She Didn't See It Coming

Donna and Lizzie speak in the kitchen. Donna thinks that Sam might have murdered Bryden. She weeps, telling Lizzie that she feels guilty for having moved to Florida and not keeping a closer eye on Bryden. Paige interrupts their conversation and reassures Donna that what happened to Bryden wasn’t her fault.

Jayne assesses what they have learned so far in the investigation. She feels that Derek and Sam are the “main suspects.” The police have not found evidence that Sam was at the park for his entire two-hour absence from the office, and Jayen reasons that he would have had enough time to murder Bryden. They wonder whether the suitcase was carried to the storage locker via the stairs or the elevator. Jayne suggests that if Sam did commit the murder, he might have moved the body so that Clara would not have seen it upon returning home from daycare. They feel that Derek might have had a motive for murder if Bryden had threatened to tell his wife about their affair.

The detectives go to the coroner’s office. The coroner believes that Bryden Frost was asphyxiated, possibly by a plastic bag. There are no signs of sexual assault, but the bruising indicates that Bryden fought back against her attacker. No physical evidence was found under her nails. The coroner thinks it might have been a “crime of passion” (134).

Meanwhile, Paige feels uncomfortable in the presence of Bryden’s family “when she knows something they don’t” (135). However, she wants to be there for Sam and Clara. Paige and Sam go into the bathroom alone, and although Paige hopes that he will kiss her, he instead asks her what she said to the detectives. Paige reassures him that she did not tell the detectives about their affair, but she now has something else to tell him.

The detectives meet with the head of the forensics unit. He tells them the forensics team has not found any useful evidence. He says that either a man or a woman could have carried the suitcase, as it is on wheels. He reflects that it is “the perfect crime” (139) because no evidence has been left behind.

After his interview, Derek returns to his wife Alice, who remains suspicious that Derek was having an affair with Bryden. In a “sulk,” she decides to go shopping. Alice is insecure about her relationship with Derek and feels that she has to always work to keep him interested in her. She is angry at the thought that Derek might have betrayed her, and she reflects that “he owes her” (143).

Jayne interviews Bryden’s doctor, who reports that Bryden had seen her about a cracked rib about a month ago. The doctor had suspected domestic abuse, but Bryden had become defensive when the doctor raised the issue.

Back at the condo, Lizzie suggests that Clara return to daycare the next day. Sam agrees because he feels overwhelmed at the moment. Sam and Paige take Clara to the park, where Paige tells Sam that Bryden had been having an affair with Derek. He is shocked and angry that she has provided the police with another reason to suspect that he might have had a motive to kill his wife. Paige counters that she told the police about Bryden’s affair in order to deflect attention away from their own affair. Sam reflects that having an affair with his wife’s best friend was a mistake.

The narrative reveals that Sam and Paige had begun their affair when Bryden went out of town for work, even though Sam did not have feelings for Paige. Now, Paige reflects that “the sex has been casual, but great” (150). She hopes that things might change between her and Sam now that Bryden is dead.

While Sam and Paige are at the park, Donna tells Jim and Lizzie of her suspicion that Sam murdered Bryden, citing his lack of an alibi. She feels that Sam “looks guilty.”

Jayne interviews Sam again at the police station and notes that he seems anxious and worn out. Sam tells Jayne that Lizzie had often seemed jealous of Bryden. Jayne says that Bryden was asphyxiated with a plastic bag and that the police suspect the murderer to be someone Bryden knew. Jayne asks Sam about Bryden’s broken rib, and he denies assaulting her. He also denies any knowledge of Bryden’s affair. Jayne asks if Sam ever called Bryden’s work to verify that she was really on a work trip, and Sam asks for an attorney.

Sam’s attorney, Laura Szabo, arrives. He is disappointed to see that she is a woman. Sam answers “no comment” to Jayne’s repeated question about whether he ever contacted Bryden’s work. Then he has a panic attack. The detectives allow Sam to leave.

That afternoon, Derek is working from home when his wife Alice returns from her shopping trip. He wonders what she is capable of, as they are both “cold-blooded.” He is even “grateful” and “impressed” about the way that she made her mother “disappear.” Alice shows Derek the red stilettos that she has purchased, and he becomes “instantly aroused.”

Sam returns to the condo and tells Lizzie and her parents that the police told him about Bryden’s affair with Derek. He reports that Paige had known about the affair. They are all shocked, and Sam begins to cry as he denies all knowledge of the affair.

Lizzie and her parents return to Lizzie’s apartment. She logs into the Facebook group and rereads her previous day’s post about Bryden’s murder. She has encouraged the other members to share their insights.

Lizzie “feels a thrill” (168) upon reading the group’s responses to her comment. She enjoys the attention, so she writes another post, reporting that Sam is being questioned by the police and that she doesn’t think they should assume that he committed the crime. Even as she writes, she knows that her parents would be horrified by her online activities.

Jayne asks her boyfriend, Michael, what he thinks of the case. He says it seems like the act of someone “solving a problem” (171).

Donna wakes in the middle of the night from a nightmare. She finds it hard to believe that her daughter was having an affair. She worries that if Sam committed the murder and gets away with it, her granddaughter Clara will “grow up with a monster” (172).

Sam is having trouble sleeping. He is disturbed that Bryden saw the doctor about her cracked rib. He thought that no one knew about his physical abuse of his wife, and he now blames Bryden for not having stood up to him and for allowing him to abuse her. He wonders if Bryden knew about his affair with Paige and had an affair of her own as a form of revenge.

Alice Gardner goes to their spare room in the middle of the night. She searches the room for evidence that her husband was having an affair, but she finds nothing. She knows that if Derek did kill Bryden, he could easily get away with it.