Page 21 of She Didn’t See It Coming

Paige looks distressed, and Jayne waits, letting the silence fill the room. When Paige still doesn’t speak, Jayne says more firmly, “Paige, which one was it?”

She finally whispers her answer. “Bryden.”

“Bryden was having an affair?” Jayne asks.

Paige answers reluctantly. “Yes.”

“Did she tell you this?” Jayne watches Paige blink rapidly, as if to ward off more tears.

Jayne wants to shake her and say, Why didn’t you tell us this yesterday?

But there is nothing to be gained from that now.

She must ease this information out of her; she’s obviously reluctant to part with it.

But Paige appears frozen, unable to speak.

Jayne tries again. “Paige, Bryden has been murdered. You must tell us what you know. How did you know Bryden was having an affair? Did she tell you?”

“Yes,” she admits finally, meeting Jayne’s eyes.

“Who was this affair with, do you know?”

“She never told me his name.”

Jayne’s heart falls. “Did she tell you anything about him? What he did for a living, where he lived? What he looked like?”

Paige shakes her head. “She didn’t tell me anything about him, probably because she could tell I didn’t approve. I was genuinely shocked by it. I thought it was an awful thing to do to Sam.”

Kilgour asks, “So how did she tell you about it? How did it come up?”

“We were having a glass of wine one night, about three weeks ago. Sam wasn’t home. She said, ‘Can you keep a secret?’ And I said, ‘You know I can.’ And she said, ‘I’ve met someone. I’m having an affair.’?” She stops abruptly.

“Go on,” Jayne prompts.

“I said, ‘How could you?’ and she said, ‘If you saw him, you’d understand. He’s irresistible.’?”

“And that’s all she told you?” Jayne presses. “She didn’t tell you anything else about him?”

Paige shakes her head. “No. Except how they met. She hit his car at a traffic light.”

Jayne feels a surge of excitement and glances at Kilgour. She turns back to Paige. “Thank you for telling us, Paige. You’ve done the right thing. You’ve been very helpful. Did she tell you where they would meet, when she saw him?”

“No.” Paige adds fretfully, “I didn’t say anything yesterday because I didn’t want Sam to know. It will break his heart. I guess he’ll have to find out now though, won’t he?”

“I’m afraid so. But Paige—didn’t it occur to you yesterday, when Bryden was missing, that she might be in danger?”

She answers, her voice breaking, “I thought she might be with him, and that she’d come back. I thought she was behaving outrageously, because she was crazy about him, but that she’d come to her senses, because of Clara.”

“Didn’t it worry you that she didn’t show up to pick up Clara from day care?”

“Yes. But Bryden would know they’d call Sam, and he would pick her up. Clara wasn’t going to come to any harm. I thought she’d come back with some explanation or excuse, and Sam would believe her.”

They question her at length, until it becomes clear that Paige has nothing more to tell them. Once they leave, and are out on the sidewalk, Jayne turns to Kilgour and says, “So Bryden wasn’t living such a quiet, dull life after all.”

“There was certainly more to her than her family or other friends knew.”

“I want to talk to this Derek Gardner—we’re going to pay him another visit.”

···

It’s Alice’s day off. She plans to spend it sleeping in and then doing some shopping.

Maybe for some new shoes. She loves shoes.

One of her indulgences. And Derek loves her in heels.

She has great legs, and she likes to make the most of them.

And maybe she’ll get something sexy for the bedroom too.

She likes to keep things spicy. She doesn’t want him straying.

Derek is up already. She can hear him moving around in the kitchen, operating the coffee machine. He works from home a lot. That has its advantages and disadvantages. It makes it less likely he’s flirting with someone else, but it also makes him less accountable.

He appears at the bedroom door with a cup of coffee. “Are you up?” he asks. He looks very sexy this morning, she thinks; he hasn’t shaved. He’s wearing suit pants and a dress shirt, no tie. His rakish smile undoes her every time.

She sits up in bed, allowing the strap of her nightgown to slip off one shoulder appealingly. “Yes. And thank you.” She takes the coffee from him and sips. He leans in and kisses her.

The doorbell chimes throughout the house, startling them both. “Who the hell is that?” Alice says, putting her coffee down on the nightstand.

Derek frowns, looks uncertain. “I don’t know. I’ll see. Why don’t you stay in bed?”

She listens to him make his way to the front door, hears muted voices, but she can’t tell what they’re saying.

She gets out of bed and hovers at the partially open bedroom door.

Whoever it is, he hasn’t gotten rid of them.

Instead, she can hear them now moving into the living room.

Her curiosity is piqued. She hears a woman’s voice and goes still for a moment.

Then she puts on her long silk robe, cinches the tie at her waist, checks herself in the mirror, and walks barefoot down the stairs and the long hall to the living room to see what’s going on.

When she appears on the edge of the living room, she sees a tall man and a dark-haired woman in a trouser suit, neither of whom she recognizes, sitting on her sofa.

Her husband is standing facing them, his back to her.

The two on the sofa notice her and stare.

Derek turns around and sees her. By the expression on his face, she can tell he’s annoyed about something.

She doesn’t know if he’s annoyed at the two people on his sofa, or at her appearing in her bathrobe.

“What’s going on?” she asks. She doesn’t like the feel of this. There’s a vibe in the room; something is wrong.

“Alice, this is Detective Salter, the one I told you about. And this is her partner, Detective…” he turns back.

“Kilgour,” the other man supplies.

“My wife, Alice,” Derek says.

Alice steps into the center of the living room and studies all three of them. “Well, let’s get on with it, why don’t we?” she says, sitting down on the sofa across from the detectives. Her husband sits beside her and faces them as well.

“As you know, from my visit to you yesterday,” Detective Salter begins, “we were investigating the disappearance of Bryden Frost. That has now turned into a homicide investigation. Her body was found last night.”

“Oh dear,” Alice says, making her eyes go large. “How awful.”

“You didn’t know?” the detective asks her.

“No,” Alice says.

Derek says, “She just woke up. But I saw it on the news this morning, when I turned on my computer.”

The female detective looks Alice in the eye and says, “She was murdered and left in the basement in her condominium building.”

“That’s terrible,” Alice says. “But what does that have to do with us?”

“Your husband knew her,” Detective Salter says.

“I told you, I didn’t actually know her,” Derek protests in a reasonable voice. “We only met twice—at the accident, and later when she paid me for the damage. That was the extent of my involvement with her.”

“Yes, that’s what you told me yesterday,” Detective Salter says and waits a beat. Then she leans forward and says, “But now we have information that you did know her, quite well, in fact.”

Alice turns and stares at her husband. She sees him flush just slightly beneath his day-old stubble.

Can the detectives see it too? Alice is suddenly very angry, at the detectives and at her husband.

But mostly at her husband. What has he done?

What has he been up to, and not telling her about?

They agreed no more secrets. He promised her no more secrets. No more misbehavior. And now this.

“What information?” Derek demands. “There can’t be any information, because I’m telling you the truth.” He sounds perfectly in control of himself, but she can see the vein pulsing in his temple. It does that when he’s angry.

“I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to come down to the station to answer a few questions,” the detective says.

“And what if I refuse?” Derek asks.

“That’s your choice. But if you don’t come willingly, we will arrest you and bring you in for questioning.”

Alice watches him stare at them. He’s furious now, she can tell. They don’t realize what they’ve done.

“This is outrageous. I’m not going anywhere until I call my attorney,” Derek says calmly.

“Fine,” the detective says. “We’ll wait.”