Page 54 of Her Frozen Heart

“She said it was empty, as far as she remembers.”

“Did the name Danny Stanton come up in any of your investigations?” Nikki asked.

“He’s the one who found Kesha’s body in the lake, right?” Dover asked.

Nikki nodded.

“He also drives a white pickup similar to the one your witness described, but with a toolbox in the back. It’s held together by rust, but there’s no dent in the side. Of course, the toolbox is removable and Stanton’s a mechanic, so he might have fixed it,” Miller said. “A witness from the lake observed a possible suspect a couple of weeks ago driving a junky white pickup, but he was fairly certain it was an eighties model.”

“If you’ve got a photo of Stanton’s truck, I can contact the witness and have her take a look,” Dover said. “I have her cell number, so I can text it.”

Nikki airdropped the photo, and Dover forwarded it to the witness. “I’ll let you know what she says.”

Miller had pulled up Google Earth on his tablet. The town was named after Forest Lake, one of many smaller lakes that made up the area. The lake and town were at the northern tip of Washington County, about fifteen minutes from Big Marine Lake and the burial site.

“We’ve searched every open field and wooded area within our city limits,” Peek said. “That includes the docks around Forest Lake, boat storage places and part of the public grounds. But as we’ve already talked about, the holiday has thrown a wrench into everything in terms of manpower. I’m confident we would have seen him if he’d been left in the area. Forest Lake itself is highly trafficked, but the week leading up to Christmas, it wasn’t busy, even with ice fishing. We can’t get a dive team until January and it’s going to be a dogfight to convince anyone Parker’s in the lake without more evidence.”

Nikki could tell that Miller wanted to remind the police chief that the Washington County sheriff would have assisted in the search had they been informed, but he also knew that he had to keep the peace. The tone in Chief Peek’s voice told Nikki that he knew they’d made a mistake in not contacting the sheriff. But dwelling on it wasn’t going to help Parker.

“Chief Peek, when you called the sheriff’s office this morning, you mentioned a message that came with the photo?” Nikki asked.

“That’s right,” the chief said. “Once we got through the encryption, we found two files. One was the photograph of Parker, and the other consisted of a single line in a document: ‘Guess I will have to find a new place for him. Shame on the FBI for disturbing my dead.’”

“‘My dead’?” Nikki echoed. “Either the killer wants us to connect Parker’s disappearance to the other victims or this is someone trying to manipulate us so that we’re looking at the wrong person. You’ve been keeping track of Colton, the ex-boyfriend?”

Dover nodded. “He lives with his mother above the diner, but he hasn’t left the apartment since Parker disappeared. I don’t understand contacting the police. This increases the kidnapper’s chances of getting caught,” Dover said.

“Either he’s willing to take the risk, or he doesn’t think there is one,” Nikki answered. “He wants us to know how good he is, how much he’s gotten away with.”

“Let’s hope his ego helps us catch him,” Miller said. “We need contact information for everyone who’s been interviewed. Agent Hunt’s headed to the co-op and the diner after this, so myself and Agent Wilson, who’s back at the task force command center, will split interviewing everyone else. Detective Dover, please let me or Agent Hunt know as soon as you’ve heard from the witness claiming to have seen Parker that night.”

Nikki could tell Detective Dover wanted to stay involved in the investigation, but she had no interest in the detective accompanying her to the co-op. They’d gotten off on the wrong foot, and Nikki wasn’t sure she had the energy to focus on both the case and finding some kind of common ground with Dover. She struck Nikki as the type who’d involved other investigative units just to have a scapegoat to blame if Parker wasn’t found alive. But her unit had to maintain a decent relationship with the police departments in the state. “Detective Dover, since this is your case, we’ll need you to focus on Parker’s family and friends since you’ve already established a relationship with them. I want them to know we are working the case, of course, but dealing with half a dozen different people instead of one just causes more stress. Can we count on you to take care of them?”

Dover’s eyes narrowed, her gaze flickering between Nikki and her boss. “What about Colton? I’m the only one he’s talked to.”

“Which is why someone else needs to sit down with him,” Nikki told her. “We all have different strengths. I just think with this case having so much media attention, the family needs to deal with a familiar face.” She mustered a semi-sincere smile.

“Dover will handle the family,” Peek said. “Colton should be working at the restaurant. His mother seems to be keeping him close by since Parker disappeared.” He picked up the photo of Parker. “What do you think the chances are that he’s still alive?”

Nikki shot Roth what she hoped was a warning look. She didn’t trust Dover not to talk to the press, so the less they discussed theories in front of her, the better. “I’d say fifty-fifty. It’s hard to tell in the photo, even though his eyes are open. I’m sure the lousy quality of the photo is intentional.” She caught Roth’s gaze again, and the worry in his eyes sent a wave of fear through her.

Nikki prayed they weren’t too late to help Parker Jameson.

“Well, that was certainty interesting,” Roth said as the three of them headed to their vehicles. “I’m shocked this little police department didn’t ask the sheriff for help.”

Miller shrugged. “It’s political. Peek’s the old guard and buddies with our former sheriff, who retired in disgrace. He resents having to deal with me.”

“Too bad,” Roth said. “I wish the photo of that poor kid was better quality.”

So did Nikki. “Our computer guys will do everything they can to enhance it. We don’t believe there are more remains in Big Marine Lake, and we know Parker isn’t buried with the others. It sounds like Forest Lake proper and some of the surrounding areas have been well searched too. So, either Parker’s still alive and with our killer, or he’s in Forest Lake itself, which is hopefully unlikely.”

“Are those the only options?” Roth asked.

“No, but the third’s the worst of all,” she answered. “If our killer’s found a new location to dispose of his victims, it’s going to be damn hard to find. Unless he was able to thaw the ground, he couldn’t have dug a grave. So he’s disposed of Parker’s body another way, or Parker’s still alive somewhere.” She hoped that sounded more confident than she felt.

“Doctor Roth, police decisions aside, what are your impressions?” Miller asked.

Roth’s hair stood up at odd angles from the gusting wind. He retrieved a knit cap from his coat pocket and put it on, yanking it down below his ears. “This is why I never go to warm places in the winter. It makes coming back here all the more miserable. To answer your question, the similarities to Isaac Monday’s murders in Alaska are disturbing. But as I said during our initial meeting, the murderers I’m interviewing have had access to eons of research on the subject, and a killer who hasn’t been caught has access to even more. What’s most disturbing is that the author of the book about Isaac Monday, psychologists and law enforcement officers who worked the case, claimed he’s in the one percent of serial killers. The author used the wordunicorn, actually, which I believe to be totally misleading. There have been other known killers who were indiscriminate with their victim choices, and simple logic suggests there are probably more that we don’t know about. The author’s word choice lures the public and the entire criminal justice system into a false sense of safety. It’s much easier to believe that someone so sadistically cruel is a special case, but like unicorns, such a person doesn’t exist, at least in my opinion.”

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