Page 24 of What They'll Say About Us

Wednesday morning, we had breakfast in our room, packed for our one o'clock checkout, and went downstairs a little before eleven. The third day of the conference was all networking and cross-promotion, so the twins had a booth instead of a stage, with two armchairs, a couch, and a ring light.

Kerry and Ella hadn't changed much. They'd varied their looks, Kerry cutting her reddish-blonde hair to her shoulders, while Ella's still trailed halfway down her back, but they had the same brown eyes and the same wide, relentless smiles that had always seemed a beat too big to be real.

"You look as beautiful as ever, Tessa," Kerry said.

"You look great, too."

A guy Kerry introduced as her boyfriend, Caden, clipped mics to our collars and stepped out of frame. I'd expected to talk through the topics first. But as soon as we sat down, the light went on, and Kerry was introducing us.

She did a brief intro, welcoming each of us to the podcast, and saying this would be a quick chat, but something she wanted to do before the convention was over. Then she turned to me with a smile so bright, I felt infinitely more worried.

"Tessa, before we get into the case you're beginning to investigate here in Chicago, we should tell our listeners that we met years ago at Northwestern, that you, me, and Ella were students together. We were friends with the victim in your current case. In fact, Ella was part of the theater group that this person was involved in."

"That's all true," I said.

"So, tell us exactly what you're investigating."

"Our true-crime podcast is going to be looking into the mysterious death of Paige MacIntyre, a twenty-one-year-old student, who drowned in Lake Michigan nine years ago. As you mentioned, she was my friend and someone I worked closely with in the drama department. She was starring in our spring production." I glanced at Ella. "Ella was also in that play, so we were both in rehearsals with Paige up until the day of her death."

"Paige's death was deemed an accident," Kerry said. "What has changed?"

"Her family is asking for the police to reopen the case, and we're hoping with enough public interest, we can make that happen. The circumstances around Paige's death have always been very cloudy, and we're hoping to get more answers."

"Have you been down to the part of the lake where Paige died?" Ella asked, an odd note in her voice. "I could never bring myself to go there. It felt too creepy."

"Not since I left school," I said. "But we'll go to the location where Paige's body was found, and we'll take our listeners with us. But first, we have other information to sort through. We'll want to talk to as many people as we can who knew Paige and perhaps know more about her actions that night than has previously been noted."

"I'm glad you mentioned other information," Kerry said, a sparkling gleam in her eyes. "I heard Paige called you right before she died. Is that true?"

This was the ambush I'd been worried about. I didn't know where Kerry had gotten that info, unless it had come from Alina. Neither Cassidy nor Morgan would have told Kerry about the call.

I saw the gleam of satisfaction in Kerry's gaze and chose my words carefully, trying not to show any evidence of my surprise. "I had a missed call from Paige," I said calmly. "Unfortunately, we never spoke."

"Don't you wonder now what she wanted to tell you?" Ella asked. "That missed call must have haunted you."

"I wonder more about the last six hours of Paige's life that are unaccounted for," I said, turning the conversation in another direction. "I'm looking for anyone who might have seen Paige, even if it was from a distance, or who might have spoken to her, even if it was only in passing. I'm sure Paige talked to someone, and we're going to find out who."

"I can't wait to hear what you find out," Ella said. "Her death really put a damper on the last few months of our senior year. It was difficult to do the play after she was gone. We'd gotten so used to working around her as the lead, and then suddenly it was you, Tessa. Not that you weren't great, but you weren't Paige." Ella turned to the camera. "Just for reference, Tessa got Paige's part after she died. She became the lead."

"Which was definitely not the way I wanted to get that part," I said firmly, needing to make that clear before they insinuated otherwise. "It was difficult to play the role without thinking about her."

"I can understand that," Ella said. "But let me ask you a question. Aren't you worried that if Paige's death wasn't an accident, your questions could get you into trouble, into danger?"

"Isn't that what happened in Stonecross?" Kerry added. "You almost lost your life there, Cassidy. And Tessa, didn't you end up in the hospital?"

"Yes. It was dangerous but it was worth it in the end, because we helped catch a serial killer and find out what happened to several women who had been missing for too long," I said. "That's really Cassidy's story to tell. If your listeners are interested, they can check out the past versions of our podcast to follow that thrilling story."

"They should definitely do that; it was riveting," Kerry said. "But I also wonder how difficult it might be for you, Tessa, if the investigation leads you to someone you know, one of your friends, perhaps. How will you handle that?"

"I'll take it one step at a time," I replied. "And I'm not in this alone. Cassidy, Morgan, and I are a team. I'll be taking lead because of my personal connections, but we'll still be working together to bring the answers they're looking for."

"We hope your listeners will follow along," Cassidy put in. "From what I've learned of the case so far, I'm convinced it will be an interesting and twisty ride."

"We'll certainly be following along," Ella said. "Thanks for being our guests today. And for everyone who came in late, we've been talking with Tessa Conway, Cassidy Clarke, and Morgan Kent, the hosts of the very popular true crime podcast, Mysteries Uncorked."

Ella and Kerry said their goodbyes, and then Kerry's boyfriend came back to gather our microphones.

"Thanks," Ella said. "Sorry we spent so much time on Tessa, but she is the central figure in all this."