Saturday
Both Regan and her dad were early risers, so she wasn’t surprised to find him drinking coffee in the nook when she came downstairs at five thirty. She poured her own coffee and sat next to him. The sun was just rising, but they couldn’t see any colors in the sky, telling her that it was overcast, even though it wasn’t raining. At least not yet.
“What happened with Lucas?” he asked.
She told him everything she’d learned from Lucas and Alexa. “I want to pass this over to Detective Young, but he’s involved with Rachel Wagner. They’re dating.”
“The advisor? The one you think may have covered up Adele Overton’s death?”
She nodded. “I believe Alexa. If you talked to her, you’d believe her, too. Everything she’s said has been substantiated by the information we have. She could have ignored the podcast and not written that letter. She wants to do the right thing but is legitimately scared. Plus, she has a young daughter. Her boyfriend is taking her out of town, and I have their contact information.”
“Young has a conflict of interest. You should bring this to his boss.”
“Taylor was killed—”
“There’s no evidence she was murdered. You said it was considered an accidental overdose, pending investigation.”
“This is part of that investigation.”
“But Candace Swain is Young’s case, and while NAU has their own police department, they would immediately pass a capital case to FPD, so going to them would just delay the investigation. Like I said, go to Young’s boss, let her figure out whether to reassign or pull Young in.” He paused. “You don’t have enough, do you?”
“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.”