Twisted (Burbank and Parker 1)

“Your alibi—the woman you were in Hawaii with—was that a new relationship?”

A muscle worked in Doug’s jaw. “If you’re asking if I was being unfaithful to Penny, the answer is yes. I’m not proud of it. Nor was it going on for long. Things were unraveling between Penny and me. I work round the clock. So does my new girlfriend, Sandy. We’re both at Merrill Lynch, so we’re together all the time. It just happened. And, for the record, Penny knew. I told her about it around a month before we ended things.”

“How did she take it?”

“She wasn’t surprised. But she was hurt and angry. We were a couple. She felt betrayed. I think that’s pretty normal.”

If Doug was looking for Sloane’s opinion, he wasn’t getting it. Any sign that she was judging him negatively would mark the end of this interview.

Instead, she stuck with the facts. “You say she felt angry and betrayed. But she didn’t end things then.”

“Not officially. But, like I said, the breakup was gradual, not sudden. We were already in the talking phases. My relationship with Sandy just accelerated things. Penny and I called it quits a few weeks later.”

“Yet she called you the day before she disappeared.”

“Mm-hmm, around four o’clock,” Doug confirmed. “And before you ask, I’ll give you the same explanation I gave the FBI, because it’s the truth. The reason Penny called was to make arrangements for a mutual swap of our belongings. I’d left some things at her place, and she’d done the same at mine.”

“She called to set up a time for you to meet.” Sloane took a sip of her drink, intentionally knitting her brows in puzzlement. “That doesn’t sound to me like someone who was planning to vanish into thin air.”

“Nor to me. She sounded a little down, or maybe introspective’s a better word. But nothing dire. Plus, Penny’s not the impulsive type. I can’t imagine her just taking off and leaving her entire life behind.”

“You told that to the FBI?”

“Twice. Special Agent Parker grilled the hell out of me. Believe me, if I had the slightest clue that that call from Penny was a prelude to this, I would have said or done something. I certainly wouldn’t have hung up and boarded an evening flight to Hawaii.”

“Did you work out a time and place to get together once you got back from your trip?”

“I wasn’t sure of my schedule. We left it that I’d call her a week from Monday and we’d work out the details.”

“Penny liked things nailed down,” Sloane murmured. “She wasn’t a hang-loose kind of person.”

Doug gave a half smile. “You did know her well. No, she was anything but hang loose. She was decisive and get it done now. If it wasn’t for my vacation and her weekend plans, she would have pushed to get it done ASAP.”

Sloane’s head came up. “How do you know Penny had weekend plans? Did she mention she had something on tap?”

“Hmm?” Doug looked startled, as though the conversation had jolted a thought he’d long since forgotten. “Not during that phone call she didn’t. But she didn’t have to. I knew about that seminar since she registered for it a couple of months earlier.”

“What seminar?”

“I don’t remember the topic. But it was part of a Classical Humanities lecture series. They were held one Saturday afternoon a month. Penny went to several of them. She was really into the whole academic scene.”

“Did you tell this to Special Agent Parker?”

“I doubt it. To be frank, it slipped my mind until now. The lecture series was Penny’s thing, not mine. I never went with her. I worked most Saturdays. Special Agent Parker was focused on my alibi and my recollections of Penny’s state of mind. So was I. A lecture that she might or might not have attended just didn’t seem important.” Doug paused, studied Sloane’s face. “Why? Does it mean something?”

“That depends. Where were the lectures held?”

“Richard Stockton College.”

Sloane set down her glass with a thud. Did that mean something? Hell, yes.

CHAPTER

SIX

He’s crazy.

I can see the madness in his eyes.