Fertility: A Novel Read Free Page A

loveseat, a terrifying thought crept into his consciousness: The nightmare with Ariel was retribution for what he’d done to Linda and their kids. But that was absurd. At the very least, it presumed some sort of balance in the universe, or, more improbable still, a wrathful god evening up the score. He had always pegged the notion of a “supreme being” as a scam, a way to keep the little people in line. He made big decisions every day, consequences be damned. When he walked away from his family, he had silenced the small but persistent inner voice of reproach by being generous. Linda got the houses in Scarsdale and the Hamptons, as well as alimony for the rest of her life. The kids got liberal child support until they were out of school, when their trust funds would kick in. Mark couldn’t help but pat himself on the back, thinking that most first families would thank their lucky stars to get such munificent treatment from a husband and father who moved on in his life.
    Still, here he was with Catherine. Through the night she had alternated between uncontrollable sobs and gentle crying until he finally persuaded her to try to sleep. It was his first victory at calming her, and he did it by telling her that if she got some rest, she would be in better shape to care for Ariel in the morning. Even as he made the case for sleep, he wondered if he was full of crap. Would Ariel even be alive in the morning? It was beyond him to understand how she could live to see another day after such an assault to her tiny body.
    Try as he might, he couldn’t shake the idea of retribution. What was happening to them and to their baby was too monstrous to be a random accident. For the first time since he was in grade school, he felt guilt. It was a sickening feeling. And the tears that fell silently on Catherine’s hair frightened him as much as anything that had happened over the past day and night.

 
     
    CHAPTER FOUR
     
     
    Julie Bonner’s office was nothing if not efficient. When Sarah returned to the conference room adjacent to John Mess’s office, Nancy Howland, Bonner’s assistant, was waiting for her. Howland informed Sarah that the pharmacist who’d filled the order and the baby’s nurse, Joyce Hilker, would be coming in for interviews. Howland had left messages for the pediatric fellow, Dr. Smith, and the attending physician, Dr. Cho. She asked if Sarah wanted to interview the licensed practical nurse that had been teamed with Joyce Hilker on Sunday. Sarah thanked Howland for taking initiative and told her to contact the LPN as well as the charge nurse for the floor. She figured she could fit all of them in — and in cases like these, time was of the essence. She had to interview each of the major players before they had a chance to think too carefully about a cover, or to coordinate their stories.
    After she and Doris Ostrom got themselves set up in the conference room, Sarah thought about how she could use the time before her first interview at 9:30. She decided to lay eyes on the pharmacy to see how orders were dealt with via the new computerized system. She asked Howland for directions and then suggested she let the pharmacy know Sarah was on her way.
     
    * * *
     
    The hospital pharmacy was actually smaller than she had imagined, but it hummed with what appeared to be the well-coordinated activity of about a dozen people in white jackets. Double doors led to the outpatient pharmacy, staffed by another four workers. Within the pharmacy there were row upon row of open shelves with more medications than Sarah had ever imagined possible. There was also a walk-in cooler for the medications that had to be kept refrigerated. As Sarah scanned the clean, well-lit room, a blond, middle-aged woman wearing a white jacket and white clogs approached.
    “You must be the attorney Julie’s office just called about. I’m Joanne Marsh, head of the hospital’s pharmacy,” she said, extending her hand. “Glad to meet