Page 48 of Her Frozen Heart

Possible suspects

Danny Stanton—human blood on knife, found body, pickup similar to the one observed on Dec 14. 5’7”, 150lbs

Man building shack on lake—closer to six feet per witness

Chelsea described the man she saw in similar way

Parker Jameson’s boyfriend Colton Troyer

“That’s it?” Liam asked when she stopped. “What about Dion Johnson?”

“No one in Kesha’s life raises red flags, and her boyfriend is frankly too young and the wrong race to have killed all of these people. Unless her murder is separate from the others—and I don’t think it is—Dion’s in the clear.” Still, Nikki added Dion’s name to the suspect list, along with an asterisk. “Not to mention he doesn’t fish and is adamant he wouldn’t go on the ice for anything.”

“Fair point,” Miller said as he joined them and helped himself to a donut. “Everyone would remember a young black man on the lake, and the man described by the ice fisher and Chelsea is white and larger than either Dion or Danny Stanton.”

“Danny Stanton also has an eighteen-year-old girlfriend.” Nikki told Miller about her encounter with Stanton. She hadn’t had a chance last night, and after the bodies had been unearthed, she’d been so rattled she’d forgotten. “Liam, did you run that plate?”

“The Honda Civic is registered to Javier Lopez, forty-eight, of Forest Lake. His daughter Maria turned eighteen in October. She works part-time at West End Diner in Forest Lake, which is right next to the Artists’ Co-op. And Parker’s ex is the diner owner’s son.”

“The Artists’ Co-op?” Miller asked. “My wife always has to check out the inventory every time we’re in Forest Lake.”

“Parker Jameson, part owner.” Liam flipped through his notes. “He and two female artists opened the business a couple of years ago. Parker disappeared on December seventeenth, and while the Forest Lake police have no leads, they also had no interest in the FBI’s help until the detective called Nikki on Christmas Eve after she heard about Kesha’s remains being found in the lake.”

“I spoke to the Forest Lake Chief of Police that same night after I called about getting the K9,” Miller assured them. “He said the detective didn’t know what she was talking about, and they were confident it was his ex-boyfriend. They’ve been tailing him for the last week.”

“With no results.” While Nikki hadn’t appreciated the insinuation she’d ignored the situation, she also didn’t like the police chief’s word choices about a female detective, but since her nerves felt like they’d been flayed, she was probably overreacting about that. “I plan to go to Forest Lake today. Now that I know Maria works at West End Diner and is sleeping with Danny Stanton, that’s a loose connection between Kesha and Parker I want to check on,” Nikki told them. “She said she met Danny at work,” Nikki said. “My gut feelings about Danny aside, if the first body is pre-2012, like we think given the absence of the odor neutralizer, that means he would have been twenty-one at the oldest at the time of that murder.”

Liam grunted and started leafing through his mess of notes. Before the attack, his organization had been impeccable. Now, he needed to have visual reminders in front of him. “Remember I did the background check on Stanton? He was born in Wisconsin and moved to Stillwater with his wife and kids in 2014. Not exactly the local type we’ve been talking about.”

“He could be the scout of sorts,” Miller said. “He helps find the victims and tees them up for his partner to take care of.” He looked at his phone. “Doctor Roth is here. I told the desk sergeant to send him straight back.”

The man who appeared in the doorway possessed the confidence of an experienced academic and leader in his field, but without the stuffiness Nikki always associated with researchers. He’d dressed in dark jeans,a white Oxford shirt, and fading leather loafers. “I’m looking for Sheriff Miller?” His sunburned fair skin complemented his sandy blond hair. Courtney had been right—he did remind Nikki of the Alexander the Great digitized photo.

“That’d be me.” Miller shook the doctor’s extended hand and introduced everyone. “Looks like you have been somewhere other than here.”

“Treated myself to a vacation in Puerto Rico. Unfortunately, I’m not very good at reapplying sunscreen.” Roth’s gray eyes landed on Nikki. “Agent Nicole Hunt, I have to admit I was surprised when I heard you needed me to consult on a case.”

“Why is that?” Nikki asked, motioning for him to take a seat across from her. “I’m certain we haven’t met before.”

Roth smiled. “You and your team’s reputation precede you, especially after the last year you’ve had.”

“It has been challenging,” Nikki admitted. “I’m not usually anxious for the new year, but I’ll be happy to turn the calendar on this one.” She pointed to Liam. “Agent Wilson’s still on restricted duty, and, frankly, after last night, we need help. You’ve consulted with the St. Paul police before, correct?”

“I have,” he said. “Along with Milwaukee and Madison, over in Wisconsin. At any rate, I’m well-versed in the rules of working with law enforcement.” He smiled, his gaze on the whiteboard. Then Roth’s thick eyebrows furrowed together. “Am I reading this board correctly? You have male and female victims?”

Nikki and Miller walked him through what they’d found last night. Miller had drawn a map of the burial scene on the board rather than show actual photos. Nikki slid the photos she’d printed off this morning across the table to Roth. “As you can tell, we’re still in the early stages of identifying these victims. We’re waiting on confirmation from the forensic anthropologist, but the remains in the towel are older, and possibly a key to the killer’s identity.”

“You believe he knew them?” Roth thumbed through the pictures of the mass burial. He stopped at the photo of the male victim. “He’s much more recent than some of the others. Do you know if the woman he was buried with was related to him?”

“Not yet,” Nikki answered. “To answer your first question, as I’m sure you know, it’s not uncommon for a serial murderer to start displaying worrying behavior during adolescence. That’s usually where we see the cruelty to animals come in, and there’s often predatory behavior in their background that was swept under the rug or explained away as a one-time mistake. People don’t like to believe evil walks right under their noses.”

“That’s very true,” Roth said. “Especially if the perpetrator’s young. That’s one of the core parts of my research—preventative actions that can be taken so that issues are spotted earlier and, hopefully, parents have some resources on how to deal with whatever’s happening.”

“That all sounds great,” Liam said. “But what about people who live on the fringe of society or don’t have access to insurance? If they can’t afford to go to the doctor for strep throat, how are they supposed to afford a special psychologist for their kid?”

“They can’t,” Roth said. “We’re working on an outreach program that would offer a lot of resources to the community, pro bono. Mental health is important to everyone, not just those who are better off than others.” He flushed. “Sorry, my soapbox is sidetracking us. Assuming you’re correct and your killer knew his first victim, that victim’s identity is crucial. I assume you believe the killer’s a man?”

“Eyewitness reports suggest so, as do statistics.” Nikki looked ruefully at Liam. “At this point, we know Kesha was strangled. Doctor Blanchard found some evidence of asphyxiation in the male and female victims who were in the same bag, but we don’t know how the others died. No sign of an execution-style killing. We don’t know if the victims in the woods were sexually assaulted, but the medical examiner is making the male victim priority. We need to know if he was killed protecting someone, or because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time, or if he was targeted.”

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