Page 2 of Little Child Gone (Nikki Hunt #10)

ONE

Nikki checked to make sure she’d pressed “record” on her phone as Lacey tore into another birthday gift. Pink paper flew in every direction.

“The whole Harry Potter collection.” Lacey ran over to Rory’s brother and hugged him. “Thanks, Uncle Mark.” She grinned, her smile a mix of baby and adult teeth. “Now I don’t have to steal Mom’s copies.” Lacey carefully set the books next to the quilt Ruth had made out of her late father’s shirts.

“They’re as old as you,” Nikki told her daughter. “I’d just started reading the series when I went on maternity leave. I was on Order of the Phoenix when I went into labor with you.”

“Why didn’t you name me Phoenix?” Lacey demanded. “That would have been so cool.”

Nikki shrugged. “Whose present is next?”

“Mine.” Courtney hefted a large box onto the table. Lacey immediately tore into it. “Oh wow, a microscope! And an entomology kit.”

Courtney smiled, and Nikki was warmed by how much her and Lacey’s bond had grown in the last few months.

Courtney had always been a close friend, and Nikki had asked Courtney to leave Quantico with her when she’d started the unit in Minnesota.

Courtney now ran the DNA labs and acted as head evidence technician for their FBI office.

She had spent a lot of time with Lacey during her mandated time off from Nikki’s team.

She’d come close to losing her life in a terrifying case, but she had been feeling better by the day and had returned a few weeks ago.

Nikki was relieved as Courtney was the best analyst she’d ever worked with.

Lacey loved anything scientific, and Courtney had taught her all about DNA science and fingerprinting, the latter resulting in throwing out Lacey’s jeans.

The entomology lab had been Lacey’s favorite.

She’d come into Nikki’s office and announced she was going to be a bug investigator for the FBI when she grew up.

Courtney pushed her dark hair out of her eyes. She’d started growing it out, and now it had grown down to a shaggy bob. She’d also taken to wearing colored contacts, making her startling blue eyes a murky brown. “I’m glad you like it. It’s a little advanced for your age, but so are you.”

She helped Lacey take the microscope out of the box.

Lacey’s birthday gifts took up much of the Todds’ dining-room table.

She stuffed the last of the wrapping paper into the trash bag Rory held.

In addition to Courtney’s gift, Rory’s parents and Mark had gone overboard with the birthday gifts.

Nikki wasn’t about to complain; the Todds weren’t blood relatives, but they had become the family Nikki longed for Lacey to have in her life.

Lacey had bonded with Rory’s parents and brother instantly, and they all doted on her, especially Mark.

Mark tapped Nikki’s shoulder, a mischievous grin on his face. “Wait until you see this.”

Rory sat the trash bag in the corner, and Mark jumped up, disappearing into the kitchen. Nikki heard the sliding-glass door leading to the patio open and close a few seconds later.

“Lace, you’ve got one more gift in here,” Mark called from the kitchen.

She looked at Rory, who grinned back at her like a kid waiting for Christmas presents. Lacey raced into the kitchen, her screech filling the house.

“Did you get her a pony?” Nikki hissed at her husband as the rest of the group followed Lacey.

“Nope, even better.”

“Mom, look, I got wheels!” Lacey perched on a blue and white ATV sitting in the middle of the kitchen.

“It’s youth size,” Rory jumped in before Nikki could say anything. “She loves riding with me, and she loves being outside. This is a great one to start with.”

“Don’t forget this.” Mark slipped a hot-pink helmet on Lacey. “No helmet, no riding. Got it, squirt?”

“Got it.” Lacey looked at Rory. “Can we take it for a ride?”

He grinned. “Yep. Mark and I can ride with you.” Rory owned the house he’d grown up in, along with several acres of land for Lacey to ride on.

He owned three full-sized ATVs, as well as a snowmobile.

Lacey wanted to learn how to operate them all.

Nikki had grown up just around the corner from Rory and Mark, and she remembered hearing their dirt bikes revving around the property. “But ask Mom first.”

“It’s fine, as long as you guys are with her and she wears the helmet.” Nikki laughed as Lacey used her feet to push the four-wheeler toward the back door. Rory, Mark and their father hurried after her, grabbing coats and warm gloves.

While Lacey played with her new toy, Nikki, Ruth and Courtney cleaned up from the birthday party. Only a few pieces of Nikki’s homemade lasagna remained.

“Did you hear from Liam?” Courtney started loading the dishwasher.

Nikki’s longtime partner on the force had taken his girlfriend and her son on a holiday trip to Hawaii. “Plane is delayed in Denver because of weather.”

Courtney rolled her eyes. “Why didn’t they fly straight here from LAX?”

“Caitlin said the same thing,” Nikki answered. “Liam tried to save some money on the trip home,” Nikki said.

Courtney snickered. “I can’t wait to see him at the office tomorrow.”

“Yeah, a tired Liam is pretty cranky,” Nikki said.

“Tired Liam is a bitch,” Courtney clarified. “It’s been nice not having him harass me for results.”

Nikki put the extra pieces of lasagna into the refrigerator. Courtney and Liam complained about each other like siblings, but they both cared deeply for each other.

“You went back to work after Christmas, right?” Ruth’s soft voice cut into the sarcasm. “How has that been?”

“It was a good decision,” Courtney answered. “Less people in the lab, easier for me to get back into a groove.”

“That’s wonderful,” Ruth said. “But how are you doing ?”

Courtney’s trauma had begun in October when she discovered a murdered co-worker in the lab.

She’d been taken hostage from the lab and her hand signals had helped Nikki and the rest of the team find her in time.

Despite her bravado, Courtney still had to face those memories.

“I’m okay. My therapist and I prepared for a few weeks.

Believe it or not, breathing really does help a lot of things.

And Garcia has been really helpful, actually.

He offered to clean out the storage room in the lab so I could have a new office.

I couldn’t put him through that, but he’s the one who convinced the therapist that at this point, I need to be in the lab for my mental health. ”

“Garcia is the Special Agent in Charge, right?” Ruth asked.

“Yeah, he’s our boss,” Courtney replied. “I’m grateful he’s been so understanding.”

Lacey sped by the kitchen window on the quad, Rory and Mark right behind her. “They better not let her go too fast.”

“It can’t,” Courtney answered. “The kid ones have a limit on them.”

Nikki’s phone vibrated in her back pocket, and as she looked at the phone, she was surprised by the name on the caller ID.

“This is Agent Hunt.”

“Agent Hunt, this is Matt Kline.”

Nikki balanced the phone against her shoulder.

“How are you?” She slipped out of the kitchen to the hallway.

Nikki had met Matt on a case last year, bonded over their similar tragic pasts.

Nikki hadn’t had the chance to spend much time with him lately.

“I heard you bought the old Hendrickson place near Scandia.” Like Matt’s own ancestors, the Hendrickson family had been among the first Swedish settlers in the area.

The Hendrickson place had sat empty for the last few years while the old man’s children fought over the estate, the story making the news several times as the drama played out.

“I saw a picture of the house on the news a few weeks ago. Looks like a lot of work to be done. Are you calling for Rory’s advice on where to start? ”

“I wish that was the reason.” Matt’s voice trailed off.

“I bought the place to restore it. Luke wants to help me.” Nikki remembered Luke well.

He was Matt’s stepbrother of sorts. “Anyway, Luke and I started tearing down drywall and found a hidden room.” He paused and cleared his throat. “We found human bones.”

“You’re certain?” Nikki’s head began to buzz the way it always did at the beginning of a rough case. She could practically predict them at this point.

“Yeah,” Matt said. “Human skull stared up at me from the bottom of the closet. I don’t know if an entire person is there, but something bad happened in that apartment.”

“Apartment?” Nikki asked.

“Hendrickson’s kids said he built this addition to the main house.

It looks like no one’s been inside in years, so we started cleaning.

Mattresses were blocking the bedroom door.

We found the remains in the closet. I have no idea how long they’ve been there, but since the place has been closed up, I’m thinking a while.

That’s why I called you instead of the police. ”

Nikki understood Matt’s distrust of the police. It had been Nikki who’d finally worked out what happened when his family were murdered, and given Matt, and Luke, the answers they’d needed.

“Sheriff Miller will have to be involved eventually.”

“Yeah, I know,” Matt answered. “I do trust him, but I’m near the county line. I’m not dealing with Chisago police.”

The Chisago Police Department had played a big part in letting the man who killed Matt’s family get away with it for decades. She couldn’t blame him for not wanting to bring them in now.

“I know enough to realize we’ll need a forensic anthropologist,” Matt said. “This can’t be a recent death. I hate to ask, but could you at least come out and look at things before we have to involve the police?”

Lacey’s blue and white ATV flashed past the window again. She’d be out riding with Rory and Mark for a while.

“Text me the address,” she told him.

Nikki went back into the kitchen where Ruth and Courtney had nearly finished. “Court, do you have any evidence collection kits in your car?”

Courtney looked insulted. “You know me better than that. I’ve got a basic collection kit, a box of gloves and paper booties.”

“Is luminol in that kit?”

Ruth stopped putting the silverware away. Courtney had already tossed her drying towel on the table, eager to get back to what she loved. “Yep.”

“Ruth, can you let Lacey know we had a work thing, but I won’t be gone long,” Nikki told her mother-in-law. “I promise.”