Chapter 5 - The Man Who Called Himself Dr. CruzInés remembered a visitor.
She had never connected him to Lupita.
A man in his late fifties.
Thin.
Silver hair.
He came through the convent rear gate three or four times a year.
Beatriz called him Dr. Cruz.
He never joined communal meals.
Never attended Mass publicly.
His car plates changed twice.
The convent visitor book listed him only as:
medical consultant
Investigators found no licensed New Mexico physician by the full name recorded in the log.
Then Dr. Paloma saw an old surveillance image.
“That’s him.”
“Name?”
“I only knew Cruz.”
Federal agents ran facial comparison against licensing databases.
His real name was Dr. Stephen Cross.
A former reproductive endocrinologist from Nevada.
Medical license surrendered nine years earlier after allegations involving improper fertility billing and record manipulation.
No criminal conviction.
After losing his license, he worked through consulting companies.
One company received payments from Santa Clara Outreach Foundation.
Cross was located in Tucson.
His first interview ended almost immediately.
His attorney arrived.
Then financial records surfaced.
Father Mateo had paid Cross for:
cycle management
insemination procedure
maternal preparation
The language stripped away every remaining illusion.
Lupita had not become pregnant through “miracles.”
She had been medically inseminated while sedated.
Without informed consent.
Repeatedly.
The revelation devastated her.
She asked Maria:
“Does that count as rape?”
Maria paused carefully.
“What was done to your body without consent was a serious sexual and reproductive violation. The exact criminal charges will depend on the statutes and evidence.”
Lupita nodded.
She did not need a legal label that afternoon.
She needed somebody not to soften what happened.
Father Mateo had spent years teaching her that consent to God meant obedience to religious authority.
Somewhere inside Santa Clara, he had turned that theology into permission over her body.
Then the DNA results came back for Isabella.
Probability of maternity:
effectively certain.
Lupita was her biological mother.
Days later:
Mia too.
All three girls were genetically Lupita’s.
The children had not been created from wealthy couples’ embryos.
Lupita herself had been used as the source.
Detectives still did not know who the biological fathers were.
The ledger listed codes rather than names.
D-14.
D-22.
D-31.
Three pregnancies.
Three codes.
Possibly three different men.
And beside each code appeared the same authorization initials:
May you like
M.A.
Mateo Alvarez.
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