“I love Steven. And you messed it all up.”
“I don’t think you’re capable of loving anyone but yourself, Rachel. People are tools for you to use. You seduced Steven to get close to the case, make sure you weren’t implicated. You befriend the sorority girls because you miss college life. I saw your office. The pictures of you. Not one picture of you with anyone outside of the sorority or cheerleading. You miss your youth. You’re my age, Rachel. We’re thirty-five. I’ll be thirty-six in September and it doesn’t bother me. My guess is every year you see your youth getting farther away. You never grew up. You wish you were in college again, so you made your career at a college.”
The wind was howling through the trees, which might mask the sound of approaching police. Regan inched forward at the same pace Rachel was inching toward the mine.
“You’re sick,” Rachel said to Regan.
She laughed. “Me? You have a knife on a kid and I’m sick? You poisoned Nicole. All because she figured out that you were using her.”
“I am going to reclaim my life.”
“You can’t. You’re wanted for murder. If the warrant hasn’t already been issued, it will be by the end of the day. The police are on their way. I’m just waiting for them to get here.”
She wished they would drive faster. Was she the only one with a lead foot?
Rachel scowled. She was now only ten feet from the slight rise that led to the mine. It was mostly boarded up, but from this angle it was clear that one of the boards was loose.
“Stop,” Regan said. She was trying to avoid looking at Lucas’s face because his fear was real, palpable. She couldn’t let his panic direct her actions. She would have to take Rachel down. But she had to get her in a position where Lucas had a minimal chance of serious injury. Right now, she was most concerned about their proximity to the mine entrance. The mine was dangerous, and Rachel knew it. Worse, Rachel had been here before and might be able to disappear into the mine—with Lucas in tow.
Regan couldn’t let that happen.
She said, “You stab him, I shoot you.”
“You don’t even have a gun in your hand.”
“I can draw faster than you can blink.”
Rachel looked at her, skeptical, but also worried.
“Rachel, this ends one of two ways. Either you live or you die. It’s your choice.”
“He ruined everything!”
Now Rachel was in the explanation-and-denial phase. Regan waited for her to continue.
She didn’t have to wait long.
“I was protecting Sigma Rho from those who would destroy it. You don’t understand how hard it is to build something good, something worthwhile. Something that lasts.”
“And you do?” Regan countered. She kept a close watch on Rachel’s hand, the one with the knife against Lucas. As Rachel moved backward, Regan moved forward. “Let me tell you what I know. You got a bunch of underage sorority girls drunk and stoned. One of the girls freaked out and died in an accident. You couldn’t stand the thought that you might have to take responsibility for your actions, so you disposed of the body and threatened the girls to keep quiet.”
“Adele’s death was an accident.”
“Yes. And if you had reported it you might have been fired, or maybe not, but none of those girls would have suffered. None of them would have died. But you couldn’t do that. You couldn’t take responsibility, and when Candace couldn’t live with the guilt of what you all did, you killed her. You strangled her and drowned her at the aquatics center, then moved her body in an attempt to thwart the investigation.”
Rachel scowled. “Taylor killed her.”
“I don’t think so.”
“You can’t prove anything.”
“Convenient, because Taylor is dead.”
“She killed herself out of guilt.”
“The police are looking at Taylor’s death as a possible homicide.”
“No one can prove anything.”
“Then, why are you running? Why did you kidnap Lucas if no one can prove anything?”
Rachel hesitated. Then she said, “People lie. And some people want to hurt me. They lie about me because they’re jealous. I have to protect myself!”
“Let him go.”
“That stupid, stupid podcast. He needs to pay for stirring up all that shit.”
“If there’s no evidence that you killed anyone, then all we have on you is kidnapping. You might be able to plead down. You let him go, the courts will go easy on you. You’re a smart, attractive young woman without a record.”