Twisted by Laura Griffin Page A

last year, you’d have no idea, right? In fact, if you did tell me right away where you were that night, I’d probably bump you to the top of my suspect list. But for something that happened a few days ago?”
    Allison dragged a chair over from a neighboring cube and sat down. “So, what’s he saying?”
    “Practically nothing. It’s one reason Reynolds is so set on him. He’s acting guilty.”
    “Okay. Well, what do we know about what he was doing the night she disappeared?”
    “There you go with the ‘we’ again.” Jonah looked irritated as he reached across his desk and picked up a fat black binder. This would be the actual murder book, complete with all the info Reynolds didn’t want reporters or anyone outside the inner circle to see.
    “I intend to get on this case, Jonah. Eventually, there’s going to be a task force.”
    He held up a hand. “I’ve heard your theory, all right? And I’ve even listened. You and the fed have some good points, far as I’m concerned. But I’m telling you, Bender looks bad in this. He won’t give us the slightest detail we can corroborate about where he was the night Stephanie died, and it’s not helping his case any.”
    Jonah opened the binder and flipped to a report. It looked to be several pages of typed interview notes.
    “Here’s what he told us in the original interview, before he got a lawyer—that he was at work from eight a.m. to five-fifty, with the exception of his lunch break. We’ve confirmed that with his employer.”
    “The car dealership, right?”
    “Yeah, he sells Toyotas. After that, he says he went home and watched TV. End of story. Didn’t leave his apartment until work the next day.”
    “That right there is an alibi.”
    Jonah gave her a baleful look. “First off, the guy’s lying through his teeth. I took his statement. Second, he was served with a restraining order the night before, and his reaction to that was to call up Stephanie, probably to ream her out. We have records of fourteen phone calls placed to her cell phone, from Bender, the day before hermurder. No idea what he said to her, but I doubt it was friendly.”
    “The restraining order includes phone contact.”
    “Yeah, which goes to show how much respect he had for it. Then the day of her murder, he disappears at noon—three people at his work confirm this—comes back two hours later. Was he making plans? Buying a murder weapon? Buying a sandwich? We don’t know. Five hours later, Stephanie gets home from work, changes, and goes jogging. She pulls over for gas on the way—we’ve got that on tape from the gas station. Parks her car at her favorite park. She passes a woman walking her dog as she sets out on the trail. That woman was the last person to see her alive, that we know about. Eleven hours later, a female jogger strays off the path with her Weimaraner and sees Stephanie’s partially clothed body lying in the woods. And where was Bender while all this was happening? Home watching TV, according to his original statement. He didn’t make a phone call. Didn’t send a text. Didn’t log onto his computer. Didn’t have a friend over. Nothing. Just home alone, watching the tube.”
    “What about DNA? She was sexually assaulted.”
    “The ME sent swabs to the lab, but you know how that goes. By the time we hear back, this case’ll probably be stone cold. Meantime, only solid suspect we’ve got is Bender.”
    Jonah culled through the file and pulled out another paper, this one with several incidents listed on it. The descriptions took up almost a full page. “He’s got a temper. Stephanie’s neighbors in her apartment complex called us out twice because they were fighting, and it soundedlike Bender was hitting her. She herself reported him once for splitting open her lip. After she dumped him, she called twice to report him stalking her before finally getting the restraining order. Two days after he gets served with papers, Stephanie turns up