Page 35 of What They'll Say About Us

"No, it's not. Thankfully, this shouldn't take too long."

I parked in a lot near one entrance to the path along the lake.

"This isn't bad," Morgan said, looking around at the lit area as we got out of the car. "But we're not staying here, are we?"

"No. We need to walk about a quarter mile into that area."

"Trees, shadows, dark water…looks great," she said nervously.

"Look, there's a runner," I said, pointing to a man in a hoodie who was jogging on the path. "We're not completely alone."

"I'm not sure a lone male runner makes me feel better, but let's do this before I chicken out."

Morgan stayed close to me as we started down the path, which ran along the shoreline for about two miles, sometimes curving through the canopies of trees in nearby parks and then swinging back out to the water's edge, and running along sandy beaches as well as areas filled with water and dangerous protruding slabs of rock.

"It's so strange to be here," Morgan muttered. "From everything I've read about the incident, I think they found her body up around that next curve."

"That's where it was," I said.

She gave me a quick glance. "Did you go there after she died?"

"About two weeks after it happened. I didn't go there at night, but I went out one day to try to make sense of it. I wasn't the only one stopping to look, either. A lot of people wondered how a young woman could have died there."

Morgan shivered, and I felt a cold chill that wasn't from the breeze, but from the scene around us, and the knowledge of what had occurred.

"I can't imagine what she was thinking, walking here alone so late at night," I added. "That part never made sense."

"Maybe she wasn't alone. Her killer could have been with her, someone she knew, someone she trusted. She might not have been afraid at all," Morgan said.

"You should say that when we record. It's exactly right." I picked up the pace as the path curved, and then my steps slowed when I saw the cluster of rocks ahead. "If she'd fallen in the lake at a dozen other points, she might have survived," I murmured.

"Even if she hadn't hit her head, if she was drunk, she might not have been able to swim or find her way out of the water."

"Well, that's the theory." I stopped at the spot where I thought her body had been found, although I wasn't entirely sure that's where she had fallen in. "This is where they pulled her out, but she was in the water for more than thirty hours. Her body could have drifted from somewhere else."

"That's true. But this is a good place for us to film. The rocks and the dark water tell a story without words." Morgan pulled out a selfie stick as well as a light we could attach to it to illuminate the area and also us. She affixed her phone camera as well and then stepped back, holding the stick in her right hand so she could move the camera around. "Are you ready, Tessa?"

With the light shining in my face, everything around me seemed even darker. "Ready." I took a breath and began. "Welcome to Mysteries Uncorked. As you can tell, Morgan and I are currently at the exact location where Paige MacIntyre's body was found in the water. The theory is that she stumbled and fell, hit a rock and was knocked unconscious. As you can see behind us, there are a lot of rocks, but the path is also wide, so it wouldn't be that easy for someone to fall in." I waited as Morgan panned the scene, then brought the camera back to us. "Her time of death was believed to be after midnight. We're here just before nine. Even though it's earlier in the evening, there are very few people around. Because I went to school in this city, I know this path better than Morgan. How do you feel now that you're here?" I asked her.

"This area feels very spooky," Morgan said. "I can't imagine a young female college student walking here at midnight. It's deserted, and as women, we know the danger of putting ourselves in situations like this. Even if she was drinking, it doesn't make sense that she was here alone. Which means Paige probably wasn't alone. Since there was no sign of a struggle, there's a good chance she knew her killer, that she was walking with someone she trusted. And that was a fatal mistake."

Morgan was doing good, I thought, but as she glanced at me, I jumped in. "The police concluded that Paige was alone because there was no evidence to prove anyone was with her. There was no sign of a robbery. Her phone case, which contained her phone, ID, and a credit card, was found on the rocks. The toxicology reports weren't done until more than thirty hours after her death, making it difficult to ascertain how much she'd had to drink or if there were any other drugs in her system." I took a moment, then added, "We've spoken to the police and to some of Paige's family and friends. Our questions have been met with both hostility and hope. The hostility is the most surprising reaction, but it also makes us believe we're on to something. Let's take one last look around."

Morgan moved the camera around once more, and we let the silence and the shadowy scenery speak for themselves.

When she came back to me, I said, "We hope to be back tomorrow with another update. If there's anyone out there who knows anything about Paige's death, please send us a message or leave a comment. We believe someone out there knows something, and Paige's family deserves to know what she was doing on the lake path that night and what exactly caused her to go into the water. Now is the time to talk."

As Morgan turned off the light and the camera, I blinked against the sudden darkness. It definitely felt spookier now that night had truly fallen. I didn't see anyone on the path, but the tall shadows of the trees blowing in the breeze made it feel like someone was out there. I told myself it was just my imagination.

"Let's get out of here," Morgan murmured as we started walking back the way we'd come. "I feel like someone is watching us."

To have her express the same feeling didn't make me feel better, and we both took a look over our shoulders.

"We're scaring ourselves, I think. There's no one around."

"You're probably right," Morgan said, moving so close to me our shoulders were touching.

And then we heard rustling sounds behind us, and I took another look.