“I had a really bad marriage,” Marie said, “and I don’t know if I’m capable of being in a relationship – with anybody.”

“Was he violent?” Herrick asked.

“Not really. Not until I tried to leave him.”

“So was he a control freak?”

“Yeah, that’s an understatement. I wasn’t allowed to leave the house without him, except to go to work. And he used to turn up at my workplace, unannounced, to make sure I was there. Of course, he’d always have flowers or pizza or a greeting card, to make it seem less like stalking. He used to call me five times a day, until finally my boss told me that if I took any more personal calls that weren’t emergencies, she was going to fire me. So, then he put a tracker on my cell phone, in case I got kidnapped and put in a trunk, the police would be able to find me.“

“I’m assuming he wasn’t obviously crazy when you first met him.”

“No. He seemed nice and normal. Well-adjusted. He had really good manners. I had friends who thought he was a real catch.”

“Why didn’t you leave?”

“I felt sorry for him.”

“Then how did you get away from him?”

“My dad got sick. And Ted tried to keep me from visiting him in the hospital. I went anyway – and when I got home, Ted had “fallen” off the roof. Just doing some impromptu roofing in the dark. That’s when I stopped feeling sorry for him. I dropped him off at the emergency room and I went home and packed my things and I left.”

Herrick nodded, and said, “Now it all makes sense.”

“What does?”

“Your extreme self-sufficiency.”