Truth and Justice - Fern Michaels Page 0,69

answer your question, we do indeed have the meat. We paid out some large bribes, but we got what you need. Otherwise, I would not be sitting here, and Duke would not be babysitting Sara with a million names.”

“What was she doing at the clinic? Do you know?” Annie demanded.

Spenser rolled his eyes. “Of course I know. She was claiming Major Nolan’s . . . uh . . . sperm donations. She showed absolutely no interest in Bella Ames’s eggs, which she had stored there earlier. When she left the clinic, she left with two of the major’s . . . uh . . . donations. There was a man with her dressed in medical garb and he had a medical cooler of some sort. It had a big red cross on it. Our contact, the one we bribed, did not know who the guy was. She surmised he was some kind of medical techie, and that they were taking the sperm to a doctor’s office.”

“You followed them?” Myra asked.

“Duke did. I stayed behind with the lab tech I was flirting with and bribing at the same time. The major’s donations were listed under the name Windsor Andrews. That’s Andrew with an s. That tells me that the major confided in Sara with a million names, and she’s known all along where the donations were. She has his power of attorney. That’s how she was able to walk out with the major’s . . . donations. My informant said there are eight donations total. Sara took two with her. That means there are six left to carry on the Nolan bloodline. So, unless your Bella has an updated POA, those donations belong to Sara with a million names. She can do whatever she wants with them.”

“I got it! I got it! I know what she’s going to do! She is going to get artificially inseminated, that’s what she’s going to do!” Maggie said. “One way or another, she is going to get her piece of Major Nolan. The guy is dead, she can never hope to somehow maybe get him to fall in love with her. Next best thing, bear his child. Make sure Bella never gets her hands on those donations to taint the major’s bloodline. Andy Nolan belongs to Sara with a million names, and no one can do anything about it. She hasn’t, as far as I can tell, done anything wrong unless you want to string her up for breaking and entering to get copies of stuff from Bella’s apartment. But there’s no proof she did that, no witnesses to any of that. She pulled it off. I have to say, I’m in awe, and I did not think there was anything in this world that could shock or awe me. But this takes the proverbial cake in my opinion.”

The women looked at one another, and as one said, “Oh my God!”

“That was Duke’s and my sentiment, too, when we figured it out,” Spenser said. “If there’s nothing else, ladies, I need to get this food to Duke.” He picked up the messenger bag he’d dropped by his chair and handed it to Snowden.

“Everything we got is in there. All the doctors’ names, addresses, receipts, notes, our thoughts. We took a lot of pictures of the inside, as well as the outside, of the house in Kalorama. Oh, there is one other thing, Avery. We got the name Paul Montrose from Sara’s husband or whatever he was to her, that guy Steven Conover. He said she was on the phone one day talking to her brother and he heard her mention that name. Conover said he thought Montrose was a member of the major’s team, as well as a personal friend. We didn’t have time to look into that because Sara kept us hopping. Montrose might know something. Check with the army. As far as I know, that name has never cropped up anywhere else.”

The goodbyes were quick and curt. The Sisters started to chatter the moment the door closed behind Matt Spenser. Avery ignored the women as he started to sort through the papers he’d taken from Spenser’s messenger bag. He did mutter that neither he nor any other member of his team had come across the name Paul Montrose until Spenser just mentioned him. In other words, a new, clean lead to follow up on.

“Someone call Bella and ask her if she knows who Paul Montrose is?” Annie said.

Maggie said she would do it.