Back here after real life taking over for a few days.
The only thing that pokes a hole in the conference being the catalyst theory for me is that Toni and Allison had run into each other at the gym and there was no confrontation then. Toni had been trying to keep her trainer talking so that she wouldn't have to walk directly past Allison. I don't believe either woman would have been undignified enough to initiate a confrontation at the conference. That was actually the one part of Todd Fuller's cross that didn't have me on eggshells. I didn't think it sounded like a realistic supposition.
I agree. Gerard's claim that Allison was not confrontational strikes me as true, for exactly the reasons you say. She froze when she saw Toni at the gym. If she had wanted to confront Toni, it would not have been hard for Alison to get her number as she was in real estate too, and call her. Obviously I didn't know Allison well, but she sure doesn't seem the sort to want to get into a ***** slap at a conference
I'm disappointed GBC wasn't hammered harder on the money. I think that's the weak spot. I'm back at my original theory that Allison was to theoretically go missing en route to the conference and her unknown meet up arrangement with Kate Rankin stuffed up GBC's timeline.
I agree with this too. One of GBC's earliest apparent episodes where he spoke first and then thought better of it was when he mentioned the call from KR about meeting up to travel to the conference together. I have always wondered if he found a text on Allison's phone or saw a missed call at 6 or so in the morning to Allison. This would explain the 3 second call to KR's number. He's gone, Who just rang her phone at this hour, panicking he calls the number and finds it is KR. It is then he realises his initial plan to go to work and make out he thought Allison was at the conference is not going to work because Kate will be missing her too early. In the panicked moment he decides to make the call to the police. I would not be surprised if he still had Allisons phone in his pocket, not knowing what to do with it and thinking he would just keep it on him till he thought of a plan. But the situation catapulted out of his control, escalating way too early and then he was stuck with the phone he had to dispose of. it was an error, either way, walking or suicidal, there was no reasonable reason for the phone to go missing.
I also think GBC thinks he did well on the stand. Why oh why he made the completely unnecessary admission that he'd been with even more women is beyond me. To me, that smacked of "look what else I've gotten away with."