Page 95 of The Girls in the Snow

“Liam, look outside and in the garage.” Nikki took off upstairs and ran to Madison’s room. The door wasn’t locked. “Bailey?” Nikki yanked open the double closet doors and shoved her way through a sea of clothes. Bailey wasn’t in the room. He wasn’t anywhere in the house.

She nearly fell down the stairs. The paramedics were trying to stabilize Amy. Her face was a purple mess, with a deep gash in her temple, a black eye and a bloody mouth.

“Amy, it’s Nikki, can you hear me?”

Amy moaned, her swollen lips purple.

Nikki grabbed her hand. “You’re going to be okay. Did John take Bailey?”

Another moan, this one far more distraught.

“Do you know where he’d go?” John’s parents were in Florida. Would he try to flee? “Amy, please, if there’s any place, we need to know.”

“Her jaw’s broken,” the medic said. “She can’t talk.”

Nikki opened the notebook app on her phone and handed it to Amy.

The phone quickly slipped from Amy’s hands. Her eyes fluttered closed.

“We have to take her.” The paramedic tossed Nikki her phone, and she moved out of the way.

“Liam, we need to put out an APB for John Banks. He’s driving a Tahoe and he’s a danger to the boy and anyone he encounters.”

Forty-One

“The entire area has the information.” Miller had arrived a few minutes after the ambulance left with Amy. “Checkpoints are set up on every feasible way out of town. Airports are being monitored. His face is being broadcast everywhere. He’s not getting far.”

Nikki wanted to believe Miller. The deputies had entered the Bankses’ house seven minutes after Bailey’s call. John’s car was already gone, but they couldn’t have gotten very far.

This was her fault. Nikki had pushed John too far, and they were no closer to finding out who killed the girls. Bailey and his mother had paid the price for her impulsiveness. “Property records?”

“Nothing in Washington County,” Miller said. “My people are looking statewide. We haven’t found anything in John’s or Amy’s name.”

Nikki studied the family photos, trying to will information from them. One had been taken outdoors, in a field that could have been anywhere. She wrangled the picture from the frame and checked the back. No date or location. She didn’t remember his parents owning any other property, but a lot of things changed in twenty years. “Check under Ronald and Madge Banks, too. His parents live in Florida, but they might have a residence somewhere around here as well.”

Liam tried to get into the Bankses’ laptop, but the password protection locked him out. “Fucking Mac. I’ll need a warrant to get their tech people to unlock this.”

Nikki searched the cabinets and drawers looking for anything that might point her in the right direction. John’s desk and office were suspiciously clean. No sign of his pictures, but her gut said he had them stashed somewhere.

“Agent Hunt? Sergeant Miller?” The big deputy gestured to the front door. “A friend of the family is here.”

Mindy Vance, wearing only sweatpants and a baggy sweater, stood in the doorway, shivering. Worry lined her round face. “Are Amy and Bailey all right?”

“Amy’s seriously injured, and John has taken Bailey. He’s in serious danger.”

Mindy sagged against the doorway. “I told her he was a ticking bomb. Amy’s gone through so much already.”

“Did Amy or John know you were coming over?” Nikki asked.

“Amy did,” Mindy said. “She wanted me to get Bailey and take her to her parents. She wouldn’t tell me why, but I could tell she was scared. She sounded much worse than she did yesterday.”

Nikki motioned for her to come inside and led her into the kitchen, away from the sea of cops. “You talked to her yesterday?”

Mindy sat down on one of the tall barstools. “She called to tell me that they had confirmed more details for a memorial for Madison. She wanted to make sure I’d heard about it.”

“How did she sound?” Miller had joined them.

“Exhausted. Almost robotic. But that’s what you do when something awful happens, isn’t it? You put your head down and go through the necessary motions.” She glanced at Nikki and then quickly looked down at her hands.

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