Do you have any copies of those?”
Hanson shook his head. “I wish I did. They were wonderful.”
Nikki glanced at Miller. “You know if she had computer access at home?”
“She shared a laptop with her mother. No papers on it.”
“I don’t think she wrote her stories at home,” Hanson said. “She spent her free period in the computer lab and often stayed after school.”
“Do students have access to the cloud?”
“No,” Hanson said. “But they’re allowed to bring their own flash drives.”
“We didn’t find one in her school stuff,” Miller whispered to Nikki. “We can check her room again.”
“Tell me more about her papers,” Nikki said. “What sort of things did she write about?”
“Why?” Miles asked. “How are they going to help you find out who killed them?”
“When I started at the Behavioral Analysis Unit, my mentor told me that profiling wasn’t about the bad guy, but the victim. Profile the victim, because understanding the victim means understanding the person who hurt them. Make sense?” She’d learned Madison was wound tight and particular, and likely a stickler about obeying rules.
“Kaylee’s papers might have insight into who she was.” Miles looked impressed.
“Exactly,” Nikki said. “She very well might have put things into her stories—even if they were fiction—that she didn’t tell anyone else.”
“That’s fascinating,” Hanson said. “I believe the overarching theme in most of her stories was being the outsider. Misunderstood and never being heard. In one story, she likened it to standing in the middle of the room, screaming at every person in her life, and no one heard her.”
“Did you ever talk to her about them?”
“I tried,” Hanson said. “But she didn’t want to talk, and I respected her privacy. I hoped writing the stories probably helped her with whatever she was going through.”
“Kaylee was aware you were Miles’ father? She knew you’d be at the house?”
Hanson glanced at his son. “I assume she did.”
Miles grabbed a cookie off the plate. He chewed vigorously, eyes on his father.
“I’m just asking because I assume you being home would make it difficult for Miles to cover for them.”
Hanson’s gaze shifted around the room and then back to his son. “That’s a good question. Son, did you tell her I would be out of the house?”
Miles flushed red, his mouth set hard. He nodded.
“And you were home all day?” Nikki asked Hanson. “No chance you left and maybe saw the girls walking?”
“I wasn’t going to leave my fourteen-year-old son home with two girls,” Hanson said.
Miles grabbed another cookie, and his mother gave him a fresh soda. She smoothed his hair. “I don’t think he can help you any more than he already has.”
Nikki stood. “Neither girl ever talked about doing something they knew could get them in trouble? Meeting up with older friends or something?”
Miles chased the cookie away with a big chug of soda. “Madison told me that Kaylee had a crush on some older guy. I wasn’t supposed to tell anyone.”
Bingo.
“Kaylee had a secret boyfriend.” Miller kicked a frozen snow clod out of his way. They’d taken the short route back to their cars, which were still parked in front of the Bankses’ home. “Why didn’t he tell me that when I interviewed him before?”
“Well, he said she had a crush on a guy.” Nikki could feel Miller’s frustration. He’d already felt like he’d failed the girls, but Nikki had reviewed his files. He’d done everything by the book and followed every possible angle.
“Was she dating him? And if so, how were they communicating? All her social media accounts and emails have been checked. We’ve gone over her mom’s computer three times. Is he someone she’s able to see every day, like with some kind of pre-arranged meeting place?”
“Maybe,” Nikki said. “If he is older, he might work nearby or go to one of the local colleges. But I agree with you that she’d be desperate to communicate with him, because that’s how teenaged girls are. I thought she might have a secret cell phone, and this seems like another reason she’d need one.”
In the weeks when Nikki was dating John behind her parents’ backs, she’d had to call him from Annmarie’s house or the payphone at the laundromat. Going a day without talking with him was torture.
“I’m more concerned about the dynamic between Miles and his father,” Nikki said. “Something’s not right there.”
Miller nodded. “I noticed that, too. What are you thinking?”
“I think Miles agreed to cover for them because Madison asked, just like he said. But I’m not sure Drew Hanson was home.” A third vehicle had parked behind the Bankses’ SUV while they’d been at the Hansons’. “Who does that car belong to?”
“Pastor,” Miller said. “He’s from the Methodist Church a few blocks over.”
Nikki was more interested in the security camera mounted on the garage. She scanned the neighbors; most had at least a single camera on the garage and one at the front door. “Does Hanson have a security camera focused on the garage?”
“No, just the front and back door.”
“Does either camera capture the driveway at all?”
“Not that I can remember.”
Nikki found her key fob and turned the jeep on, giving the seats a few extra seconds to warm up. “Did you notice Miles’ demeanor change when I asked about his dad being there?”
“He couldn’t get his mouth full fast enough.”
“Exactly,” Nikki said. “He’s covering for his dad. No chance the security footage could have been swapped for another day?”
“Not with his setup. Connected to the internet so it pulls the date and can’t be altered. I went through it twice to make sure the girls never came into the house. Hanson didn’t leave out the front or back door. Miles said he was home. So did his wife. I didn’t pursue that angle. I guess I should have.” Miller looked down at the ground and kicked a chunk of dirty, frozen snow.
“I probably would have d
one the same thing,” Nikki said. “But after talking with Miles and his dad, I think Drew left sometime that day, in his car. No camera on the garage to capture it.”
“And he makes his son lie for him,” Miller said. “What kind of parent does that?”
“The kind who has a secret,” Nikki said.
Seven
During the short drive to Kaylee’s home, Nikki called the Comfort Inn and Suites and reserved a room.
Jessica Thomas’ house was less than a fifteen-minute walk from the Bankses’ home, but the area felt entirely different. Kaylee had lived in a cookie-cutter condominium that looked exactly like the other dozen on the street. The Thomas home was minimally decorated with careworn furniture, but it seemed much homier than the Bankses’.
Jessica sat at the table in her maroon work scrubs and stared vacantly at Nikki. Her long dark hair was pulled into a ponytail and streaked with grays. She had a lean look about her, with bony cheekbones and pallid skin.
“How are you holding up?” Miller asked.
Jessica’s thin arms hugged her chest. “I keep telling myself to wake up. Like it’s all a nightmare.”
Nikki had done the same thing during the nightmares that lingered for months after her parents’ murders. Her brain would desperately scream at her to wake up before she went into the house, but Nikki never managed to listen.
“This is Special Agent Nikki Hunt with the FBI,” Miller said. “She wants to ask you a few more questions, if that’s okay.”
“Did that Frost guy do this to my girl?” Jessica asked.
“We’re examining all possibilities,” Nikki said.
“If it’s not Frost, then why are you still here?” Jessica asked tiredly. “I know who you are, and I read the paper. I can’t imagine you’d want to stick around. All the new evidence…”
Nikki’s heart skidded to a stop before ramping up again. New evidence? She’d been told that Mark had asked for new evidence to be re-examined, not that there was anything new to look at. Nikki couldn’t think about that right now. “Finding the person responsible for the girls’ deaths is my priority.”