He led her into the kitchen, where Alexa was sitting at a small round table, her head in her hands. She looked up at Regan, tears in her eyes. “I listened to the podcast. I’m scared.”
Mateo sat down next to her, put his arm around her. “I’m not leaving you, baby. It’s going to be okay. You don’t want her here, she goes.”
“I should never have written that letter.”
Regan took a seat across from them. The kitchen was clean but cluttered, filled with cheerfully colorful dishes and tile work. The refrigerator door couldn’t be seen through all the artwork attached to it with alphabet letter magnets.
“The anonymous letter where you witnessed the argument between Candace and Taylor.”
She nodded. “Except I wasn’t there. I heard about it, knew about it, but I wasn’t there. I just thought I could do something.”
“Was Kimberly Foster there?”
“Yes. I thought after I wrote it that someone would talk to Kim. I don’t know, but I think she would have told the truth. I mean, she has a lot to lose, but at the same time, I don’t think she would lie. But I don’t know.”
“Start at the beginning. You weren’t at the Spring Fling party, but Candace came out to Kingman to see you.”
She nodded. “She called late Friday night, told me she was coming. Got there at three in the morning. We talked until dawn, cried, slept, talked more. But that wasn’t the beginning.”
Regan took a leap. “Adele Overton. She was the beginning.”
Tears formed in Alexa’s eyes, and she nodded.
“Do you know what happened to her?”
“Candace knew, and she told me. I should have known.”
When she didn’t continue, Regan asked, “Did you know, before I mentioned Adele’s name tonight on the podcast, that Lucas had known her?”
“Yes, because Candace told me. She told me about Lucas, that he’d been friends with Adele’s family. That he said some things to her that had her questioning everything. And then, as I listened, I realized why he started this podcast in the first place.”
“To solve Adele’s disappearance.”
She nodded. “It all made sense. I should have realized it sooner, but everything clicked tonight.”
“What were Taylor and Candace really arguing about?” Regan asked.
“I’m scared. There were four people in that conversation, and two of them are dead.”
“That will not happen to you,” Mateo said firmly.
“But you didn’t overhear the conversation,” Regan said.
She shook her head. “I only said I was there in the letter because I didn’t think you would take me seriously if I weren’t.”
Regan had suspected that. Good to know her instincts were still strong. “Go on.”
“At the end of the Spring Fling, Candace asked Taylor to go to the police with her and tell them what had happened to Adele. She said it was the right thing to do because her family was still looking for her. Taylor said no, that they would all go to jail.”
“And Kimberly Foster was there.”
“Yes. And based on what Candace said, Kim was on the fence. She had already graduated, she had a good job, she had a lot to lose, but she reminded them that it had been an accident, and she thought they should get a lawyer to help with their statement. Kim was always practical like that. Candace didn’t want to, she felt so guilty, but she said she would do it if that meant telling the truth. Then Rachel said no.”
“Rachel Wagner was there?” Vicky had mentioned it this morning, but Rachel implied that she’d only been around for part of the discussion.
“Yes. Rachel insisted that they would all go to jail, she would lose her job, never attain full professor, that even if they got probation, it would cost time and money and they wouldn’t be eligible for certain jobs. Rachel had a way of getting into your head, and she told Kim her life would be over—Kim was dating a ballplayer then, she was making nearly six figures two years out of college, she would lose her job and the condo she’d just bought, and everyone would talk about her. Kim was practical, but she was also vain, and she finally sided with Taylor and Rachel. Candace left. Then she called me.”
“Why did she call you?”
“Because I was there when Adele died.”
Alexa breathed in deeply, let it out, asked Mateo for water. Then, finally, she started to talk. “It was over six years ago. I was a sophomore, Adele was a freshman. The last night of finals, we all went to Rachel’s apartment.”