Page 10 of She Didn't See It Coming
“Not at all,” Henry says smoothly. Tracy can’t even speak.
The detective walks down the hall toward the bedrooms, and Tracy’s husband follows. Tracy remains standing in the living room. She knows there’s no one here. Does the detective honestly think her husband would abduct a woman and keep her in the apartment? That she would let him?
Finally, the detective leaves. Tracy watches the door close behind her and begins to shake involuntarily. Her husband observes her in dismay, and she sees his anger blossoming. “Why are you shaking like that?” His voice is quiet; they are both aware of the detective outside in the corridor. He steps closer to her. “You know I had nothing to do with that woman going missing!”
“I know,” she answers.
“For fuck’s sake, Tracy, I was at work all day.”
“I know. It’s—I think it’s just reaction. After what happened last time, everything we went through, because of that woman’s lies.” It’s been two years. They have almost no friends left; funny how peopledon’t stand by you, how they fall away, make excuses. Family too. All they have left is each other.
It’s put such a strain on their relationship.
“Look, I don’t like it either,” he says quietly, “but we have nothing to worry about. They’ll soon realize that and leave us alone. It won’t be like last time.” He strokes her hair. “They’re just going door-to-door, like they have to. It’s just our shitty luck that a woman on our floor has gone missing.”
“We have all the luck, don’t we?” Tracy says bitterly.
5
Jayne walks down the corridor away from the Kemps’ door and quickly calls Kilgour.
“Nothing yet,” Kilgour says automatically.
“Henry Kemp,” Jayne says. “Remember that case?”
“Sure. I wasn’t directly involved though. Why?”
“He lives in unit 811.” She hears Kilgour suck in his breath.
He says, “A woman accused him of abducting her in a van, holding her there overnight, raping her, and then letting her go. He wore a mask, but she was sure she recognized him. She worked in a Dunkin’ Donuts near his car dealership.”
“That’s the guy,” Jayne says.
“There was no evidence,” Kilgour continues. “She was credible, but she didn’t come forward immediately, didn’t have a rape kit done. When she did report it a few days later, they tried to find the van, but couldn’t. He runs a used-car dealership, and they checked every van on-site. He has access to all kinds of vehicles, and they thought hemight have something that hadn’t been put on the books, something he kept hidden somewhere.”
“He was arrested but never charged,” Jayne says. “I just spoke to him. Seemed defensive, a bit nervous. His wife too.”
Kilgour says, “He always claimed she’d either made the whole thing up, or she’d mistaken him for someone else.” As if reading her mind, he says, “What if Bryden’s hidden in a van somewhere right now?”
“Then he’s not likely to let her go, is he? After the last one ID’d him?” Jayne answers. “He says he was at work—I’ll call it in and have them check out his alibi. Maybe hewasat work all day. But in the meantime, I’m going to talk to the officer stationed at the Frosts’ front door. If she sees Kemp leave his apartment, we need to know.”
After Jayne makes the call and speaks to the officer at the door, she continues canvassing. At the unit next to Angela’s, a man answers and she introduces herself. She takes his name and writes it down. She asks, “Do you know your neighbor, Bryden Frost?”
“I know her by sight. Why?”
“She’s been reported missing.” The man’s expression changes to concern. “Did you see her today at all?”
He shakes his head. “No. I was at work all day, got home a short while ago.”
“Does anyone else live here with you?”
“Yes, my wife.” He calls, and a woman appears.
He quickly explains, but she hasn’t seen Bryden that day either.
At the next apartment, another resident reacts with dismay. “The woman with the little blond girl?” But she has nothing helpful to offer.
Jayne carries on down the hall, but none of the neighbors she speaks to have seen Bryden that day or noticed anything of a suspicious nature. Some doors aren’t answered; she will have officers follow up on those.
