Nothing Lasts Forever (23 page)

“A
re you all right, Ken?” Lauren asked. “You seem tense, darling.”

They were alone in the huge Harrison library. A maid and a butler had served a six-course dinner, and during dinner he and Alex Harrison—
Call me Alex
—had chatted about Mallory’s brilliant future.

“Why are you tense?”

Because this pregnant black bitch expects me to marry her. Because any minute word is going to leak out about our engagement and she’ll hear about it and blow the whistle. Because my whole future could be destroyed.

He took Lauren’s hand in his. “I guess I’m working too hard. My patients aren’t just patients to me, Lauren. They’re people in trouble, and I can’t help worrying about them.”

She stroked his face. “That’s one of the things I love about you, Ken. You’re so caring.”

“I guess I was brought up that way.”

“Oh, I forgot to tell you. The society editor of the
Chronicle
and a photographer are coming here Monday to do an interview.”

It was like a blow to the pit of his stomach.

“Is there any chance you could be here with me, darling? They want a picture of you.”

“I…I wish I could, but I have a busy day scheduled at the hospital.” His mind was racing. “Lauren, do you think it’s a good idea to do an interview now? I mean, shouldn’t we wait until…?”

Lauren laughed. “You don’t know the press, darling. They’re like bloodhounds. No, it’s much better to get it over with now.”

Monday!

The following morning, Mallory tracked down Kat in a utility room. She looked tired and haggard. She had no makeup on and her hair was uncurled.
Lauren would never let herself go like that,
Mallory thought.

“Hi, honey!”

Kat did not answer.

Mallory took her in his arms. “I’ve been thinking a lot about us, Kat. I didn’t sleep at all last night. There’s no one else for me. You were right, and I was wrong. I guess the news came as kind of a shock to me. I want you to have our baby.” He watched the sudden glow on Kat’s face.

“Do you really mean that, Ken?”

“You bet I do.”

She put her arms around him. “Thank God! Oh, darling. I was so worried. I don’t know what I would do without you.”

“You don’t have to worry about that. From now on, everything is going to be wonderful.”
You’ll never know
how wonderful.
“Look, I have Sunday night off. Are you free?”

She grasped his hand. “I’ll make myself free.”

“Great! We’ll have a nice quiet dinner and then we’ll go back to your place for a nightcap. Do you think you can get rid of Paige and Honey? I want us to be alone.”

Kat smiled. “No problem. You don’t know how happy you’ve made me. Did I ever tell you how much I love you?”

“I love you, too. I’ll show you how much Sunday night.”

Thinking it over, Mallory decided it was a foolproof plan. He had worked it out to the smallest detail. There was no way Kat’s death could ever be blamed on him.

It was too risky to get what he needed from the hospital pharmacy because security had been tightened there after the Bowman affair. Instead, early Sunday morning, Mallory went looking for a pharmacy far away from the neighborhood where he lived. Most of them were closed on Sunday, and he went to half a dozen before he found one that was open.

The pharmacist behind the counter said, “Morning. Can I help you?”

“Yes. I’m going to see a patient in this area, and I want to take a prescription to him.” He pulled out his prescription pad and wrote on it.

The pharmacist smiled. “Not many doctors make house calls these days.”

“I know. It’s a pity, isn’t it? People just don’t care anymore.” He handed the slip of paper to the pharmacist.

The pharmacist looked at it and nodded. “This will only take a few minutes.”

“Thank you.”

Step one.

That afternoon, Mallory made a stop at the hospital. He was there no more than ten minutes, and when he left, he was carrying a small package.

Step two.

Mallory had arranged to meet Kat at Trader Vic’s for dinner, and he was waiting for her when she arrived. He watched her walking toward the table and thought,
It’s the Last Supper, bitch.

He rose and gave her a warm smile. “Hello, doll. You look beautiful.” And he had to admit that she did. She looked sensational.
She could have been a model. And she’s great in bed. All she lacks,
Ken thought,
is about twenty million dollars, give or take a few million.

Kat was aware again of how the other women in the restaurant were eyeing Ken, envying her. But he only had eyes for her. He was the old Ken, warm and attentive.

“How was your day?” Ken asked.

She sighed. “Busy. Three operations in the morning and two this afternoon.” She leaned forward. “I know it’s too early, but I swear I could feel the baby kicking when I was getting dressed.”

Mallory smiled. “Maybe it wants to get out.”

“We should do an ultrasound test and find out if it’s a boy or a girl. Then I can start buying clothes for it.”

“Great idea.”

“Ken, can we set a wedding date? I’d like to have our wedding as soon as possible.”

“No problem,” Mallory said easily. “We can apply for a license next week.”

“That’s wonderful!” She had a sudden thought. “Maybe we could get a few days off and go somewhere on our honeymoon. Somewhere not too far away—up to Oregon or Washington.”

Wrong, baby. I’ll be honeymooning in June, on my yacht on the French Riviera.

“That sounds great. I’ll talk to Wallace.”

Kat squeezed his hand. “Thank you,” she said huskily. “I’m going to make you the best wife in the whole world.”

“I’m sure of it.” Mallory smiled. “Now eat your vegetables. We want the baby to be healthy, don’t we?”

They left the restaurant at 9:00
P.M.
As they approached Kat’s apartment building, Mallory said, “Are you sure Paige and Honey won’t be home?”

“I made sure,” Kat said. “Paige is at the hospital, on call, and I told Honey you and I wanted to be alone here.”

Shit!

She saw the expression on his face. “Is anything wrong?”

“No, baby. I told you, I just like our private times to be private.”
I’ll have to be careful,
he thought.
Very careful.
“Let’s hurry.”

His impatience warmed Kat.

Inside the apartment, Mallory said, “Let’s go into the bedroom.”

Kat grinned. “That sounds like a great idea.”

Mallory watched Kat undress, and he thought,
She still has a great figure. A baby would ruin it.

“Aren’t you going to get undressed, Ken?”

“Of course.” He remembered the time she had gotten him to undress and then walked out on him. Well, now she was going to pay for that.

He took his clothes off slowly.
Can I perform?
he wondered. He was almost trembling with nervousness.
What I’m going to do is her fault. Not mine. I gave her a chance to back out and she was too stupid to take it.

He slipped into bed beside her and felt her warm body against his. They began to stroke each other, and he felt himself getting aroused. He entered her and she began to moan.

“Oh, darling…it feels so wonderful…” She began to move faster and faster. “Yes…yes…oh, my God!…don’t stop…” And her body began to jerk spasmodically, and she shuddered and then lay still in his arms.

She turned to him anxiously. “Did you…?”

“Of course,” Mallory lied. He was much too tense. “How about a drink?”

“No. I shouldn’t. The baby…”

“But this is a celebration, honey. One little drink isn’t going to hurt.”

Kat hesitated. “All right. A small one.” Kat started to get up.

Mallory stopped her. “No, no. You stay in bed, Mama. You have to get used to being pampered.”

Kat watched Mallory as he walked into the living room and she thought,
I’m the luckiest woman in the world!

Mallory walked over to the little bar and poured scotch into two glasses. He glanced toward the bedroom to make sure he could not be seen, then went over to the
couch, where he had placed his jacket. He took a small bottle from his pocket and poured the contents into Kat’s drink. He returned to the bar and stirred Kat’s drink and smelled it. There was no odor. He took the two glasses back to the bedroom, and handed Kat her drink.

“Let’s drink a toast to our baby,” Kat said.

“Right. To our baby.”

Ken watched as Kat took a swallow of her drink.

“We’ll find a nice apartment somewhere,” Kat said dreamily. “I’ll fix up a nursery. We’re going to spoil our child rotten, aren’t we?” She took another sip.

Mallory nodded. “Absolutely.” He was watching her closely. “How do you feel?”

“Wonderful. I’ve been so worried about us, darling, but I’m not, not anymore.”

“That’s good,” Mallory said. “You have nothing to worry about.”

Kat’s eyes were getting heavy. “No,” she said. “There’s nothing to worry about.” Her words were beginning to slur. “Ken, I feel funny.” She was beginning to sway.

“You should never have gotten pregnant.”

She was staring up at him stupidly. “What?”

“You spoiled everything, Kat.”

“Spoiled…?” She was having trouble concentrating.

“You got in my way.”

“Wha’?”

“No one gets in my way.”

“Ken, I feel dizzy.”

He stood there, watching her.

“Ken…help me, Ken…” Her head fell back onto the pillow.

Mallory looked at his watch again. There was plenty of time.

I
t was Honey who arrived at the apartment first and stumbled across Kat’s mutilated body, lying in a pool of blood on the floor of the bathroom, obscenely sprawled against the cold white tiles. A bloodstained curette lay beside her. She had hemorrhaged from her womb.

Honey stood there in shock. “Oh, my God!” Her voice was a strangled whisper. She knelt beside the body and placed a trembling finger against the carotid artery. There was no pulse. Honey hurried back into the living room, picked up the telephone, and dialed 911.

A male voice said, “Nine-one-one Emergency.”

Honey stood there paralyzed, unable to speak.

“Nine-one-one Emergency…Hello…?”

“H…help! I…There’s…” She was choking over her words. “Sh…she’s dead.”

“Who is dead, miss?”

“Kat.”

“Your cat is dead?”

“No!”
Honey screamed. “
Kat’s
dead. Get someone over here right away.”

“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.”

Inspector Burns pulled out a card. “If you think of anything else that might be helpful, doctor, I’d appreciate it if you gave me a call.”

“Certainly. I…you have no idea what a shock this is.”

Paige and Honey stayed up all night, talking about what had happened to Kat, going over it and over it, in shocked disbelief.

At nine o’clock, Inspector Burns came by.

“Good morning. I wanted to tell you that I spoke to Dr. Mallory last night.”

“And?”

“He said they went out to dinner, and then he dropped her off and went home.”

“He’s lying,” Paige said. She was thinking. “Wait! Did they find any traces of semen in Kat’s body?”

“Yes, as a matter of fact.”

“Well, then,” Paige said excitedly, “that
proves
he’s lying. He did take her to bed and—”

“I went to talk to him about that this morning. He says they had sex
before
they went out to dinner.”

“Oh.” She would not give up. “His fingerprints will be on the curette he used to kill her.” Her voice was eager. “Did you find fingerprints?”

“Yes, doctor,” he said patiently. “They were hers.”

“That’s imp—Wait! Then he wore gloves, and when he was finished, he put her prints on the curette. How does that sound?”

“Like someone’s been watching too many
Murder, She Wrote
television programs.”

“You don’t believe Kat was murdered, do you?”

“I’m afraid I don’t.”

“Have they done an autopsy?”

“Yes.”

“And?”

“The medical examiner is listing it as an accidental death. Dr. Mallory told me she decided not to have the baby, so apparently she—”

“Went into the bathroom and butchered herself?” Paige interrupted. “For God’s sake, inspector! She was a doctor, a surgeon! There’s no way in the world she would have done that to herself.”

Inspector Burns said thoughtfully, “You think Mallory persuaded her to have an abortion, and tried to help her, and then left when it went wrong?”

Paige shook her head. “No. It couldn’t have happened that way. Kat would never have agreed. He deliberately murdered her.” She was thinking out loud. “Kat was strong. She would have had to be unconscious for him to…to do what he did.”

“The autopsy showed no signs of any blows or anything that would have caused her to become unconscious. No bruises on her throat…”

“Were there any traces of sleeping pills or…?”

“Nothing.” He saw the expression on Paige’s face. “This doesn’t look to me like a murder. I think Dr. Hunter made an error in judgment, and…I’m sorry.”

She watched him start toward the door. “Wait!” Paige said. “You have a motive.”

He turned. “Not really. Mallory says she agreed to have the abortion. That doesn’t leave us much, does it?”

“It leaves you with a murder,” Paige said stubbornly.

“Doctor, what we
don’t
have is any evidence. It’s his word against the victim’s, and she’s dead. I’m really sorry.”

Paige watched him leave.

I’m not going to let Ken Mallory get away with it,
she thought despairingly.

Jason came by to see Paige. “I heard what happened,” he said. “I can’t believe it! How could she have done that to herself?”

“She didn’t,” Paige said. “She was murdered.” She told Jason about her conversation with Inspector Burns. “The police aren’t going to do anything about it. They think it was an accident. Jason, it’s my fault that Kat is dead.”

“Your fault?”

“I’m the one who persuaded her to go out with Mallory in the first place. She didn’t want to. It started out as a silly joke, and then she…she fell in love with him. Oh, Jason!”

“You can’t blame yourself for that,” he said firmly.

Paige looked around in despair. “I can’t live in this apartment anymore. I have to get out of here.”

Jason took her in his arms. “Let’s get married right away.”

“It’s too soon. I mean, Kat isn’t even…”

“I know. We’ll wait a week or two.”

“All right.”

“I love you, Paige.”

“I love you, too, darling. Isn’t it stupid? I feel guilty because Kat and I both fell in love, and she’s dead and I’m alive.”

The photograph appeared on the front page of the
San Francisco Chronicle
on Tuesday. It showed a smiling
Ken Mallory with his arm around Lauren Harrison. The caption read: “Heiress to Wed Doctor.”

Paige stared at it in disbelief. Kat had been dead for only two days, and Ken Mallory was announcing his engagement to another woman! All the time he had been promising to marry Kat, he had been planning to marry someone else.
That’s why he killed Kat. To get her out of the way!

Paige picked up the telephone and dialed police headquarters.

“Inspector Burns, please.”

A moment later, she was talking to the inspector.

“This is Dr. Taylor.”

“Yes, doctor.”

“Have you seen the photograph in this morning’s
Chronicle
?”

“Yes.”

“Well, there’s your motive!” Paige exclaimed. “Ken Mallory had to shut Kat up before Lauren Harrison found out about her. You’ve got to arrest Mallory.” She was almost yelling into the telephone.

“Wait a minute. Calm down, doctor. We may have a motive, but I told you, we don’t have a shred of evidence. You said yourself that Dr. Hunter would have had to be unconscious before Mallory could perform an abortion on her. After I spoke to you, I talked to our forensic pathologist again. There was no sign of any kind of blow that could have caused unconsciousness.”

“Then he must have given her a sedative,” Paige said stubbornly. “Probably chloral hydrate. It’s fast-acting and—”

Inspector Burns said patiently, “Doctor, there was no trace of chloral hydrate in her body. I’m sorry—I really
am—but we can’t arrest a man because he’s going to get married. Was there anything else?”

Everything else.
“No,” Paige said. She slammed down the receiver and sat there thinking.
Mallory has to have given Kat some kind of drug. The easiest place for him to have gotten it would be the hospital pharmacy.

Fifteen minutes later, Paige was on her way to Embarcadero County Hospital.

Pete Samuels, the chief pharmacist, was behind the counter. “Good morning, Dr. Taylor. How can I help you?”

“I believe Dr. Mallory came by a few days ago and picked up some medication. He told me the name of it, but I can’t remember what it was.”

Samuels frowned. “I don’t remember Dr. Mallory coming by here for at least a month.”

“Are you sure?”

Samuels nodded. “Positive. I would have remembered. We always talk football.”

Paige’s heart sank. “Thank you.”

He must have written a prescription at some other pharmacy.
Paige knew that the law required that all prescriptions for narcotics be made out in triplicate—one copy for the patient, one to be sent to the Bureau of Controlled Substances, and the third for the pharmacy’s files.

Somewhere,
Paige thought,
Ken Mallory had a prescription filled. There are probably two or three hundred pharmacies in San Francisco.
There was no way she could track down the prescription. It was likely that Mallory had gotten it just before he murdered Kat. That would have been on Saturday or Sunday.
If it was Sunday, I might have a chance,
Paige thought.
Very few pharmacies are open on Sunday. That narrows it down.

She went upstairs to the office where the assignment
sheets were kept and looked up the roster for Saturday. Dr. Ken Mallory had been on call all day, so the chances were that he had had the prescription filled on Sunday. How many pharmacies were open on Sunday in San Francisco?

Paige picked up the telephone and called the state pharmaceutical board.

“This is Dr. Taylor,” Paige said. “Last Sunday, a friend of mine left a prescription at a pharmacy. She asked me to pick it up for her, but I can’t remember the name of the pharmacy. I wonder if you could help me.”

“Well, I don’t see how, doctor. If you don’t know…”

“Most drugstores are closed on Sunday, aren’t they?”

“Yes, but…”

“I’d appreciate it if you could give me a list of those that were open.”

There was a pause. “Well, if it’s important…”

“It’s very important,” Paige assured her.

“Hold on, please.”

There were thirty-six stores on the list, spread all over the city. It would have been simple if she could have gone to the police for help, but Inspector Burns did not believe her.
Honey and I are going to have to do this ourselves,
Paige thought. She explained to Honey what she had in mind.

“It’s a real long shot, isn’t it?” Honey said. “You don’t even know if he filled the prescription on Sunday.”

“It’s the only shot we have.”
That Kat has.
“I’ll check out the ones in Richmond, the Marina, North Beach, Upper Market, Mission, and Potrero, and you check out the
Excelsior, Ingleside, Lake Merced, Western Addition, and Sunset areas.”