"Hers. I walked her there. Being a gentleman and all that." Arid laugh. "She thanked me and kissed my cheek." Winterthorn's arms crossed his chest. "She turned her head, cheek turned into mouth, and then... what's the difference? It was one time, neither of us talked about it again and there was certainly no harassment and if she claimed different, she was obviously deranged."

Milo kept silent.

"In point of fact," Winterthorn went on, "she was the aggressor--she initiated, I was just stupid. We didn't even have conventional sex--no, that came out wrong, I'm not implying anything weird or kinky, I'm just saying we didn't have intercourse. Understand?"

"Not fully, Jim."

"She went down on me, okay?" Winterthorn sprang up, walked to the French doors, looked out at impatiens, begonias, ferns, a cute little pathway fashioned from round pond stones. "And then it was over and we never talked about it and it's not relevant because Elise wasn't significant to me and I'm sure the same went for her."

He faced us. "I was nothing to her. She made that clear."

"How'd she do that, Jim?"

"After she finished, she wiped her mouth and laughed and said, 'Don't make a big deal of that, Jimmy. I was just in a mood.'"

"That kind of attitude could make someone mad."

"The only one I was mad at was myself. I've always prided myself on being faithful and up until that point I had been. I was a total ass, no excuse. I still don't understand how it happened but I certainly didn't pursue her. Just the opposite, I wanted nothing to do with her."

"She took you by surprise, Jim."

"She sure as hell did but I was an ass, nonetheless. I know this sounds like something a woman would say but the entire episode made me feel dirty."

"Feeling dirty could make someone mad."

"I didn't kill her!" Winterthorn pounded a pane. Rocked on the balls of his feet. "Goddammit!"

"Why don't you sit back down, Jim?"

"I prefer to stand."

Milo said, "I'm going to give you a time span and I'd like you to tell me where you were during that period."

He outlined the parameters of the murder day.

Winterthorn said, "I was with--no, I wasn't with Emily, thank God. I was with my mother. She wasn't feeling well and my father was at a conference so I went and sat with her." Facing us. "There's no reason to drag Emily into this, right?"

"Hopefully not, Jim."

"Please. I had nothing to do with Elise's death."

"Even though she made you feel cheap."

"An isolated event," said Winterthorn. "I put it behind me."

"Something like that, a lot of guys would remember it fondly."

"I'm not a lot of guys."

"Guess not."

"That doesn't mean I'm a killer."

Milo said, "Let's go back to that event for a sec. You tell it as Elise coming on to you, she tells it as persistent sexual harassment."