Kim was the only person still alive who knew where they had gone and what they had done. Rachel couldn’t imagine that she would have said anything, but what if she had? What if she’d hinted? Was Vega smart enough to figure it out?

Doubtful. But maybe the ex-marshal had.

She didn’t think so, but she couldn’t be certain. Taylor might have told Candace, even though Taylor swore up and down she hadn’t, but if Candace had said anything to Lucas three years ago, why had he waited until now?

On a sticky note on the wall, Lucas had written Was Taylor’s overdose accidental or suicide?

Good. He was thinking what she wanted him to think, that Taylor had killed herself out of guilt for killing Candace. That kept Rachel out of it, exactly as she wanted. If these people needed a guilty party and wouldn’t be satisfied with the drunk, then Taylor was the next best to blame. She’d already laid the groundwork with Steven and with Regan Merritt.

Taylor killed Candace, then killed herself out of guilt because of Lucas’s podcast. Case closed.

Rachel breathed a bit easier, but she still had more to go through.

Lucas’s backpack had notes, a copy of the notes she herself had sent in the hopes that he would drop the podcast—not smart in hindsight, she realized, because Regan had barely left his side since.

Then, she found the photo of Taylor, Candace, and Adele.

Well, fuck.

Rachel had taken this photo. It was the last day of her Intro to Bio class where the girls had met and befriended each other. She had caught them on the way out. They were happy because they had all gotten an A, and no matter how well they did on the final, their grades would be nothing less than an A minus. Rachel had hoped they would be her friends, girls she could mold and help develop. That’s what she wanted, to be a good mentor to her Sigma Rho sisters, to build friendships, to be liked and appreciated. Was that so much to ask?

Now it was on the verge of slipping away.

Where had Lucas gotten this photo? She’d had four copies made, given one to each of the girls, kept one for her own album. After Adele died, she’d used a master key she’d “borrowed” from Housing to access Adele’s room and take the picture, just so no one would question Candace and Taylor. She also looked for anything else that might give people the idea that Adele had been to her apartment. Had Candace given it to him three years ago? Or Taylor? Rachel had taken her computer, but she hadn’t searched that disgusting hovel Taylor had lived in.

Shit, shit, shit.