Interesting…and odd. There was no mention of a prepaid phone or a nonworking smartphone. In fact, Annie had mentioned the many calls Candace was getting, and the notifications on her screen. It could have been cracked, but it was functional.
“Is that important?” he asked her, interested.
“Possibly. According to the police report, she made no outgoing calls, nor did she answer her phone or respond to messages, after Friday night. You were the last person she called. And you know now that she wasn’t killed in the lake.”
“Right. Vega said she drowned in chlorinated water, like a pool.”
“Do you know who she might have been with who had a pool?”
“No, I mean, a lot of people have pools. She loved the aquatic center because it reminded her of her little sister. She talked about Chrissy all the time. In fact, I went to her funeral and met Chrissy for the first time. She’s a sweet kid, heartbroken. I reached out a few times, sent her some pictures I thought she might like, of Candace and me. She seemed to appreciate it.”
That was a thoughtful gesture, she thought.
“Did Candace ever mention Joseph Abernathy to you?”
“No. I mean, I had heard about him from the police and everything, but she never mentioned him. Like I said, she didn’t talk much about herself or her life. She was very private.”
“Can you think of any place she might have gone where she felt safe, or disappear to while she was maybe studying or collecting her thoughts? A person or place?”
“Other than her sister, no. When Chrissy said she hadn’t talked to Candace, when Candace was still missing, I figured she was dead. Because there wasn’t a week that went by that she didn’t talk to her sister. So when I found out that she was alive that whole week? It surprised me.”
“Was Candace having problems with anyone on campus?”
“If she was, she didn’t tell me. There was one odd thing, though. Candace was in an off mood one day after tutoring, and then she quit the writing lab suddenly. She liked tutoring there because it gave her a break from the hard sciences she was studying. She was very creative and a really good writer. I asked her why. She got paid for it, and I know she was saving up so she could go on a trip with Chrissy over the summer, after her graduation. She said she needed to focus on school for the last semester.”
“Makes sense.”
“Not for Candace. She had outstanding grades. She didn’t struggle academically. And—well, I thought she was lying. I don’t know why, but it sounded like an excuse to me. Not what she said, but how she said it.”
“I really appreciate you talking about this, Richie,” she said. “If you can think of anything else—especially where Candace might have gone that week—I’d encourage you to call in to the podcast.”
“I really don’t know where she went. I’ve thought about it all week since I listened to it, and her disappearance just doesn’t make any sense. Are you sure that this Abernathy guy didn’t kidnap her? Hold her captive somewhere? I mean, I know that she wasn’t assaulted, you know, like that, but maybe it was something else.”
“I suppose anything is possible, but I think Abernathy is way down on the list. He was a barely functioning alcoholic.” She paid her bill and said, “Oh, one more thing. Do you know about Candace’s journal?”
“I know she had one, but I never saw it. She told me she’d been keeping it since she was thirteen, when her parents were going through their divorce. Candace said journaling helped her more than talking to the psychologist they sent her to. That I understood. I’ve always preferred writing out my problems than talking about them. Why do you ask?”
Regan had been hoping Richie had the journal or knew where it was.
“The police never found it in her room or car.”
“That’s weird,” he said. “That journal was important to her. I had a feeling that she wrote down things she wouldn’t say out loud.”
He was right. Weird. And suspicious.
Because now Regan thought her killer took it. And maybe the reason Candace was killed in the first place was because of something in her journal.
Twenty-Six
After his morning class, Lucas grabbed a sandwich and went to his office in the communications building. He propped the door open with his garbage can because the small window didn’t open and the room was stuffy.
He had a list of everything he needed to investigate about Sigma Rho and the girls who went there, both with Candace and before her time. He’d done basic research before launching his podcast—he knew the names and graduation status of every girl who was at Sigma Rho during the time Candace was there. But finding most people after graduation hadn’t been his focus.