Page 39 of What They'll Say About Us

"It's too bad she doesn't come to Chicago. It seems like she could star in the productions next door."

"She and my aunt could never work together. Too much water under that bridge." I checked my watch. "I should get going."

"Text me after and let me know what happens."

"I will." I took one more swig of coffee, then set my mug in the sink and headed downstairs to the garage. It was actually fun to have a car to drive. Being a New Yorker, I hadn't owned a vehicle in the past nine years and only drove occasionally when I rented or borrowed a car to go on a road trip. The last car I'd borrowed to get Cassidy and me to Stonecross had ended up at the bottom of a cliff. Hopefully, I could give this one back to my aunt intact.

When I got to police headquarters, I was once more ushered into Detective Barclay's office and offered a seat in the chair in front of his desk.

"Thanks for coming in," he said, his expression unreadable.

"No problem. What's going on?"

"It's been brought to my attention that you were involved in a near collision in front of your hotel Tuesday night."

"Yes." I was surprised to hear he knew about that. "But I didn't think there was even going to be a report on that. I didn't have a license plate or who was driving."

"There was a camera that caught the action and the plate. The car had been stolen several hours earlier. Unfortunately, we don't know who was driving, but we're reviewing other traffic cameras to see if we can find someone exiting the vehicle."

"That seems like more work than you would normally do considering I wasn't injured."

He met my gaze. "Your podcast is generating a great deal of public interest. I received a call from the mayor yesterday asking me what we're doing about this old case."

I was thrilled we'd gotten such a good result so quickly. "What did you tell him?"

"That I've decided to reopen the case."

I could see the reluctance in his gaze, but I was thrilled with his decision. "That's great."

"Is it? Because you're going to need to back off and let me investigate."

"You need my help, Detective."

"That's the last thing I need."

"I'm not a neutral party. I knew Paige. As you mentioned the other day, I had a missed call from her on the day of her death. I know most of the people who were in her life back then. I can be helpful."

"Or you can get in the way."

"Wouldn't you rather work with me than against me?"

He sighed. "All right, but I'm not sure why you care so much about this girl's death. You were rivals. You were her understudy. When she died, you got her part in the big play. You were actually the only one who appeared to benefit from her death."

"Do you think I would kill someone to get a part in a play?"

"I have no idea what you would be willing to do. But I'm going to find out."

Now, his words felt like a threat. "I don't have anything to hide. If I did, I wouldn't have tried to get the case reopened."

"I spoke to the MacIntyre family. Alina told me she pressured you into doing Paige's story on the podcast. She also said she didn't really trust you, but you had the microphone she needed."

"She did push me into it. I didn't particularly want to revisit that time in my life. But I made the decision to do it and since then I've almost been run over, received a threatening note, and almost got knocked out by a falling sandbag in my aunt's theater."

He gave me a speculative look. "Seriously?"

"Yes. All those things happened since I decided to put the case on our podcast."

"So, who do you think is the most likely suspect? Actually, before you answer that, let's talk about your ex-boyfriend, Liam Crawford. He exchanged texts with Paige that made me wonder if they were hooking up, if he was cheating on you. That actually gives you another motive to get Paige out of the way."