She Didn't See It Coming

Lizzie puts a chair under the door handle to prevent her mother from coming into her room, then goes online to see what people are saying about her sister’s case in the Facebook group. A user named Deep Diver has made a long post suggesting that Derek killed his mother-in-law, Mary, for her inheritance. Lizzie is shocked to learn this and feels that the information makes Derek a likely suspect. She is also “frustrated that she’s been upstaged by Deep Diver” (245). To get the upper hand again, Lizzie posts under the pseudonym Emma Porter, reporting that Alice was seen speaking with “Bryden’s sister” at the park.

Donna is worried that Lizzie has shut herself away in her room. When she cannot open Lizzie’s door, she panics and begins banging on it. Lizzie opens the door and says that she just wanted some privacy. Donna leaves and talks to her husband. She wonders if Lizzie is “taking drugs.”

The detectives learn that a uniformed officer has found Bryden’s clothes in a plastic bag in a dumpster. They hope the clothes and bag will provide them with more physical evidence.

Paige, Sam, and Clara are eating dinner when the police call Sam and summon him to the station. There, Jayne asks Sam about the clothes they found. He says, “They look like hers, but I can’t be sure” (249). Sam reports that DNA evidence from him might be on her clothes because he and Bryden hugged on the morning of the murder, before he left for work. Jayne is suspicious because he did not mention this before, but she allows Sam to leave.

Derek takes Alice out to dinner, where she tells him that she confronted Lizzie that morning outside the condo. He is angry and tells her to “stay out of this” (251).

That night at dinner, Lizzie tells her parents that Clara is doing well, but Sam doesn’t want them to see her because they think that he killed Bryden. Lizzie gets frustrated when her mom talks about getting a court order to obtain access see Clara. Donna asks Lizzie if she is “doing drugs.” Lizzie angrily denies the accusation and storms off.

Lizzie spends the evening “down the [internet] rabbit hole” (253). Deep Diver reports that the Albany newspaper will run a story on the hit-and-run incident that killed Mary, Alice’s mother. Lizzie is frustrated that Deep Diver seems to know more than she does about the case. To get attention, she decides to “invent something.” She posts that the police have CCTV footage of Derek and Bryden together at a hotel. She notes that this does not mean Derek killed Bryden and that anyone who knew Bryden could have murdered her. Another poster wonders if Bryden’s sister is the murderer.

The next day, Alice is furious when she sees the article about her mother’s suspicious death in the local newspaper. Although Derek reassures her that it will blow over, Alice is worried about people poking into her past because “there are things hiding there that even Derek doesn’t know about” (257). Then, Jayne calls Alice.

Jayne interviews Alice at the police station and asks why Alice spoke with Lizzie the day before. Alice claims that she was “curious” about Lizzie and that she does not remember what they talked about. Jayne tells Alice to stay away from Lizzie. Jayne reflects that Alice seems cold and unfeeling. Then, Jayne tells Alice that the police have a witness who saw a woman in the elevator with a suitcase at the time of Bryden’s murder. Alice does not believe her. Jayne asks Alice for her alibi on the day of the murder.

Alice tells Jayne she was out shopping alone at the time Bryden was murdered and promises to send Jayne receipts to prove it. After Alice leaves, Detective Kilgour asks Jayne why she lied to Alice and claimed that they had a witness who identified the person in the elevator as a woman. Jayne says that she was trying to “rattle Alice,” because she feels there is “something off” about her.

Meanwhile, Paige worries that the police will find evidence of Sam on Bryden’s clothes and accuse him of committing the murder. Alice returns home and tells Derek that they have to stop Jayne, but he tells her to leave it alone.

Donna is anxious about Lizzie, so she decides to go to the police station to ask for “Victims’ Services or something” (265). Jayne talks to Donna, who says she is worried about Lizzie spending so much time alone in her room on her computer. Jayne does not share any information about the investigation.

After Donna leaves, Jayne tells Kilgour that she is going to have “the IT team” (267) look into online discussions of Bryden’s case and see if Lizzie is involved.

Derek finds Alice’s receipts from the day Bryden was murdered, but none of them show where she was between 12 and 1:45.

Alice goes to the Facebook group and sees a lot of posts from Emma Porter. She suspects Emma Porter is Lizzie Houser’s pseudonym. Using the pseudonym Karen Hennin, Alice questions “Emma’s” claim that the police had CCTV footage from a hotel showing Bryden and Derek together. “Emma” does not respond. Alice grows angry when she sees people in the group speculating that Alice herself might have committed the murder out of jealousy over her husband’s affair. Then, Alice posts what she learned from Jayne about the eyewitness who saw someone with a suitcase in the elevator at the time of Bryden’s murder.

That afternoon, Jayne tells Michael of her suspicion that Alice is a “psychopath.” Michael encourages Jayne to trust her instincts.

Derek goes to his office. He is worried that if the police continue to investigate him, they will find out about his side business of providing “data manipulation” and spyware to “powerful and wealthy clients” (275). He has a “go bag” prepared, just in case, and plans to use his cyber skills to find out more about his wife.

Alice puts on a disguise and breaks into Jayne’s apartment, searching it for information about the detective. She moves the books on Jayne’s bedside table to let the detective know someone has been in the apartment.

Lizzie is shocked to read in the Facebook group that there is an eyewitness who saw someone with a suitcase in the elevator. When Donna returns from the police station, Lizzie tells her about the update. Donna wonders how Lizzie knows this information. She encourages Lizzie to get counseling, but Lizzie refuses.

An anxious Paige is at Sam’s apartment. Sam is overwhelmed and frustrated with Clara, who is acting out. Sam tells Clara to go to her room, and when the girl refuses, Sam carries her into her bedroom and slams the door. Clara starts to cry. Sam asks Paige to take Clara and go get groceries. Annoyed, Paige wonders if she is being “taken for granted” (284).

Paige takes Clara shopping and thinks about how much she loves Sam. She hopes that he will fall in love with her. She thinks about how she had helped Bryden take baby clothes into the storage unit when Bryden failed to conceive. She resolves that she will not let Sam take advantage of her like he did Bryden.