Page 26 of She Didn't See It Coming
“Do you recognize this suitcase?” she asks.
He swallows and says, “That looks like mine.”
Jayne observes him calmly. “Where do you normally keep your suitcase, Sam?”
“In the closet. In the walk-in closet that Bryden and I share.”
“I see. And it’s not there now, is it?”
“I, um, I don’t know. This one looks just like it.”
“I asked you earlier if anything was missing from the apartment and you said no.”
“I didn’t think anything was missing. If the suitcase wasn’t there, I probably wouldn’t have noticed. I don’t know.”
She says, “The forensics team has already confirmed that there is no suitcase matching this description in the apartment now.” Sam looks increasingly nervous. “Sam, how do you suppose your suitcase got into the storage locker?”
“I don’t know.”
“You need a key, don’t you, to access the storage area?”
“Yes, I guess so.”
“You guess so,” she repeats.
“Yes, you need a key.”
“And where do you keep that key?” she asks. He swallows again. She watches his Adam’s apple move up and down.
“It’s on my key chain.”
“Do you have your key chain with you now?” she asks.
He nods and reaches into the pocket of his jeans for his keys. “Thisone is for the storage room, and this one is for our own locker,” he says, separating them out. His hands are trembling.
“Who else has keys to the storage area?”
“Everyone who lives in the building has keys.”
“Did your wife have keys to the storage area as well?”
“Yes. She kept them in one of the kitchen cupboards.”
“Do you know if those keys are there now? Have you seen them since Bryden went missing?”
He shakes his head. “No. I haven’t looked.”
Jayne says, “Let’s take a break and find out.” She pauses the tape for a moment and suggests Kilgour get Sam a coffee as she exits. A short phone call confirms that the keys are in the kitchen cupboard where they belong. She returns and resumes the interview. Sam slumps in his chair, sipping coffee.
“Bryden’s keys to the storage room are still in the kitchen cupboard. So how do you think the killer got inside the storage area?”
“Like I said, anyone in the building would have keys,” Sam says, visibly sweating. “Anyone from the building could have knocked on our door, attacked her. And then found my suitcase in our closet and taken it down to the storage area and used their keys.”
Jayne nods thoughtfully. “It might have been someone who lives in the building. Or the person who murdered her might have come in through the underground garage.”
He clears his throat and says, “You need a key card to get into the parking garage.”
The detective says, “Unless she buzzed them in.”
