After saluting Lady Justice, Myra came up behind Charles to see what he was looking at on his monitor.
Charles growled at what he was reading. It was news from Avery Snowden. On the other hand, Myra was jubilant because she had convinced Charlotte to see a doctor.
Both started to talk at the same time and then laughed at each other’s excitement and agitation.
“You go first, dear.” Charles smiled at her.
Myra took in a deep breath. “I got a good deal of information from Charlotte. She has been seeing Steinwood for four months, to the tune of twenty-five thousand a month!”
Charles snickered. “Yes, according to Avery, that seems to be the going rate for this ‘sustaining your youth program. ’” Charles accentuated the term with air quotes. “That is one of their taglines, by the way.”
“Well, Charlotte has agreed to see Dr. Falcon for a complete blood workup. I am going to make the appointment right now, before she changes her mind.” Myra was almost out of breath.
“Excellent. Snowden is still trying to fill in the ten-year gap between medical school and what seems to be a bogus application to the school in Switzerland.” Charles hit a few buttons so the information would come up on all the monitors hanging on the wall.
“This is all very suspicious indeed.” Myra shot him a look. “Have you heard from the others yet?”
“I think we’ll be able to move up our meeting to tomorrow. If you can get Charlotte her appointment with the doctor, that will give us some time to review everyone’s information.”
“I’m on it.” Myra winked, pulled out her phone, and punched in the private number of her physician. “Gerald? How are you? I’m fine. No, not an emergency exactly, but I have a friend who needs a physical exam and a complete blood workup.” Myra explained to Dr. Gerald Falcon everything Charlotte had conveyed. “Would tomorrow be possible?” Myra nodded at Charles. “Nine? Perfect. How long do you think she will be?” Myra listened and gave Charles the thumbs-up. “Two hours. Excellent. Yes, I will tell her not to eat anything. You will? That would be wonderful. Thank you so very much.” A high five, another salute to Lady Justice, and Myra was taking the steps two at a time.
Slowing down as she approached Charlotte, she spoke evenly. “Okay, my dear. We are in luck. Dr. Falcon can see you tomorrow at nine o’clock. You’re going to have to fast, but Dr. Falcon’s nurse will get you a sandwich afterward. They have a lovely garden, and you can have your lunch while you’re waiting for the test results to become available.”
“Oh, Myra, I don’t want to put you out. I am sure you have plenty of other things to do besides carting me around.”
“Don’t be silly. I’ll have Edward take you and bring you back. Dr. Falcon said to plan on staying for about two hours. There. Easy.” Myra gave her a reassuring smile.
Charlotte stood and hugged Myra. “What would I do without you?”
After spending time chatting about Liam, Myra suggested that Charlotte take a nap. Dinner wouldn’t be served for another three hours, and the massage was finally having its effect on Charlotte.
“Wonderful idea. I didn’t want to be rude, but a nap sounds divine.” The women rose from the table, and Myra walked Charlotte back to her room, followed by all five dogs. Myra pulled the drapes closed and turned down the temperature. She wanted Charlotte to have a long, restful, uninterrupted sleep while she phoned the sisters and made plans for the following day’s meeting.
Satisfied that her friend had settled in, Myra quickly moved through the house and down the steps. First, she phoned Annie. “Wait until you hear what I have to tell you!”
Chapter 13
The next morning Myra, Charles, and Charlotte were sitting at the long kitchen table. “Edward should be pulling up shortly,” Charles announced. The girls would be arriving very soon, and neither Myra nor Charles wanted Charlotte to know there was something stirring, what with people coming and going at all times of the day. At least not until it became necessary.
Edward appeared at the front door of the farmhouse just as Annie and Fergus pulled the golf cart around to the kitchen door. It was often their mode of transportation between Annie’s and Myra’s. There were always at least two golf carts available to anyone at either of the homes. It was easier than pulling the cars around. And it was private. No one could see them moving about the vast properties. The same was true at Nikki and Jack’s. They also kept golf carts on the premises. Sometimes there was a real “need for speed.” However, it seemed like the “need for speed” always applied to whatever Annie was doing. She could take a curve on two wheels, much to Myra’s chagrin. And riding in a car she was driving on the highway was invariably a white-knuckle adventure.
Edward whisked Charlotte away just minutes before the sisters arrived. After entering the house from the kitchen, they greeted one another with hugs and kisses, doled out dog snuggles, and distributed dog treats. Then the sisters marched down the stone steps to the war room, where they would direct the effort to uncover the doctors’ schemes and would plan a mission to bring the unscrupulous practices of Live-Life-Long to an end and punish their perpetrators. And it would not be much longer if the sisters had anything to say or do about it.
After saluting Lady Justice as they entered, the seven women, Charles, and Fergus took their seats.
Myra began with the information she had gotten from Charlotte as Annie nodded at the hard truth. The women gulped at the amount of money. “Yes, over a hundred thousand dollars.” Myra shook her head in dismay. “I wonder how many other people have gone through this.” For the moment, that was a rhetorical question. They would find out soon. Whatever it took.
Charles conveyed the information he had received from Avery Snowden. “To recap, three doctors. Each has a practice in a different city. They’ve been doing this for almost four years. All graduated from Ross University Medical School. Ten years later, they each applied to Lausanne, but there is no record of their actually attending, let alone graduating. Their whereabouts during those missing ten years was something of a mystery, but Snowden was finally able to get a few details. It seems our medical professionals worked for a couple of pharmaceutical companies in Mexico. Interesting fact, twenty of the top twenty-five Big Pharma companies are in Mexico, so with their medical background, it was easy for them to get jobs and blend in. They each worked for Merck, Pfizer, and GSK. What their duties were is still unknown, but I suspect this is when they came up with the idea of Live-Life-Long. They applied to Lausanne when they were in Mexico. They flew to Switzerland for interviews, were accepted, but never attended.”
Fergus jumped in. “Evidently, they found a different way to make a lot of money with little risk. It appears they pinched some stationery from Lausanne and were able to forge diplomas. It was an intricate idea that took them a couple of years to engineer.” He could see the sisters’ faces grimace in disgust.
“Let’s go over the time line again. They graduated from Ross, spent ten years in Mexico, applied to school in Switzerland but didn’t go. They formed this medical group, Live-Life-Long, and spread out. Steinwood went to Aspen, Corbett to New York, and Marcus to London. We’re still looking into where they bank. Their website is very slick. It features a virtual tour of the facilities and montages of older adults frolicking on the beach, riding bicycles, hiking. All very, very robust. And everyone is smiling or laughing. They did a spectacular job with their marketing,” Maggie said.