“The first time we had sex together, Cindy told me she always insisted on using protection with every client. No exceptions. She even brought her own condoms in case the guy wasn’t carrying. But she reluctantly changed her mind when I offered her more than double. Five hundred bucks to ride bareback, so to speak. I assumed she was using birth control. I guess I assumed wrong.”

“Amy wanted to keep the baby?”

“Not at first. We agreed a termination would be the best option for everyone involved. I gave her the cash, said I’d wait outside in the clinic’s parking lot. You know, be there for her if she needed some support.”

“What happened?”

“Cindy couldn’t go through with the abortion. She was tearful, almost hysterical. We went for a coffee, and once she’d calmed down, she told me she’d thought of another option. She’d take a semester off college for ‘personal reasons,’ go away and have the baby, and put it up for adoption after it was born. But she needed me to provide the cash for an apartment and living costs until the baby arrived. It was a terrible plan. I mean, what if she demanded even more money to buy her silence? Or the kid tracked me down one day? Hell, what if Cindy decided to keep the baby?”

“What did you do?” Pryce asked.

“I told her to forget it, that her plan was a nonstarter. Then, and I’m ashamed to admit it now, I left her sitting there in the coffee shop. I had no intention of ever seeing her again. Or so I thought. The next day, she showed up at my place of work, yelling all sorts of stuff about taking responsibility for my actions. She must have gone through my wallet while I showered after sex and discovered my real name and the address of my law firm. I panicked and told Catherine everything. She said she’d take care of the problem. Then she told me to pack my bags. This was a few weeks ago.”

A cold chill washed over Pryce. “And you had no idea what she meant by ‘taking care of the problem’?” he asked.

Fenton’s eyes widened. “God, no. Absolutely not. I assumed she would speak to the girl, persuade her to have the abortion. Catherine always was very persuasive.”

“How did she know where to find Amy?”

Fenton took a long drink of whiskey before answering.