REDWOOD CITY, Calif. (AP)- Quizzed by his lover about the disappearance of his wife, Scott Peterson told her in a recorded phone conversation played in court Tuesday that that “I could never do anything like this.”

The conversation was played as jurors began a fifth day of listening to recorded telephone calls between Peterson and Amber Frey in the weeks after Peterson’s wife, Laci, disappeared in December 2002.

Defense attorneys were poised to cross-examine Frey, who made the recordings at the request of police, as early as Tuesday afternoon.

In the tapes, from mid January 2003, Peterson often sounded apologetic for lying to Frey about being married, but he also was evasive.

Peterson expresses frustration that Laci’s family “is accusing me of having something to do with it now.”

Amber replies angrily that she was even questioned by a detective about her whereabouts the day Laci vanished.

“How could I not possibly think you have something to do with this, Scott?” Amber asks.

“The only way is that you know me well enough to know I could never do anything like this,” Peterson replies. “Amber, it just hurts so bad for you to think I could have something to do with this.”

Peterson then expresses remorse for having gotten involved with Frey and constantly apologizes, calling her “such a wonderful person.”

On Monday, jurors heard Frey pressing Peterson on how she could ever trust him, and him replying: “I can only hope that that’s a possibility.”

“I’m not an evil guy,” Peterson said. “I lied to you … but I’m not an evil person.”

Prosecutors allege Peterson killed his wife in their Modesto home on or around Dec. 24, 2002, then drove to San Francisco Bay and dumped her weighted body from a small boat he had purchased weeks earlier. The decomposed remains of Laci Peterson and the couple’s fetus washed ashore in April 2003, not far from where Peterson said he launched a solo fishing trip the day she vanished.

His attorneys claim he was framed after the real killer learned of his widely publicized alibi. They acknowledge his affair with Frey but said that being a “cad” doesn’t make him a killer.

Authorities hope to show jurors that Peterson’s motive for killing his wife and their unborn child was to be with Frey.

Frey has testified that she called police after discovering her lover was not only married, but suspected in the disappearance of his pregnant wife. Officers asked her to record Peterson’s calls.

At one point, as Frey presses him about hiding the affair, Peterson appears to accuse her of being involved in Laci’s disappearance.

“You know, Scott, when people find out (about the affair), and they will, no one will think your behavior is innocent,” Frey says.

“I had nothing to do with this … and I just, you know, I hope that you … are not … involved to any degree,” Peterson replies.

“How … back up! … Back up to that statement,” Frey says angrily.

Peterson backtracks.

“What I mean by that is obviously you’re not involved … but I mean I don’t want … you to have any repercussions from people,” Peterson says.

Frey pressed Peterson for answers on the tapes, interrogating him about what he and Laci had done the day before she vanished.

Peterson said they ate pizza and watched a movie, “The Rookie,” before going to sleep.

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