I thought back to my call to him after Lisa started the program. “I believe it was in early fall after I started my fellowship and realized Lisa was in the program.”
“Tell me,” St. James asked, leaning in. “Why weren’t you interested?” His voice sounded doubtful. “She’s a very attractive woman. She was offering herself as a partner.”
I shook my head. “They were interested in things that I wasn’t.”
“Such as?”
I glanced at Lara, wondering how deeply to get into BDSM play with the officers. I expected they’d already heard pretty much everything. She nodded.
“They were into breath play. I wasn’t.”
Lara was busy cross referencing dates with our list.
“Here's one," Lara said and glanced up from her list. "She claims she was at Carnegie that night you met Ethan and Kate there. That's one we can cross off.”
Lara handed me the sheet and I checked the two lists. Sure enough, she had indicated she was at the performance where Kate and I had our first real date.
“I sure didn’t see her there,” I said, unable to keep a scoff out of my voice. “Does she have a ticket to prove it?”
“Do you have tickets?"
"I have credit card receipts."
"Were you in the theatre the entire time?” St. James asked. “Sitting with your party and can they confirm it?”
I thought back to that night. I had left the box where Ethan and Elaine and Kate were seated, but only for a short time. I found a different empty box and sat there so I could watch Kate. I was only away from their box for fifteen minutes.
Kate even saw me at the end, after the performance, before the intermission.
“I stepped out for fifteen minutes, and sat in another location.”
“Why did you leave?”
“My wife, Kate,” I said, frustrated that I had to explain my absence. “It was our first date and she asked me to leave because she became very emotional during the performance. You see, she went every year with her mother and--.”
“So you were away from their box for fifteen minutes,” St. James said, interrupting me. “Did you sit with anyone?”
“I was sitting in an empty box nearby. One of the ushers let me sit there when I explained to him why I left my own seat.”
“Do you remember which usher?”
I frowned and rubbed my forehead. “It was two years ago. I don’t know what usher it was. Some young guy with dark hair,” I said, struggling to remember. “Looked like a college student. Tall and skinny with a bad case of acne.”
“We’ll check it out.”
I turned to Lara right. “Do you have any other dates?”
She pointed to one. It was a night I was playing with Mersey.
“I was playing with my band, Mersey, that night,” I said and showed Detective McDonald. “We were playing at O’Riley's. I stayed after and had a drink with my band mates. Then, I went home and got up early. I had office hours that next morning.”
“Can your band mates confirm this?”
“Yes,” I said. “Of course. Lisa was never there. I never saw her in the audience and I never spoke to her.”
“Do you always keep track of every audience member?” St. James said, frowning.
“I never saw Lisa that night. I never spoke with her. You can ask my band mates. I’ll give you their names and addresses. They’ll back me up on this. I went right home after we finished closing the place up. Lisa was not there.”