The Girls in the Snow (Nikki Hunt #1) - Stacy Green Page 0,73
staying in Stillwater, and I called you tonight. What else do you want me to do?”
“I don’t know,” he snapped. “I don’t understand anything you do anymore.”
“I can’t do this with you right now. No one in Stillwater even knows I have a daughter. I’ve kept her completely out of this. And my address is unlisted. Someone either went to a lot of work to find me, or they followed me.”
Unless Newport had done the dirty work, but as much as Nikki disliked the woman, she couldn’t see her sending her minions to commit violence.
“Has anyone else been hanging around?”
Nikki immediately thought of Rory and flushed. He wouldn’t do such a thing. “Not really.”
“What about Frost?”
“What about him?”
“You’re letting the media imply he might be responsible for the Stillwater murders. If his ego is as big as you say it is, maybe he’s pissed and sending you a message.”
Nikki had already thought about Frost and ruled him out. “This isn’t the sort of message he would send. It’s too crass. And he knows I don’t really think he’s the killer.”
“How could you possibly know that?”
“Because it’s my job, Tyler.”
“Yeah, well your job’s going to get you killed one day.”
Nikki gritted her teeth. Tyler had never been comfortable with her working in the violent crime unit, and he wasn’t capable of fathoming her need to understand why people committed such terrible crimes. Nikki often wondered if his real issue was jealousy over the recognition she received for her work, but she didn’t dare bring the idea up. The argument always ended in a stalemate. “I can handle it.”
“What about Lacey?” Tyler demanded. “If something happens to you, what am I supposed to tell her? That Mommy chose—”
“Stop.” Nikki stood up, shaking with anger. “Don’t say another word.”
Tyler’s cheeks reddened. “I’m not trying to make you feel bad.”
“That’s exactly what you’re trying to do. It’s what you always try to do when it comes to my job. This is what I do, and it’s not going to change,” Nikki said. “How many times do we need to have this argument?”
The muscles in his jaw twitched. “No need to have it. You aren’t going to change.”
“Neither are you.” Nikki gathered her coat and bag. “I’ll call Lacey tomorrow.”
“You’re seriously driving back to Stillwater tonight? With a head injury?”
“I’m fine.”
Tyler closed his eyes for a moment. “Look, I know we’re mad at each other, but please stay in the spare bedroom tonight. It’s late, and you’ve got to be tired. I won’t bother you anymore tonight. And you can take her to school before you go to work in the morning. Lacey will be so happy.”
Nikki wanted to tell him no, but her exhausted body overruled her emotions. “Okay, Tyler. But this doesn’t change anything.”
“Don’t worry,” he said. “I gave up on you changing a long time ago.”
Twenty-Eight
The air bullet had hit her hard enough to draw blood, but the wound was superficial. The bruise, however, was not. By the time Nikki arrived at the medical examiner’s office in St. Paul the next morning, the welt above her ear looked like the mark from a branding iron, and the two-inch-long purple bruise along her scalp was impossible to hide. But she had received the call from Liam just after she’d dropped Lacey off at school, and she knew now more than ever she needed to solve the case and get out of Stillwater. Time away from Lacey was tearing Nikki apart and she wasn’t any safer for it.
The medical examiner’s office in St. Paul handled the death investigations of multiple smaller counties, including Washington County. Its location in the big medical complex in downtown St. Paul meant parking was usually hit and miss. Nikki finally found an open space in the east parking ramp. She walked as fast as possible in her heavy snow boots, and by the time she checked in with the front desk and joined Liam at the medical examiner’s office, her head had started to ache again. They walked in silence to the autopsy suite, Nikki’s nerves on edge. The fact that the chief medical examiner wanted to go over things with the bodies present was not a good sign, but at least she was finally getting answers now that Madison and Kaylee’s bodies had defrosted.
Dr. Blanchard was already waiting for them, impatiently tapping her foot. “You’re late.” Melissa was the state’s first African-American chief medical examiner. Nikki had worked with her on several cases, and while her no-nonsense approach