Page 11 of She Didn’t See It Coming
Lizzie has picked up her parents at the airport and brought them back to her apartment in Center Square, not far from downtown.
She has a pleasant two-bedroom in an old brick walk-up with lots of historical features and character.
It’s sufficient for her, and she likes the charm of the building and the neighborhood.
It’s only a short drive northwest to her sister’s condo in Buckingham Lake.
Although she saw them just three months ago, at Christmas, her parents appear older and more frail than she remembers.
Perhaps it’s the shock of Bryden going missing.
They seem to be almost helpless. They’re only in their sixties, but they have aged a decade since she last saw them.
Her father has always been quiet; her mother is the chatty one.
But she isn’t chatty now. She’s mostly silent.
Lizzie also has Clara to manage, and she’s a three-year-old, frightened and upset and missing her mother.
Lizzie has been trying to comfort her, to keep her occupied, to stop her crying.
The little girl has picked up on the emotional distress of the adults.
Her routine is upset. She wants her mother.
This morning, Lizzie took indefinite leave from her work at the hospital for as long as necessary. They are understanding.
She puts Clara on her grandmother’s knee in the living room and goes into her bedroom to call Sam. He picks up immediately. “Any news?” she asks, though she knows that if there was, he would have texted her right away.
“Nothing.”
“We’re back at my place. I’ve got Mom and Dad here.
” She doesn’t know whether she should suggest a visit right now or not—he might not be up to it.
Her parents have always been close to their son-in-law, and it would be odd if they didn’t go to him.
When he doesn’t say anything, she says, “They want to see you.”
“Of course. Bring them over. We should be together.”
“Okay.” She pauses. “Have you eaten anything?”
“No.”
“I’ll stay over again tonight, if you want, to help with Clara. I can drop my parents back here later—they can manage here okay on their own.”
“That would be great. Thanks, Lizzie. How’s Clara doing?”
“She’s okay.”
She steels herself to take Clara and her parents over to Constitution Drive. Somehow they have to get through this together. They have to be strong.
···
After her terrible night, Tracy couldn’t face going into work today and had called in sick.
So she’s in her apartment when she hears her cell phone ring and glances at it.
She registers the caller’s name with disbelief.
Why is Angela calling her now, when she hasn’t spoken to her in so long and seems to make a point of avoiding her?
Another fair-weather friend. Should she answer?
On the fourth ring, she accepts the call. “Yes?”
“Tracy, it’s Angela, across the hall.”
She sounds nervous, Tracy thinks. “I know.”
“You must have heard about Bryden?”
“Yes. Why?” She’s not going to make this easy for her.
And then Angela speaks all in a rush, and Tracy can’t believe what she’s hearing.
“Tracy, if there’s any chance that Henry took Bryden, you have to—”
Tracy abruptly disconnects. Her heart is beating too fast. She’s lightheaded, and she’s absolutely furious. At Angela, at her husband, at everyone.
···
Sam is finding it hard to concentrate. There’s a lot of activity around him now that Lizzie’s arrived with her parents and Clara, and he almost wishes he was alone again.
His brain is full, and he wants to shut everything out.
It’s midafternoon, and what he wants right now is a nap.
He didn’t sleep at all last night. Clara is being especially demanding, and he has no patience for her.
She’s on his knee now, gently slapping his face, trying to get his attention.
He grabs her hand and holds it to make her stop.
He was rather shocked when he saw his in-laws.
They were together at Christmas, and they look so much older now, so suddenly.
But he knows he looks like a wreck too. They are all in the midst of a crisis.
He likes his mother-in-law, Donna, and his father-in-law, Jim, but they require a lot of effort.
Lizzie runs around getting everyone settled and bringing coffee, and cookies that are ignored, keeping the stilted conversation flowing.
No one wants to say much in front of Clara.
He doesn’t know how Lizzie does it. She must be as exhausted and as afraid as he is. But they’re her parents, and he lets her take care of them, the same way he always let Bryden take care of them. He needs Bryden now, to take care of Clara. Oh God, how will he manage?
He stifles a sob, but not quickly enough. Everyone has heard it and turns to look at him with concern. Even Clara has gone still and is staring at him. He runs a hand over his face and says, “Sorry.”
Donna says tearfully, “You don’t have to apologize, Sam.”
Jim’s face is rigid; he’s trying hard to keep it together. Bryden has been missing for close to twenty-four hours and they don’t know what’s happened to her. With every hour that passes their thoughts turn darker.
Sam looks up from his phone and says, “Angela’s home. She wants to know if Clara would like to come play with Savanah.”
Lizzie nods in relief. “That’ll be good for her. I’ll take her over.” She picks up Clara and says, “Let’s go see Savanah.”
When Lizzie returns and sits down beside him, the life goes out of her, and she seems almost catatonic, staring straight in front of her at nothing.
Sam asks her, “Are you all right?”
She just shakes her head, biting her lower lip.
“What are the police doing?” Jim asks brusquely.
“Everything they can,” Sam answers. He tells them what he knows about the search, which the detective had described to him in detail, and the older man nods. They are all unnerved about the man in unit 811.
“I can’t believe this is happening,” Donna says, her voice trembling.
Sam shakes his head helplessly. “All we can do is wait.”
As if on cue, there is a knock at the door. Sam starts at the sound. His entire body tenses as Lizzie rises and walks down the hall. He hears the detective’s voice. He feels on the edge of hyperventilating. They all hold their breath. Have they found her?
Detective Salter comes into the living room accompanied by the tall, athletic-looking Detective Kilgour. Sam and Lizzie had met Detective Kilgour the night before, when they’d reported on their search efforts, but Salter now introduces him and herself to Bryden’s parents.
Sam watches as Detective Salter sits down on one of the armchairs. Detective Kilgour remains standing.
“I thought I’d come see how you’re holding up,” Salter says, glancing at all of them, then looking directly at Sam.
He meets her eyes and shrugs helplessly.
Detective Salter says gently, “Henry Kemp’s alibi checks out.
His every moment yesterday is accounted for.
He didn’t take Bryden.” She looks at each of them in turn.
“No one has seen her. The last time she saved the file she was working on was at 12:42 p.m., and she seems to have a habit of saving her work roughly every fifteen minutes. So we think that whatever happened probably happened around one o’clock—that’s our best guess. ”
The detective looks again at Sam; she knows he was out of his office at that time. Sam feels a chill run over his body.
“We know Bryden didn’t leave the building through the lobby via either the front or back doors.
There are cameras on them, and we’ve been through the footage.
If she left the building, it could only have been through the underground parking lot, where there are no functioning cameras.
Apparently, they’ve been down for almost two weeks.
She looks at Sam again. “Did you know the cameras weren’t working? ”
“Yes, everyone knew,” Sam says. “Management sent a notice that they were getting them fixed.”
“She can’t just vanish into thin air!” Lizzie exclaims. “She must be somewhere.”
The detective continues. “Her description has gone out to all police channels and to the media. We’re doing everything we can. Now, if you don’t mind, we’d like to speak to each of you. We’ll start with you, Lizzie.” She glances at Sam. “Is there another room we could use?”
He says, “You can use the den.”
He watches from the living room with his wife’s parents as the two detectives follow Lizzie down the hall to the den.