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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

Even though she was thirty feet from him, she didn’t look right. Maybe because the porch light was yellow, but her coloring was strange and her arm was hanging over the lounge. Even though it was chilly, she wasn’t wearing a jacket; she didn’t have a blanket or sleeping bag. Her head slouched at a strange angle, as if she were in a deep sleep, her mouth partly open.

Lucas stared at her arm. Then he saw the needle on the ground.

“Taylor?” Still cautious, he approached her slowly. “Taylor, are you okay? Do you want me to call someone?”

No answer. He reached her body and stared. Her eyes were half-open. He didn’t want to touch her, but he had to wake her up because something was wrong.

He shook her gently. “Wake up. Taylor? You need to wake up.”

Her body rocked under his hand, but she didn’t move.

He jumped back. She was unconscious. “Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit.”

Was she dead? He leaned over, tried to find her pulse. Was it there, on her wrist? Or was that wishful thinking?

“Taylor? Can you hear me?” He gently shook her body to see if he could wake her, but she was limp.

“Don’t die. Please don’t die,” he said. “Dammit! you’re the only one who knows what happened to Adele!”

He pulled out his phone and called 9-1-1.

Regan arrived twenty minutes after the paramedics. Taylor had been declared dead on scene, and she heard rumblings about an overdose because they found drug paraphernalia but knew there would be an autopsy to confirm.

Lucas stood next to a sheriff’s patrol car because they were outside the city limits. A plus.

Regan walked up, put her hand on Lucas’s arm for support, and said to the deputy, “I’m Regan Merritt, a friend of Lucas.”

“Merritt—John’s kid?”

“One of them.” She looked at the badge of the young deputy. “Deputy Prince? I don’t think we’ve met.”

“I started two years ago. But everyone knows the old sheriff. I’m just getting Mr. Vega’s statement.”

“Lucas called me after he called 9-1-1. I saw the paramedics packing up without a body.”

“The victim’s dead. We’ve called for the coroner, their ETA is sixty minutes.” Prince looked at his notes. “I think I have everything, Mr. Vega. And this is your correct address?” He handed Lucas back his driver’s license.

“Yes.”

“A detective will be contacting you in the next day or two to confirm your statement and may have more questions.”

“Thank you, Officer,” Lucas said politely. He looked upset.

“You okay?” Regan asked.

Lucas nodded, but he still didn’t look comfortable.