Page 56 of She Didn’t See It Coming

Refreshed after her lunch with Michael, Jayne approaches members of the IT team. “Have you guys looked into any online groups about the Bryden Frost case?”

“Yes. There’s the usual talk among the online sleuths. There’s a Facebook group we keep an eye on. There’s been a lot of posts on there about the Frost case, nothing useful. We don’t know who some of these people are. Occasionally they hide behind fake profiles.”

“Can you set me up so I can look through it myself?”

“Sure.”

Within a few minutes, an officer has Jayne on the Facebook group True Crimes in Albany NY, and she’s able to peruse all the posts about the case. She settles down to read. She starts at the beginning and reads it all.

It’s unpleasant, at times, wading through so much vitriol.

People show the worst of themselves online, where they can be anonymous if they choose.

Jayne thinks the internet has a lot to answer for.

She remembers what Michael said, and imagines everyone in this online group throwing off their clothes, showing who they really are underneath. Animals.

She sits up straight when she sees the post from Karen Hennin about the eyewitness.

It was posted this morning, not long after Jayne had spoken to Alice about the eyewitness.

Is Karen Hennin Alice Gardner? Jayne realizes that anyone can make up a fake profile if they choose.

She looks at Karen Hennin’s profile: a photo of Superwoman and the description Loves dogs, cupcakes, and political biographies.

Then Jayne goes back and reads every post she’s made.

It makes sense, she tells herself, that Alice would be on here, even if she has no other social media presence.

She wonders if Derek is here too. And Sam.

Who the fuck are all these people? Who the fuck is this Emma Porter, who claims to know someone in the police department and is spreading all this information?

If that’s true, it can’t be tolerated. She can’t have people who work in the police talking to their partners or friends about how the investigation is going and having it end up on Facebook.

Something about Emma Porter troubles her.

She rereads her posts, from the beginning.

She is the one who really started this group off on the Bryden Frost case, back on Tuesday when she first disappeared.

The excitement, the breathless tone of the posts feels familiar.

She scans faster, looking for something she’d seen the first time through. Here it is.

I might even be responsible, in an indirect way, for finding her.

They’d already searched the building thoroughly on the day she disappeared but couldn’t find her.

I suggested to my police friend that they bring in a cadaver dog, and they finally did.

It was the dog that found her in the storage locker.

Jayne remembers Lizzie, in the station, saying much the same thing.

That’s Lizzie, Jayne thinks. She’s sure of it. Lizzie is Emma Porter. And she posted about Alice talking to Lizzie at the park. She returns to her strange post from late last night.

… all they had to do was knock on her door, force their way in, and hold a plastic bag over her face until she was dead.

Easy enough to do, if you’re strong enough.

If you take her by surprise. If she’s not expecting it at all and turns her back on you…

. It almost sounds like she was there. If you’re strong enough …

Jayne knows that Lizzie is a nurse. She would be strong enough.

… And you have to ask, why move the body at all?

Why not just leave her there, dead? Why bother putting her in a suitcase and taking her downstairs and risk being seen?

I’ll tell you why. Because the killer didn’t want the little girl to come home and see her mother dead!

It’s so obvious. And how would the killer know she’d fit in a suitcase?

Maybe they saw that thing on YouTube— Can Adrienne Fit in a Suitcase?

It’s had millions of views. And everybody has a suitcase in their closet these days.

My point is, it could have been anyone! We should think outside the box!

Jayne stares at the computer. How could they have missed this?

···

Lizzie refuses to let her parents come with her to the police station. She’s having a hard enough time holding it together as it is. Why does Detective Salter want to see her?

She hasn’t slept much the last couple of days, and she looks like crap.

She has a quick shower, which makes her feel a little better, and puts on clean clothes.

She forces down another piece of toast and a cup of coffee and drives to the police station.

She’s led to an interview room, where she has to wait for at least fifteen minutes.

Finally Detective Salter enters, with Detective Kilgour. They sit down.

“Hello, Lizzie,” Detective Salter begins. “Thank you for coming in. You’re here voluntarily—you can leave whenever you want. We just have a few questions.”

Lizzie nods, but her throat is dry. “Of course,” she says.

“Tell us about your relationship with your sister,” Salter says.

Lizzie is taken aback. “What do you mean?”

“Did you get along well with her?”

“Yes, of course. We were very close, as I told you before.” The detective lets the silence swell, obviously waiting for more. She adds, “We had occasional arguments, like all sisters do, but we shared everything.”

“You shared everything,” the detective says, “and yet you had no idea she was having an affair with Derek Gardner.”

“What is this?” Lizzie snaps back.

“I’m merely pointing out that your sister didn’t share everything with you, the way you imagined.”

“So what?”

“So I wonder if you were as close as you say. Bryden told her friend Paige about her affair.”

Lizzie realizes that the detective is trying to unsettle her, and it makes her nervous.

“What was it like, growing up in your family?” the detective asks now. “Your parents seem like decent people. Were they good parents?”

“Yes.”

“Just ‘yes’?” Salter prods.

“They’ve always been good to both of us. Very supportive. Loving.”

“Your parents are concerned about you,” Salter says.

“They’re my parents, they’re always concerned about me. They know I’m struggling with what happened to Bryden. We all are.”

The detective nods. “Your mother told me that lately you’re spending all your time in your room, that you hardly come out.”

“I’m here now, aren’t I?” Lizzie answers icily.

“What have you been doing in there, Lizzie?” the detective asks. Lizzie doesn’t answer. The detective continues. “I think you’ve been online, haven’t you, Lizzie, on a Facebook group called True Crimes in Albany NY.”

Lizzie feels the blood drain from her face, the dizziness rush in. She doesn’t want them to see what she’s posted on there. But she realizes they probably already have. That’s why she’s here.

Detective Salter opens a buff file folder resting on the table in front of her. She lifts a piece of paper and studies it for a moment. Then she looks at her. “Does the name Emma Porter ring a bell?”

Lizzie freezes. She can’t speak.

“You know,” Detective Salter continues, “I thought there was something a bit odd about you, Lizzie. You were so interested in finding your sister. But it didn’t seem like the normal, healthy interest of a loving sister.

You were eager to be part of the investigation.

You wanted to come along on the search. You suggested the dog.

That’s how we know you’re Emma Porter. Because you couldn’t resist pointing it out to the Facebook group. And to Detective Kilgour and me too.”

Lizzie just shakes her head, silent and afraid.

“You have quite an interest in true crime,” Salter says.

“I remember our little chat about the Elisa Lam case.” She pauses, tilts her head at her.

“So you went online, and started posting in the group about your sister’s disappearance, and then her murder.

” She looks down and reads from the sheet of paper.

“?‘A woman has just gone missing from a condominium at 100 Constitution Drive. Police are on the scene. Stay tuned for updates!’?” She looks across at her. “Why did you do that, Lizzie?”

“I—I thought maybe we could help solve it.”

“But you didn’t tell your parents about what you were doing. Why?”

Lizzie whispers, “I thought they wouldn’t approve.”

Now the detective leans closer to her. “And why wouldn’t they approve, Lizzie?”