Page 74 of She Didn't See It Coming
Alice seethes. She’s furious at the newspaper. Furious at Derek because this is all his fault. His calmness only stokes her rage. But he doesn’t know what she’s afraid of. She knows they can’t get her for killing her mother. Not unless Derek turns on her and tells the truth, and he wouldn’t do that. But she can’t afford to have the police look any more closely into their past. Intoherpast. Because there are things hiding there that even Derek doesn’t know about.
She needs to nip this in the bud.
Her cell phone buzzes in the pocket of her bathrobe. She looks at the phone and glances up at Derek. “It’s Detective Salter.”
•••
Jayne had readthe newspaper article too. “How did they find out?” Jayne mused to Michael at the breakfast table. “We certainly didn’t say anything about the hit-and-run.”
“Any good reporter could have found out about it. It wouldn’t be hard.”
“You’re right. Anyway, it doesn’t matter. If anything, it turns the heat up on them a little.” She rose from the table. “I’ve got to go.” She kissed him and drove to the station and called Alice Gardner. She wanted to speak to Alice again and now, after the newspaper article, was probably a good time.
•••
When Alice arrives,dressed more casually this time in flattering jeans, a pale-pink cashmere sweater, and high-heeled black boots, she seems to be in a mood. There’s no smile on her lovely face, and after Alice sits down at the table facing her and Kilgour, she folds her arms across her chest.
“Good morning, Alice,” Jayne says.
“For you, maybe,” Alice says. “Have you seen today’s newspaper?”
“Actually yes, I have. I’m sorry, but I don’t control the press.”
“Why am I here?” Alice asks.
“I want to know why you approached Sam Frost’s sister-in-law, Lizzie, outside the condominium yesterday. What were you doing there?”
“I don’t know. I was curious, I suppose. I went to the condo, and I saw her come out. I thought she might be fun to talk to.”
“And what did you two talk about?”
“I can’t remember. Turns out she wasn’t that interesting.”
Jayne sighs heavily. “She told us you were threatening. That you threatened Sam.”
“Threatened him? How?”
“You said you wanted her to deliver a message to Sam. To tell him that he wouldn’t get away with it.”
“I hardly see that as a threat.”
“Lizzie asked me to tell you to stay away from her, soI’mdeliveringthatmessage,” Jayne says. Alice merely shrugs.
There’s something about Alice that makes the small hairs on the back of Jayne’s neck stir. Something about her eyes; there’s a coldness behind them in brief, unguarded moments. Jayne feels as if this woman is pretending to be someone she’s not.
Jayne suddenly decides to go out on a limb; she hadn’t planned on it, but something compels her. “We’ve received some new information,” she says. Alice regards her coolly, waiting. “We have a witness who saw someone in the elevator on the day of the murder, at the relevant time, with a large suitcase. And we have a description.”
Alice remains silent. Jayne wonders what’s going through her mind. She climbs farther out on the limb and adds, “The person with the suitcase was a woman.”
Alice smiles broadly at her now. “A woman. I see. And from the way you’re looking at me, I’m guessing you think it might have been me?” She tilts her head at her and laughs. “Oh dear, we really are trying to throw all the spaghetti against the wall to see if anything sticks, aren’t we?”
Jayne ignores her and leans in closer. “Right now, the only eyewitness we have puts a woman with a large suitcase in the elevator at approximately one thirty on the day of the murder. I’m guessing you weren’t too happy about your husband’s affair with Bryden Frost. Where were you last Tuesday between noon and five?”
The look that Alice gives her now makes the hairs on the back of Jayne’s neck stir again. Jayne thinks she might be looking at a killer.
49
Alice regards Detective Salter with loathing. She hates her. Alice knows that she didn’t kill Bryden Frost. She thinks her husband probably did though, so this information, if it’s true, is encouraging. But she can’t have this bitch thinking she might be a murderer. She needs her to stop looking into her at all, not looking into her with more enthusiasm. Detective Salter is still waiting for an answer.
