“I would,” Lucas said, “but I invited Regan over to show her what I have on the case. Maybe she’ll see something I haven’t.”
“Good idea, because you stare at your walls too much.”
Lizzy said goodbye to both of them and left.
“Ready?” Regan asked.
“Do you mind driving? I took the bus here, but I don’t live too far. Like, two miles, on the other side of downtown.”
“No problem.”
He locked up the studio, and they left the building. Regan was parked in visitor parking. Out of habit, she glanced around, assessing the people and cars in the area. Nothing suspicious jumped out at her, and she hit her key fob.
“Nice truck,” Lucas said, climbing into the passenger side.
“Thanks. Address?”
He rattled it off, and she put it into her phone’s GPS and hit Go to navigate. It wasn’t far, six minutes. She backed out of the space and said, “You don’t seem to be happy with what we learned.”
“It’s good information, but we’re missing too many details, too many days. Lizzy showed me twenty-three emails that came in, basically telling me to go to hell.”
Regan glanced into her rearview mirror. Someone had pulled in close behind her when she exited the university onto the main road, their lights bright. She adjusted the mirror.
“Do you think the guy who called in was Richie Traverton?” Lucas asked.
“The caller exhibited signs of betrayal. Have you spoken to Traverton?”
“I reached out via email, and he never got back to me. I go to his bar all the time, but I don’t think he knows who I am, at least to look at me. I want to interview him, but if he doesn’t call me back, what can I do?”
“Might be worth pursuing again,” she said.
She didn’t like the car following her so closely. It had been on the campus, though not in the visitors lot. No front license plate—Arizona didn’t require it. Maybe they weren’t following her. They could just be leaving at the same time and being jerks.
She turned left at the light, even though her navigation told her to go straight. She paused the navigation because the annoying voice told her to make a U-turn.
“What’s going on?” Lucas asked.
She didn’t respond. The car followed her.
Regan turned left at the next light, into a residential neighborhood.
The car slowed, followed.
“Okay, that’s it.”
She stopped her truck at the next stop sign. “Stay here,” she told Lucas. She got out of her truck and approached the car.
The driver immediately put on the bright lights, which temporarily blinded her. They made a three-point turn and drove back the way they’d come, but because her eyes were still adjusting, she couldn’t read the license plate.
“Dammit,” she muttered as she climbed back into her truck.
“What happened? Who was it?”
“I don’t know. A small SUV, possibly a Jeep. They followed us off campus, but I couldn’t get the plates.”
“Who would do that?”
She glanced at him, her vision clearing. “Someone who doesn’t like the hornet’s nest you’ve stirred up.”
Eleven
Though Lucas was edgy, Regan seemed calm about the whole being-followed thing, though she didn’t drive directly to his apartment. “Are they still following?” he asked her.
“No, just making sure.”
“Are you sure they were following us?” he said as she parked on his narrow street.
“Yes,” she said. “I don’t know what it means—maybe someone wants to know where you or I live, maybe they want to know what we’re doing now. Either way, it’s a sign that your podcast is making someone nervous. You need to be extra careful.”
They walked to his apartment. When he opened the unlocked door, she said, “Being extra careful means keeping your door locked, even when you’re home.”
“Okay,” he said.
Lucas introduced Regan to Troy, who was watching basketball while doing homework on the couch. “What happened?” Troy asked.
“Someone was following us.”
“No shit? Wow.”
“Keep the door locked at all times,” Regan said. She looked at it. “And use the dead bolt, okay?”
“Sure,” Troy said.
“Everything’s in my bedroom,” Lucas said. He opened his door, cringing at how cluttered the space was. It wasn’t a large room, and other than his twin bed—thank God he had made it this morning—he’d dedicated his room to The Sorority Murder podcast. Books, stacks of folders and papers, binders, notes, a corkboard with a timeline of Candace’s missing days that he’d hung on the wall. The timeline was pretty bare. Regan was looking at it now.
Friday April 10: Sorority party in evening. Candace has argument with Taylor James and leaves @midnight.
Saturday April 11 12:20 a.m.: Candace’s card key used to enter dorm building.
Sunday April 12: Abby from Las Vegas sees Candace in Kingman early afternoon.
April 12: @10 p.m. ‘A Concerned Sister’ sees Candace—Mountain View parking, driving.
April 12: 11:10 p.m.: Candace’s card key used to enter dorm.
Monday April 13: 5:37 p.m. per NAUPD report—Annie Johnston, roommate, contacts campus police.
Tuesday April 14: 9:07 a.m. per NAUPD report—Campus police locate Candace’s car in Mountain View parking structure (did anyone look on Monday?)
Wednesday April 15: NAUPD notified Flagstaff PD—FPD takes over missing person case.
Saturday April 18: Candace killed between 10 p.m. and 1 a.m. per ME; COD drowning (also manual strangulation, bruising on shoulders peri mortem; post-mortem injuries consistent with body dragged.)
Sunday April 19: Candace’s body found @ 8 a.m. Hope Springs Lake, maintenance staff (Julio Dominguez, head of landscaping, Hope Centennial Golf)
April 19: Witness tells police they saw Joseph Abernathy jumping into freight car near Flagstaff station in the a.m. (Note: freight train slowed through town to <5 mph on April 19, no stop, at 9:10 a.m. per Union office.)