Page 11 of She Didn't See It Coming
Jayne hears a ping and checks her phone. A text from Kilgour tells her they’ve been through the basement floors—the storage lockerarea, the parking garages, the maintenance rooms—and found nothing. They’ve swept upward, checking the stairwells and corridors on the way up to the exercise room and the party room. They have only the roof left. Jayne has a bad feeling.
Finished with the eighth floor, she returns to the lobby, where Kilgour and the search team soon arrive and report they’ve found no signs of Bryden or of foul play. Jayne sends the team out to search the surrounding area, but keeps Kilgour back. There’s a park across the street, with a children’s playground, surrounded by bushes and trees. There’s also a ravine behind the building. Maybe Bryden went for a walk in the park or somehow fell in the ravine. It’s already dark and it’s March—it’s cold outside.
Jayne turns to face the manager, Ravi, who is looking increasingly worried. “I’d like to see whatever CCTV footage you have.”
“Right.” He leads them behind the concierge desk in the lobby, which doubles as a security desk, and they step in behind him. The younger man watching the desk steps aside.
Jayne can see two monitors showing grainy black-and-white views of the front and back of the building. Two others are blank. “We have camera coverage so we can see everyone who comes in and out,” Ravi explains.
She remembers what he said earlier about the cameras in the underground garages not working. “But not anyone who comes in and out through the two levels of underground parking garages,” Jayne points out.
“No. Like I said, I’ve been trying to get them fixed.”
Jayne tells Kilgour to get someone to check and see if the cameras have been tampered with. As he gets on his phone to do that, she turns back to Ravi. “Why aren’t there cameras on the floors and in the elevators?”
“I don’t know. I’m just the manager. I don’t own the building.”
She leans down and says, “Show us what you’ve got.”
Kilgour has finished his call, and they all look at the footage of the front door first. They skip quickly through periods when there is no one entering or exiting, and slow down when they see someone. But it soon becomes clear that Bryden Frost had not left the building that day through the front doors. They check the footage on the back door, but they don’t see her exiting through there either.
“So she didn’t leave through the main floor, we know that much,” Jayne says. “She could have exited through the parking garage, if she was with someone with a car.”
“Or a van,” Kilgour says, glancing at her.
“Do you need a key card or anything to get out of the parking garage?” Jayne asks Ravi.
“No, just to get in. The barrier goes up automatically at the exit.”
Kilgour points out, “She could have walked out of the underground garage, on her own, if she wanted to leave without being seen.”
Jayne nods and continues. “Or she could still be here, somewhere, inside one of the apartments.” She turns back to Ravi. “Are there any empty units?”
He nods quickly. “There’s one on the second floor and one on the eighth.”
“I’d like to see them.”
Ravi leads them first to the empty unit on the second floor. He unlocks it and steps inside, and Jayne and Kilgour follow. It is unfurnished, and their footsteps echo on the polished floor. They do a quick search of every room, closet, and balcony. Nothing.
They leave and go back up to the eighth floor. They’re walking along the corridor to the unit at the end of the hall, but before they reach it, the door to Sam and Bryden’s unit opens and Bryden’s sister, Lizzie, steps out. “I was just going to check on Clara,” she says. “What’s happening?”
Jayne turns. “We haven’t found her. We would have notified you if we had.” Lizzie remains standing there, watching. They carry on to the unit at the end. Ravi unlocks the door. Jayne and Kilgour enter behind him, and Jayne realizes that Lizzie has followed them and is hovering in the doorway. Again, they do a quick search of every empty, unfurnished room and closet and balcony.
But there is no sign of Bryden Frost.
6
Sam has been texting Angela, checking on Clara. The two detectives, Salter and Kilgour, had returned to the condo and reported to him and Lizzie on their fruitless search—and had shared the troubling information about Henry Kemp. Then they’d left, leaving one officer still stationed outside their door. Sam tells Lizzie he’s going to get Clara and put her to bed.
He knocks on Angela’s door, realizing it’s after ten o’clock. He can see immediately that Angela is more distressed than she was earlier. She looks up at him with questioning eyes.
He says, “They haven’t found any sign of her.”
She invites him into the foyer and closes the door.
He blurts out, “They told us about the guy in 811—did you know about him?” She nods, looking frightened. “And you didn’t say anything?”
“I hadn’t thought of it when I spoke to you earlier. But I told the detective.”
