The Girls in the Snow (Nikki Hunt #1) - Stacy Green Page 0,44
Courtney shook her head. “You still don’t own an e-reader, do you?”
“I told you that I like reading things in print instead of on a screen. Helps keep me focused.”
“Okay, Gen X. Find anything useful?”
“Actually, I did. Kaylee was a fixer.”
“As in—”
“Drawn to the misfits and outcasts.”
Courtney made a face. “The more broken the guy, the more attracted she would have been. My sister’s like that. It’s why she’s on her third marriage. How can you use it?”
“I’m not exactly sure yet. But she wasn’t the type of person to see red flags from a guy who came from a rough life, had a bad attitude, maybe even a juvenile record. She believed in second chances, so if she had a connection to someone, I think she sticks by him.”
“You said Madison was Type A, control freak?” Courtney asked.
“Very much so. Opposites attract. They probably balanced each other out.”
“Maybe Kaylee was meeting someone, and Madison was with her that day because she knew the guy had issues and wanted to protect her friend,” she said.
“Maybe,” Nikki replied. “I’ve spoken to Liam and he’s come up empty with the cell carriers so far. It was a long shot, anyway. But Drew Hanson confirmed that Kaylee had a phone on her two days before she disappeared, and we know she could have used Ricky’s money to keep it turned on. Did Miller come back with you?”
“He’s catching up on reports. Said to text him if anything important came up.”
Liam’s noisy entrance ended their conversation. He still wore his coat and hat, his cheeks pink from the cold. He sat down, and Nikki updated them on what she and Miller had found. “Madison and Kaylee’s school friends identified Kaylee’s crush. Bobby Vance. He’s a freshman at Mankato State. Bobby’s mother, Mindy, had been surprised when Nikki had called her, but she assured her they were just trying to talk to anyone who might have information and that she’d just learnt that Bobby and Madison had been close friends. “I met his mother at the Bankses’. Bobby was at school when the girls disappeared, but we still need to talk to him. She promised to tell him to call me if she talked to him. Hopefully he returns my call soon.”
“I found something you need to see.” Liam opened his laptop and quickly typed in his password. “This is from the condo next door to Jessica’s house. Essentially sharing a wall means the neighbor’s security camera catches anyone walking up the sidewalk.”
Nikki scooted closer, expecting to see Ricky Fillinger swagger into frame.
“That’s Amy Banks.”
“Madison’s mom?” Courtney said.
“Three weeks before the girls disappeared. She was at the Thomases’ house for about seven minutes. We’ll have to double-check with Jessica to make sure she didn’t switch shifts or call in sick, but going by the schedule she gave us, she was at work.”
“Getting time and a half on a Saturday.” The same thing she’d done the day the girls went missing. Jessica would probably carry that guilt for the rest of her life.
“Madison never shows up in the footage? Maybe she came to pick her up.”
“Just Amy.”
“Amy never mentioned this during the initial investigation?”
Liam shook his head, the silly tassels on his hat bobbing. “She specifically said she didn’t know where Kaylee lived.”
“You tell Miller about this?”
“Not yet.”
What was Amy Banks doing at the house and why hadn’t she told them? Nikki wondered. Had Amy Banks gone behind her daughter’s back and told Kaylee to stay away? Was she worried it made her look bad? Or did she have something else to hide?
“I’ll call Miller on the way to my hotel. Liam, meet me at the Bankses’ first thing in the morning.”
Fifteen
Nikki foolishly lingered in the lobby well after Liam and Courtney headed home. The wait for the autopsies added more pressure for her team to find something to move things forward. The medical examiner wouldn’t even think about letting Courtney collect evidence for at least two more days.
Why had Amy Banks gone to see Kaylee? Amy had been out of town with her son when the girls disappeared. Amy’s parents confirmed the timeline, and they lived far enough away that Amy would need a good reason for being gone for hours.
“No way Amy overpowered both girls,” Nikki muttered to herself. Kaylee had at least thirty pounds on the woman.
Grief had been Nikki’s second skin for so long that she could easily spot fake emotion. But was Amy’s grief laced with guilt? Nikki wasn’t leaving the