“Child?”
“Yes, I’ll call you a child when you’re acting like one. Are you so starved that you can’t wait for a few days?”
Lila thought guiltily of Tristan. She definitely wasn’t starved.
“There are other concerns,” she said.
“There always are. There always will be.”
“So, what you’re saying is that if I spend the night with someone on the night of the ball, then I will spontaneously combust. I understand now, doctor. You’ve been very helpful.”
“Don’t be flippant. There is a risk of infection.”
“Is that all?”
“Lila, stay away from the senators on Friday night unless you really do want a child. Those drugs are far superior to what your mother used, and the surgery forces you to ovulate. If a senator so much as looks at you with an erection, you will get pregnant.”
“Is that how it works now?”
“Child,” the doctor snapped. She whistled at Scout across the room, and the dog’s ears rose at the sound. “At least you’re keeping the hot chocolate down. How’s your appetite?”
“I ate breakfast for five,” Lila answered, shifting in her seat as Scout hopped up on the sofa, fear of falling mugs forgotten. He curled up between them and rested his chin on the doctor’s thigh. “The surgery wasn’t the only reason why I came here. I have something I need you to look at.”
“It’s not a mole, is it? Everyone always wants me to look at their moles, even at parties.”
Lila shook her head. She explained why her mother had declared her prime in the first place, and pressed the star drive into the doctor’s hand.
Or at least she tried, for Helen refused to take it. “If that’s Senator Dubois’s medical files, then no. I can’t look at the medical records of a patient who is not assigned to me. It’s a violation of patient privacy.”
“It’s medical malpractice and treason if a Bullstow doctor is falsifying medical files on Randolph property. I need to know if we have a doctor working at Randolph General who can be bribed.”
“He’s a Bullstow doctor, Lila. Not one of ours. They rarely practice at the hospital unless it’s during the interns’ fertility testing. This isn’t our problem.”
“Do you trust the media and the public to see the difference?”
“Don’t insult my intelligence. That’s not the reason you want me to look at it.”
“No, it’s not, but it’s a reason you should care about.”
Helen took the star drive from Lila, cursing under her breath as she trudged to her desktop computer. She pored over the records while sipping her hot chocolate. A wagging tail dully thumped against the rug at her feet. “These first results look pretty standard. He wasn’t infertile at eighteen, that’s for sure. He shouldn’t have any problems getting a woman pregnant, assuming normal rates of intercourse.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. Like most senators, he’s more fertile than average. I’m surprised Jewel doesn’t have a few kids by now.”
“Could someone else’s test results have been included in Senator Dubois’s file accidentally, or could the doctor have faked this result and lied about his conclusions?”
“Anything is possible, but it’s highly improbable that anything happened by accident or design. There are too many safeguards for that to happen, too many checks in the process for one sample to end up in the wrong file, much less two. Besides, I know the doctor attached to Senator Dubois’s results. He’s thorough. Dr. Vasquez would not stand for any impropriety to touch his work.”
“So the file is honest.”
“I’d count on it. The lab matches each intern’s sample to the DNA stored on file. Still, it’s strange that he could go from healthy to infertile in only a few years. Where’s his most current record?”
Lila pointed out the folder. Helen became quiet while she studied the new information. “If he had an illness or an injury…”
“I’ve seen the man at least once a week for the last few years. He’s never had more than a cold. His only records at the hospital and the clinic consist of yearly physicals and mild illnesses. He isn’t the sort of man to do any drugs, either. He doesn’t even smoke cigars.”
Helen opened his physicals and studied the data, then returned to Senator Dubois’s latest round of testing. After several moments, she chuckled.