“Me too,” Wendy said. “But now I’m thinking that your husband was right. I don’t think we’ll be able to persuade Wingate to give us the authorization.”

“Let’s not get discouraged so soon,” Marissa said as they boarded the elevator.

Dr. Wingate’s offices were on the second floor. He had one office as the director of the clinic and another as director of the in-vitro fertilization unit. Marissa and Wendy went to the first but were directed to the second. Dr. Wingate, they learned, was busy in the lab.

“I’ll tell the doctor that you are here,” the receptionist said.

Marissa and Wendy sat down. “It’s nice not to be here for another procedure,” Wendy whispered. Marissa smiled in agreement.

“Dr. Wingate can see you now,” the receptionist called out about a half hour later. She directed them down a long hall to the third door on the right.

Wendy knocked. Dr. Wingate told them to come in.

“Well, well!” he said, standing up from a lab bench and a microscope. Save for a desk and a couple of file cabinets, the room looked more like a lab than an office. “I didn’t know you two knew each other.”

Wendy explained they had been friends in medical school.

“What can I do for you ladies today?” He motioned for them to be seated, although he remained standing. “I have to tell you, I’m about to do a fertilization, so I don’t have a lot of time.”

“It won’t take long,” Marissa assured him. She gave him a quick rundown of how she and Wendy had discovered they had the same basic problem and how they’d found two other possible cases. “Four cases of rare granulomatous fallopian tube infection consistent with TB is extraordinary,” she said. “Obviously we want to look into it. We are interested in this as a research project.”

“But we need authorization from you,” Wendy said. “We want to see if there are additional cases.”

“That I cannot do,” Dr. Wingate said. “The clinic policy is one of strict confidentiality. I cannot allow access to the patient files. And that directive comes from the central office in San Francisco.”

“But this may have public health implications,” Marissa said. “These cases might represent a new clinical entity like toxic shock.”

“I can see that,” Dr. Wingate said. “And thank you for alerting us. We will be sure to look into it. I’m sure you understand my situation.”

“We could talk to the women involved and get releases,” Wendy said.

“I’m sorry, ladies,” Dr. Wingate said with impatience creeping into his voice. “I’ve told you our rules. You have to respect them. And now I have to get back to work. Aren’t both of you due to have your hormone levels checked soon?”

Both Wendy and Marissa nodded. Marissa said: “Can you at least think about it and let us know later?”