Page 5 of The Girls in the Snow

The taller deputy blocked the reporter’s path, shaking his head. Caitlin looked up at him with a bemused expression and then pointed toward Nikki.

“It’s okay, deputy.” Nikki eyed the reporter.

Caitlin smiled at the deputy as he stepped aside. She strode through the snow like a prize fighter, her attention squarely on Nikki.

Nikki raised her hand in warning. “Don’t step over that crime scene tape.”

“I know the rules, Agent.” Caitlin’s friendliness was about as real as her hair color. “I have to say I’m surprised to see you here.”

“I was invited,” Nikki said. “Unlike yourself.”

Caitlin shrugged. “Don’t be so sure of that. How’s the hunt for the Frost Killer coming along?”

Nikki had encountered the reporter twice in the last two years, both times during a Frost investigation. Caitlin knew the serial killer wouldn’t suddenly change his methods. “Well, it is his favorite time of year.”

“Surely the police don’t think he suddenly changed his M.O. and took two high-school girls?” Caitlin’s surprised tone wasn’t fooling Nikki.

“How do you know anything about the victims?” Nikki asked.

“Stillwater’s grown since you left, but it’s still a relatively small town. News travels fast.”

“Fantastic,” Nikki said. “I’m still not giving you information on this case.”

“You’re working it, then?”

“I’m here, aren’t I?”

Caitlin slid her sunglasses on top of her head. Colored contacts made her eyes a chilling blue. “It’s just surprising.”

Nikki chewed the inside of her cheek. She’d become a household name in Stillwater. Everyone in town recognized her as the girl who found her parents murdered, and she’d been the star witness at the trial. She’d encountered Mark Todd in the house that night and was the reason he’d been convicted so quickly. Everyone in Stillwater either looked at her with pity or didn’t look at her at all. And after the trial she’d just wanted to finish school and get out of town.

Caitlin was resourceful enough that she had to know bad memories weren’t the only reason for Nikki to stay out of town. After all, she’d been recognized as soon as she’d left anyway—the case wasn’t just famous in Stillwater—and she’d had to cut her hair, dye it blond and ask her professors at the University of Minnesota to refrain from using her last name just so she could attempt a normal life. Caitlin was trying to bait her into talking about new developments in her parents’ murders. Nikki had ignored all media requests over the past month, and she wasn’t about to give Caitlin Newport an exclusive.

Two death investigators approached the barricade carrying the equipment they needed to collect the bodies.

“Down the hill, cornfield’s around the corner.” Nikki’s patience was running thin. “Newport, you need to leave. Or I’ll have you escorted away from the area.”

“Have the police identified the bodies?”

If Caitlin wanted information, she would have to get it from the local police. “No comment. Have a nice day.”

Nikki turned her back on the woman and followed the guys from the medical examiner’s office. Stillwater may have grown in the years since she’d left, but like the filmmaker said, it was still a small town, and news traveled fast. How long did Nikki have before everyone found out she was here and she had to deal with a barrage of questions she didn’t want to answer?

She trudged over the hill and into the field. Courtney knelt next to one of the bodies while Liam concentrated on photographing the scene. She and her team had worked enough cases in the snow and Nikki didn’t have much hope for any trace evidence. “I assume you haven’t found anything?”

“Nope,” Courtney said. “These poor babies are frozen just as solid as Frost’s victims, which means we’ve got to wait at least a week for them to thaw.”

“Why is that?” Miller asked.

“Thawing a body is a slow process,” Courtney explained. “They need to be brought to room temperature gradually or we risk losing evidence. Appendages thaw first, so I may be able to swab fingernails. But the medical examiner won’t allow the removal of clothes or shoes until the bodies are fully thawed.”

“Which means at least five days,” Nikki said. “What can we do today?”

Courtney nodded. “Very little. Once they’re situated in the truck, I can use the UV light and look for blood or possible semen. I won’t be able to take any samples until the medical examiner clears it, but we’ll at least know if there’s anything viable.”

The death investigators struggled with the solid limbs as they carefully put each girl into a body bag.

Courtney sniffled. “I’ll never understand how people can be so cruel to one another. These girls had their whole lives ahead of them.”

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