Truth and Justice - Fern Michaels Page 0,15
day’s appointments. It took her a few seconds to locate Bella’s information.
“Nineteenth floor. You will be seeing Dr. Candice Petre, who is in charge of that floor. Take the elevator on the left, it’s nonstop.”
Bella was off like a rocket. She wanted to get this over and done with.
She stepped out of the elevator to a pleasant waiting area, where a tall, extremely thin woman, dressed fashionably, with an elaborate hairdo, held out her hand to Bella. It felt warm and dry. Her voice was cheerful. “I’m Dr. Candice Petre. Tell me what can I do for you on this beautiful October day, Ms. Nolan.”
“I want to make arrangements to transfer my . . . my eggs to another location. My husband. . . my husband passed away, and I am relocating. Tell me what I have to do on this end, or is it the new clinic that will work with you? I’m sorry to say I don’t know how this works.”
“Perfectly understandable, and I’m sorry for your loss, Ms. Nolan. Let me just bring your records up to date. Were you single or married when you contracted with us?”
“Single. My file should be under Bella Ames. I never came back to change my maiden name to my married name.”
“Most people do that right away,” Dr. Petre said. She sounded annoyed.
“I’m not most people. I’m me, and I didn’t do it, and what difference does it make in the end? None, that’s how much,” Bella said, answering her own question. Almost done. Almost.
Candice Petre looked over the rim of her glasses at Bella, and said, “But your name is Bella, correct?”
“Yes. And my husband’s name was Andrew. Why? Is something wrong?”
“It says you transferred your . . . property eight months ago. It says you came here with a technician and signed off on your eggs.”
Quicker than lightning, Bella bounced up and out of her chair. “What are you talking about? I did no such thing! I haven’t been in this clinic since I had the last procedure done. That’s at least three years ago. I know for certain my husband wasn’t here, either. Did you lose my . . . Well, did you? My God, you did, didn’t you? I can see it in your expression. I don’t believe this,” Bella shrieked at the top of her lungs.
Flustered, Dr. Petre pressed a button and, within seconds, a man and a woman in white lab coats appeared. Petre pointed to the computer screen as Bella continued screeching about fraud and calling the police. She could barely hear the introduction Petre was making. The woman in the white lab coat was Dr. Betty Donaldson, and the man was Dr. Martin Peabody.
Dr. Donaldson whistled sharply. Bella blinked and stopped shrieking to hear the doctor say, “You need to be quiet so we can make sense of this. Please. I understand you are upset. We will straighten this out. Now, Dr. Petre, tell me what happened here.”
“What happened here,” Dr. Candice Petre said in a voice that could have chilled milk, “is that this . . . person standing right here in front of the three of us came here this morning to make arrangements to transfer her . . . her property. The problem is that it already was transferred eight months ago. It’s all right here. Here is a copy of the release she signed and a copy of her current driver’s license. When you first came here, your driver’s license said Bella Ames. Along the way you got married and changed your driver’s license to Bella Nolan. This is a copy of the Bella Nolan license. Everything was time stamped, as you can see. We do not make mistakes here, Ms. Nolan. So, Ms. Nolan, how do you explain this? Is this your current driver’s license or not?”
Bella stared down at a very unflattering DMV photo of her face on the license. She licked at her lips and managed to say, “Yes, that is my license and my picture, but I did not, I repeat, I did not transfer my property from this clinic. I didn’t even know my husband had died at that time. I was in no frame of mind to . . . to do something like that. This is the first time I’ve been here since I had the procedure done years ago. Do you have cameras? Of course you do. I remember them when I was here the first time. Andy and I even