“Not personally, but certainly I know his reputation. Claire started going to him because she felt she needed a male perspective. This was within the past two months. He certainly wouldn’t have been my choice.”

“Why?” Marino asked.

Dr. Booth gathered her thoughts, her face tight with anger.

“This is all very messy,” she finally said. “Which might begin to explain my reluctance to talk about Claire when you first began to call. Newton is a spoiled rich boy who has never had to work but decided to go into psychotherapy. A power trip for him, I suppose.”

“He seems to have vanished in thin air,” Marino said.

“Nothing out of the ordinary about that,” she replied shortly. “He’s in and out as he pleases, sometimes for months or even years at a time. I’ve been here at the university for thirty-some years now, and I remember him as a boy. Could charm the birds out of the trees and talk people into anything, but he’s all about himself. And I was most concerned when Claire began to see him. Let’s just say that no one would ever accuse Newton of being ethical. He makes his own rules. But he’s never been caught.”

“At what?” I asked. “Caught at what?”

“Controlling patients in a way that is most inappropriate.”

“Having sexual relations with them?” I asked.

“I’ve never heard proof of that. It was more of a mind thing, a dominance thing, and it was very apparent that he completely dominated Claire. She was utterly dependent on him just like that.” She snapped her fingers. “After their very first session. She would come in here and spend the entire time talking about him, obsessing. That’s what’s so odd about her going to see Sparkes. I truly thought she was over him and besotted with Newton. I honestly think she would have done anything Newton told her to do.”

“Possible he might have suggested she go see Sparkes? For therapeutic reasons, such as closure?” I said.

Dr. Booth smiled ironically.

“He may have suggested she go see him, but I doubt it was to help her,” she replied. “I’m sorry to say that if going there was Newton’s idea, then it most likely was manipulative.”

“I sure would like to know how the two of them got hooked up,” Marino said, scooting forward in the papasan chair. “I’m guessing that someone referred her to him.”

“Oh no,” she replied. “They met on a photo shoot.”

“What do you mean?” I said as my blood stopped in my veins.