A Deadly Game by Catherine Crier

didn't go his way. Like others, Janet and Katy were wooed to the brink by Scott, then unceremoniously dropped when his game was over.
    Scott was truly a player. He would display whatever emotion seemed "appropriate" at a given moment, but could drop the facade in an instant and move on with no trouble. This would be quite apparent during press interviews in late January, interviews that would become important weapons for the prosecution at trial.
    He was also a phenomenal and apparently pathological liar. Most people pay a price for lying, if not externally, then internally. Not Scott Peterson. He lied again and again, often about trivial matters or when it was completely unnecessary. Outside of the occasional anguished performance for a girlfriend, he showed no guilt or remorse when caught in deceptions, large or small.
    He also perceived himself as a special case. Whether dropping out of school because he didn't feel sufficiently appreciated by a golf coach, or leading a blatantly promiscuous double life, Scott found countless ways to flagrantly violate social norms and demonstrate that the rules simply did not apply to him.
    Despite his overtly gregarious nature, Scott was actually quite a loner. Whether shallow or secretive, he remained a relative unknown to friends and associates. Few people professed to know him well. He seemed to adapt to most situations, making those around him feel comfortable, but in hindsight, he never truly let them in.
    He did have some insecurities. Although Scott moved through several colleges, taking extra time to graduate, he made it known that he thought himself very bright. During the murder investigation, when he heard that an old college professor had been quoted as saying Scott "was kind of smart," he retorted angrily, "Kind of smart? I'm real smart."
    This was another characteristic that would work against Scott as the murder investigation got under way-inflated sense of self-worth and intelligence. There's no doubt that Scott Peterson is intelligent, but to my mind, his brash lies and flagrant conduct indicated that he truly believed he was a match for the detectives who were investigating him. I'm certain that he expected to survive their scrutiny unscathed.
    About two months before Scott's graduation, around Easter 1998, Laci moved back in with Scott. Yet I suspect that Laci knew in her heart what was going on with Scott, especially after the episode with Janet Use. Yet apparently she was willing to accept it. Being from a divorced home, perhaps Laci was desperate to avoid failure in her own marriage.
    In August, Laci took a position as a banquet coordinator at Gardens of Avila Restaurant at the Sycamore Springs Resort, where she and Scott had been married the previous year. Records indicate that she resigned after only two months. In an exit interview, Laci told the general manager that she was dissatisfied with the woman who was supposed to be training her. She complained that she was "constantly belittling to me and was anything but respectful." She also voiced dissatisfaction with two other employees, saying that she had received calls "with stupid questions-questions that a little common sense should have answered." She explained that she was "offended" by her $9 hourly rate, even though she knew the salary when she accepted the position. When asked if she would stay on to train an incoming banquet coordinator, she said no. She was "reactivating her substitute teaching status" on the first of the month.
    Meanwhile, Scott's parents had made him a partner in Lee's corrugated box business. Lee had proudly assumed his son would run the enterprise for years to come, but two years later Scott bought out his father's share, then quickly and callously sold the company. Once again he did what he wanted to do, regardless of the pain inflicted on those who loved him.
    Scott used the profits from the sale to renovate a vacant building in San Luis Obispo near the Cal Poly campus. There he