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  “Oh, hot chocolate with marshmallows!” Kathryn squealed.

  “I brought the fixings with me when we came back to the Big House. I didn’t want to fight my way through the snow again. Sit down, get warm, then we can all talk. Enjoy the chocolate. There’s more if you want it,” Annie said, setting the giant carafe on a folding table she’d set up near the hearth. “We’ll be in the war room when you’re ready to join us.”

  Thirty minutes later, the Sisters, Jack, and Harry were seated around the huge round oak table.

  Myra stood up and held up her hand for silence. “Annie is about to set up a video conference call with Lizzie and Maggie. In the meantime, I made copies of the list of men involved in this…whatever this is. As you can see by the names, it is a very impressive list. I can certainly understand why President Connor is a little cranky right now. What I didn’t expect her to do was threaten Lizzie. If she threatens Lizzie, that’s the same as threatening the rest of us.”

  “Do you want to explain that a little more?” Kathryn asked.

  “I would, dear, but Lizzie is the one to explain it better than I. I don’t want to say something that isn’t so. So often things get lost in the translation. For Lizzie to hang up on the president of the United States has to mean she’s very angry. Lizzie is ever the diplomat. But Lizzie knows how to threaten, too.”

  Annie and the girls digested Myra’s comments with sly looks among themselves. Jack and Harry sat quietly, soaking up what they were hearing like sponges. This was the first time both men had been allowed to sit in on what they called “mission control.” It was Jack’s fear that the women were so tuned in to Myra and Annie, they didn’t realize he and Harry were there. Better to remain quiet and try to be invisible. A risky glance out of the corner of his eye told him that Harry looked like he was thinking the same thing.

  “I can’t believe the names on this list!” Then Nikki’s tone turned fretful when she asked, “What are we supposed to do? Make all those men disappear? Punish them? I’m not getting it. What does the president expect us to do?”

  “If this were a perfect world, and we all know it isn’t, I’d say the president wants the Vigilantes to figure out a way to make this all go away and save her administration the global humiliation that is sure to follow,” Myra said. “So far, everything is being kept quiet. Even Maggie is being extremely cautious as far as the Post is concerned. No one wants lawsuits. Especially in Washington, D.C. It will be a terrible mistake to have the White House and those that live and work there suddenly become our enemy.”

  “Well, Myra, off the top of my head, I have to say if that’s what the president expects, someone needs to tell her that’s above our pay grade. I didn’t hear anyone mention money,” Kathryn said coldly.

  “Is it possible the president thinks if we contain this situation, those…men can remain in their positions, then slowly, one by one, resign over time?” Alexis asked. “They’ll blame the opposition for starting those scurrilous rumors, and everyone saves face. I don’t like that one little bit.”

  “Don’t they need the madam to make a case?” Yoko asked. “Without her, all anyone has is rumor, no proof, unless the opposition has something we don’t know about.”

  Annie walked over to the round table, the remote control in her hand. “I have Lizzie and Maggie ready to go. We’re set up so we can all talk back and forth. I do hope I did this right. Charles showed me how to do it once, but I have to admit I wasn’t really paying attention. Thank God for Maggie, who has pulled this all together. So bear with me here,” Annie said as she pressed a bright-red button.

  The huge plasma screen suddenly came to life. Annie pressed a green button, and the screen was split, with Lizzie on the left and Maggie on the right. It almost looked as though they were physically in the room with everyone else. Their voices were clear and free of static as each woman offered up a greeting.

  The Sisters as one, Harry and Jack chiming in, yelled, “Congratulations!”

  Grinning from ear to ear, Lizzie made a low, sweeping bow as she dangled her left hand, her plain gold wedding band winking in the artificial light.

  The Sisters hooted and hollered, Jack and Harry stomped their feet, while Maggie clapped.

  Lizzie held up both hands. “Thanks, ladies and gents. Now, I have news. And it ain’t good.”

  Chapter 8

  The sun was high in the sky when Cosmo Cricket served his brand-new wife her first honeymoon breakfast.

  Sitting at the glass-topped table out on the deck, Lizzie de Silva Fox Cricket eyed the fantastic gourmet tray and swooned. “Oh, Cricket, it’s everything I love! Besides you, of course,” she added hastily.

  Cosmo almost swooned. He loved the way Lizzie called him Cricket. She only called him Cosmo when she was being professional and wanting to talk business. His last name sounded so endearing when it rolled off her lips. He looked down at the tray, which was the size of half a tree and had to weigh at least twenty pounds. On it were bacon, fluffy yellow scrambled eggs, sausage patties, pancakes that looked light enough to fly, warm golden butter with the syrup mixed into it, and a separate plate with waffles topped with the most perfect blueberries Lizzie had ever seen. The coffee urn was polished silver and held twelve cups. A matching pitcher that held pure cream sat nestled next to a little silver pot of sugar cubes. In the center of the tray was a single white rose, Lizzie’s favorite. Her smile rivaled the sun as Cosmo served her.

  “You get to clean up,” Cosmo said, shaking out the Irish linen napkin and placing it on her lap.

  “For you, Cricket, anything,” Lizzie said as she attacked the food on her plate.

  Cosmo himself ate sparingly.

  Between bites of food, they commiserated about how Lizzie ate like a truck driver and never gained an ounce and Cosmo ate like a bird and couldn’t lose weight.

  “More of you for me to love, Cricket. Oooh, these pancakes are to die for.”

  “My mother taught me how to cook in case I ever fell on hard times. She taught me how to sew, too. Not that I sew, but I do know how. I can even make buttonholes.”

  “That’s so nice to know. I have some skirts that need to be hemmed.”

  They both knew Cosmo wouldn’t be threading a needle anytime soon.

  “What would you like to do today, Elizabeth?” Cosmo asked.

  “Absolutely nothing. I could sit out here all day and just talk to you. Or we could go inside and watch old movies. Or, if you want to go into town, we could do that, and I could try my luck on the slot machines. Whatever you want to do is fine with me as long as you’re sure you don’t have to go to your office.”

  “We should talk about our honeymoon and squaring away our time. I want to take you on a trip around the world. Would that work for you, Elizabeth? I’ve been, but I had no one to share it with. I’d like to see the world through your eyes so we can enjoy it together.”

  Lizzie gasped. “Around the whole world? How long would that take?”

  “About a year, give or take. I did it after my mother died. I couldn’t seem to get it together and I thought…I don’t know what I thought. My parents always said someday they were going to do it, but someday never came for them, so I did it. Late, I grant you, so I don’t want to be late again. If you don’t want to do it, that’s okay, we can put it on our vacation-slash-honeymoon list and do it when you feel ready. I have to tell you, it’s a commitment like no other.”

  “Oh, Cricket, I do. I really do. When we clear up here, we can get our day planners out and a calendar and go from there. I’m getting excited just thinking about it.”

  “The trick is to travel light and purchase as you go along. I don’t mean that the way it sounds. I didn’t discard anything, I gave it away. It worked. I fully understand that women are different, so whatever works for you will work for me. I will gladly carry your bags.”

  Lizzie’s jaw dropped. “Cricket, I know how to rough it. I backpacked through five countries with only a knapsack. I will admit
I was a bit…uh…gamey from time to time. That makes one appreciate a long, hot shower, even if it’s under a tree with a hose.”

  Cosmo burst out laughing. The whole deck rumbled at the sound. He felt so pleased with himself that he couldn’t stop.

  “What? What’s so funny?”

  “You!” Cosmo continued to laugh. “Look at you, you’re the most beautiful woman in the world, and you dress like a movie star and model. I’m just having a hard time imagining you roughing it, as you put it.”

  Just for a second Lizzie looked indignant, but then she, too, laughed.

  Cosmo’s laughter died in his throat when he suddenly stood up and lumbered over to the stairway that led to the lawn. “Mona! What’s wrong? What are you doing here?”

  “Mr. Cricket, I know what you told me but I think this is important; otherwise, I wouldn’t have come all the way out here. If it turns out I made a mistake, you can fire me,” Cosmo’s secretary said.

  “What happened? Don’t tell me someone managed to rip off one of the casinos. Please don’t tell me that.”

  “I won’t tell you any such thing because that didn’t happen. A messenger of sorts came by the office about an hour ago. It was a young girl, maybe eighteen, if that. She said her brother was supposed to bring this package to you yesterday morning, but he had a car accident and was taken to the hospital. When they released him last night, his father took him home, and he was groggy, but he kept worrying about a package he had been paid to deliver. I signed for it and gave her twenty-five dollars out of petty cash. The family has no insurance. You know how I feel about things like that, Mr. Cricket. So, here is the package.”

  Cosmo reached for the manila envelope, thanked his secretary, and watched till she was out of the yard. It was only when he heard the sound of a car’s engine that he walked over to Lizzie and dropped the envelope on the table. “I think I might know what this is, and I’m almost afraid to open it.”

  Lizzie didn’t say anything, she just stared at the envelope. From past experience she knew that when a messenger hand-delivered something to a lawyer, it meant either impending trouble or bad trouble that was already lying on your doorstep. Obviously, Cosmo was of the same opinion.

  Lizzie made a production of tossing the remains of the coffee in their cups over the railing of the deck before she refilled their cups. “Okay, Cosmo, now you can open it.”

  Cosmo immediately picked up on his name change. He nodded as he pushed back the little tabs under the tape. He used the butter knife on the table to slit the heavy yellow paper of the envelope.

  Lizzie waited until Cosmo had scanned the papers in his hand. “Does it concern your deceased client, the madam?”

  “Yes. It’s a copy of her will and her power of attorney. Both are dated a week before she came to see me. These are the originals. I know the attorney who drew them up. Lily Flowers must have had…a premonition that things were not going to go as she planned. This, together with the paper I told you about earlier, gives me all the authority I need to go after whoever she wanted me to.” He slid the legal papers across the table for Lizzie’s observation and opinion.

  Lizzie looked over the top of Cosmo’s half-moon reading glasses, which she snagged out of his shirt pocket. “Sounds to me like Lily Flowers’s car accident maybe wasn’t a car accident after all. Uh-oh, did you see this, Cosmo?”

  “What? Something in her will?”

  “Look at the last page, Sweetie. Stapled there is a list with the names of her girls and the amount of money she gave each one of them to clear out of town. Cell phone numbers, too. She must have been frightened out of her wits to send you all of this,” Lizzie said, rattling the papers in her hands. “I have to give her credit; she was thinking about her girls right up to the end.”

  Sweetie? She’d called him Sweetie. Cosmo decided he loved being called Sweetie. Just loved it. Even his own mother had never called him Sweetie. She’d called him Honey or My Darling Boy or something like that. “I guess we have our morning’s work cut out for us.”

  Lizzie peered over the tops of the borrowed glasses, her eyes full of questions.

  “We have to call her girls and apprise them of their employer’s untimely death. And I need to make funeral arrangements for my client. This isn’t much of a mini-honeymoon, now, is it?”

  “I’m loving every minute of it. We’re together, doing what we do best. Not to worry, Cricket, this is going to happen again and again. The next time it might be my crisis that interferes with our plans.”

  Lizzie had no sooner finished speaking than her cell phone rang. It was Annie, alerting her to Bert’s imminent arrival and his plans. Cosmo watched his true love as her head bobbed up and down, agreeing to whatever was being said. He actually jumped in his chair when she snapped her cell phone shut.

  Lizzie removed the glasses and handed them back to Cosmo. “This is what you need to do, and you need to do it now. Pull whatever strings you have and claim your client’s body. Have her cremated immediately. Pay off whomever you have to pay off and do it handsomely. I’ll call all the women on the list and put them on alert. I have a friend here, several, actually, who can help us if need be. Rena Gold, I told you all about her earlier, and her friend Little Fish.”

  Cosmo was already through the door leading to the kitchen. He grabbed his briefcase and was almost to the front door when he turned around. Lizzie knew he was on his way back to the deck because she could feel it shaking under her chair. She held up her face for his kiss before he stomped his way back to the front door. She heard the powerful sound of an engine and knew he’d drive like a bat out of hell to do what he needed to do.

  Lizzie sighed deeply as she poured fresh coffee before going into the house for her own eye-cheaters. She settled the glasses over her nose, looked down at the list in front of her. Her first call was to someone named Brandy, aka Jo Ann Scythe. As Lizzie waited for the phone to be answered she wondered what she would do if Lily’s girls were too frightened to answer. If there was no answer, should she leave a message or go on to the next young woman? She panicked for one brief moment as she tried to remember what name Lily Flowers used at the Happy Day Camp. It ricocheted through her brain just as she heard a cautious hello.

  “Brandy! Uh…Miss Jo Ann Scythe? This is Elizabeth Fox. Crystal Clark retained my law partner several days ago. I don’t know how to tell you this other than to come right out and say it. Miss Clark was involved in a terrible car accident. She was killed instantly. My partner, Cosmo Cricket, and I are trying to piece everything together and to do what Miss Clark wanted us to do. She gave her power of attorney to my partner. Obviously, she made provisions for you and your…colleagues. That’s why I’m calling. I don’t know where you are and I’m not sure I want you to tell me either.”

  “Crystal is dead! She was the most careful driver I ever met. We were supposed to meet…oh, God! Did you tell the others?”

  “You are my first call. Listen to me. I want you to call all the other girls and tell them what happened. I want you all to go to…to your final destination, wherever that may be as soon as possible. It would be a good idea, if after all the calls are made, you get rid of your phones and buy new ones. Buy extra minute cards for the time being. Designate one of you to be the spokesperson to stay in touch with me. I’m sure you can see my number on your caller I.D. Do you understand everything I just said, Brandy?”

  The voice was stronger but still sounded a little jittery. “I do understand. How much time do we have?”

  “The FBI should be arriving in a few hours. Does that answer your question?” Not waiting for a reply she rushed on. “Are you all together? If so, you need to split up, and you also need to look ordinary and travel under your real names.”

  “Yes, we’re all together. We’re in Seattle. Crystal has a house here that she said no one knows about.”

  “They’ll know about it sooner than you think. Clean up the house and leave. And I mean, inside and out, fingerprints, hair, lefto
ver food, anything that could contain your DNA, the bag from the vacuum cleaner, and all—everything. Then ditch everything in a Dumpster somewhere way down the road. Can you do that?”

  “Consider it done. This is serious, isn’t it? Do you need to know our final destination?”

  “No, not right now, and yes, this is about as serious as it can get. How are you fixed for money?”

  “Crystal has a stash we can draw on. She said we’d be good for a solid year. After that we were on our own. We thought that was fair, so we went along with it. Will you…will you…take some flowers to the cemetery for us? Just sign the card ‘Friends.’”

  “We’re having Miss Clark cremated. But I will buy some flowers. Hang up now and go wherever you have to go. Call me as soon as you’re all safe.”

  “Crystal, even under stress, always had her wits about her. Whatever happened, I can tell you this, it was no accident. I’d stake my life on it. Good-bye, Miss Fox.”

  Lizzie licked at her lips, then bit down on the bottom one as she scanned the papers in front of her. There was no doubt in her mind that this was all going to be one gigantic mess.

  She cleared the outdoor table and carried everything into the kitchen. She looked around in dismay. Cosmo must have used every pot and pan he owned to make breakfast. She shook her head like indulgent mothers do when their children create chaos. The end result had been more than satisfying, she thought, as she cleaned the kitchen and turned on the dishwasher. The remaining pots and pans she did by hand. Satisfied that the kitchen looked the way it had before Cosmo wrecked it, she headed to the second floor to shower and change.

  Before she stepped into the monster shower that had nozzles shooting water out from every angle and could have accommodated an entire football team, Lizzie called Annie to report the latest. Then she called Cosmo, but he didn’t pick up, so she left a message. She’d call Bert later, once she knew he was actually in Vegas and not still airborne.