“So you’re taking a risk talking to me?”
“I don’t want to lose this sisterhood. I mean, you’re not in a sorority. I don’t think you understand how much having this group of women helps. Not just now, in college, always having people you can go out with and talk to, but in the future, the connections and job opportunities that can come your way.”
Lizzy shrugged. “I’ve heard. Not my thing, but I’m not judging you because it’s yours. But I don’t understand why you’re coming to me.”
“I’ve been roommates with Vicky for four years. If I call in, she’ll know it’s me. And I’ve been pushing her to cooperate.”
“Okay, explain me this,” Lizzy said. “Why wouldn’t she cooperate?”
“Because Lucas is a student, not the police. Vicky is very law-and-order, which is great, but I think she has too much faith in them. It’s been three years, and they haven’t figured out what happened to Candace. And they don’t care. I mean, I’m sure they care, but it’s not the same. Vicky is positive that the homeless guy killed her. I mean, she believes it like she believes the sky is blue.”
“You don’t?”
“No. I mean, I suppose anything’s possible, but Candace was acting really, really weird before she disappeared.”
“How so?”
“Mostly, she kind of removed herself from the sorority her last semester. I mean, she lived there and everything, but she didn’t do anything with us, didn’t come to movie nights, missed several council meetings. Vicky was on the council as the first-year representative, and she complained about Candace all the time. Candace was Vicky’s mentor, and she felt she was getting the short end because Candace kept canceling on her and not telling her why. But at the same time, Vicky worshipped her. Candace was smart and beautiful and everyone liked her. Vicky wanted to be just like her.”
“So if you don’t think that Joseph Abernathy killed Candace, what do you think happened to her?”
“I don’t know. That’s why I think this podcast is a good idea.” She leaned forward and whispered, “What if it was someone in the sorority? We were talking last night, the group of us who are fascinated by this case, and were wondering if maybe Taylor James killed her, and that’s why she overdosed. They were arguing a lot, not just at the party.”
“About what?”
“I have no idea, because anytime someone would walk into a room, they’d stop talking. The night of the party, I heard Taylor call Candace a selfish bitch. I don’t know the context or anything, but it was harsh.”
“How long was this going on?” Lizzy felt like a detective, asking questions of a witness. It was kind of thrilling.
“I don’t know. They never really liked each other as long as I knew them, but they did things together.”
Lizzy considered her options. “What if you call in tonight and share what you know, except for the really personal stuff that someone might know you’d be the only one to know.”
“I told you, I can’t. They’ll recognize my voice, just like Nia.” Nicole put a hand to her mouth. “Dammit.”
“I won’t say anything. But I can disguise your voice. I can run it through a program so it’ll be totally distorted.”
“I don’t know.”
“You can pass my offer along to anyone else who wants to talk. I answer the calls during the podcast. All you have to do is tell anyone at the sorority that when they call, they can tell me they want their voice disguised. I’ll have it all set up. I promise.”
Nicole was thinking, but she didn’t commit.
Lizzy needed to push her. “Regan Merritt is coming back tonight. Lucas is going to detail everything about Candace’s death and everything he’s learned since Tuesday night. There’s a lot. And I think you might have information that you don’t know is important to put this all together. Regan said the police are listening to the podcast, and if we find something, they’ll investigate. Someone needs to answer for Candace’s murder, don’t you think? Don’t you think her sister would rest easier knowing what really happened?”
“Okay,” Nicole said. “My group and I will listen, and if we’re all in agreement, I’ll call. If you promise you’ll keep my name out of it. Because I don’t know if I can really help. I just came here to tell you that there are many of us who think the podcast is a good idea because we want to know what happened to Candace.”
Nicole walked out first, alone. Lizzy called Lucas. “Where are you? We need to talk, right now.”
Thirty
Lucas sat in his truck across from Taylor James’s house. Lizzy wanted to talk to him in person, said it was important, so he agreed to meet her at his apartment in an hour. He should have asked why—she sounded super excited about something—but he was preoccupied with what he planned to do.
When he ended the call, his roommate, Troy, said, “Lizzy? Wow, she can talk a mile a minute, can’t she?”
“Yeah,” he said, noncommittal.
He’d brought Troy along with him because he wasn’t an idiot: he knew there was safety in numbers. And Troy was built like a football lineman, which could be intimidating if you didn’t know him.
The neighborhood might have been nice if more houses had been fixed up. But most were falling apart, separated from their neighbors by tall trees and overgrown shrubs. A fire hazard, he thought.
He shouldn’t be here. He had wanted to tell Regan his full theory. He almost did earlier today because he had a feeling she was fishing around for something, but he didn’t know how she would take it. He hadn’t shared it with anyone, not even Lizzy—though Lizzy knew about his ex-girlfriend, Amanda, and she knew about Amanda’s missing sister, Adele.