“His indifference seemed abnormal,” she said.

“It’s all kinds of abnormal,” Drex said, “because he is. Some of these guys can’t function sexually unless it is violent. But Jasper isn’t about sex. It’s the mind fuck he gets off on. Except for my mother, his relationships with the women have been platonic.” Mike and Gif looked like they’d been goosed. “Yes, I told Talia this morning, and I trust her not to reveal it to anyone else. But back to the point I was making. None of his other relationships have been characterized as love affairs.”

Mike said, “Even the solicitations he put on the match-up websites didn’t reference sex or romance. Only companionship.”

Looking at Talia, Drex said, “For whatever it’s worth, I doubt he was romantically involved with Elaine. I don’t believe she would have betrayed you. However, to you, an affair was a logical explanation for his quirky behavior.”

“Why was I the exception to his platonic relationships?” Talia asked.

“We’ll come back to that,” Drex said. “Go on with what you were telling us earlier. How did his strangeness manifest itself?”

“Small things, any one of which could have been overlooked, but collectively they bothered me. Like his obsession with his clothes, his closet.”

For the benefit of the other two, Drex described it.

“He was fanatical about the fit of every garment,” Talia continued. “He fussed over sleeve length, buttons, everything. I was never allowed to fold his laundry and store it. He had a ‘system,’ he said. I teased him about the way he lined up utensils in the kitchen drawer.”

“He didn’t laugh it off,” Drex said.

“No, he took umbrage. His obsessions like that began to wear on me. Walking a fine line twenty-four/seven is exhausting. I started inventing reasons to go out of town. My business trips came to feel like escapes. I could only relax when I was away from him. Which should have told me something, shouldn’t it?”

She asked it of all three men, letting her gaze light briefly on one before moving to the next, until she came back around to Drex. He said nothing, wanting to hear how she answered her own question.

“We’re supposed to trust our fear. That’s what we’re told. I didn’t. I rationalized it away or denied it altogether.” She waited a beat, then added, “Until you moved in next door. Then everything changed.”

Mike shifted in his seat. Gif cleared his throat. Drex didn’t move, just continued to look into Talia’s troubled eyes.

“Jasper was mistrustful of you right from the start, although you’d given him no reason to be. You’d even returned the fan he loaned you. I couldn’t understand his aversion.”

“He saw Drex as competition.”

She nodded at Gif. “Male assertion, protecting his territory, that would have been understandable over time, and if Drex and I had given him reason to be jealous. But Drex has been here all of a week, and Jasper turned paranoid almost from the day he moved in.”

“‘Suspicion always haunts the guilty mind,’” Drex quoted.

“What?”

“Shakespeare,” Mike said.

“But don’t be too impressed,” Drex said. “I only know that line because it applies to a mind like Jasper’s.” He held up his index finger. “Except that he feels only the suspicion, not the guilt. In his mind, whatever he does is sanctioned.

“Oh, he’s subtle,” he went on. “He doesn’t pull the wings off houseflies or eviscerate kittens. Although he may have in his youth, or in secret now. But when he’s ‘working,’ he assumes all the trappings of normalcy.

“He expresses remorse when it’s called for. ‘Shame about your dog getting hit by a car.’ He apologizes for minor offenses like being late for an engagement or forgetting a birthday. He takes a small gift to a hostess. He invites a new neighbor over for dinner. Because that’s what civilized people do.

“But he’s role-playing. He’s condescending. Behind his hand, he’s snickering at everyone who falls for his act. He’s had nine personas that I know of, but they all originated and were governed by the same distorted psyche, in which he’s far superior to everyone else, and rules do not apply to him.”

“I feel so stupid, so foolish.”

“Don’t, Talia. He played you brilliantly. ‘Not tonight, honey’? Fine. He was the perfect gentleman about it. The epitome of consideration. Never got pissed off, never complained, ultimately stopped asking. Right?”

She gave a small, self-conscious nod.

“That fell right into step with the way he wanted your relationship to be. He mastered without being masterful. What wife would complain about such an ideal husband? That closet, those pristine drawers made you want to scream, but you didn’t, because most wives would regard it a miracle if, for once, their slob of a husband picked up his dirty underwear from off the bathroom floor.

“Jasper deliberately used words and phrases that were disturbing, then contrasted them with utmost thoughtfulness. That kept you off balance. Made you…What was the word you used today? Watchful. That was the turn-on of all turn-ons to him. He sensed your mounting wariness. Nurturing it was his foreplay.”

“Leading to what?”

“Killing.”

“Nucking futs,” Mike mouthed.

Distressed, she hugged the pillow closer. “I’ll never forgive myself for not heeding my instincts and saying something, doing something, sharing my misgivings with Elaine. If I had, she might still be alive.”

“And you would be dead.”

After Drex’s sobering declaration, a silence ensued. Then Gif said, “No doubt he would then have turned to Elaine for condolence.”

“And snuffed her, too,” Mike said.

“That’s one of the points I want to broach with you,” Drex said. “These circumstances were different from all the previous ones. This time there were two women. One, he married. Marian Harris was also a departure from the norm.”

“In what way?” Gif asked.

Drex stood up and went over to the eating bar that separated the living area from the kitchenette. He planted his hands on the surface of it and used his arms as struts.

“I don’t think he buried Marian alive by mistake. I think he had become bored with his routine and wanted to try something new. He challenged himself. He wanted to see if he could do it and get away with it. And so far he has.

“Talia represented another challenge. She wasn’t middle aged, wasn’t meek or insecure, wasn’t an heiress. Not at all like her predecessors, she was much younger, more beautiful, and her fortune was self-made. Could he lure a woman like that? Or, better yet, the biggest coup of all, get her to marry him? He succeeded.

“He was introduced to Elaine. Independently, she wouldn’t have been a challenge. But going for two? Two who knew each other, were friends, who saw each other frequently and could compare notes about him?

“Ah, that was a risk to beat all risks. Even riskier than leaving Marian to die on her own before someone heard her screams. The challenge of Talia and Elaine combined was too tempting to resist. Dare he try?” Drex dropped his head between his shoulders. “He did, and has accomplished half his goal.”