Marissa did as she was told. “Okay,” she said when she’d finished. “What’s on your mind?”

“Still don’t see it?” Wendy questioned. “Just a second.” She cleared her record and went back to Marissa’s pathology page. “Read again,” she suggested.

When Marissa was finished, she looked at her friend. “I get it now,” she said. “They’re exactly the same. Word for word, verbatim.”

“Exactly,” Wendy said. “Do you think that’s weird?”

Marissa thought for a moment. “No, I guess I don’t,” she said. “These reports were undoubtedly dictated. Doctors frequently dictate from rote when they are dictating similar cases. I’m sure you’ve heard surgeons dictating. Unless there’s a complication, their dictations come out verbatim all the time. I did it myself when I was on surgery. All it suggests to me is that there are more cases here at the Women’s Clinic: something we’ve suspected all along.”

Wendy shrugged. “Maybe you’re right,” she said. “It just seemed odd at first. Anyway, let’s get back to what we were doing. I’ll try running a search using some of these possible code designators that we’ve found in both our charts.”

Going back to a system utility menu, Wendy began trying the various letter and number combinations Marissa had written down. The third one resulted in a list of eighteen numbers that appeared to be social security numbers.

“This looks very promising,” Wendy said as she prepared to print out the list.

The only sound in the ultrasound room had been the barely audible click of the keyboard keys, but just as Wendy was about to push the Print key, Marissa heard the sound of a door opening not too far away.

“Wendy!” she whispered. “Did you hear that?”

Wendy responded by turning off both the computer terminal and the light. They were plunged into utter darkness.

For several minutes both terrified women strained their ears to pick up the slightest sound. All their previous fears had congealed into one moment. They held their breath. In the far distance they heard the muffled sound of a refrigerant compressor switching on in a lab. As intently as they were listening, they even heard a bus go by on Mt. Auburn Street, almost a block away.

Groping soundlessly, they found each other’s hands for a modicum of comfort and held on. Five minutes crawled by.

Finally Wendy spoke in a barely audible whisper: “Are you sure you heard a door?”

“I think so,” Marissa answered.

“Then I think we’d better get out of here,” Wendy said. “All of a sudden I have a terrible feeling.”

“All right,” Marissa agreed. “Try to stay calm.” She didn’t feel too calm herself. “Let’s head over to the door.”