“I would have gone with her to Payson, but I was having a difficult time with the pregnancy, and I was also working. I couldn’t leave. She went back to campus to access the library and find old maps of Payson to locate the right mine. She said she was going to try to be incognito because if Rachel and Taylor knew what she was doing, they might stop her. And that’s the last I heard from her.”

“Why did she steal the Sunrise Center truck? Why not take her car?”

“I don’t know. Maybe because she didn’t think her little VW Bug could get up into the mountains. Some of those mines are really remote. She would have to park and hike in.”

That made sense. Regan asked, “What about Adele’s car in New Mexico?”

“After they put her body in the mine, they drove to Gallup and left her car there, making it seem like she’d gotten into an accident. Came back to campus as if nothing happened and left for winter break. When they heard that Adele was missing, they pretended to be shocked. I’m so sorry I never said anything before, but when Candace was killed, I was terrified that if I said anything, I would be next. I didn’t have any firsthand information or proof, and I couldn’t even swear that Adele was at Rachel’s apartment because I don’t remember anything from that night. When Candace died, I was six months pregnant, and all I could think about was my daughter being raised without me. Am I going to jail? Are they going to arrest me?”

“No,” Regan said. She highly doubted that anyone would prosecute Alexa. First, there was no proof that she had been involved, and her story was credible. She didn’t remember anything from that night and only knew about it because Candace told her three years later. Unless the police could catch Alexa in a lie, Regan didn’t think any DA would take the case.

And now, Regan knew where Candace had gone on Tuesday after she had left the library. She’d “borrowed” the Sunrise Center truck and driven to Payson. It was nearly a three-hour drive from campus. It could have taken her days to inspect all the mines in the area. Then she returned, either because she’d found proof or...didn’t find anything.

Alexa said, “She documented everything.”

“What do you mean, documented?”

“In her journal. She wrote down everything that she remembered about the night Adele died, and she wrote down everything that happened at the Spring Fling.”

“Her roommate told me about her journal, but the police never found it, and her family doesn’t have it.”