Chapter 7 - Eleanor’s Signature
Eleanor did not pay for Sarah’s pregnancy.
Her signature had been copied.
Again.
The trust account belonged to Bennett Family Foundation? No. It belonged to St. Catherine Patient Support Trust, where Eleanor had served authorized co-signer years earlier.
Her old signature specimen remained on file.
Someone reused it.
Bank confirmed funds came from St. Catherine reserve, not Eleanor personally.
But why use her signature?
To create appearance Bennett-family awareness if transfer exposed.
A ready scapegoat.
Eleanor looked sick.
“My name was the insurance policy.”
Catherine agreed.
Who had access to old signature cards?
Finance office.
Monica Keene, through surrogacy contracts, regularly coordinated reimbursements with clinic finance.
Martin Keene had broad access.
Suspicion focused on Keenes.
They denied conspiracy.
Monica claimed Bright Path received case through normal clinic referral.
The trust paid because intended parents were listed as beneficiaries of donor-assistance program.
She never saw Ethan/Claire names.
Martin claimed old signature was automated bank authorization inherited from legacy trust setup.
Possible.
Then forensic accountants found something stranger.
$92,000 wasn't paid all at once.
Monthly invoices.
Sarah compensation.
Medical bills.
Agency fee.
Legal.
Insurance.
Nothing wildly inflated.
This did not look like illicit profit motive.
Why secretly transfer extra embryo if not money?
Clinic performance.
St. Catherine had been negotiating acquisition by national fertility group.
Live-birth success rate mattered.
An extra viable embryo discarded would not hurt statistics.
An extra gestational pregnancy could improve numbers—but only if counted.
Sarah’s case had been coded anonymous donor program and was included in success metrics.
So motive could be institutional.
Martin’s bonus tied partly to annual live birth rate.
Potential incentive.
But would he risk criminal fraud for one pregnancy?
Maybe if not one.
Audit expanded.
Other duplicate case codes appeared.
Four in five years.
All involved embryo anomalies: split embryo, disputed consent, abandoned storage.
Were there four unauthorized children?
No.
Two cases were data errors.
One transfer canceled.
Only Bennett case produced second live pregnancy.
That made it both serious and possibly singular.
Then Catherine revealed something.
St. Catherine had a policy called Secondary Viability Preservation.
If an embryo unexpectedly split during culture, lab could temporarily preserve both components while physicians determined viability.
No transfer without renewed patient consent.
Martin had argued policy should allow transfer to approved gestational carrier if patients had signed broad disposition consent.
Ethics committee rejected.
Margaret? Different stories. Let's keep.
Who chaired committee?
Dr. Elaine Porter.
The same Brookhaven physician who transferred Baby B.
At the time she worked St. Catherine.
She wrote:
NO SECONDARY TRANSFER WITHOUT EXPLICIT PATIENT-SPECIFIC CONSENT.
So Elaine knew rule.
Yet months later she performed Sarah transfer at Brookhaven.
Why?
Elaine claimed shipment documents stated explicit consent obtained.
She trusted certification.
Who signed certification?
Not Ethan.
Not Claire.
A clinic attorney:
Rebecca Sloan.
Rebecca had left profession and moved abroad.
Investigators reached her.
She admitted certifying based on recorded phone call.
“What phone call?”
A man identifying himself as Ethan Bennett approved second embryo transfer.
Ethan stared.
“No one called me.”
Recording still existed.
Voice sounded exactly like Ethan.
Then audio expert found subtle synthesis artifacts.
May you like
The consent call had been generated.
Someone used recordings of Ethan’s voice to create fake authorization.
