blue smock, and rubber-soled shoes came out, steered them to a room off the foyer, and seated them at a small table.
“So what exactly is this about?” she asked sternly.
Roy explained as much of the situation as he could.
“That’s ridiculous,” said the woman.
“Why?” asked Roy.
“This person claims he just walked in off the street and was paid two hundred dollars for a semen donation?”
“That’s right. Why is that ridiculous?”
“You don’t know much about sperm banks, do you, Mr. Kingman?”
“No, actually, I’ve never had the need to come to one before. I’ve been pretty happy with my own product.”
“That’s why we’re here,” said Mace. “To become educated.”
The woman excused herself and returned a minute later with a large stack of papers that she plopped in front of Mace and Roy.
“Let me give you the run-through of what it takes to become a semen donor,” she said, with the irritating air of a person who knows lots of things others don’t. She indicated the pages. “These are the forms one must fill out to even be considered as a donor. They’re all available online from our website as well.” She held up one form. “This is the initial donor app, which as you can see is lengthy and requires extensive medical, physical, and educational backgrounds and other pertinent information. If they pass that stage—and many do not—they are sent a second application covering three generations of family medical history.” She picked up another set of pages. “I’m referring to this one. After that comes a specimen screening. This involves a personal interview conducted on these premises and a semen evaluation. They are asked to produce three to four specimens over a two-week period. Those specimens are evaluated for quality and testing of freezing survivability.”
“Freezing survivability?” said Mace.
“I’ll get to that. Potential donors must be screened for infectious diseases of course, like HIV, syphilis, gonorrhea, hepatitis B and C, and also genetic diseases, as well as blood typing, rhesus factor, and so on. And they must undergo a general physical exam either by their own physician or ours. We expect a six-month commitment from our accepted donors and they must produce one donation per week over that period.”
“And they’re paid?” said Roy.
“Of course. People do not go through this out of the goodness of their hearts. Our compensation rates range from one to four hundred dollars per acceptable specimen. Precise individual compensation depends on semen quality and the donor’s commitment to the program.”
“How is it collected?” asked Roy. “Almost all on-site. Usually via masturbation into leakproof containers. Semen can also be removed surgically, but we don’t do that here.”
“Almost all, you said?” noted Mace.
“We sometimes do off-site collections in an emergency, but only if the collection is done at a hospital, clinic, or, in very rare cases, the person’s home. With that method we provide donors with special condoms for collection purposes. And the specimen must be transported to us within one to two hours without being exposed to extreme temperatures. Otherwise it’s not acceptable. But in the seven years I’ve been here we’ve only had two cases of off-site collection. We like to control all phases, you see.”
“And if it’s off-site, then you have no way of knowing if it’s actually the person’s sperm or not,” pointed out Roy.
“That’s right. We can of course do a DNA analysis to ensure it was from our donor. And it will still be subjected to the same rigorous checks, so, for example, no infectious diseases get through.”
“And the freezing?” prompted Mace.
“The sperm has to be stored under specific and exacting conditions to fully preserve it. We have a cryo-storage room here with cryogenic vats. We use liquid nitrogen among other protocols to maintain the specimens.”
“Can we see the room?” asked Mace.
“No. It’s an environmentally controlled space and you need special equipment to work in there. I can tell you that each vat holds over seventy thousand semen specimens.”
“How do you differ from a fertility clinic?” Mace wanted to know.
“Fertility clinics don’t typically store sperm. They get it from us. We match their client’s request as to race, height, physical appearance, for example, and provide them the sperm which they will then use for artificial insemination purposes.”
“Is there any way to determine if the sperm found at the crime scene I described came from your clinic?” Roy asked.
“I can assure you it didn’t,” she said flatly.
“Just humor me. Please. A man’s freedom is at stake.”
She sighed heavily. “From our specific clinic? No, I don’t believe so.