“Lady…”
Honey slammed down the receiver. With shaking fingers, she dialed the hospital. “Dr. T…Taylor.” Her voice was an agonized whisper.
“One moment, please.”
Honey gripped the telephone and waited two minutes before she heard Paige’s voice. “Dr. Taylor.”
“Paige! You…you’ve got to come home right away!”
“Honey? What’s happened?”
“Kat’s…dead.”
“What?” Paige’s voice was filled with disbelief. “How?”
“It…it looks like she tried to abort herself.”
“Oh, my God! All right. Ill be there as soon as I can.”
By the time Paige arrived at the apartment, there were two policemen, a detective, and a medical examiner there. Honey was in her bedroom, heavily sedated. The medical examiner was leaning over Kat’s naked body. A detective looked up as Paige entered the bloody bathroom.
“Who are you?”
Paige was staring at the lifeless body. Her face was pale. “I’m Dr. Taylor. I live here.”
“Maybe you can help me. I’m Inspector Burns. I was trying to talk to the other lady who lives here. She’s hysterical. The doctor gave her a sedative.”
Paige looked away from the awful sight on the floor. “What…what do you want to know?”
“She lived here?”
“Yes.”
I’m going to have Ken’s baby. How good can it get?
“It looks like she tried to get rid of the kid, and messed it up,” the detective said.
Paige stood there, her mind spinning. When she spoke, she said, “I don’t believe it.”
Inspector Burns studied her a moment. “Why don’t you believe it, doctor?”
“She wanted that baby.” She was beginning to think clearly again. “The father didn’t want it.”
“The father?”
“Dr. Ken Mallory. He works at Embarcadero County Hospital. He didn’t want to marry her. Look, Kat is—was”—it was so painful to say was—“a doctor. If she had wanted to have an abortion, there’s no way she would try to do it herself in a bathroom.” Paige shook her head. “There’s something wrong.”
The medical examiner rose from beside the body. “Maybe she tried it herself because she didn’t want anyone else to know about the baby.”
“That’s not true. She told us about it.”
Inspector Burns was watching Paige. “Was she alone here this evening?”
“No. She had a date with Dr. Mallory.”
Ken Mallory was in bed, carefully going over the events of the evening. He replayed every step of the way, making sure there were no loose ends. Perfect, he decided. He lay in bed, wondering why it was taking the police so long, and even as he was thinking it, the doorbell rang. Mallory let it ring three times, then got up, put on a robe over his pajamas, and went into the living room.
He stood in front of the door. “Who’s there?” He sounded sleepy.
A voice said, “Dr. Mallory?”
“Yes.”
“Inspector Burns. San Francisco Police Department.”
“Police Department?” There was just the right note of surprise in his voice. Mallory opened the door.
The man standing in the hall showed his badge. “May I come in?”
“Yes. What’s this all about?”
“Do you know a Dr. Hunter?”
“Of course I do.” A look of alarm crossed his face. “Has something happened to Kat?”
“Were you with her earlier this evening?”
“Yes. My God! Tell me what’s happened! Is she all right?”
“I’m afraid I have some bad news. Dr. Hunter is dead.”
“Dead? I can’t believe it. How?”
“Apparently she tried to perform an abortion on herself and it went wrong.”
“Oh, my God!” Mallory said. He sank into a chair. “It’s my fault.”
The inspector was watching him closely. “Your fault?”
“Yes. I…Dr. Hunter and I were going to be married. I told her I didn’t think it was a good idea for her to have a baby now. I wanted to wait, and she agreed. I suggested she go to the hospital and have them take care of it, but she must have decided to…I…I can’t believe it.”
“What time did you leave Dr. Hunter?”
“It must have been about ten o’clock. I dropped her off at her apartment and left.”
“You didn’t go into the apartment?”
“No.”
“Did Dr. Hunter talk about what she planned to do?”
“You mean about the…? No. Not a word.”