The Girls in the Snow: A completely unputdownable crime thriller (Nikki Hunt Book 1)

by Stacy Green

  “Unless he’s got a secret account, John hasn’t made any withdrawals since he took off,” Liam said. “No activity on his bank or credit cards.”

  “John’s used to living in comfort,” Nikki said. “I can’t see him on the run for very long.”

  A deputy poked her head into the breakroom. “Someone’s here to see you, Agent Hunt.”

  Nikki slowly got off the couch and followed the deputy into the lobby. Ice and aspirin had helped her head, but her entire body ached. Tomorrow would be even worse.

  Her heartbeat stuttered when she saw Rory pacing.

  “Jesus, Nicole.” He crossed the lobby in three long strides and wrapped his arms around her. “Are you okay?”

  Too overwhelmed to speak, she leaned her head against his chest and nodded. The effect he had on her was stronger than any medicine. The tension drained from her shoulders, and she was suddenly exhausted.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “You really thought I’d get that text and just wait for answers? I knew you were missing. God, I was so worried.” He brushed her hair back and inspected her face. “Why is your lip swollen?”

  “The knot on the back of my head is worse,” she said. “Mild concussion. But I’ll be fine.”

  Sleepiness began to crash over her like a tidal wave.

  Fifty-One

  Nikki slept until nearly noon. She vaguely remembered asking Rory to stay at the hotel and the feel of his warm body next to hers before succumbing to her exhaustion. She was disappointed when she woke up and saw the note he’d left on her pillow, but he had to be on a job site early. Nikki texted him for the address so she could stop and say goodbye before heading home. The idea of not spending tonight with him bothered her more than it should, but getting to lounge around at home with her daughter would more than make up for it.

  She stopped at the station to check in with Miller, but he’d stayed late working on paperwork last night and hadn’t come in yet. Hardin’s office door was locked. Nikki texted Miller to let him know she’d like to sit down with him and the district attorney before charges were officially filed. She intended to make sure Mindy was charged with the murders of Madison and Janelle.

  “Glad to see you’re all right, Agent Hunt.” The deputy who’d been with Miller when she’d first arrived in Stillwater stood next to the administration desk, chatting with the desk sergeant. “Nice work.”

  “Thank you, deputy. You guys stay warm.”

  Outside, Nikki ducked her head from the frigid air, but her face still ached from the cold as she made her way to the jeep. Wind gusted between the cars, bringing with it the cloying scent of cologne.

  “John.”

  He was sitting on the curb in front of her jeep, hiding in plain sight. A wool hat hid his blond hair, and several days’ worth of beard made him look haggard. He looked up at her with bleary eyes.

  “I saw the news. It’s my fault. All of it.”

  “You’re right. My parents weren’t the only ones who suffered because of you.” Nikki couldn’t hold the question in any longer. “Did you put liquid ecstasy in my drink? Is that why I passed out?”

  “I just wanted to see what would happen,” John said. “I took the pictures, thinking you’d wake up.”

  “Then you decided to invite your buddies for some fun.”

  “Just to see if you’d wake up. I swear I wouldn’t have let—”

  “Oh my God, shut up, you pathetic excuse for a man. Why didn’t you just stay at the party after I left?”

  He looked away, a tear streaming down his cheek. “I snorted a line after you left, and I was so fucking mad at you. The guys were making fun of me.”

  Poor John and his fragile ego. “You planned to wait for me. Were you going to rape me like you were going to let your buddies do?”

  “I just wanted to talk to you.”

  “Bull,” Nikki said. “You were big John Banks. You had a reputation to protect. No girl was going to get away with embarrassing you in front of your friends. So you crawled through the window and planned to jump me when I came home.”

  John angrily swatted the tear off his cheek. “Your dad heard me. He was going to call the police.”

  “And you couldn’t have that,” Nikki said. “Because then people would have found out what you’d done to me, and that I wasn’t the first. Mr. Perfect couldn’t deal with jail.”

  “I’m not perfect. And I told you, I was high. And mad as hell. I just lost it.”

  She wanted to hit him. “You could have let my mother live.”

  “She knew it was me,” he said.

  “Why did you assault her?”

  “Because she was a cold bitch who never gave me a chance,” John snapped. “She went off about how I wasn’t good enough for you, and now I’d just proven it. Next thing I know, I was…”

  “Assaulting her. The DNA we lifted from your house is going to match the biological evidence taken from Mom. And then we’re going to find all the women who starred in your photo shoots.”

  “Amy destroyed them.” His jaw tightened. “So good luck.”

  “She lied. And I know where they are.”

  John hung his head, shoulders slumped in defeat. “Bailey’s okay, though. I knew you’d find him.”

  “You traumatized him,” Nikki said. “He saw what you did to his mother. But he’s going to be fine.”

  “Nikki, I swear to God, if I’d known how unstable Bobby was, I wouldn’t have let Maddie near him.”

  “That’s not why this happened. You know that. His father kept your secret, and it destroyed his family. Just like you destroyed mine and the Todds’. Madison and Kaylee’s deaths are on your hands as much as anyone.”

  “You’re right.” John stood, and Nikki drew her gun.

  “Turning yourself in?”

  “We both know I deserve worse than jail,” he said.

  “That’s up for the courts to decide.”

  “You can do it for them.” John took a step closer. “Say it was self-defense. No one will know the difference.”

  “I will.”

  John smacked his chest. “It’s what I deserve, Nik. And it’s what you really want, isn’t it? I killed your parents. Your mom pleaded with me and I laughed at her. I told her I’d turned you into a slut—”

  Nikki raised the gun, aiming it at his face.

  “Yes,” John said. “Do it. Then it will be over, for both of us.”

  Her hand trembled. No one would question self-defense. Her parents would finally receive justice, and by Nikki’s hand. Wouldn’t that be poetic?

  But Mark Todd wouldn’t get to see John in prison. All the woman he’d raped wouldn’t get to file charges and look him in the eye at trial.

  Bailey’s worried face, the fear in his voice.

  You were going to shoot my dad.

  “Do it,” John said. “Please.”

  “No,” Nikki said. “I made a promise to your son. And I intend to keep it.”

  “Goddamn you, Nikki.” John’s hands balled into fists. “I’m not going to jail.”

  “I’m not shooting you.” He was a still a coward who didn’t want to face the consequences for his actions.

  “You will.” He stalked toward her, eyes as wild as an angry cat’s, and pulled a fillet knife out of his coat. “Or I’ll fucking cut you. And then I’ll go after your daughter.”

  Nikki pulled the trigger.

  The bullet tore through the fleshy part of John’s thigh, but she’d missed the femoral artery. Miller wasn’t the only good shot.

  He collapsed, writhing and screaming in pain.

  “Stop crying,” she said. “It missed everything vital. You’re going to live to become some burly dude’s prison bitch.”

  “You fucking bitch.”

  Nikki ignored him and waved to the deputy who’d burst out of the station, gun drawn. She held up her badge. “John Banks just tried to attack me with a knife. You have cuffs?”

  The deputy tossed he
r the handcuffs and then took the knife from John. He put pressure on the gunshot wound and called for medics.

  John said nothing. He stared straight ahead, refusing to look at Nikki.

  She knelt in front him and locked the cuffs onto his wrists. “John Banks, you’re under arrest for the murder of Dean and Valerie Walsh.”

  Epilogue

  Ten days later

  Nikki reached for her coffee cup only to realize it was empty. She checked her phone to make sure she hadn’t missed Rory’s message, even though she would have heard the warning ding. The courthouse was part of the large Washington County government complex, and she’d found a parking spot far enough away to hide from the media but still provide a view of the front entrance.

  She glanced in the rearview mirror. Most of her bruises had yellowed and were covered with makeup, but they were still noticeable. Over the past few days, she and Lacey had made a game out of learning makeup tricks to cover them.

  “Mom, what are we still doing here?” Lacey bounced in her booster seat. “I thought you already talked to the judge.”

  Nikki had given a statement in court this morning, while Tyler had been with Lacey. She’d looked Mark and his parents in the eyes while admitting what she now knew of that night and apologizing for the pain they’d endured while she’d been trusting the wrong people. Asking for their forgiveness was unfair. “I did, but I’m waiting to hear the outcome.”

  “Of what?”

  “The case I spoke to the judge about.”

  “In the prison?” Lacey rubbed her fingers across the window.

  Nikki smiled. “That’s not a prison, it’s a courthouse. It’s where we decide if someone is guilty or innocent.”

  “How?” Lacey asked.

  “I have to find proof that someone did what they’re accused of so that they can be held accountable.”

  “And your friend’s in there, right?”

  Nikki hadn’t introduced her daughter to Rory yet. She didn’t even know where their relationship was going, and she certainly wasn’t bringing Lacey into it yet. “Yes, he’s there supporting his older brother who spent a long time in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. We’re hoping that’s fixed today.”

  None of the new DNA that was tested matched Mark’s. But it did match John Banks, who refused to speak with anyone, including an attorney, in an effort to be treated as a psych patient. It wasn’t going to work. He would stand trial for the murders, and the district attorney had already identified half a dozen of the women in his photos from the house, including Nikki. They’d all agreed to testify that John had drugged them, just as he’d likely done to Nikki. But first he would be tried for the murders of Nikki’s parents.

  Someday, Nikki would tell Lacey about her grandparents. She’d buried a lot of good memories along with the bad, and she wanted Lacey to know how amazing her grandparents had been.

  “Why was he in prison if he didn’t do it?”

  “Because the police didn’t do their job right,” Nikki said. “That’s why it’s so important to make sure we have the truth.”

  Nikki’s phone chimed. Her chest tightened as she opened the text.

  Full exoneration. He’s a free man. Thank you.

  Nikki hadn’t expected the complex emotions that surged through her. She was happy for the Todd family but angry for her parents and all those affected by John Banks. What would Rory’s parents say when he told her about seeing Nikki? If that’s even what they were doing. She didn’t want to label things just yet. Easier to let go if she believed they were just casual.

  “Look at all the people,” Lacey squealed.

  A throng of media rushed the courthouse steps as Mark Todd walked out a free man, his parents on one side and Rory on the other. Mr. Todd walked with a cane, and his wife slightly stooped, but they were both beaming.

  Rory looked incredible in a suit.

  “Does that mean your friend won?”

  “Yes, he won. He and his family are talking to the reporters now.”

  Actually, Mark’s lawyer was talking to the media. Mark looked down at the ground, clearly overwhelmed by the chaos. Caitlin Newport stood with the attorneys from the Innocence Project, probably dreaming about her next Emmy. Nikki was still deciding if she would do anything more than give Newport a statement for her documentary. In the end, Newport had been right about Mark’s innocence. And she hadn’t treated the facts like tabloid journalism. Nikki could always use another ally in the media.

  Sheriff Hardin was noticeably absent. He’d refused all media requests, letting Washington County’s legal department issue a statement on his behalf. While it did acknowledge the DNA evidence could have been tested earlier, the statement didn’t include an apology or admittance of failure.

  Rumor was Hardin was stepping down. Miller had promised to keep Nikki updated.

  A message from Rory lit up her phone.

  Going to my aunt’s to celebrate. You can stop by if you want.

  Nikki wasn’t sure she was ready for that. Mark’s parents hadn’t been openly hostile, but she doubted they’d welcome her to a celebration.

  Need to spend day with Lacey. Happy for you all, she replied.

  “Mommy, I’m hungry.”

  “I know, honey. Give me just one more minute.”

  Okay. Call me tonight?

  Nikki quickly sent a thumbs up and hoped she wasn’t coming across as too cold. They were all navigating uncharted waters.

  “It’s been a minute, Mom. I’m dying of starvation here.”

  Nikki laughed and merged into traffic. She listened to Lacey chatting as she drove through town and thought about how life tended to come full circle. A few weeks ago, Nikki wouldn’t have considered setting foot in Stillwater, and when she did arrive, everything felt foreign to her. Stillwater had grown and changed, and yet so much of it stayed the same, just like Nikki. She was no longer the wild teenager, but she remembered those days much more clearly now. She wasn’t as scared to look back at the past.

  Nikki wasn’t sure exactly where her life was headed, but she was no longer “the girl whose parents were murdered.”

  And that was good enough for now.

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  Books by Stacy Green

  Nikki Hunt Series

  The Girls in the Snow

  A Letter from Stacy

  I want to say a huge thank you for choosing to read The Girls in the Snow. I’m very excited about the upcoming books in the Nikki Hunt series! If you enjoyed The Girls in the Snow and want to keep up to date with all my latest releases, just sign up at the following link. Your email address will never be shared, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

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  In 2012, two cousins named Lyric, aged ten, and Elizabeth, aged eight, disappeared from Evansdale, Iowa. The two girls had been riding their bikes and had been spotted earlier in the day but then disappeared with very few leads. At the time, my own daughter was six years old, and I followed the case, like so many parents, praying the girls would somehow be found alive. Their remains were discovered several months later, but the case is still unsolved at the time of writing. The case took its toll on the FBI agents who were called in to help the Iowa Bureau of Investigation, and it still continues to haunt Iowans.

  While The Girls in the Snow is vastly different from the Lyric and Elizabeth case, the idea of two young people disappearing with no leads is something that’s always stuck with me. The toll that cases like this take on the law enforcement officers working them is enormous and something I wanted to explore with this new series.

  I hope
you loved The Girls in the Snow, and if you did, I would be very grateful if you could write a review. I’d love to hear what you think, and it makes such a difference helping new readers to discover one of my books for the first time.

  I love hearing from my readers—you can get in touch on my Facebook page, through Twitter, Goodreads or my website.

  Thanks,

  Stacy

  stacygreenauthor.com

  Acknowledgments

  There are so many people who helped this book come together. Thank you to my husband for never losing faith in me, and to my daughter for always being honest and willing to listen to my ideas. And a special thanks to her for letting me measure her to see how big of a freezer I needed.

  Thank you to Kristine Kelly for being there through all of my writing and life’s ups and downs. Thanks to John Kelly for his fabulous tour of Stillwater all those years ago, and special thanks to Jan Barton for her love and friendship.

  Stillwater, MN is a very real town and is considered the birthplace of Minnesota. It’s a charming, historic place on the St. Croix River, and an idyllic spot for a small-town mystery. Many thanks to the Washington County Sheriff, as well as the Hennepin County Medical Examiner, for their help with my research questions.

  Thank you to John Douglas for his guidance on profiling a case and reminding me to always start with the victim. Thanks to Lee Lofland, Sirchie, and Writers Police Academy for helping me create believable cops.

  Thank you to the Minnesota Innocence Project for taking the time to answer my questions.