She wanted him to tell her everything, even if it wasn’t important to Candace’s murder. Because if his motivation was personal, it might cloud his judgment if there was an actual threat to him. She didn’t want anything bad to happen to him.

She decided to wait. Maybe it was nothing.

“I also found out Alexa Castillo teaches in Flagstaff. Let’s go pay her a visit this afternoon, okay?”

“How’d you do that?”

“Lots of patience and false leads, but she’s a teacher, and there are public records. So I went down a rabbit hole and got lucky.”

“What time?”

“I’ll pick you up around two thirty? We’ll head over there, catch her right after classes end.”

“This might be it.”

“Don’t get your hopes up,” she told him, “but it’s a good lead.”

When Regan drove to the campus, she kept looking up at the gray sky. Yep, it was going to rain. Not a little drizzle like earlier in the week but a hard, pounding rain that might last most of the weekend. By the time she arrived at campus ten minutes later, the first raindrop fell.

She pulled on the hood of her Gore-Tex jacket. She loved the rain and didn’t mind getting wet, but she didn’t relish the idea of sitting around damp for the rest of the day.

She headed directly to Rachel’s office. The door was open. She rapped on it, and Rachel looked up with a smile. Like yesterday, she was dressed both impeccably and trendy. “Thank you for coming to campus,” she said.

“It’s not out of my way.”

“Vicky will be here in a few minutes. Come in, sit. Would you like some coffee?”

“I’m good.”

Regan took off her jacket and hung it on a hook by the door, where Rachel had her own coat hanging. It was quiet, but it was Friday. Fewer classes in session, many students leaving campus for the weekend.

Rachel took a bottle of water from a minifridge under the table behind her desk, and offered one to Regan, which she declined.

“I was hoping the rain would hold off until tonight,” Rachel said. “But I did come prepared.” She laughed lightly and gestured to the umbrella next to her coatrack.

“I don’t trust the weather, especially in the mountains,” Regan said.

“I’ve learned that the hard way,” Rachel said. “I still hold out hope!”

“Anything I should know about Vicky Ryan?”

“Vicky is a wonderful young woman. She’s been accepted to a specialty program to get her nursing certification in geriatrics. After her great-grandmother died in a nursing home, she decided she wanted to change the way nursing homes are certified and run. Very strong ethics, solid foundation. She’ll go far.”

Regan nodded. Not exactly what she had been searching for, but everything she could learn about the student would help her assess the situation.