The Sorority Murder (Regan Merritt, #1)(89)

“Alexa’s statement. She has no firsthand knowledge except that Candace was with her from late Friday night until Sunday afternoon. She can swear to what Candace told her, but that’s it. A defense attorney would tear her statements apart without additional evidence. Lucas and I traced Candace’s whereabouts up through Tuesday, when she was seen in the Sunrise Center truck, and then we have Alexa’s statement that she planned to go to Payson. I want her journal. Alexa said she hid it in the library, so that’s where Lucas and I are going as soon as they open.”

“And then?”

“I’ll go to Young’s boss. I want to warn Young about Rachel, but then I’d have to spill everything, so it needs to go up the food chain.”

“I know the chief well. I’m happy to help facilitate this.”

“Thanks. I may call on you.”

“I’ll be at the golf course with Henry. Nine holes and then lunch.”

“It’s not raining now, but it doesn’t look promising for this afternoon.”

“We’ll get in as many holes as we can,” her dad said. “Can I share this with him?”

“I don’t see why not. If he has any advice, let me know.”

Regan left to pick up Lucas. They would need to put their heads together to find Candace’s journal.

As soon as he got in her truck, he said, “Lizzy is meeting us there. It’s okay that I told her what’s going on, right?”

“We need help, but let’s keep this between the three of us for now. If the killer knows that Candace hid her journal in the library, they might find it first.”

“Unless they already have.”

“Hey, no pessimism,” she said. “You were far more optimistic than I was at the beginning.”

“Until I realized what happened to Adele. My faith in people is nonexistent right now.”

“Her death is an apparent accident. Covering up an accidental death? That’s a crime, but it’s rarely prosecuted and often with minimal penalties. Candace? She was murdered because she wanted to tell the truth about what happened to Adele, and that’s because of you. Even if you didn’t know it, you brought Candace’s humanity to the surface, and she wanted to do the right thing. It’s easy to go along with the crowd, but we all have a conscience.”

She glanced over at Lucas. He still seemed disillusioned. “I think we should call Chrissy Swain. She knew Candace better than anyone.”

“She’s going to be heartbroken when she finds out what Candace did to Adele.”

“Maybe. But she also wants the truth.”

“Do we have to tell her now? She should know, but I don’t want to tell her. I wouldn’t know where to begin.”

“We don’t have evidence, and we don’t need to say anything until we do, but Chrissy will learn the truth.”

“Okay. Good. Just—let’s be careful here.”

Regan understood Lucas’s conflict. Sometimes, the truth wasn’t pretty. But it was real, and she had to show him it was better than keeping secrets.

Secrets got Candace killed.

They arrived at the library just after it opened. Lizzy wasn’t there, but Lucas texted her where they would be.

Regan closed the study-room door and Lucas called Chrissy. He put the phone on speaker.

When she answered, he said, “Hi, Chrissy, it’s Lucas Vega. I’m here with Regan Merritt, who’s been helping me with the podcast.”

“Lucas, hey. I just finished listening to the podcast from last night. You really are doing it. You’re going to find out what happened to my sister. Thank you so much.”

“We’re close,” he said. “But we need some help.”

“Anything.”

“A friend of Candace told us that she may have hidden her journal in the library, in a hollowed-out book.”

Chrissy said, “You think it’s still there, after three years?”

“Yes. If someone found it, they would have turned it in to the librarian, who would have turned it in to the police,” Regan said.

“Unless the person who killed her found it.”

“It’s possible but I think unlikely,” Regan said. “Lucas has received two threatening notes, and you know what happened to Taylor.”

“Was she killed, too?”

“That’s still being investigated. But I think if Candace’s killer found the journal, they wouldn’t care about the podcast. That journal is, potentially, the only evidence we have about what Candace was doing and might give us a motive for her death.”

“You’ve lost me.”

Regan couldn’t betray Alexa’s confidence, but she felt she should share part of what they’d learned with Candace’s sister. Lucas didn’t want to say anything, so Regan spoke vaguely of their theory. “We believe that Candace was aware of a crime and wrote in her journal about it. She wanted to go to the police, her friends didn’t, and that may have been the reason she was killed.”

“Oh, God, that...that would be awful. You think someone she knew killed her? Someone she trusted?”

“It’s possible. So if the journal is here, we need to find it,” Regan said.

“What do you need from me?” Chrissy asked.