“Rachel was quoted in the newspaper, along with two other girls, about Brittney. The police told the press that Brittney had been at an end-of-year cleanup party at the sorority house and planned to leave early in the morning for her parents’ house in Santa Fe. Like Adele, she didn’t show up, but this time, the police had more information. Brittney’s car was still on campus, so they knew she hadn’t left. They tracked down everyone who was at the cleanup party. Two said she left a note that she went running early in the morning. One of those people was Rachel.”

“The police told you that?”

“No. The reporter tracked Rachel down for an article that came out at the beginning of the next school year. He interviewed several of the girls who had known Brittney. Here.” He turned his laptop around to face Lizzy. “I already sent this to Regan. Her dad probably has a lot of law-enforcement contacts all over the state. Maybe he can learn more.”

Lizzy skimmed the article. “Party, drinking, yada yada. Oh, here. Rachel Wagner, a third-year student from Scottsdale, was one of the last people to have seen Brittney. ‘We were cleaning the kitchen together, talking and drinking mimosas. Brittney had just broken up with her boyfriend and was looking forward to going home and forgetting about him. I am just so upset that she practically disappeared off the face of the earth.’ Then the reporter goes on about how Doug Harrison was a person of interest in the disappearance because a witness saw him and Brittney arguing the day before her disappearance. Wow. Well, boyfriends are usually the first people cops look at.”

“And maybe he had something to do with it, I don’t know. Another article, which doesn’t mention Rachel, came out in July. Brittney had been missing thirteen months when her body—what was left of it—was found at the bottom of a cliff, near a trail on Mount Lemmon. But cause of death was inconclusive, and nothing has been written about her since.”

“Which is why you want former Sheriff Merritt’s help.”

“Yeah. I guess. It just seems coincidental that someone from Rachel’s sorority disappeared while she was there.”

“But it could be a coincidence.”

He agreed. “The case is still open. At least, I couldn’t find any resolution online. But one interesting thing—Rachel hasn’t been mentioned in any alumni articles. I spent hours going over them. If she was so rah-rah college, why isn’t she still involved?”

He rubbed his eyes. He shouldn’t have had so much caffeine and sugar.

Lizzy kissed him. “Let’s put this all aside, okay? You’ve done everything you can. It’s dreary outside, your roommate is gone for the weekend, let’s binge-watch something and put mean girls and murder and everything on the back burner.”