During these weeks, in July, of talking with Rudy about the pregnancy, "it got bad, real bad -- very negative -- between them," says a Negril waiter named Sean, who had joined Kristine's band of confidants. She'd become so afraid of Rudy's feelings on the matter, she told Sean and others, "she only wanted to meet him in a public place. I thought she was being paranoid; she was very assertive and very together, so I was surprised when she said that." She confided to Nick several times her fear that Rudy might "hit her in the stomach" or find some other way to end the pregnancy. She told Valerie (who was arranging her prenatal care) "words to the effect of 'If anything happens to me, he will have probably done it.' It was her gut feeling from the beginning. She never told me he threatened her verbally, but she was anxious and scared -- and I don't think even she could explain why."

Still, Kristine pressed on. She "wanted Rudy to have some kind of relationship with the baby," Kathy says Kristine told her. "He said, 'How am I going to do that? I have a wife! My mom and dad would find out!' She said, 'You could do it on a weekend. People have problems when they don't have a father -- they think they're worthless. They feel abandoned.' " He stopped calling. She started beeping. Kelly Richardson pleaded, "Kristine, is there any way you can have this baby and just . . . completely not involve him? Put him out of the picture?"

Ozlem picked up the ringing phone one evening in late July. A young woman's voice demanded, "Do you know someone named Rudy Persaud? You just called his beeper." Ozlem said no and hung up the phone. The same thing happened the next morning, at seven. Ozlem woke Kristine and said, "She called again; I don't want to get caught in between." The next time, Kristine answered the phone. And that is how Kristine entered into an astonishing communication, over the course of a number of phone calls, with Rudy's wife, Rochelle.

First Kristine told Rochelle she was merely one of Rudy's students. The second or third time Rochelle called, Kristine admitted they'd been involved but that they no longer were and said there was a reason she was remaining in touch with him. According to several of Kristine's friends, every time Rochelle asked what the reason was, Kristine said, "You'll have to ask Rudy." Finally Rochelle asked, "Are you pregnant?" Kristine admitted she was. As Ozlem listened, Kristine carefully explained that Rudy had told her he wasn't married (which was apparently true at the time of their single sexual encounter). According to Kristine's reports to several friends, Rochelle expressed explosive anger toward her husband, even telling Kristine she didn't want Rudy -- why didn't Kristine take him? Kristine said she didn't want him.

Over the course of these phone calls, "at first, Kristine couldn't figure the wife out," Valerie Santos says, "and then she felt more emPATHy for the woman." Kristine told Suzana Riordan that she tried to assure Rochelle (in Suzana's words): "The pregnancy won't affect your life together or any children you have; I don't want to hurt your relationship; I just need a few things from him." According to what Kristine told friends, Rochelle seemed to pour her heart out to Kristine: describing the wedding (it may have been through Rochelle that Kristine determined the approximate date), musing about an old boyfriend. (Rochelle Persaud was called at her office for a response. Told New York was doing an article about Kristine Kupka's disappearance, she abruptly said, "I don't know anything about it!" When asked whether she had placed calls to Kristine, she angrily said, "I cannot talk to you right now! You called my job; don't you ever call back!" and hung up.)