Hanging up the phone, Marissa said: “Now we have five definite cases. Damn Wingate and his confidentiality. We can’t make many statistical inferences from five cases. We have to find out if there are more.”

“Let’s be fair,” Wendy said. “Wingate is following orders from above. Maybe he has already started looking into it.”

“I hope so,” Marissa said. “Meanwhile, let’s check our own hospitals and see if we can come up with more cases. You take the General and I’ll take the Memorial.”

Taffy Two took off at the sound of the doorbell, barking madly. Wendy swung her feet to the floor. “That must be Gustave,” she said as she stood up and stretched. She checked her watch; it was almost nine P.M.

Marissa was struck by Gustave’s stature. From her five-foot height, he towered over her like a giant. He was a six-foot-six, squarely built man with very blond, curly hair. His eyes were a soft pastel blue.

“Sorry I’m so late,” Gustave apologized after being introduced to Marissa and Robert. Robert had come out of his study at the sound of the bell. “We had to wait for anesthesia before we began our case.”

“It makes no difference at all,” Marissa assured him. She told Robert to see what Gustave wanted to drink while she and Wendy called for the pizza.

When the pizza arrived, they all gathered around the table in the family room off the kitchen. The men were drinking beers. Marissa was pleased but a little surprised that Robert was enjoying Gustave’s company. He usually didn’t get along with doctors.

“We haven’t heard about your visit to the Women’s Clinic today,” Robert said when there was a lull in the conversation.

Marissa looked over at Wendy. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to get into a discussion about their visit, knowing that she’d have to hear Robert’s “I told you so.”

“Come on,” Robert urged. “What happened?” Turning to Gustave, Robert explained that the women had tried to access the clinic’s computer.

“We asked and they said no,” Wendy admitted.

“I’m not surprised,” Robert said. “Were they nasty about it?”

“Not at all,” Wendy said. “We had to go to the director of the clinic, the same man who runs the in-vitro unit. He said it was a policy made at the home office in San Francisco.”

“I think it is shortsighted,” Marissa said, finally speaking up. “Although we didn’t find anything out at the clinic, we did learn that there are five cases, and five cases of a rare problem in one geographical location deserves to be investigated.”

“Five cases?” Gustave questioned. “Five cases of what?”

Wendy quickly filled Gustave in on the situation, explaining it involved her apparent TB of the fallopian tubes.