Chapter 4
Chapter Four
After getting back to the hotel, I went through the list of people Alina had compiled as witnesses and suspects.
I realized I was about to take a long and complicated trip through my past because I knew ninety percent of the people she'd named.
And the ten percent I didn't know were tied to the people I did know.
I let out a sigh as I looked across the table at Morgan, who was working on her laptop. "I can't believe anyone on this list killed Paige. Most of the people on here were college students. Whatever disagreements we had were petty, juvenile stuff."
"Maybe, maybe not. You know as well as I do that murderers can be young, look completely innocent, and be socially acceptable."
"But I knew these people."
"Well, it's still possible Paige's death was an accident. It's not unbelievable to think a college girl got drunk, wandered off a path, and fell into the lake, hitting her head, making her unable to save herself."
"But she was alone on a dark path after midnight. That part doesn't make sense."
"It could go with the being drunk part."
"What are you working on?"
"The MacIntyre siblings. I've been going through Alina's social media. She works at a music therapy center. Ray works for a talent agency. He also DJs and plays the drums. It's funny. I wouldn't have picked him for a drummer when I saw him. He looked very buttoned-up."
"He didn't used to look like that. Back in the day, his hair was long, his jeans were baggy and falling off his ass, and he always looked like he'd just woken up after a hard night."
"Looks more like an executive now. I also tried to get some information on the parents.
Carol MacIntyre is a retired teacher. Brad runs a small insurance company.
They sold the house where Paige grew up about a year after she died.
They moved to a much smaller house in a more modest neighborhood. Not sure why or if it means anything."
"Maybe they couldn't stand walking by Paige's empty bedroom."
"Possibly." I looked up as the door to the suite opened and Cassidy came in.
"Good. You're both here," Cassidy said. "I have been getting so many questions about your relationship with Paige, Tessa. And some of those questions came from the twins you mentioned earlier. They sought me out, wanted to know where you were, what you thought about it all."
"What did they have to say about it?"
"Ella expressed surprise that you'd want to get involved in this case, because she thought you and Paige hated each other.
She said you told everyone that Paige stole your part by cozying up to the professor in charge of casting.
But most people believed you were the one doing the cozying up and were pissed when it didn't work.
" Cassidy sat down at the table. "Is that true? "
"Yes. I was angry when Paige got the lead. I had worked hard for it, and I thought I was better than her. But she got it, and it felt like Professor Hale had planned to pick her all along."
"You didn't sleep with the professor, did you?" Morgan asked.
"No. Of course not. He was married. I might have flirted a little, but it didn't matter. It didn't work. Did the twins say anything else?"
"That was basically it. I asked if they thought Paige had been murdered. Ella said maybe. Kerry said probably not. But I don't know what they based either of those opinions on." Cassidy paused. "How did your meeting with Alina go?"
"She gave us a list of suspects that we're working through," I answered. "Then her younger brother, Ray, showed up. Ray was a sophomore at Northwestern when Paige and I were seniors. He was furious with Alina for contacting me. He made such a scene that the restaurant kicked us out."
Cassidy's eyebrow jumped in surprise. "Really? Why wouldn't he want answers about his sister's death?"
"He claimed that it would kill his mother to have to relive it all."
"That might be difficult," she agreed.
"But I wonder if Ray knows more than he's saying," Morgan put in. "Just because he was Paige's brother doesn't mean he might not have been involved in her death. Could he be protecting himself?"
"We can't rule it out," I said.
"Alina also brought up Liam, Tessa's ex-boyfriend," Morgan said.
"Right," I said. "Apparently, Liam got some texts from Paige that night that he didn't answer.
But he never told me about them, which is weird.
But it's also not that strange, because I never told him about my unanswered phone call.
I'm not sure why either of us kept those secrets.
Because neither of us talked to her. But somehow it never came up.
Liam owns a bar in the West Loop. I'll head down there a little before five, see if I can catch him before it gets too crowded.
" I paused. "And I need to do that on my own.
I'm not sure he'll talk to me, but I'll have a better chance on my own. "
"That makes sense," Cassidy said.
"Why don't Cassidy and I talk to Ray, away from his sister?
" Morgan suggested. "Maybe we can find out why he's so against us generating public attention on this case.
We're neutral parties. He can't hate us because we weren't there.
We weren't part of it. He might calm down enough to speak more clearly. "
"That's a good idea."
"I have his work address," Morgan said. "We can head down there this afternoon."
"First, we need to do the panel," Cassidy said. "Remember the panel for new podcasters? We agreed to be on it. It starts in fifteen minutes."
"Can you two take care of that?" I asked. "I'm too distracted. I just want to work on this."
"Of course," Cassidy said. "We'll do the panel, and then we can check out Paige's brother."
"Thanks. We'll touch base later."
I felt relieved when Cassidy and Morgan left the suite, hoping the quiet would give me a chance to get my thoughts in order, but as I looked at the list of names and thought about the people I'd known, some better than others, my head started to spin.
I needed to talk to as many of them as I could, but I wasn't ready to do that yet, so I grabbed my phone and bag and headed out the door before I could change my mind.
Thankfully, I was able to leave the hotel without running into anyone I knew, and I grabbed a cab out front, asking for them to take me to the police headquarters in Evanston. Before we did anything else, I needed to know how willing or unwilling the police were to consider reopening the case.
When I arrived, I had to wait about ten minutes before I was ushered into Detective Barclay's office.
Colton Barclay was probably a few years older than me, in his mid-thirties, with blond hair and blue eyes.
He was surprisingly attractive in his slacks and button-down shirt, a badge hanging on his belt.
I hadn't expected that, but his wary and annoyed expression didn't surprise me at all.
"Ms. Conway," he said. "I've heard your name mentioned a few times this morning."
"Really? Why is that?" I asked warily.
"Some of the people who work here are fans of your podcast, and since you announced you're looking into the death of Paige MacIntyre, a case handled by our office, that was of particular interest to us."
"I know that Detective Cabot retired three years ago, but I'm hoping you might be able to tell me more about the investigation back then."
He waved me into the chair in front of his desk, then took a seat behind it. "Since you were part of that investigation, I'm not sure I have anything to say you don't already know."
"I doubt that's true. I had a very short interview with Detective Cabot."
"Yes, I read your statement just now to refresh my memory. You were the last person Ms. MacIntyre called before she died. But the call went to voicemail, and no message was left. There was no evidence that you called her back."
"I didn't. I never spoke to her. And that fact has haunted me for a long time." I paused. "Was there any evidence to suggest it wasn't an accident?"
"If there was, the conclusion would have been different."
"Her family doesn't believe that conclusion. They're hoping you'll reopen the case."
"What reason would I have to do that? Is there any new information? A witness who didn't come forward before? Is there something you have to say?"
As his sharp, penetrating gaze met mine, I felt uneasy and wondered if putting myself in this particular hot seat had been a good move, but I was here now.
I had to make the most of it. "I don't know anything beyond what I knew before…
at least, not yet. I'm hoping that attention on the case might bring some new witnesses forward or lead to information that you didn't have before. "
"If that happens, I'll look into it. In the meantime, I have a stack of open cases to solve, ones with actual killers to be found."
"You have no doubt whatsoever about your predecessor's conclusion?
" I challenged. "Because I don't remember Detective Cabot being that interested in finding out anything.
He asked me three questions: Why didn't I answer her call?
Did I call her back? Did I know what she wanted to talk to me about? That was it."
"What should he have asked you?"
I stiffened, realizing I'd walked right into that question.
"I'm just saying he didn't try to figure out the relationship that Paige had with me or with anyone in her life.
I obviously didn't know what happened to her, but if he didn't ask anyone else anything beyond the basics, maybe he missed something. "
"Until you can show me something he missed, I'm going to assume he asked all the right questions."
"You don't have to assume. You have the case file. I'd like to get a copy of that."
"You can file a request online. Some of the personal information of witnesses will be redacted, of course."
"Is there any way you can expedite my request?"
He gave me a thoughtful look. "Right now, you seem intent on proving that my department made a mistake. Why would I want to help you?"
"To prove me wrong. If you don't have anything to hide, why obstruct my investigation?"
"Your investigation?" he challenged. "What qualifies you to investigate? You're in a podcast that talks about crime cases like they're the latest reality TV show, but these are real people. There are real families who can be hurt by your inquiry."
"Paige's sister requested my help. She wants the public attention."
"Because she's desperate to find someone to blame.
I can understand that. But that doesn't mean there is someone to blame.
Tell me something, do you want this to be a homicide investigation?
Because there's a good chance that if Ms. MacIntyre did not fall into that lake by accident, she knew the person who shoved her in, and that might mean you know them, too. "
"It might not necessarily be someone she knew. That area is deserted at night. It could have been anyone."
"Or no one." He leaned forward, pushing a notepad and a pen toward me. "Leave me your email, and I'll have someone send you the file. I wouldn't want to be accused of being unhelpful."
I took a business card out of my bag and put it on his desk. "The information is right there."
Detective Barclay picked up my card and twirled it between his fingers as his gaze settled on my face in a searching way that made me uncomfortable.
"Why didn't you call her back?" he asked.
I caught my breath at his question. "I—I was busy. I didn't have a chance."
"Why do you think she called you?"
"Probably about the play we were both in."
"Could it have been about the animosity between you? When witnesses were asked if they could think of anyone who didn't like Ms. MacIntyre, your name was the only one that ever came up."
"Because we competed for the starring role in the play, and she got it. I wasn't happy about that. Our rivalry was very public."
"But you did get the role when she died." His pause made me even more nervous because I knew what was coming. "You're the only one who gained anything by her death. Some would call that motive."
"I didn't kill her. If I did, would I be trying to get her case reopened?"
"Probably not. Unless you're working another angle."
"I'm not." I took a breath. "You were working here then, too, weren't you?"
"I was one of the first patrol officers at the scene," he admitted. "I was there when they pulled her out of the water. I've never forgotten her face."
"Then why don't you want to find out if she was killed?"
"Detective Cabot was an excellent investigator. If there was something to find, he would have found it."
"Does he still live in Chicago? Do you think he would speak to me?"
"I have no idea. I can ask him." He gave me another speculative look. "I hear you ended up in New York after college. Were you an actress before you were a podcaster?"
"No, I was a marketing executive. Acting ended a long time ago." I got to my feet. "Thank you for your time, Detective."
He rose, towering over me by several inches, and I wasn't a particularly short woman. "This podcast is a bad idea. You're not going to find anything, but you'll unsettle and probably hurt a lot of people in the process."
"I don't see how I'm hurting anyone."
"You don't think Ms. MacIntyre's family will find the crushing disappointment of your failure to be painful?"
"Maybe it won't be a failure. My gut tells me there's a story we haven't heard yet.
There were too many holes in Paige's last day, too many hours where no one saw her or spoke to her, and that was unusual.
She was busy. She was always with people.
But that day was different, and I need to find out why. "
As I finished speaking, his phone buzzed. "I have to go. I'll have someone walk you out."
"I know the way."
He closed the door behind me, and I made my way out of the building. I hoped whatever had his attention now wouldn't prevent him from sending over the police file. But in the meantime, I'd keep working through the circle that had surrounded Paige until the last day of her life.
Someone had to know something. I just needed to find that person and then see if I could make them talk.