The Girls in the Snow (Nikki Hunt #1) - Stacy Green Page 0,91
They were nothing special, yet they cut her deeply. They kept running through her mind, only in John’s voice.
You stupid ice-cold bitch. You’ll pay for this.
“I think John Banks killed my parents. And I think he might be the person who killed these girls.”
Thirty-Seven
Running on little sleep, Nikki consumed two energy drinks quickly the next morning. Her entire system felt jittery. She’d spoken with the district attorney and the new information she’d gathered hadn’t shocked Mathews as much as her change of heart. His hands were mostly tied until the DNA results were back, but Nikki now felt like she was doing the right thing for Mark. And for Rory too.
Nikki could barely concentrate on the road. She whipped through traffic at a reckless pace, white-knuckling the steering wheel. How could Hardin live with what he’d done? He’d put an innocent man in jail, and he’d left a killer in Stillwater and now three girls were dead. Marching into his office and accusing him wasn’t the most professional way to handle things, but Nikki wasn’t sure she could remain professional much longer.
She barely acknowledged the front desk officer when he buzzed her in, heading straight for Hardin’s office. “You’re a liar.”
“Excuse me?”
“I’ve been to see Mark and I know everything.”
“Mark Todd’s a liar.” Hardin didn’t look away from his computer.
“No, you lied, and don’t you dare say it’s because you were protecting me.”
“I really don’t like your tone.”
“I really don’t like that my parents’ killer is still out there, and an innocent man is in prison thanks to you.” Nikki made sure her voice carried into the hall. “Tell me, did you consciously decide to fuck Mark Todd over because he’d been with your wife, or did all that happen naturally?”
“You are out of line.”
Nikki slammed a file onto his desk. “You ran a shitty investigation and buried evidence. The district attorney called Patsy Moran this morning, and she happily connected him with Deputy Anderson. Where are the pictures taken of the blood prints in the hall? Or the kitchen chair that Mark held onto when he went in search of a phone? Their disappearance was the last straw for Anderson.”
Hardin’s face turned red, his double chin wobbling. His meaty hands clenched into fists, and the anger simmered in his dark eyes. “I have no idea.”
“You had no real scientific training, and yet you convinced the sheriff that some evidence wasn’t worth testing. You ignored Nadine Johnson’s report of a muscle car racing down the road in the middle of the night.”
“Big deal,” he said. “It was the weekend.”
“John Banks drove a ’68 Shelby Mustang, and you knew it,” Nikki replied. “I know Mark told you about the pictures of me and that he thought I might have been drugged, and that’s why you buried my blood test, isn’t it?”
Hardin pointed a fat finger at her. “I suggest you stop right there. I’m not going to have my career destroyed—”
“If John Banks has kept that up all these years, how’s that going to look for you?”
“You actually think John killed your parents? That’s ridiculous. Maybe I made mistakes, but we got our man. I stand by that conviction.”
“You should know I intend to speak on Mark’s behalf when the DNA exonerates him,” Nikki said, and stormed out.
Thirty-Eight
Telling Hardin off left Nikki exhilarated. He talked a big game, but he’d make a terrible poker player: he refused to make eye contact and constantly shifted his posture.
Now that Nikki had faced up to John’s lies, she wondered if he was the person Kaylee had gone to see. Was John the person Kaylee had had sex with before she died?
“Agent Hunt.” Miller jogged down the hall to catch up with her. “Agent Wilson’s in my office. He’s found something you really need to see.”
“What’s going on?” Nikki closed the door to Miller’s office.
Liam paced back and forth. “The loading dock at Roan Pharmaceuticals is on the same side of the building as John’s corner office. I noticed the emergency exit door when you and I first went to Roan. The security videos we were provided to confirm John’s alibi were of the main entrance and the employee entrance on the opposite side of the building. John used the main entrance when he came into the office that day, and he left from it that evening. I walked around the campus yesterday and finally realized the emergency exit near John’s office is actually a stairwell that leads right down to the loading dock. Look.”