The Girls in the Snow (Nikki Hunt #1) - Stacy Green Page 0,81
with the FBI. I need to set up a visit with an inmate as soon as possible.”
Thirty-Two
Nikki pulled into the snowy driveway, her nerves on edge. Nadine Johnson’s two-story house looked as she remembered, but the willow trees were much taller, their bare branches growing well past the roof. Nikki had played house beneath those long branches during Nadine’s summer barbeques, enjoying the strawberry lemonade Nadine had made especially for her.
Nadine had to be nearing seventy now, still living in the little cottage a couple of football fields from Nikki’s old house. Nikki used to walk through the big strawberry patch in the summer to visit her. She’d taken the same route escaping from Mark when she’d fled the house that night: ran as fast as she could through the gardens, not knowing if she was being followed, if she’d even make it there.
After the murders, Mrs. Johnson wanted Nikki to stay with her, but the courts had given Nikki’s great-aunt custody of her. And Nikki shut Mrs. Johnson out as she’d done the others.
“So you’re telling me that Amy Banks knows John was, at minimum, cheating, and that he might have drugged women?” Liam’s voice filtered through the jeep’s Bluetooth system.
“According to Brianna, yes, Amy saw the pictures. But without more evidence, John’s drugging them is just speculation. They may have been sleeping.”
“I doubt it, but I guess people have weird fetishes.”
“Janelle had GHB in her system.” Nikki read the email from Dr. Blanchard out loud. “Given the high quantity, probably taken within a few hours of her death. She was also intoxicated.”
“I’ve talked to Janelle’s mom and sister. They both said she didn’t do drugs. And she’s got no arrests on file.”
“Blanchard said she would have definitely been incapacitated.”
“Forcing her to take it would make her easier to control,” Liam said. “What about Madison and Kaylee?”
“Both negative,” Nikki replied.
“You know what bugs me?” Liam didn’t pause long enough for her to reply. “John’s probably six feet tall and still in good shape. He wouldn’t need drugs to control her.”
“Not physically, but the drugs would keep her quiet. My issue is this sudden major mistake. If John’s been doing this for a long time, he knows how to cover his tracks. Assuming he didn’t kill any of the women in the pictures, why kill Janelle? Did she wake up and threaten him?”
“He’s coming apart because of Madison,” Liam suggested. “Even if he didn’t kill the girls, he’s under a lot of stress. He drugs Janelle and does his thing, and then something happens, and she ends up dead. He panics and tries to leave her as a Frost victim to cover his tracks.”
The theory made sense, but it didn’t sit right with Nikki. They didn’t have enough for a clear picture, and bringing John in for questioning—much less arresting him—was out of the question without concrete evidence. Brianna’s story needed to be corroborated.
“We need Amy Banks to confirm she saw the pictures.” If Nikki’s suspicions were correct and John had done the same thing to Nikki all those years ago, Amy was less likely to confide in her. “I asked Miller to talk to her this morning, but without proof that John killed her daughter, she’s unlikely to turn on him. Are you going to Eau Claire?”
“On my way now. Janelle only brought the necessities when she moved. A lot of her things are at her mother’s. It’s probably a waste of time, but I want to go through everything.”
“It’s not a waste of time. Tiny details usually make or break a case. And we know they were killed by the same person.”
“You sure you don’t want to go with me?” Liam asked.
“I wish I could, but I’m following a possible lead.” She waited for him to press her for details, but they’d worked together long enough that he trusted her.
“Let me know what you find.”
“Will do.”
She ended the call and immediately started second-guessing herself. But she wasn’t just here on personal business. John was a murder suspect. Questioning Nadine about what she heard the night her parents were murdered was prudent. If he’d lied then, what else had he lied about? And what else had he done?
Nikki locked the jeep and walked toward the house, taking a familiar path.
Nikki took a deep breath and knocked on the door. Would the woman even recognize her?
Mrs. Johnson looked exactly the same, with whiter hair and a slightly stooped posture.