The Sorority Murder (Regan Merritt, #1)(99)

Plus, conflict of interest. They had been dating for nearly three years. She could claim—and she would make it believable—that he was persecuting her because she’d broken up with him. She could easily lay an electronic trail. She’d have to be careful, though. Tell one person, maybe, that Steven wasn’t the upstanding citizen everyone thought he was. Plant doubts. Create conflict. It had worked for her in the past, it could work this time—but she had to be doubly careful because Steven wasn’t stupid.

Plus, she had to deal with Regan Merritt and that asshole podcaster.

Everything they said about Candace was theory and conjecture. But on the subject of Adele, that was something Kim Foster would be able to speak to. And no doubt Kim would throw her under the bus to save herself, if the police talked to her.

After everything Rachel had done for her, Kim would betray her—of that, Rachel was certain. Rachel would lose her job, her beautiful condo, her life at Sigma Rho. She could destroy Kim, but mutually assured destruction would still mean Rachel lost everything.

She might go to jail. That was not okay. She should not go to jail for an accident.

First, she had to start laying the groundwork to discredit anything Steven claimed to find about her. Then she would figure out what to do about Kim.

She walked into Steven’s small den and logged in to his computer. For a cop, he wasn’t all that security conscious. Rachel had learned all his passwords just by watching him. She would simply send herself a couple messages from his email, then respond, then have him threaten her, something like that.

She sat there and thought about how best to do it. Maybe she should have the supposed Steven send emails to a few people that would help discredit him, not just to her. Inappropriate emails, to divide and conquer.

As she was about to execute her plan, she realized his work email could also be accessed from his home computer. This was even better: she could find out exactly what he knew about Candace’s death.

She opened his work email.

As she read, her stomach tightened.

Steven had been removed from the case.

His boss had sent him an email this morning.

Effective immediately, you are removed from the Candace Swain homicide investigation. Please turn over all notes and files to Senior Detective Brian Hernandez as soon as possible, and call me to schedule a meeting to discuss, today if possible.
Her stomach flipped.

Why was Steven being removed?

Her face heated. Regan-Fucking-Merritt.

That bitch must have talked to someone higher than him, had him removed from the case. The whole conflict-of-interest bullshit that was supposed to protect Rachel was now a problem.

How did she become a suspect so fast? No one knew anything about Candace!

She rubbed her eyes and tried to figure a way out of this mess.

Maybe she was overthinking it.

She continued reading through his emails. They were meeting at the station today at four. That was in ten minutes.

Only one other email jumped out at her. It was from Detective Hernandez.

I asked Regan Merritt to sit in on the meeting since she found the journal; CCSD put a hospitalized student in protective custody as a possible witness. Student is in coma. Prognosis 50/50.
Journal? What journal? Taylor said she had destroyed Candace’s journal... Had she lied? Did she have it? Had she given it to Lucas Vega? To Regan Merritt?

And how did Regan know that Nicole was the caller about the truck? Dammit, Nicole should have died. If she regained consciousness, she could implicate Rachel.

Rachel could feel the noose tightening around her neck. Nicole could destroy her. She should have died! If she’d died, none of this would be happening... Damn damn damn! How could she have survived that dosage?

All thoughts of creating problems for Steven vanished. She had more important things to address. Rachel left the cop’s house, drove directly to her condo.

She recognized when her time was up. If Nicole survived, Rachel wouldn’t be able to mitigate the damage.

For now? She had enough time to execute her backup plan. Escape. Disappear and rebuild.

She wanted to scream. She had everything she wanted right here! She didn’t want to leave, but she had no choice.

Survival would always win.

Rachel packed two suitcases and put them in her Jeep. She grabbed her emergency fund: five thousand dollars. She’d close her account on Monday once she knew where she was going; she had another six thousand in her savings. Not a lot of money, but for now it would be sufficient.

She had places she could go for a while. Friends across the country she could stay with.

Rachel also still had access to the university lab. She needed a few things. She might be forced to leave town and disappear, but dammit, she was going to punish the little asshole who’d started this disaster.

You ruined my life, Lucas Vega.

I am going to kill you.



Forty-Four


The meeting at the station went as well as Regan could expect, and she was happy that they included her so she could share her perspective. Brian Hernandez seemed like a solid detective, and Steven Young willingly handed over all his notes and evidence and answered questions. She had suggested that Lucas come down, but Brian said he’d reach out to Lucas if he needed more information.

Steven was professional but clearly upset that his girlfriend was a murder suspect. He didn’t question the journal, however. On the advice of the DA, they opened the letter to the Overton family and made a copy.