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Back The Sorority Murder Save as PDF
Chapters (61)
  1. Cover
  2. Praise
  3. Dedication
  4. One
  5. Two
  6. Three
  7. Four
  8. Five
  9. From the Missing Journal of Candace Swain
  10. Six
  11. Seven
  12. Eight
  13. Nine
  14. Ten
  15. Eleven
  16. Twelve
  17. From the Missing Journal of Candace Swain
  18. Thirteen
  19. Fourteen
  20. Fifteen
  21. From the Missing Journal of Candace Swain
  22. Sixteen
  23. Seventeen
  24. Eighteen
  25. Nineteen
  26. Twenty
  27. Twenty-One
  28. From the Missing Journal of Candace Swain
  29. Twenty-Two
  30. Twenty-Three
  31. Twenty-Four
  32. Twenty-Five
  33. Twenty-Six
  34. Twenty-Seven
  35. Twenty-Eight
  36. Twenty-Nine
  37. Thirty
  38. Thirty-One
  39. Thirty-Two
  40. Thirty-Three
  41. Thirty-Four
  42. From the Missing Journal of Candace Swain
  43. Thirty-Five
  44. Thirty-Six
  45. Thirty-Seven
  46. Thirty-Eight
  47. From the Journal of Candace Swain
  48. Thirty-Nine
  49. Forty
  50. Forty-One
  51. Forty-Two
  52. Forty-Three
  53. Forty-Four
  54. Forty-Five
  55. Forty-Six
  56. Forty-Seven
  57. Letter Found in the Journal of Candace Swain
  58. Forty-Eight
  59. Acknowledgments
  60. Booklist
  61. Excerpt

But mostly, her heart wasn’t in it. She’d once loved her job more than anything except her son. Yes, she loved her job more than her husband. She and Grant had had many rough patches. They’d even separated for six months. Saw a counselor. Got back together to give Chase a foundation because their love for him was the single thing that united them. And for a while, things were even better than before. They took the time to be together, both with Chase and alone. They went away, just the two of them, and talked about having another child. That was when Chase was five. But it was talk, and they both loved Chase and loved their jobs, and time slipped away.

But the last year of their marriage, before Chase died, things weren’t as they had been. Regan didn’t notice because she was busy, between her job and her son. It was like time sped up and suddenly Grant was distant, argumentative, working longer-than-usual hours. She thought he was having an affair, confronted him. She remembered exactly what she said and how she said it. Unemotional. Cold.

“If you want out of this marriage, just tell me.”

He stared at her. “I’m not fucking around, Regan. Work is just overwhelming right now, and you’re never around to talk about anything. Not everyone is a cool cucumber like you.”

It was the way he said it, as if he resented her ability to be calm in the face of chaos. And he’d hit on the reason they had gone to counseling in the first place, five years before: because they were both so busy they didn’t talk.

She believed he was faithful, but they still didn’t talk, and when she pushed he pushed back. And she buried it. She compartmentalized her marriage so she could do her job.

Maybe that had been the wrong approach. Hell, she didn’t know anymore. And what did it matter? Chase was dead, Grant hated her, and she was officially divorced and without a home or a career.

She stared at Tommy’s email, opened up a window to respond...then she called him.

She wanted to ignore him—her boss, her friend—but she couldn’t.

He answered on the first ring.

“Regan? Is that really you?”

“Yes.”

“Thank God. You haven’t returned any of my messages.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t lie. I know you didn’t want to talk. But we have to get your paperwork in by Friday.”

“I’m not coming back.”

“You don’t mean that.”