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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

“Personal security is always important. Just be careful. You’re beginning to grow on me.” She smiled, trying to make the conversation lighter so Lucas didn’t get too freaked out. She recognized that her time as a marshal made her see the world through different lenses. Personal security had become part of her life, a part that had become so routine she barely noticed.

But even being smart, safe, and cautious couldn’t protect everyone every minute of the day. She was a testament to that.

“Do you think Taylor James did this?” Lucas asked. “I mean, you talked to her this morning about the podcast. Maybe she knows where I live.”

Possible, she thought. She opened the baggie with the note again and smelled deeply.

“What are you doing?” Lucas asked, his nose wrinkling.

“Taylor is a chain-smoker. Anything she touches would likely smell of nicotine. She seemed jumpy, agitated, angry to me. Defeated. Clearly she’s not living the life she expected after graduating. I don’t smell anything.” She paused, considered. “But still I’ll talk to her again. Do you mind if I check your windows and locks?”

“Go ahead.”

She walked Lucas through basic home security measures. She wasn’t sold that the note was a threat, but it was odd, and clearly geared to discourage Lucas from continuing the podcast.

Lucas agreed to meet her at Marcy’s Grill at seven, then Regan and her dad left.

Back in her truck, John said, “You might want to hand this all over to Detective Young.”

“You and I both know that the police won’t do anything. They can’t. There’s no connection between a vague threat to Lucas and me talking to Taylor James, or even directly to his podcast. The police have sat on this case for three years. And after my conversation with Young today, barring any physical evidence linking another suspect to Swain’s murder, his hands are tied. Other cases, other priorities.”

Her father conceded that three years put the case at the bottom of the inactive pile. “But,” he said, “while I trust your instincts, something Lucas said on the podcast—or you, last night—may have rattled Candace Swain’s killer, if he’s still in the area. You’re on the right track...but are you going to find the answers before the killer panics?”

She didn’t know. “Friday night’s podcast will be very interesting. I’m going to have Lucas lay all his cards on the table and see what happens.”

And if they did that, she would have to stick close to him, in case they did ruffle the wrong feathers. Which meant she’d have to cancel her hike with Jessie in Sedona. Her best friend was not going to be happy.

From the Missing Journal of Candace Swain

From the Missing Journal of Candace Swain