Chương 9
I stared at Dana."Mislabeled how?""According to the complaint, handwritten identifiers on several cryogenic storage sleeves did not match the electronic inventory.""Several.""That's the word used.""And the clinic knew?""Management was notified.""When?""Three years ago."I set the children's book on the edge of Dana's desk."What did they do?""An internal audit.""And?""The matter was reported as resolved.""Apparently not.""Apparently not."Dana sat and motioned toward the chair across from her.I remained standing."Who was the embryologist?""Her name is Dr. Renee Calder.""Does she still work there?""No.""Why not?"Dana looked down at her notes."She resigned six months after raising the issue.""Resigned or was pushed out?""I don't know.""Can we talk to her?""Possibly.""Today?""Marcus.""What?""You need to stop treating this like something you can force into resolution by five o'clock."I finally sat."There's a baby coming in nine weeks.""Approximately.""That's a deadline.""I understand.""No, I don't think anybody understands."Dana took off her glasses and cleaned them with a cloth from her desk drawer.It was such a calm little action that I resented her for it."My wife could be carrying another couple's child.""Yes.""And another woman could have carried ours."Dana put her glasses back on."That is possible."The room went cold despite the vent blowing warm air near my feet.I had been focused so completely on the baby inside Alina that I had not followed the mistake in the other direction."Our embryo."Dana nodded."There were two.""One was supposedly transferred.""Yes.""And one is still stored.""According to the records."I heard the qualifier."According to the records.""Correct.""So we don't actually know.""No."I stood again."I need to call Alina."Dana pointed at the chair."Sit.""Dana.""Sit down for thirty seconds."I did, mostly because I was afraid of what I would do if I kept moving."If you call her right now, what are you going to say?""The truth.""Which part?""All of it.""Do you have all of it?"I stared at her.She leaned forward."You have a former employee's allegation from three years ago, a regulatory file that apparently did not substantiate embryo transfer errors, and a current clinic notice about documentation inconsistencies.""That's enough.""Enough to investigate.""Enough to tell her.""Yes, but not enough to tell her the nightmare your mind just built is a fact."I rubbed both hands over my face.Dana waited until I lowered them."You can tell her what we learned.""I will.""Calmly.""I am calm."She looked at me."You're holding your car keys hard enough to brand your palm."I opened my hand.Four little metal impressions crossed the skin.I put the keys on her desk."What do we do?""I would recommend independent counsel regarding the clinic issue.""You're my lawyer.""I'm your divorce lawyer.""Law is law.""No."Her answer was so immediate that I almost smiled."I can coordinate, but reproductive negligence and parentage issues require someone who does this work.""Do you know someone?""Yes.""Good.""Before that, I want copies of every consent form you and Alina signed when the embryos were created and stored.""I don't have them.""The clinic will.""The clinic that may have mislabeled embryos.""The documents still matter."I stared at the clinic letter."Can they destroy anything?""Now?""Yes.""They would be extraordinarily foolish.""That wasn't my question."Dana folded her hands."We can send a preservation demand today.""Do it.""I need Alina's counsel involved.""Call Priya.""I will.""Now.""Marcus.""Sorry."She gave me a tired look."You are going to make the next two months very long.""They were already long."She picked up her phone.Priya answered on the second ring.Dana put her on speaker."We found something in the clinic's regulatory history."Priya's voice sharpened."What?"Dana explained the prior embryologist complaint without embellishment.There was silence when she finished.Then Priya said, "Does Marcus know?""I'm sitting here.""Of course you are."I almost objected to her tone and decided I had earned it somewhere."Has Alina been told?""No," Dana said."I'll call her.""I want to tell her," I said.Priya was quiet for a moment."Why?""Because she should hear it from me.""That isn't a legal reason.""No."Dana watched me.Priya said, "All right."I had expected resistance.The lack of it made me suspicious."Just all right?""Marcus, I represent Alina.""I know.""Which means I have watched her spend months receiving significant information about her own pregnancy from medical professionals and lawyers."Her voice softened a fraction."If her husband wants to be the person who tells her something difficult, I'm not going to prevent that."I looked at Dana's desk."Thank you.""Don't make me regret it.""I'll try."Priya and Dana agreed to draft a joint preservation letter to the clinic and notify its counsel that neither Alina nor I would sign additional releases or settlement documents without representation.When the call ended, Dana gave me the name of a reproductive-law attorney, Katherine Shaw."Call her after you talk to Alina."I picked up my keys.Then I picked up the children's book.Dana noticed."You're carrying that around now?""It's borrowed.""Of course."I left her office and called Alina from the parking garage.She answered on the third ring."Everything okay?"That question used to irritate me because it usually meant something wasn't.This time I was simply grateful to hear her voice."I found out something."A pause."About the clinic?""Yeah.""Bad?""Not good."Another pause."Can you come back?"The invitation surprised me."To the house?""Yes.""I can.""I don't want to do this over the phone.""Neither do I."When I arrived, her mother's car was parked outside.I almost stayed in mine.Then the front door opened and my mother-in-law stepped onto the porch carrying an empty casserole dish.Linda had always been small, but she seemed smaller than I remembered.Her silver hair was pulled into a loose knot.She saw me and stopped."Well.""Hi, Linda."She came down one step.Then another.I braced myself for anger.Instead she slapped my arm with the casserole dish.Not hard.Still enough to make a hollow plastic thump."What was that for?""You know.""Probably.""Don't say probably to me."I almost laughed at the coincidence of the word.She pointed the dish at my chest."Your father-in-law had a stroke.""I found out today.""I called you.""Old work number.""Then your work should have forwarded it.""They didn't.""Idiots.""Agreed."She looked at me for a long second."You look terrible.""Thanks.""Have you been eating?""Your daughter is seven months pregnant and you ask if I've been eating?""I can worry about two things."That sounded so much like Alina that my throat tightened.Linda's expression softened."She told me you know.""I know some things.""Be careful with her.""I will.""I mean emotionally.""I understood.""No, you usually understand instructions as criticism."I stared at her.She stared back."Fair."She nodded once, satisfied.Then she hugged me.I stood stiffly for the first second because I had forgotten I was still allowed.Then I hugged her back.She smelled like hand cream and onions."You two made a spectacular mess," she whispered."Yeah.""Try not to make it worse because you're scared."She released me before I could answer.Then she walked toward her car as though she had not just reduced fourteen years of marriage to one accurate sentence.Alina was in the kitchen when I entered.She had changed into sweatpants and an old university sweatshirt.Seeing her dressed normally somehow made the pregnancy look larger."Mom hit you?""You saw?""I heard the casserole dish.""She has a distinctive technique.""She likes you.""Terrifying way to show it."Alina pointed toward the table."Sit."I did.She sat opposite me.The Thai-food night entered the room again without either of us naming it."What happened?"I told her exactly what Dana had learned.No theories.No imagined missing children.Just the complaint, the mismatched identifiers, the internal audit, and Dr. Calder's resignation.Alina listened without interrupting.When I finished, she looked at the refrigerator.There were three ultrasound pictures held there with a magnet shaped like a taco.I had not noticed them earlier."Three years ago.""Yes.""And our embryos were stored there then.""Yes."She stood and walked to the sink."Both of them.""Yes."She gripped the counter.I rose."Alina.""Don't."I stopped.Her shoulders moved with one slow breath."They told us the storage system was secure.""I know.""They charged us every year.""I know.""Six hundred dollars.""Seven twenty the last year."She turned."That's what you remember?""It went up."A laugh escaped her and became something close to a sob.She covered her face.I crossed the kitchen before I could overthink it.My hand touched her shoulder.She did not pull away."What if ours is gone?"The question came through her fingers."I don't know.""What if somebody else had our baby?""I don't know.""What if they don't even know?""I don't know.""I hate that answer.""So do I."She lowered her hands.Her face was wet."Why didn't they tell anyone three years ago?""Dana doesn't know if there was anything confirmed.""That's lawyer language.""Yes.""I hate lawyer language too.""That makes three of us."She wiped her cheeks with the sleeve of her sweatshirt."What happens now?""Dana and Priya are sending a preservation demand.""What does that do?""Tells the clinic not to destroy records or relevant materials."Her eyes changed."Materials.""I know.""Our embryo is a material.""Legally, maybe.""Don't.""Sorry."She sat again.I remained standing because sitting felt impossible."Dana wants us to get a lawyer who handles reproductive cases.""Another lawyer.""Apparently divorce wasn't expensive enough."Alina gave me a look."That was almost funny.""I'll take almost."My phone buzzed.I expected Dana.It was Evan.Call me now.I ignored it.It buzzed again.Seriously.I answered."What?""Where are you?""With Alina.""Put me on speaker.""No.""Marcus."Something in his voice changed my mind.I tapped the speaker button and set the phone on the table."You're on.""Alina there?""Yes," she said."Hi, Evan.""Hey."He sounded breathless."What happened?""I called Leah after we talked."I glanced at Alina."So?""She remembered something."The room seemed to contract."About what?""The clinic."Alina leaned toward the phone."How would Leah know anything about the clinic?""She doesn't exactly.""Evan.""I'm getting there."He breathed."Two years ago, Leah's cousin Rachel did IVF there."Alina's fingers went still.I knew Rachel vaguely.Christmas parties.A backyard graduation.Red hair and a loud laugh."What about her?"Evan hesitated."Her first cycle was canceled because the clinic said one of her stored embryos had an identification problem."Alina stared at the phone."What kind of identification problem?""They told her a barcode was damaged.""Did they transfer anything?""No.""Does she still have records?""Leah's calling her."I looked at Alina.Her face had gone pale.Then Evan said, "There's something else."I closed my eyes."Of course there is.""Rachel remembered the name of the embryologist who met with her afterward."Alina's hand found mine on the table.Evan continued."It was Renee Calder."
