Regan thanked the sergeant and stepped out. Lucas was staring at his phone in the passenger seat. Standing under the overhang outside the campus-police building to avoid the rain, she opened the report and read it under the outdoor light.
It was standard: the Overton family had called the campus police when they couldn’t reach Adele, campus police followed up, learned she was supposed to have left for home. Adele’s roommate had left before her, and Adele’s car wasn’t in her assigned parking lot. Someone in the dorm said she had left the evening of November 30—the last day of finals—but that witness didn’t know if Adele was leaving campus or not.
The campus police had sent out an email to all students asking if they had seen Adele Overton on or after November 30 while also alerting the state troopers to be on the lookout for Adele and her vehicle.
On the last page of witness statements, one student had responded to the campus-police inquiry:
Taylor James.
Ms. James, a nursing student who was in two classes with Ms. Overton, said that she and another first-year student, Candace Swain, had lunch with Ms. Overton at the student union on November 30. Ms. James stated that Ms. Overton told her and Ms. Swain that she was leaving that evening for home and would see them after the break. Their lunch was around 1:30 p.m., which was confirmed through a review of the campus meal-plan log system. Ms. James, Ms. Overton, and Ms. Swain all used their meal-plan cards between 1:20 and 1:25 at the student union on November 30. Per student records, that was the last time Ms. Overton’s student card was used.
From the Missing Journal of Candace Swain
In my philosophy class last year the professor had us consider a quote by Martin Luther King Jr. I had never heard it, though the sentiment has been expressed by many. “It’s always the right time to do the right thing.”
I’ve never been into politics, but I care about people. That’s why I want to be a nurse. And at that moment I realized why I had never come forward before about what happened to Adele.
I was scared. Then I thought it was too late. And maybe the more time that passed, the more trouble I would be in. Then a year passed. Two years. Now three years, and Adele is still gone. What can I do to change it? Nothing. And if I say anything, my life will be ruined. My life and others. What would that accomplish? So I buried it, convinced myself it was okay.
But it wasn’t okay.
Lucas walked into my life at the writing lab. Right away I felt uncomfortable around him. He personally knew Adele, and I thought, Does he know what happened? But of course he doesn’t. I couldn’t lie to him if he asked and say I didn’t know her, because what if he found out that I lied? So I admitted that Adele and I had a biology class together and said it was so sad about what happened. I expected him to agree and move on, drop the conversation.
But he didn’t.
I’ll never forget what he said.
“Her mother is still looking for her. She barely sleeps, she barely eats, she wants to know what happened. Her dad didn’t even want her younger sister Amanda—my girlfriend—to go to college at all because he feared something would happen to her.”
Lucas told me all about the Overton family. How Amanda went to college anyway, out of state, against her father’s wishes. He told me how what happened to Adele tormented her family. That all they wanted was the truth, peace, a body to bury. Well, his girlfriend wants to bury her body, but her mother still thinks she’s alive.
All I could think of while he talked and talked was that Adele was dead. She was dead, and I knew it, and I could be the one to help give her family peace.
But I said nothing. Then I told Lucas I couldn’t tutor him anymore, I was quitting the writing lab. But he kept showing up wherever I went. When I was at the library, he was there. At the dining hall, he was there. It felt like he was stalking and watching me. I knew he knew something, but what and how could he know? What did Lucas Vega know about Adele’s last day? Why was he hounding me?
Guilt was eating away at me.
I was there, which maybe makes me an accessory? I stood there and did nothing, said nothing. I let others make her disappear. They lied, and I lied with them. This lie that has eaten me from the inside out.
And no matter how hard I try, nothing I do can right this terrible wrong. Except tell the truth.
I realize I’ve been waiting years for the right time, but it’s always the right time to tell the truth and do the right thing. Now is the time.
I will convince Taylor to come forward with me. There’s strength in numbers, and she must be as conflicted as me. Because how can anyone live with this guilt?
Thirty-Five
Regan drove Lucas home, then turned off the ignition and hopped out of the truck with him, saying, “I’d like to check out your apartment to make sure it’s safe.”
“Sure. Thanks.”
They jogged up the stairs because Regan hadn’t grabbed her umbrella. The rain was falling steadily again, and by the time they stepped inside the apartment, they were wet. She took off her jacket and hung it on the doorknob because there wasn’t a coatrack by the door.
She did a thorough check of the windows and locks. Nothing looked disturbed, just as it had been when she last looked.
Regan turned to face him, holding up the file she had gotten from campus police. “I have Adele Overton’s missing-person report here.”
He stared at her. Didn’t say anything.
“I know you also have it. But you didn’t share that with me. Do you remember three days ago when I agreed to go on your podcast? I asked to see all the information you had.”
“That report has nothing to do with Candace.”
“Taylor was interviewed by campus police about Adele’s disappearance. She and Candace were the last people to see her before she disappeared off the face of the earth, and you don’t think that’s relevant?”
He didn’t say anything.
“If I can’t trust you, I am of no use here.”