BooksBarbecue
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

“No. It wouldn’t be a good look for the sorority, and Lucas refused to share any details about the show in advance. We can’t go into something like this blind.”

“Maybe, but I think he would have been open to negotiation.”

At the beginning of the spring semester, Lucas had spoken to their sorority council—Vicky was president, Nicole was secretary—and told them he was doing his capstone project on Candace Swain’s murder. They asked questions. He wouldn’t answer. He said that he was still formulating his outline and wanted to interview Vicky as president, Rachel Wagner the sorority advisor, and former president Taylor James, who had been arguing with Candace the night she disappeared. But he wouldn’t share his questions in advance. All he said was that he had known Candace because she had tutored him in English, and he wanted to use the podcast as a way to encourage listeners to share what they knew about her last days, in the hopes of solving her murder.

“The police have her murder in the inactive file,” Vicky told Nicole. “It’s not closed, but they have a suspect.”

The police suspected Joseph Abernathy at the time, the creepy drunk guy who Candace was far too nice to. Vicky was positive he killed her. Who else could it be? He was belligerent and had come around campus all the time even after he’d been removed by the police. And he disappeared the day Candace’s body was found. He killed her and skipped town. It made sense, and usually the most obvious answer was the right answer. If the police thought he did it, then they must have good reason to believe he was guilty.

Their advisor had questions for Lucas, the board had questions, and Lucas said he wasn’t prepared to go into detail. They voted unanimously not to be interviewed, and that was it.

But the whole thing left a foul taste in her mouth. She had an image to protect—her image and her future career, her sisters, and the sorority as a whole. Some of her sisters had disagreed with the board, thought they should have participated, and Nicole started listening to them. The division was upsetting, because before this they had been unified.

Lucas Vega’s podcast had become a major thorn in her side, and Vicky couldn’t wait until he was done with it.

Three

Monday