“Taylor James?”

He frowned.

“You know her.”

“Not well.”

“But?” she prompted.

“They used to be best friends, but something happened, and Candace said Taylor wasn’t the person she’d thought she was.”

“What about Kimberly Foster?”

“Don’t know her.”

“Annie Johnston?”

“Candace’s roommate? Real sweet. Kinda on the wholesome side. Annie was the only one who Candace brought here, like when she’d stop in here to see me. She’d come alone or with Annie.”

“Do you know if Candace had a second phone? Or access to a vehicle that wasn’t hers?”

“Now that you mention it, I saw a flip phone in her purse the last time I saw her. She was here, had her purse on the bar, and I commented on it. What happened to your phone? I think I said. She said it had a cracked screen so she got a prepaid one until she got it fixed. Something like that. It was in passing.”

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?”