Fossen Delores - Covert Conception стр 7.

He didnt respond right away. Rick groaned softly and scrubbed his hands over his face. Your caterer, I think.

The fit of temper that Natalie had nourished and fed suddenly cooled. What does the caterer have to do with any of this?

Maybe nothing. Maybe everything. He paused, caught her gaze. Someone put something in my drink.

Natalie considered what he was saying. You think that someone was the caterer?

He nodded. The only thing I had to eat or drink that night was at your party.

That proves nothing.

Or did it? Because someone on the catering staff, a man, had given her a drink as well. Sparkling fruit juice. Itd had a somewhat bitter tang to it. At the time Natalie had attributed the taste to her prescription meds.

No. But the lab test I had done proves something, Rick corrected.

That captured Natalies complete attention. What lab test?

There was no sign of cockiness or victory in his stormy gray eyes. There was only frustration and yes, lots of anger and confusion. When I woke up that morning after the party, I realized I didnt have a clue how Id gotten home. My motorcycle was there, parked outside the garage, a place Id never leave it. Never. Since I felt like hell, I went to see my doctor right away. He ran some tests, and the lab found a substance in my blood.

What kind of substance? Natalie asked.

Rick shook his head. It was some kind of narcotic. My doctor had no idea what it was so he sent it out for further testing. The lab is still trying to identify it.

Natalie was so glad she was sitting down. If she hadnt been, that would have sent her in search of a chair. She felt a couple of steps past being light-headed. But she wasnt so light-headed that she didnt immediately spot an inconsistency in his account.

Why didnt you go to the police with this? Natalie demanded.

And tell them what, exactly? That maybe someone at your party slipped an unspecified narcotic into my drink? I decided Id wait for the lab results before I started pointing any fingers. Of course, that was before I saw that surveillance video. Im ready to do some

finger-pointing now.

Natalie shifted her position slightly, trying to find some kind of equilibrium both mentally and physically. Why would someone on the catering staff have drugged you?

Ive asked myself that a dozen times, and the only thing I could come up with was maybe it wasnt intentional. Maybe the beer was contaminated or something.

Then why wasnt anyone else affected? she immediately asked.

He stared at her and waited for her to draw her own conclusions. It didnt take long. Rick was likely the only person at the party drinking beer. It was indeed a champagne crowd. But then, she was probably the only one whod had sparkling fruit juice.

And that in turn meant it would have been fairly easy to drug them.

That explained the how, but it certainly didnt explain the who and why.

I dont know the caterer, she continued. And I dont know the man who handed me my drink.

But she could find out, and thats exactly what she intended to do.

Natalie checked her watch. It was nearly 6:00 p.m. and she wished for more hours in the day, because her list of things to do was growing. I want to talk to your doctor and the lab technician who ran the test on you. Ill also want to talk to my mother, since shes the one who hired the caterer. Shell be home from her therapy session by now. Ill call her.

Rick caught onto her wrist when she reached into her purse for her phone. Think this through. If you start asking questions about the caterer, your mother will want to know why. And she wont quit until she gets the truth. The whole truth. So, if you plan to tell her about the baby tonight, you wont want to do that over the phone.

That was true. Natalie only wished shed thought of it first.

Well drive over there and talk to her, Rick insisted, keeping hold of her wrist.

Natalie shook off his grip. We?

We, he confirmed. Without warning, he peeled off his damp T-shirt, grabbed a clean one from the bottom drawer of the filing cabinet and slipped it on. I want to get to the bottom of this, too, and I want as much information as we can get about this caterer.

Natalie almost argued with him. Mainly because it was natural to argue with Rick about any- and everything. But he had a point. The caterer or someone on his or her staff could have orchestrated all of this.

After all, someone had cleaned up the crime scene.

Someone had gotten both Rick and his motorcycle back to his house. Someone had dressed her for bed and discarded any evidence that anything out of the ordinary had happened. So that meant someone at her party had been involved on a very personal level. Her mother was the first step to figuring out whom.

And they could do that after they told Macy about the pregnancy.

Natalie was already dreading the conversation. It would be messy. Her mother just wasnt very good at handling contingencies, and this pregnancy definitely fell into that category. Thered be tears and perhaps hours of melodrama. Unfortunately, her mother had to know.