Page 77 of She Didn't See It Coming
“I promise you we will do our best.”
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Jayne finds Kilgourin the lunchroom, getting a coffee. She grabs one too and stands beside him at the coffee station. “I just spoke to Donna Houser. She’s worried about Lizzie.”
“How so?” Kilgour asks, taking a careful sip of the hot coffee.
“She says she’s acting strangely. Hiding in her room, propping a chair up against her door. What do you make of that?”
“It sounds paranoid,” Kilgour suggests.
“That’s what I thought.” Jayne says thoughtfully, “Although, you know, I think Lizzie is a bit odd.”
“Yup,” Kilgour agrees.
“She took such an avid interest in her sister’s disappearance. As if it wereexcitingfor her, somehow. That keenness—it’s strange.”
Kilgour nods in agreement. “She wanted the dogs, and then she wanted credit for it.”
Jayne says, “She wanted to accompany us on the search, remember? And her interest in true crime—she was talking to us about the Elisa Lam case like she was an expert.”
“What are you thinking?”
“I’d like to know what she’s up to, hiding in her bedroom, not wanting anyone to come in.” She adds, “Donna mentioned her computer. I’m going to have the IT team look into any online activity about the Bryden Frost case. Usually it’s a bunch of crackpots in these groups, but it’s worth a look. Maybe Lizzie’s on there, and it’s messing with her head.”
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Alice takes her laptop from the bedroom and returns to the living room to sit in the comfy couch by the window. Derek had stormed out after their last, heated conversation, so she has the house to herself. He knows now that she’s hiding something, something she’s afraid that Detective Salter might discover. He badgered her to tell him what it is. But she wouldn’t. She wants him to still be in love with her, and she’s not entirely sure he would be if he knew.
Before he’d left, he’d looked through his desk for any receipts she might have had from Tuesday. He found a couple, one at a downtown shop at 3:03 p.m., and another for 4:11. Then there was her receipt for dinner with girlfriends at 8:37 p.m. None of them get her off the hook with Salter. She wishes she’d bought something at one fucking forty-five.
She logs on to Facebook. She clicks into the Facebook group TrueCrimes in Albany NY and reviews the most recent activity on the Bryden Frost case. She reads with interest the latest posts from Emma Porter, who seems to know an awful lot about it. She’s been wondering who Emma Porter is, wondering who is probably hiding behind the name and claiming to have a friend in the police. She thinks it’s quite possible that it’s Bryden’s sister, Lizzie Houser. Who but a family member would know everything she seems to know? And she posted that photo that no one else had seen. She remembers Lizzie’s reaction when she’d whispered,I’m Team Sam, to her. So she knows Lizzie is on here somewhere, and she’s not using her own name. But she might not be Emma Porter. Emma Porter might really be someone with a friend in the police. There’s no information on her profile. There are probably several people on here hiding their real identity behind a fake name and a blank profile. She’s on here herself, using the name Karen Hennin. But she at least went to the effort of making up a fake profile—using a photo of Superwoman as an avatar and adding the descriptionLoves dogs, cupcakes, and political biographies.
Alice hasn’t told Derek about this Facebook group. She doesn’t want him to see the hysteria piling on about him on this page. The legitimate media is bad enough. Team Derek has pulled well ahead in the last couple of days, which pisses her off. Just for fun she clicks on the YouTube videoCan Adrienne Fit in a Suitcase?
Then she decides to challenge Emma Porter about her claim that the police have CCTV of her husband with Bryden Frost at a local hotel. She posts a comment under Emma’s post.
Karen Hennin
Why do you say they have CCTV of Derek Gardner with Bryden Frost at a hotel? I’m pretty sure they don’t. I have a friend who’s a pretty plugged-in journalist, and he says they don’t.
But Emma Porter doesn’t answer. Alice agrees with Emma Porter in that they should be widening the suspect pool. Alice just doesn’t want to beinthe suspect pool. She keeps reading.
People in the group have gone on a spree, naming anyone and everyone who might have done it. Alice herself, as Karen Hennin, had suggested that Bryden’s sister, Lizzie, might have done it. But Derek’s wife is also suggested as a possibility. Her photo is on here now too. Obviously grabbed from the website of the university where she works. Alice reads about herself, growing more and more incensed.
Brittany Clement
Maybe Alice Gardner was jealous. Maybe she knew. Women often do know when their husbands are cheating.
Farah Spence
Brittany ClementYeah, but not many of them murder the other woman.
Brittany Clement
Farah SpenceMaybe it happens more than we realize LOL
Maya Vukovic
