Page 21 of The Girls in the Snow

“Tell me more about her papers,” Nikki said. “What sort of things did she write about?”

“Why?” Miles asked. “How are they going to help you find out who killed them?”

“When I started at the Behavioral Analysis Unit, my mentor told me that profiling wasn’t about the bad guy, but the victim. Profile the victim, because understanding the victim means understanding the person who hurt them. Make sense?” She’d learned Madison was wound tight and particular, and likely a stickler about obeying rules.

“Kaylee’s papers might have insight into who she was.” Miles looked impressed.

“Exactly,” Nikki said. “She very well might have put things into her stories—even if they were fiction—that she didn’t tell anyone else.”

“That’s fascinating,” Hanson said. “I believe the overarching theme in most of her stories was being the outsider. Misunderstood and never being heard. In one story, she likened it to standing in the middle of the room, screaming at every person in her life, and no one heard her.”

“Did you ever talk to her about them?”

“I tried,” Hanson said. “But she didn’t want to talk, and I respected her privacy. I hoped writing the stories probably helped her with whatever she was going through.”

“Kaylee was aware you were Miles’ father? She knew you’d be at the house?”

Hanson glanced at his son. “I assume she did.”

Miles grabbed a cookie off the plate. He chewed vigorously, eyes on his father.

“I’m just asking because I assume you being home would make it difficult for Miles to cover for them.”

Hanson’s gaze shifted around the room and then back to his son. “That’s a good question. Son, did you tell her I would be out of the house?”

Miles flushed red, his mouth set hard. He nodded.

“And you were home all day?” Nikki asked Hanson. “No chance you left and maybe saw the girls walking?”

“I wasn’t going to leave my fourteen-year-old son home with two girls,” Hanson said.

Miles grabbed another cookie, and his mother gave him a fresh soda. She smoothed his hair. “I don’t think he can help you any more than he already has.”

Nikki stood. “Neither girl ever talked about doing something they knew could get them in trouble? Meeting up with older friends or something?”

Miles chased the cookie away with a big chug of soda. “Madison told me that Kaylee had a crush on some older guy. I wasn’t supposed to tell anyone.”

Bingo.

“Kaylee had a secret boyfriend.” Miller kicked a frozen snow clod out of his way. They’d taken the short route back to their cars, which were still parked in front of the Bankses’ home. “Why didn’t he tell me that when I interviewed him before?”

“Well, he said she had a crush on a guy.” Nikki could feel Miller’s frustration. He’d already felt like he’d failed the girls, but Nikki had reviewed his files. He’d done everything by the book and followed every possible angle.

“Was she dating him? And if so, how were they communicating? All her social media accounts and emails have been checked. We’ve gone over her mom’s computer three times. Is he someone she’s able to see every day, like with some kind of pre-arranged meeting place?”

“Maybe,” Nikki said. “If he is older, he might work nearby or go to one of the local colleges. But I agree with you that she’d be desperate to communicate with him, because that’s how teenaged girls are. I thought she might have a secret cell phone, and this seems like another reason she’d need one.”

In the weeks when Nikki was dating John behind her parents’ backs, she’d had to call him from Annmarie’s house or the payphone at the laundromat. Going a day without talking with him was torture.

“I’m more concerned about the dynamic between Miles and his father,” Nikki said. “Something’s not right there.”

Miller nodded. “I noticed that, too. What are you thinking?”

“I think Miles agreed to cover for them because Madison asked, just like he said. But I’m not sure Drew Hanson was home.” A third vehicle had parked behind the Bankses’ SUV while they’d been at the Hansons’. “Who does that car belong to?”

“Pastor,” Miller said. “He’s from the Methodist Church a few blocks over.”

Nikki was more interested in the security camera mounted on the garage. She scanned the neighbors; most had at least a single camera on the garage and one at the front door. “Does Hanson have a security camera focused on the garage?”

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