A Profiler's Case for Seduction - By Carla Cassidy Page 0,47
month before she was kidnapped.” He spoke the word as if it left a nasty taste in his mouth. “About three weeks before that I found myself next to Melinda at a staff meeting for the department heads. I’d been to plenty of such meetings with her, but this time she sat next to me and was being very flirtatious. You’ve seen her, right?”
He looked back to Richard and Mark, who both nodded, and Andrew hurriedly continued, as if he’d just been waiting for somebody to ask, as if he needed to confess his sins.
“She’s smoking hot and things at home weren’t going so well. I had a harassed, nagging, exhausted wife dealing with three children under five years of age, and there was Melinda, making me feel like I was the smartest, most desirable man in the entire world.”
“And so you two began an affair,” Mark said.
Andrew gave a curt nod. “We were so careful. We didn’t email each other, didn’t leave any kind of a phone trail. We’d see each other on campus and then plan to meet up at a motel just outside of town. She was like an intoxicating addiction to me for a couple of weeks. I lost sight of everything that would be destroyed in my life if my wife or colleagues found out. I lost sight of everything that was important to me. Nothing mattered but being with Melinda.”
A dry, humorless laugh escaped him. “And then one day she just ended it. No explanation, so emotionless, she just told me she was tired of me and it was time for her to move on.”
“And that made you angry,” Mark replied.
Again Andrew laughed, the sound brittle and false and with a touch of genuine humor. “Actually, it shook me to my core. It made me realize I’d been a stupid fool and I went home and hugged my wife and kissed my kids and thanked God that I’d come to my senses about what was important in my life.”
“So, you felt no anger toward Melinda,” Richard said, his disbelief evident in his voice.
Andrew leaned forward in his chair, a new alertness in his eyes, his lips slashed to a thin line once again. “What’s this all about? Why are you here talking to me about all of this? I’ve had nothing to do with Melinda since our breakup.”
“We need to know where you were and what you were doing on the day that Melinda disappeared.”
Andrew’s face flushed with color. “Surely you can’t believe I had anything to do with that. I’m a respected teacher here. I’ve always been a law-abiding citizen.”
“This wouldn’t be the first time a seductive, beautiful woman shoved a man over the edge,” Richard replied coolly.
The flush on Andrew’s face deepened. “I can’t tell you where I was that day just off the top of my head. I’d have to check my day planner, reconstruct my activities, and I have a class to teach in five minutes.”
“Then we’ll be back later today to get that information from you,” Richard said as he stood. “I would recommend your full cooperation with us, Mr. Peterson. I’d hate for any of this to get out to the press.”
It was a barely veiled threat, for Mark knew that the last thing Andrew Peterson wanted was for anyone to find out about his illicit affair with the beautiful professor.
“By the way,” Mark said as they reached the office door, “where were you last night between the hours of eight o’clock and ten?”
Andrew frowned. “I taught a class at seven and then came back here to the office and spent the next couple of hours grading papers. I went right home from here. Why? What happened last night? Is Melinda okay?”
“She’s fine. Did anyone see you here when you left?”
Andrew shook his head. “Not that I know of. The building was closed by that time and I used my pass card and code to get out. I didn’t see any security as I left.”
“Somebody will be back later this afternoon for the information we’ve requested,” Mark said.
“So, what do you think?” Richard asked Mark as they stepped out of the building and began the walk back to where they’d parked their car.
“I found it interesting that he didn’t ask us how we knew about the affair.”
“Indicating he already knew that Dora had seen him and Melinda together?”
“Possibly,” Mark agreed. “I also doubt that the transition between being Melinda’s besotted lover and returning to loving husband to his