Page 37 of She Didn’t See It Coming
On Wednesday evening Tracy’s husband had come home from work, almost jaunty, reporting that another detective had been at the dealership that day trying to find holes in his alibi.
“But he couldn’t, because there aren’t any.
Everybody vouched for me. There’s even CCTV.
They won’t be bothering us anymore,” he’d said to her.
He’d brought home a bottle of wine to celebrate.
She’d smiled and congratulated him. It was a relief.
But he irritated her. How could he ignore the elephant in the room?
He’d had no alibi the first time—had he forgotten?
Then Bryden’s body had been discovered that same night.
She’d been so upset by it that she hadn’t been able to go in to work again the next day.
But she’s back at work today. Tracy is a copywriter for a legal publishing company.
The days are often slow, and she has lots of time to think.
Now, she thinks about her neighbor, Bryden Frost. It’s horrifying what happened to her.
Sickening what happens to women. It could happen to any of us, she thinks.
She has lots of time to scroll, and has been following all the news about Bryden online, imagining her hideous final moments.
She also thinks about Kayly Medoff, the woman who accused her husband.
Previously she has tried not to think about her.
Medoff claimed to have been taken against her will into a van by a masked man, bound, raped, terrorized, and ultimately released.
She’d named Tracy’s husband. The horrible publicity had all but destroyed them.
When he was released without charge, somehow that had not warranted the same splashy attention from the media.
It’s something that she’s still bitter about.
Now, with just a moment’s hesitation, Tracy googles Kayly Medoff and Henry Kemp on her computer and is rewarded with a flood of articles, some with accompanying photographs.
Revisiting them makes her feel ill, and she has to close her eyes for a moment.
But then she opens them again and takes a deep breath.
She’s alone in her quiet office, and she reads them all with close attention.
Not everything had made the news. She knows things that aren’t in here.
The only way she will ever know for sure is if she talks to Kayly Medoff herself.
She can no longer go through life fearing another knock on their door.
Tracy’s photograph had never made it into the news, so Kayly won’t know what she looks like.
How will Tracy find her? Is she even still living in the same city?
Tracy had wanted to leave Albany and make a fresh start somewhere else, but Henry had had too much money sunk into the dealership to move.
She knows Kayly doesn’t work at Dunkin’ Donuts anymore. Henry told her.
Maybe she’s on Facebook?
To Tracy’s surprise, it doesn’t take long to find her.
···
Jayne sits at her desk in her office, staring at the wall across from her, savoring a piece of dark chocolate and reflecting on the interview with Alice Gardner.
On the wall, there is a large, framed print of an iceberg showing the tip of it above water and the bulk of it underneath.
Jayne looks at it often, to remind herself that the dangerous part is hidden beneath the surface, and that what we see is just a small part of the picture.
Detective Kilgour steps in with two cups of coffee and sits down heavily across from her.
Jayne reaches for the coffee and says, “Thanks.” She offers him some chocolate and takes a sip.
“The hit-and-run is out of our jurisdiction of course, but let’s talk with the officers who handled the case in New Hampshire.
And let’s name Derek Gardner as a person of interest. Make him sweat a little.
He’s a handsome man—the reporters will jump to the obvious conclusion. ”
···
Lizzie was more than happy to loan her parents her car.
Her mother had come to her after she’d returned from taking Clara to day care and asked if they could borrow it to visit some funeral homes.
They wanted a private ceremony, as soon as possible.
Lizzie asked if they wanted her to come and was surprised when her mother said it wasn’t necessary.
But that was fine with her. She wasn’t really in the mood to visit funeral homes and cemeteries. She has things to do.
The minute her parents are out the door with her car keys, Lizzie logs on to the Facebook group.
There’s a slew of new entries since she left off in the middle of the previous night.
Interest in the case is picking up since it’s all over the news.
The number of members in this group has shot up from 66 to 119.
She focuses on the comments to her last post.
Andi Rosen
You’re right about cops and tunnel vision. But it’s also true that the murderer is usually someone the victim knew. And it’s very often the husband.
Jilly Malek
I love a good body in a suitcase murder. Remember that one in Delray Beach?
Skylar Vasey
Usually they’re dismembered beforehand to make them fit. The more gruesome the better I like it.
Lizzie finds herself recoiling at some of the comments. She scrolls back through, looking for the earlier comment from Susan Day. Ah, there it is, from the night before. She rereads it:
Susan Day
I heard one of them was having an affair.
Lizzie had replied, as Emma Porter:
Emma Porter
Susan Day Where did you hear that?
Now there’s an answer.
Susan Day
Emma Porter Idk. Seems obvious. Haven’t you seen her picture? She was gorgeous. She was probably getting some on the side.
Lizzie feels irritated by this. She doesn’t need to be reminded that her sister was gorgeous. She finds it distasteful, disrespectful to Bryden. She replies.
Emma Porter
Susan Day That doesn’t mean she wasn’t a faithful wife and a good mother.
Susan Day
Emma Porter Okay, if you say so. The husband is very good-looking too. Maybe he was cheating on her. All I’m saying is, somebody might have been cheating.
Lizzie realizes this person hasn’t heard anything, doesn’t know anything.
There are pictures and video clips of Sam in posts from lots of people in the group—in the back of the police car, coming out of the police station, even in the park with Paige and Clara.
Even under these circumstances, Lizzie can see what Susan Day means.
Sam is handsome. And some women actually like men accused of killing their wives.
They write to them in prison, marry them even.
Lots of crazies out there. She sees that someone named Chantelle Dubois has posted a complete bio for Sam, and done the same for Bryden.
Once they find out about Derek Gardner, Lizzie hopes Chantelle will do the same for him.
Lizzie is very curious about this man her sister was sleeping with. She’s googled him and found the website for his business. There’s a photo of him on the site. She goes back to it now and studies it closely, trying to remember if she’s ever seen him before.