Page 20 of The Girls in the Snow

“What are you talking about, son?” Drew Hanson said. “You told me they stood you up.”

“Not lying to the police is a good thing.” Nikki’s gut told her the girls never planned on coming to Miles’ house. “Did Kaylee and Madison ask you to lie about something?”

“They wanted me to tell their parents they’d spent the afternoon here,” Miles said. “Maddie wouldn’t say where they were going, but she begged me to cover for them. I said okay. But then they disappeared, and the police wanted to know if they showed up here. I said no, because they hadn’t.”

Drew Hanson sighed. “You did the right thing by not lying to the police. But you should have told them that Maddie asked you to lie.”

Miles stared at his father. “I didn’t want to get in trouble.”

“Miles is a good kid,” his mother spoke up. “He’s never in trouble.”

“It’s okay,” Nikki said. “Did Maddie give you any details about where they were really going?”

“No, I swear. I didn’t want to cover for them, but Maddie always helped me with my math homework, and we’ve been friends for a long time. She’s responsible, too… or she was, anyway.”

“How long have you known Kaylee?”

“I just met her after she started hanging out with Madison.”

“What did you think of her?” Nikki asked.

“She was nice. Not like I thought she’d be.”

“How’d you think she would be?” Miller asked.

Miles flushed. “She got kicked off the volleyball team for fighting. I thought she’d be mean. Plus, she’s got a reputation for being kind of…” He flushed. “A thot.”

“Thot?” Miller asked.

“That ho over there,” Nikki said dryly. “A lovely term from social media. Why did she have that reputation?”

“Girls who didn’t like her started it, I guess. I heard she’d slept with a bunch of guys and even gave one a…” He turned red and looked at his mouther. “Well, you know… in the locker room. But Madison said those were all lies. She said Kaylee was a virgin.”

“You think Madison was right?”

“I didn’t know at first, but after I hung around with Kaylee, I did. She’s so shy and quiet. She was, I mean.” He stared at his plate. “I can’t believe they’re gone.”

“Bullying has become an everyday occurrence for these kids.” Drew Hanson sighed. “The things social media exposes them to, the pressure it adds, is unreal. And it’s the perfect rumor mill.”

“Sergeant Miller told me you were Kaylee’s English teacher?” Nikki asked.

Hanson nodded. “She had real talent. Her short stories were layered with the sort of emotion and substance usually seen in college writing.”

“Do you have any copies of those?”

Hanson shook his head. “I wish I did. They were wonderful.”

Nikki glanced at Miller. “You know if she had computer access at home?”

“She shared a laptop with her mother. No papers on it.”

“I don’t think she wrote her stories at home,” Hanson said. “She spent her free period in the computer lab and often stayed after school.”

“Do students have access to the cloud?”

“No,” Hanson said. “But they’re allowed to bring their own flash drives.”

“We didn’t find one in her school stuff,” Miller whispered to Nikki. “We can check her room again.”

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