He scowled. “I’ll tell you this, Ms. Merritt. If my department had had the case from the beginning, it would have been handled differently. The campus police were out of their element and should have called us in right away, but they didn’t know what they were dealing with. I don’t blame them—as soon as she was missing for more than forty-eight hours, they called us in, plus the sheriff’s department and the troopers. Every agency was looking for her by that Wednesday afternoon. Once it became a homicide investigation, I got involved. Though campus police did basic work—talked to Sigma Rho, Candace’s family, her professors—it wasn’t treated as a serious investigation until she was found dead. Then my team talked to everyone again. I don’t have to tell you that memories fade over a week. Can you imagine what three years does to them?”

She saw his point. “I read the public reports and the autopsy report, which included an analysis of the water found in Candace’s lungs.”

“Yes, I’m aware.”

“And?”

“And what?”

“Lucas believed that you dismissed his theory that she drowned in a chlorinated body of water.”

“I dismissed Lucas. He’s into television forensics—he thinks everything is instantaneous. We didn’t know for weeks that the water samples didn’t match Hope Springs Lake. Not because of any incompetence but because of a backlog in the state lab.” He paused. “I made an assumption that she drowned in the lake because the autopsy said she drowned and she was found in the lake. By the time we learned that she drowned in a chlorinated body of water, it was too late to collect evidence from any other potential crime scene. Security tapes were already gone from the campus—as I said, they automatically get erased after thirty days unless specifically flagged. We had flagged all the tapes from the dorm, but there was nothing of value on them. No one came forward stating that they’d seen her after the party on Friday night. We knew her card key had been used late Sunday night, but no one in the sorority saw her, and there’s no camera on the side door, only the main entrance. We had evidence that Joseph Abernathy harassed the women at the sorority house, and Candace knew him through her volunteer work. We had witnesses stating he was yelling at her at the party when she asked him to leave. When he was seen hopping a train the morning her body was found, it was pretty damning.”

“But he hasn’t returned. Was he found jumping off? Caught on security at another station?”

“Again, you’re questioning my diligence.”

He was angry, and she didn’t see why. She was asking basic questions, calm.

“Detective, you can see why Lucas is skeptical. Why I’m skeptical that Abernathy killed Candace and moved her body.”