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did, it would be under circumstances that would shock me more than anything ever has-or possibly ever will again.
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    Most of us have harbored a fantasy wherein we return to confront a lost first love, and, in that reunion, we have become better looking, thinner, richer, utterly desirable-so desirable that our lost love realizes instantly that he has made a terrible mistake. It seldom occurs in real life, but it is a fantasy that helps to relieve the pain of rejection. Ted had tried once, in 1969, to reach out to Stephanie Brooks, to rekindle a seemingly extinguished flame, and it hadn't worked. But, by the late summer of 1973, Ted Bundy had begun to be somebody. He had worked, planned, groomed himself to be the kind of man that he thought Stephanie wanted. Although his relationship with Meg Anders had been a steady and, to Meg, a committed one for four years, Ted had had no one but Stephanie on his mind when he arrived in Sacramento on a business trip for the Washington Republican Party. He contacted Stephanie in San Francisco and she was amazed at the changes four years had wrought in him. Where he had been a boy, uncertain and wavering, with no foreseeable prospects, he was now urbane, smooth, and confident. He was nearing twenty-seven, and he seemed to have become an imposing figure in political circles in Washington State.
    When they went out to dinner, she marveled at his new maturity, the deft manner with which he dealt with the waiter. It was a memorable evening and when it was over, Stephanie agreed readily to make a trip soon to Seattle to visit him, to talk about what the future might hold for them. He did not mention Meg; he seemed as free to make a cornmitment as Stephanie was.
    Stephanie had flown to Seattle during her vacation in September, and Ted met her at the airport, driving Ross Davis's car, and whisked her to the University Towers Hotel. He took her to dinner at the Davis's home. The Davises seemed
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THE STRANGER BESIDE ME
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    to approve heartily of her, and she didn't demur when Ted introduced her as his fiancee.
    Ted had arranged for a weekend in a condominium at Alpental on Snoqualmie Pass, and, still using Davis's car, he drove them up to the Cascade Pass, up through the same mountain foothills they'd traversed when they'd gone on skiing trips in their college days. Looking at the luxurious accommodations, she wondered how he had paid for it, but he explained that the condo belonged to a friend of a friend. It was an idyllic time. Ted was talking marriage seriously, and Stephanie was listening. She had fallen in love with him, a love that was much stronger than the feeling she'd had for him in their college romance. She was confident that they would be married within the year. She would work to pay his way through law school.
    Back at the Davises' home, Stephanie and Ted posed for a picture together, smiling, their arms around each other. And then Mrs. Davis drove her to the airport for the flight to San Francisco as Ted had an important political meeting to attend.
    Stephanie flew back to Seattle in December, 1973, and spent a few days with Ted in the apartment of a lawyer friend of his who was in Hawaii. Then she went further north to Vancouver, B.C. to spend Christmas with friends. She was very happy. They would be together again for several days after Christmas and she was sure they could firm up their wedding plans then.
    Ted, then, even as he introduced me to Meg at that Christmas party in 1973 had apparently been marking tune until Stephanie returned. During those last days of 1973, Ted wined and dined Stephanie royally. He took her to Tai Tung's, the Chinese restaurant in the international district where they had eaten during their first courtship. He also took her to Ruby Chow's, a posh oriental restaurant, run by a Seattle city councilwoman, tellingier that Ruby was a good friend of his. But somethiig had changed. Ted was evasive about marriage plans. Hé
    told her that he'd become