When asked to recall Chandra, however, Condit grew intense. He couldn't remember how often Levy visited his office, but he said, "Chandra came into the office and we talked; that's how we got acquainted." He described her as "very nice, very smart, very interested in politics, very interested in her career," and noted how she liked to read articles on the Internet, then discuss them with him. He says she was also excited to be going home for a May 11 commencement to collect her master's degree in public administration at the University of Southern California. "She seemed totally normal," he says. "She seemed full of life."

Their last meeting, on April 24 he believes, was at his condo in Washington, shortly after she learned her job with the Bureau of Prisons had ended. "I said to her, 'If there's anything you need me to do,'" he says. Despite the job disappointment, he adds, "she was very upbeat. This is a person who was looking to the future." Afterward they talked about her plans to return to California by train. Their parting was not tearful, he says: "We were friends and the friendship was going to continue."

As to the details of their alleged affair, he was often terse and dismissive. Many of the specific items that have appeared in the press he simply denied.

Did he buy Chandra a graduation gift? "No."

Did he buy her a bracelet? "I'm not going into that."

Did he ask her to not carry an ID or to get off his condo's elevator at a different floor so no one would know they were together? "No."

Did she ever tell him she was pregnant? "No."

Did he have a vasectomy? "No."

Condit bridled when queried about the repeated suggestions by Susan and Bob Levy, who declined to comment for this article, that he is withholding information about their daughter's disappearance. "I have children, and I can't think of anything that would be worse, so I feel for them," he said. "My heart aches for them every day. But you know what? They don't have any reason to be suspicious of me. I would never do anything to harm Chandra. And I think it's unfair when they make reference to maybe I had something to do with the disappearance. It's not correct. Next to them and their family," he added, "I'm probably hoping to find Chandra more than anyone else."