BooksBarbecue
Back The Sorority Murder
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

Regan called Annie at their prearranged time. She answered on the second ring. “Hello, Annie Johnston? This is Regan Merritt.”

“Yes. I’ve been waiting—but you’re right on time. I guess I’m nervous.”

“There’s nothing to be nervous about,” Regan assured her. “As I told you in my message yesterday, I graduated from NAU, and as a favor to my college advisor, I’m helping Lucas Vega with his podcast, which seeks to solve the murder of Candace Swain.”

“After you reached out yesterday, my boyfriend and I listened to all the episodes. I guess—well, I didn’t believe Lucas when he told me he had Candace’s sister helping. I thought he was lying to get me to talk to him. But I still don’t want to call into the podcast. I have mixed feelings about the whole thing.”

“That’s okay. I appreciate you taking the time to talk to me now. You should know that I plan to share whatever you tell me with Lucas,” Regan said, glancing over at him as he sat rigid in the chair across from her.

“I’m fine with that. Sigma Rho, my sorority, sent out an email six, seven weeks ago telling all alumnae that a student was doing a podcast about Candace and her murder and that they had voted not to participate. It made sense when I read it—the idea that the podcast would sensationalize her murder, that we didn’t know whether Candace’s name would be dragged through the mud, or the sorority itself, and the idea that this is better a matter for the police. But then, when I listened to the podcast, while a few things seemed a little over the top, I thought he did a good job being fair to both the sorority and Candace.”

“How long were you Candace’s roommate?”

“Three years. The way our sorority handles recruitment and housing is that we rush our first semester freshman year. Second semester we can move into the sorority dorms at Mountain View, or stay in our own dorm until our second year. Most of us move into the sorority because it’s fun and exciting. I met Candace during rush, but she and Taylor were best friends and roommates in the dorms, so they stayed roommates at Sigma Rho. But something happened, I don’t know what, and they had a falling-out. Second year Candace and I roomed together. She reached out to me, and it worked. We weren’t best friends, but we were best roommates, if that makes sense. She was very considerate, respected my space, things like that. We were both very neat people. She was private. We were close, but we didn’t do much together outside of the sorority.”

“According to the police and media reports, you were away for the weekend and came back late Sunday, correct?”