“As a matter of fact, that’s what caused Donatti to snap. He thought she had aborted his baby. It turned out she was paying for her half sister’s abortion.”

“So, they’ve been trying or…”

“Who knows? He obviously didn’t want her having an abortion.” Decker thought a moment. “Terry was going to rent a house in Beverly Hills. She got Donatti to agree to pay for her living arrangement even though he was probably not going to live there.”

“And her controlling hit-man husband agreed to that?”

“Chris was feeling contrite.” Decker smoothed his mustache. “Terry did make a strong point of telling him that he’d have the key and that he could come whenever he wanted. She implied that they would still share a bedroom when he was in town.”

“So she was probably on birth control if their relationship was ongoing.”

“Or she wanted Chris and me to believe that it was ongoing.”

“You think she was scamming you?”

“No, not scamming me. Maybe she was trying to convince people like me that something happened to her. Maybe she’s been planning this, she knew she was never going to see Chris Donatti again, and she threw away her birth control.”

“And you think she’d just get up and leave without her kid?”

“Yeah, that’s the rub, and it’s a big one. It’s certainly possible that Donatti came back and got her.”

“Got her? Like offed her?”

“Maybe. I don’t know. He seemed okay with her renting the house when I was around, but it could have been an act.” He glanced around the room. “If Terry left the hotel with Chris, she didn’t leave me any signs that she left in distress.”

“Do you think he could kill her here and not transfer any kind of evidence?”

“Usually something is left behind, but he’s…good at what he does. Marge and I examined the carpets, the walls, the baseboards, the shoe moldings. We scoured the bathrooms and sinks and tub drain. We didn’t find even a hint of blood. Nor did we find any evidence that someone had cleaned up. No smells of disinfectant, no towels missing, no used boxes of Kleenexes.”

“Her car is gone,” Eliza said. “If she disappeared for good—as in dead—she might have left behind her birth control.”

“Yeah, she could have run off with another man. Donatti pretty much stalked her, so I don’t know how she’d develop a relationship.”

“But even the most diligent stalker isn’t there all the time. What does her son have to say about that?”

“He seems genuinely perplexed by her disappearance. Maybe she didn’t tell him her plans.”

“Or there were no plans,” Eliza said. “Donatti came back and murdered her.”