the info.”
Kade studied Zac before he said, “That hurt.”
Zac blew out a breath. “You have no fucking idea,” he said, and started for the door.
When we reached the gala, Zac was all business. My head was in the game, but looking around at the museum, where the gala was being held, all the beautiful people, I wanted to mingle, too. Maybe after, we could.
“We need to draw her from the crowd,” Zac said. “Any thoughts?”
“I’ll bring her to you,” Kade offered.
He didn’t wait around for a reply before he disappeared.
“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I kind of get the appeal,” Zac said.
I’d just taken a sip of my champagne. It almost came out of my nose. “Warn me next time.”
He chuckled. A few minutes later, a woman approached us. “Your presence is requested in the Chloe room. Out those doors, second exhibit on the right.”
Zac glanced down at me when the woman disappeared. “He’s good.”
We entered the room that still had people mingling, but the noise level was manageable. I spotted Kade, immediately, in the corner with an elderly woman, early seventies. Camilla Mulroney was dressed in a long black gown that hugged her figure, and she still had a hell of one. Her gray hair was swept off her face and small diamonds hung from her ears.
We approached, and Kade made the introductions before Zac took point.
“We’re sorry to ambush you, but we wondered if we could ask you a few questions about a patient you tended.”
Camilla knew immediately. “Katrina Dent.”
“Yes.”
She looked a little nervous, but she surprised us when she said, “What would you like to know?”
“She was pregnant,” Zac said.
“Yes, she came to us before she started showing. Stayed with us for the duration of the pregnancy. I’d never seen someone so excited about having a baby, and I worked in the maternity ward.”
“Did she admit herself?”
“Her fiancé did.” It was her tone that revealed she wasn’t a fan of his. “For someone so highhanded, he didn’t come around very often. Katrina was exhausted when she joined us, but for those seven months, she was happy, rested and so excited to be a mom.”
“But she wasn’t,” Zac said.
“No. I’ll never forget that day. They didn’t even tell her. She needed a C–section, and they took her baby before she woke from the anesthesia. She never got to see her baby.”
“Oh my god,” I whispered.
Her gaze turned to me. “It was the most heartbreaking scene, but as soon as she recovered, he had her checked out and back to work.” Anger was in her tone now.
“Why would she go back to work?” I asked. “Why agree when he did something so heinous?”
“To be honest, I think it was fear. She wasn’t going back. She was leaving him, leaving the business, but he came to her one day, and whatever he said, she was packed the next day.”
“So he was blackmailing her,” Zac said, not hiding his anger.
“That would be my guess.”
“Has anyone found you since?” I asked. “Looking for information on Katrina?”
“I would have thought so, but, no, not one person until a few years ago. Some reporter found me.”
“Frank Harris?” Zac asked.
“Yes, that’s him.” She sobered. “I never believed she killed herself. Even with everything she’d been through, she had a thirst for life. I’ve always thought it was a crime that whoever killed her got away with it.”
“Well, we’re hoping to fix that,” I said.
“I hope you do.”
“Thank you for your time,” I said then asked, “Do you know what happened to the baby?”
“No. I never even knew if it was a boy or girl before they were whisked away.”
“Any thoughts on the father?”
“No, I just know it wasn’t her fiancé’s. That was a relationship in name only.”
I paced in front of my desk, still wearing my gown from the gala. Zac had taken off his tie. It was almost midnight, but we were compiling a list. Kade had dropped us off, demanded I call him when I was ready to be picked up. He understood, didn’t push, gave me what I needed. I liked to think I did the same for him. He said it couldn’t work, but we did work.
Zac was at the board, as we brainstormed the baby daddy. “Milton, Mitch, Russell, they all could have been the father.”
I settled on the edge of my desk. “Mitch was her childhood friend, but he didn’t mention the baby. I think he would have if he’d known. And I didn’t get lover from