“All good questions. Maybe you should have been a detective instead of a marshal.”
She smiled, shook her head. “Marshals have cooler toys.”
He laughed. “You plan to reach out to the FPD detective? Young?”
“Not yet. I want to talk to Lucas again. This is his podcast, his schedule. I’d like to reach out to Young, see if there’s anything he might tell me that he wouldn’t tell Lucas. I might be a civilian now, but the Merritt name still holds a little weight.”
“A little?” John said with mock insult.
“I reached out to the victim’s former roommate, Annie Johnston, last night. She emailed me early this morning. She lives in Phoenix and agreed to talk to me on the condition she didn’t have to talk to Lucas. I ran it by him, and he’s cool with it. These sorority sisters seem to have blacklisted the podcast. Completely shut him out, so anything I can get from the outside might help.” She paused, drained her second cup of coffee. “She works at Phoenix Children’s Hospital, said I could call her before she goes to work.”
John said, “Looks like you have a new cause.”
“What does that mean?”
“A cause, a hobby, whatever you want to call it. You’re helping this kid.”
She shrugged. “Maybe. Last night went well, we learned more, and Lucas asked if I would return on Friday’s episode. Why not? What else am I doing?”
“Now you sound like you’re feeling sorry for yourself. Go ahead. Help the kid solve his friend’s murder. It’ll make you both feel better.”
Sometimes, her dad just cut straight to the point.
“Anyway,” she said, “Lucas had reached out to Annie earlier in the process, and she wouldn’t talk to him. I’m going to have him listen in. It’s his podcast. I don’t want to just take it over.”
He laughed.
“Really, Dad.”
“Don’t lie to yourself. You’re a control freak, just like I am. It runs in our veins. But he needs you. Maybe he’s smarter than I gave him credit for, but he doesn’t have experience. If he’s right about any of this, he might draw the killer’s attention.” Her dad paused, then asked her, “Do you know if the police ever looked closely at Sunrise Center itself?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, the victim volunteered there, and the suspect often stayed there. If I were planning a murder, having a guy with a habit of stalking sorority girls take the fall for me would be a big plus.”
And that was one reason she loved her dad. He thought anyone was capable of a crime, under the right circumstances. She hadn’t even considered the idea that someone at Sunrise might be involved, but it might explain why Abernathy had disappeared.
Still, it seemed far-fetched. Why would the director cooperate with Lucas for his podcast if she had something to do with Candace’s murder? It seemed…odd.
Yet, people often behaved in ways that confused Regan.
It was definitely something to think about.
Regan’s dad had already left when Lucas arrived.
“I really like your place here,” he said, looking out the picture windows at the trees and Humphreys Peak looming in the north. “You’re, like, in the middle of nowhere, but only twenty minutes from downtown.”
“Best of all worlds,” she said. Peaceful. Beautiful. Now that she was back she didn’t know if she would leave again.
“Only thing I don’t like about this area is the snow,” he said.
“It doesn’t snow that much.”
“More than enough.”
“I hope you don’t have to miss a class,” she said. “I know the last semester can be demanding.”
“I only have two classes this semester, Tuesdays and Thursdays, and they’re both pretty easy, to be honest. My capstone is taking most of my time.”
The capstone for a Criminology and Criminal Justice degree didn’t involve any physical classes, but a lot of research, writing, and regular meetings with an advisor were required. If you didn’t do it, or slacked off, it could mean the difference between graduating or not. But most advisors worked hard with their seniors to ensure they at least passed.
“I can’t believe you convinced Annie to speak to us.”
“To me,” Regan corrected. “I appealed to her desire for justice, but she made it clear that she was irritated that you’d repeatedly called her. She mentioned harassment.”
“I called too many times, I know, but I really wanted to talk to her. She was Candace’s roommate. I had Chrissy on board, and the Sunrise director, and even the campus police talked to me. I thought that having that support would convince her. Every time I got another interview, I called her. I shouldn’t have.”