Page 111 of The Girls in the Snow

“Turning yourself in?”

“We both know I deserve worse than jail,” he said.

“That’s up for the courts to decide.”

“You can do it for them.” John took a step closer. “Say it was self-defense. No one will know the difference.”

“I will.”

John smacked his chest. “It’s what I deserve, Nik. And it’s what you really want, isn’t it? I killed your parents. Your mom pleaded with me and I laughed at her. I told her I’d turned you into a slut—”

Nikki raised the gun, aiming it at his face.

“Yes,” John said. “Do it. Then it will be over, for both of us.”

Her hand trembled. No one would question self-defense. Her parents would finally receive justice, and by Nikki’s hand. Wouldn’t that be poetic?

But Mark Todd wouldn’t get to see John in prison. All the woman he’d raped wouldn’t get to file charges and look him in the eye at trial.

Bailey’s worried face, the fear in his voice.

You were going to shoot my dad.

“Do it,” John said. “Please.”

“No,” Nikki said. “I made a promise to your son. And I intend to keep it.”

“Goddamn you, Nikki.” John’s hands balled into fists. “I’m not going to jail.”

“I’m not shooting you.” He was a still a coward who didn’t want to face the consequences for his actions.

“You will.” He stalked toward her, eyes as wild as an angry cat’s, and pulled a fillet knife out of his coat. “Or I’ll fucking cut you. And then I’ll go after your daughter.”

Nikki pulled the trigger.

The bullet tore through the fleshy part of John’s thigh, but she’d missed the femoral artery. Miller wasn’t the only good shot.

He collapsed, writhing and screaming in pain.

“Stop crying,” she said. “It missed everything vital. You’re going to live to become some burly dude’s prison bitch.”

“You fucking bitch.”

Nikki ignored him and waved to the deputy who’d burst out of the station, gun drawn. She held up her badge. “John Banks just tried to attack me with a knife. You have cuffs?”

The deputy tossed her the handcuffs and then took the knife from John. He put pressure on the gunshot wound and called for medics.

John said nothing. He stared straight ahead, refusing to look at Nikki.

She knelt in front him and locked the cuffs onto his wrists. “John Banks, you’re under arrest for the murder of Dean and Valerie Walsh.”

Epilogue

Ten days later

Nikki reached for her coffee cup only to realize it was empty. She checked her phone to make sure she hadn’t missed Rory’s message, even though she would have heard the warning ding. The courthouse was part of the large Washington County government complex, and she’d found a parking spot far enough away to hide from the media but still provide a view of the front entrance.

She glanced in the rearview mirror. Most of her bruises had yellowed and were covered with makeup, but they were still noticeable. Over the past few days, she and Lacey had made a game out of learning makeup tricks to cover them.