Page 72 of She Didn't See It Coming
“Curiosity, I guess. I just couldn’t stay away.”
He waits for her to say more.
“I saw her sister come out of the building. The journalists told me who she was, but they mostly left her alone. She was with the little girl. Bryden Frost’s daughter.”
What is she getting at? Is she just toying with him, trying to punish him for what she thinks he’s done?
“So I spoke to her.”
He leans in closer to her across the table. “Why the fuck would you do that, Alice?”
“Why do I do anything? I wanted to.”
He swallows. “What did you say?”
“I told her that Sam Frost killed his wife, and he wasn’t going to get away with it. And she told me that she was equally sure you did it.”
“Alice, I think you should stay out of this.”
“It’s a little late for that, don’t you think?”
47
Lizzie spends most of the night on the computer in her bedroom. She’s gone down the rabbit hole, and she doesn’t want to come out. The real world has her parents in it, outside her bedroom door, drowning in their grief. She doesn’t like them being here, watching her, worrying about her. They have always been overprotective, a little judgmental. They have always wanted more from her than she could deliver. They have always been disappointed in her.
Supper earlier that night had exploded. She’d finally come out of her room to join them for a meal her mother had prepared. They’d barely sat down when her mother started quizzing her. “Lizzie, you haven’t told us what happened at Sam’s this morning. How was Clara?”
Lizzie felt slightly guilty at that. She should have told them. “Clara’s doing okay.” She paused. “But Sam knows you suspect him. And he doesn’t want you to see her.”
“He can’t stop us seeing our granddaughter!”
“I think he can, Mom.” As her mother regarded her in distress, Lizziesaid, “But he’s okay with me seeing her. He trusts me. He knows I believe he’s innocent. So that will have to do, for the time being.”
“Maybe we can get a court order—” her mother began.
“Do you really want to do that now?” Lizzie said in exasperation. And that’s what started it off.
Her mother asked, “What’s wrong with you, Lizzie? Hiding in your room all day, in the dark, with a chair up against the door! What are you doing in there? Why won’t you tell us?”
Lizzie snapped. “It’s none of your business what I do with my life!”
“Are you doing drugs? Tell us the truth.”
Lizzie found that almost laughable. For a moment she even thought, why not let them believe that, if it got them off her back? But then she realized they wouldn’t get off her back—they’d get her into rehab. “No, Mom, I am not doing drugs.” Then she’d left the dinner table and gone back to her room and shoved the chair up under the knob. She could hear her mother crying until she donned her headphones again.
But soon she was back online with her people.
And now, Deep Diver has a new post.
I’ve spoken to a journalist with the AlbanyTimes Union. They’re going to run a story about the hit-and-run tomorrow morning, in the Sunday paper! Now the media will be all over it, and the police won’t be able to keep it quiet. We’ve got to stay on them, and get this thing solved!
Lizzie is pleased, because she thinks that Derek Gardner should pay for what he did to his mother-in-law. Almost everyone on here does. There’s been a storm of hate toward Derek Gardner for his cold-blooded greed. There is no doubt whatsoever in this group about him killing his mother-in-law.
But Lizzie’s starting to dislike Deep Diver, getting ahead of her,getting all the attention. She’s Bryden’ssister, after all; she just can’t say so. She’s more important in all this than Deep Diver is. It’s personal for her. She knows things nobody else does.
Lizzie’s not getting much sleep, and sometimes she worries that she’s losing her grip. But she feels safe enough on here, with her cover story of having a friend in the police. What can Alice Gardner do to her? And she thinks she has cleverly thrown everyone off track with her story about seeing Alice talking to Bryden’s sister, Lizzie.
The blankcreate postbox stares back at her; the cursor blinks.
