me or not, but we met at the tearoom a while back, and you were kind enough to speak with me. You gave me your card and said if I ever needed help, I should call you. I need your help. I really need your help.” Bella could feel herself start to choke up. Sheer willpower forced the tears back. “I’m sitting here right now at the Samaritan Fertility Clinic. I stored a dozen of my eggs here several years ago. It’s a little complicated. I’m going to be moving to North Carolina, so I came here to make arrangements to find out what I have to do to transfer . . . I don’t ever want to come back here . . . and they’re gone. They said I came here and took them about eight months ago. But I did no such thing. That’s around the time I found out that my husband had died, and at the time, I would have been hard-pressed to tell you what my name was. I did not take my property. Right now, there are three doctors who are supposedly looking at surveillance tapes to see if it really was me. They have a copy of my new driver’s license with my married name and a paper with my signature on it, releasing the clinic once I took my property. Everything is time stamped. But it wasn’t me, Ms. Thorn. Can you help me?”
“Of course. When can you come to the office? Do you know where we’re located?”
“Not exactly, but I’ll find it. Can I come by when I leave here, or would tomorrow be better? I know this is last minute.”
“No, no, today is fine. I’ll leave word at the desk. Would you have any objection if the managing partner of the firm sits in on our meeting? She’s a wonderful lawyer and has been practicing law longer than I have. It’s up to you.”
“I’m fine with that. What should I do or say?”
“Try not to say anything. Get copies of everything and have them make you a copy of the surveillance video. They have to give you that. If you have any problems, refer them to me. Again, Bella, I’m sorry for your loss. I guess I’ll see you when you get here. Try to stay calm. Easy for me to say, hard to do, but try.”
“I will. Thank you so much for agreeing to see me. I can’t believe this. How did someone get a copy of my driver’s license?”
“A hundred different ways, Bella. It’s done all the time. We’ll make this right. I’m glad you called me. You are in good hands now. Take a deep breath and wait for them to get back to you. Make sure they give you a copy of the tape.”
“I will. Thanks again.”
“You bet. That’s why I became a lawyer, to help people,” Alexis said.
Bella leaned back and closed her eyes for a moment. All of a sudden she did feel calm, and she also felt like she was in good hands.
Bella opened her eyes when the door opened. One look at the expression on the three doctors’ faces told her she wasn’t going to like whatever it was they were going to tell her. Dr. Donaldson had a tape in her hand. She walked over to the far end of the room and slid the tape into the slot. Bella sucked in her breath, wondering what she was going to see.
Chapter 5
Bella felt an icy chill, which had nothing to do with the temperature in the room or the October weather outside, race up her spine. She hunkered into her shearling jacket and waited for the huge television screen across the room from the fish tank to come alive. “You are going to give a copy of that tape to me, right?” She hated how tight and stressful her tone sounded.
Dr. Petre hit the Pause button on the remote control she was holding. She pursed her lips into a tight circle. Bella thought she looked like she had just sucked all the juice out of a lemon. “No, we will not be giving you a copy of this tape; it’s against company policy. Unless you have a warrant, and then of course we would obey the law and turn it over to you or make a copy for you. I have to check with our legal department, but, no, you will not be walking out of here today with this tape.