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Back The Sorority Murder Save as PDF
Chapters (61)
  1. Cover
  2. Praise
  3. Dedication
  4. One
  5. Two
  6. Three
  7. Four
  8. Five
  9. From the Missing Journal of Candace Swain
  10. Six
  11. Seven
  12. Eight
  13. Nine
  14. Ten
  15. Eleven
  16. Twelve
  17. From the Missing Journal of Candace Swain
  18. Thirteen
  19. Fourteen
  20. Fifteen
  21. From the Missing Journal of Candace Swain
  22. Sixteen
  23. Seventeen
  24. Eighteen
  25. Nineteen
  26. Twenty
  27. Twenty-One
  28. From the Missing Journal of Candace Swain
  29. Twenty-Two
  30. Twenty-Three
  31. Twenty-Four
  32. Twenty-Five
  33. Twenty-Six
  34. Twenty-Seven
  35. Twenty-Eight
  36. Twenty-Nine
  37. Thirty
  38. Thirty-One
  39. Thirty-Two
  40. Thirty-Three
  41. Thirty-Four
  42. From the Missing Journal of Candace Swain
  43. Thirty-Five
  44. Thirty-Six
  45. Thirty-Seven
  46. Thirty-Eight
  47. From the Journal of Candace Swain
  48. Thirty-Nine
  49. Forty
  50. Forty-One
  51. Forty-Two
  52. Forty-Three
  53. Forty-Four
  54. Forty-Five
  55. Forty-Six
  56. Forty-Seven
  57. Letter Found in the Journal of Candace Swain
  58. Forty-Eight
  59. Acknowledgments
  60. Booklist
  61. Excerpt

He didn’t have to say anything else. She had told her brother everything that had happened in Virginia and why she came home. She had expected his complete confidence, but she should have known better. JT and Tripp had been inseparable growing up; she shouldn’t be surprised they still shared everything now.

“Well.” She cleared her throat. She had nothing to say about it.

Tripp said, “Don’t blame JT. I asked.”

“So you’re home trying to piece together the remnants of your life, too?”

She sounded angry; maybe she was. She didn’t want to think about Chase, but he was all she had been thinking about since her dad’s comment last night. The pain was still too raw, too fresh, even though he had been killed eight months ago. She feared it would never go away, that she’d live with this constant pressure on her chest, the never-ending grief of losing the most important person in her life.

“Hell, I can’t even find the pieces to stitch back together,” he said, his tone far lighter than his words. “One day at a time.”

She nodded because she understood exactly what he meant. “You staying in town?”

“I’m thinking about taking the GI Bill and going to college. NAU.”

She laughed; she couldn’t help it. Tripp had barely survived high school, and she couldn’t see him in college.

“I know, I know. I don’t expect to finish. I just have no fucking idea what to do anymore and thought taking a couple practical classes might help put something together.”

“Where are you staying?” Tripp’s parents had separated after he enlisted. His dad had remarried and moved to Texas; his mom remarried and moved to Phoenix.

“My grandma is letting me stay in her guest house.”

“I didn’t know she had a guest house.”

“Most people call it a shed, but it has a bathroom. I don’t want to put her out, and I’m not really good company these days. I’m getting there. Thanks to your brother.” He playfully hit her arm. “It’s really good to see you, Regan.”

“You, too, Tripp. Don’t be a stranger.”

Eight

Regan spent the afternoon at the NAU library reading everything she could find about Candace Swain’s murder investigation. There wasn’t much. In fact, Lucas had covered all of the key public facts on the first two episodes of his show. There was no mention that Candace had not drowned in the lake, no real forensic details outside of the basics. The police had clearly indicated to the media—because they reported heavily about Joseph Abernathy—that he was a person of interest, i.e. a suspect.