Chapter 3 - The Interrogation Room
Two hours later, the glittering retirement party was nothing but a crime scene.
Luke and I sat in a sterile, windowless room at the local FBI field office.
I was clutching a styrofoam cup of lukewarm coffee, but my hands were shaking too badly to drink it.
Agent Harris walked in and dropped a massive stack of folders onto the metal table.
"Your father and sister are currently in separate holding cells," he informed us, taking a seat across from me.
"Dr. Evans has agreed to full cooperation in exchange for a recommendation of leniency."
"I don't care about their sentences right now," I said, my voice hoarse from crying.
"I want to know exactly what happened to my body."
Agent Harris opened the top folder and slid a piece of paper toward me.
It was a detailed medical log, heavily redacted but clear enough to read.
"Over the course of your four treatments, Dr. Evans harvested a total of twenty-two viable eggs," Harris explained gently.
"He told you that most of them failed to fertilize or were non-viable."
"That was a lie."
Luke gripped the edge of the table so tightly the metal creaked.
"Fourteen of them were perfectly healthy," the agent continued.
"They were fertilized with your husband's sperm, which the clinic also had on file."
"Natalie marketed you as a premium donor couple."
"She sold eight of those embryos for upwards of two hundred thousand dollars each."
I closed my eyes as a fresh wave of nausea washed over me.
"Are there children?" Luke asked, asking the terrifying question I couldn't bring myself to voice.
"Did any of the transfers result in a live birth?"
Agent Harris hesitated, shuffling the papers slightly before looking back at us.
"Yes," he finally answered.
The single word struck me like a physical blow to the chest.
"According to the clinic's clandestine records, there was one successful term pregnancy."
"You have a biological daughter, Grace."
"She is currently fourteen months old."
I couldn't breathe.
The room seemed to shrink, the walls closing in as the magnitude of the betrayal settled over me.
While I was grieving the loss of my chance to be a mother, a piece of me was living out in the world.
"Who has her?" I demanded, standing up from my chair.
"We need the names immediately."
Agent Harris shook his head slowly.
"I cannot release that information yet."
"The buyers believed they were participating in a legal, anonymous donor program."
"They are considered victims of fraud as well."
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"I am an attorney, Agent Harris," I fired back, my shock rapidly transforming into burning anger.
"I will subpoena every single record in that clinic if you don't tell me where my child is."
