Dr. Davidow paused. “You’re saying you identified him from his adult photo?”

“Not positively, but yes. It looks like him.”

“Which bank did you use?” Dr. Davidow’s voice changed slightly, losing its casual tone.

“Homestead.”

“Did your donor join their Open Identity Disclosure program?”

“No, it was an anonymous donation, and he’s not willing to be known either. Can you look him up and check if the name is the same? The name of the man they arrested is Zachary Jeffcoat.”

“We don’t have the name of your donor. If a donation is anonymous, it’s anonymous to Families First, too. The bank gives us only the information that you get.”

“Oh, I didn’t realize that.” Christine glanced at Lauren, who puckered her lower lip in disappointment. “I thought you would have some record.”

“No, that’s completely out of our control. We place the order for you and take receipt of the vials, which are shipped in a cryogenically frozen state. But the donation, retrieval, and transport is handled by the bank. Still, Homestead is extremely reputable. I’m at liberty to say that my own sister used them with two successful pregnancies, using the same donor twice so the children could be biological siblings.”

“Really?” Christine hadn’t known that.

“Yes, I sent her there, as my first choice. Homestead’s one of the most selective banks in the country. They get about twenty-five thousand donor applicants a year and accept fewer than one percent. To give you a reference point, Harvard University gets thirty-five thousand applicants and accepts six percent. In other words, it’s easier to get into Harvard than Homestead.”

“Oh.” Christine listened, still not comforted. She had noticed that Homestead had offices in Cambridge, New Haven, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Palo Alto, and had assumed it wasn’t a coincidence that they were near Ivy League and other prestigious schools.

Lauren leaned over the iPhone speaker. “Dr. Davidow, I’m Lauren. So are you saying that you’re basically the broker for the donation?”

“Yes, but I wouldn’t put it that way.” Dr. Davidow chuckled. “Christine, tell me your donor number.”

“3319.” Christine and Lauren exchanged tense glances.

“Hold on, I’m in front of my computer.” Dr. Davidow fell silent a moment, then continued, “Okay, so I just logged into Homestead and I see that Donor 3319 sperm is available. Are you near a computer?”

“Sure. Hold on a second.” Christine leaned over the keyboard, went on to the Homestead website, and logged in under her username and password. She plugged Donor 3319 into the search engine, and his bio popped onto the screen. Next to Anonymous Donor, it read Sperm Available! Order Now!

“Do you see that it’s still available? Homestead would’ve taken it off the shelves if Donor 3319 were arrested.”

Christine thought a moment. “But that assumes they saw the same report I did, which they might not have. It just happened this afternoon. What do you mean by ‘take it off the shelves’? Does that ever happen, that banks take donations ‘off the shelves’?”

“Yes, but rarely, and generally for physical abnormalities that appear in the offspring of a particular donor, such as a lazy eye. A few years ago, one of my patients had a baby that was born with a clubfoot. I notified the bank, and they took that donation off the shelves.”

“Was it Homestead?”

“No. Christine, I don’t think you have to worry about this, but I’ll call Homestead and let them know your concern.”

“That would be great.”

Lauren leaned over the phone. “Doctor, can she call them herself?”

“No, it’s better coming from me. I have reporting requirements if there’s a defect found in offspring, so it should properly come from our office.” Dr. Davidow paused. “Christine, I’ll get back to you as soon as I speak with them.”

“Thanks, but Dr. Davidow, can I ask you, what screening do they do for donors?”

“They do significant screening, mainly blood tests. I understand that you’re concerned, but I don’t think this is something that should worry you overmuch. As I say, these are the top banks in the country. It’s the same thing when we use egg donors. Our egg donors undergo blood tests for HIV, STDs, screening for Tay-Sachs and the like, and they get interviewed by Michelle to make sure that they’re good candidates psychologically.”

“So Michelle sees them in a session, like she saw Marcus and me?”

“Exactly, and I rely on her evaluation. You know what an ace she is. If she doesn’t give them an A+, they’re not eligible to be egg donors.”

“What’s the kind of thing that eliminates them?”

“Hmm, let me think.” Dr. Davidow paused, clucking his tongue. “If the putative egg donor says something like she really wants to be a mother, Michelle eliminates her. We don’t want someone who wants to be a mother. We want someone who wants to donate an egg so that someone else can become a mother. You follow?”

“Yes.” Christine wanted to be reassured, but she couldn’t quite, yet. “Do you know if the banks have a psychologist do an evaluation on the sperm donors?”

“No, I don’t know if they do that.”

Lauren frowned. “Dr. Davidow, it sounds like the egg donors are tested more rigorously than sperm donors. Is that true?”

“There may be some asymmetry, but I don’t want to speculate. I can only control the procedures that happen in my office. I harvest eggs in my office so I am intimately involved and responsible for the egg donors that we select and the methods by which eggs are stored and transferred. We don’t collect sperm in our offices. But as I say, Homestead is one of the most reputable banks in the country.”

“Have you ever had a problem with them?” Christine asked.

“No, not at all.” Dr. Davidow cleared his throat. “I’ll call Homestead as soon as we hang up. I might not reach them tonight because they’re closed, but I’ll call you back as soon as I speak with them.”

“Great, thank you so much.”

“How are you otherwise? Feeling okay?”

“Yes. Nauseated but okay.”

Dr. Davidow chuckled. “When you’re pregnant, nauseated is good. Okay, let me get back to you.”