Page 12 of What They'll Say About Us

"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."