The Girls in the Snow (Nikki Hunt #1) - Stacy Green Page 0,43

“I didn’t want my wife to find out I’d been in the city the day Madison and Kaylee disappeared. That I wasn’t home. That I asked Miles to lie for me. Because I was with another woman.”

It would never cease to amaze her how far a person would go to hide an affair. Hanson wasn’t the first man she’d seen in the hot seat because he didn’t want his infidelity exposed.

Hanson slumped against the wall like he’d been given a muscle relaxer. Confession usually brought a person relief, and Nikki knew he was telling the truth.

“Does your son know you’re cheating?”

Hanson shook his head.

“Kaylee’s contact with Ricky makes him a suspect,” Miller said. “You should have told me you knew they met.”

“But he had an alibi. I read it in the paper. So I didn’t see the point in saying anything.”

“Nice of you to do my job.” Miller looked ready to haul the teacher away in handcuffs.

“Kaylee said she had to give Ricky a message from her mom, and she didn’t have his number in her phone. We stopped there, they talked a couple of minutes, and I dropped her off at home. That’s it. I didn’t think there was anything out of the ordinary about it, and I felt sorry for the kid.”

“Did she have a phone on her that day?”

“Uh… maybe. I think she texted someone, but I wasn’t really paying attention.”

“She say anything about Ricky after they spoke?”

“Just that he was a pain in the ass, and she was glad to be rid of him. I asked her why, and she said he just wasn’t good enough for her mom. I left it at that.” He glanced into the classroom. “I need to get back inside.”

“We’re going to get a warrant for your truck,” Nikki said. “And your house.”

“What?” His voice cracked. “No, there’s no reason.”

“You made your son lie about your whereabouts that day and you kept the ride from us.”

“I’m telling you the truth. If you do this, my wife’s going to ask questions.”

“That’s your problem,” Nikki said. “You shouldn’t have had an affair.”

After securing a warrant, Miller brought in Hanson’s truck for Courtney to search. She’d finished processing Ricky Fillinger’s and found some suspicious stains, but the truck was old, and Ricky hadn’t exactly kept it clean. If he’d had either girl in his truck—especially transporting a body—he would have recently cleaned it. His alibi was solid as well. Nikki had crossed him off her list of suspects.

Hanson produced receipts for the motel room he’d rented when he was supposedly home with Miles. Nikki had requested the motel’s security footage and asked the St. Paul Police to pay a visit to the mistress to confirm his new alibi. If Hanson’s wife didn’t know about the affair, she wasn’t paying attention. The man couldn’t tell a good lie to save his life.

Nikki spent the afternoon at the government center poring over Kaylee’s stories that Liam had printed from the school computers. Many of the characters in Kaylee’s stories seemed to have been inspired by the likes of Jade Eby and other bullies, observed by a snarky misfit heroine who always had the strength to stand up for herself. Viewing the characters through the heroine’s lens gave her a much better look into Kaylee’s head. Her antagonists had reasons for their actions, even the mean girls. Most had redeemable qualities, and Kaylee’s writing tended to be at its best in those scenes.

In one story, an angry young man brought a gun to school and barricaded himself in a classroom with twenty students and a teacher. The heroine believed there was good left in him and eventually succeeded in his relinquishing the gun.

Kaylee wanted to see the good in people. Despite having every reason to be bitter about her peers, Kaylee’s empathy prevented her from simply turning her back.

Nikki glanced at the window for what felt like the fiftieth time. Despite wanting to focus on the case, she couldn’t help but wonder if Rory was really going to come to talk to her.

“Not a damn thing.” Courtney came into the room with her usual dramatic flair, dumping her bag on the table, and plopped into the chair across from Nikki. “Hanson’s got some stains in his upholstery, but they aren’t blood. His kid has a stash of frozen candy beneath the back seat. What is that mound of paper in front of you?”

“Kaylee’s short stories.”

“You printed all of those off instead of reading them on the computer?”