Regarding Dr. Corbett, they would swap the original Chagall with the reproduction at the customs neutral zone. They had plans for the original. But Corbett would be showing off the forgery. Charles and Fergus had contacted Interpol. They, too, would unwittingly be part of the mission.
As far as Dr. Marcus, it would be a very short matter of time before Franny O’Rourke was handed paste instead of diamonds. The sisters chattered about what Franny would do to Marcus. They would allow Franny to finish the job for them. He probably wouldn’t kill Marcus, but the good doctor would wish he was dead after the beating he would be getting. All part of the Sisterhood credo.
But the timing had to be perfect.
The action was to take place in three days. Everyone was at the ready. Kathryn would meet up with her road buddies in Ohio. Avery was on call to disable the cameras while Steinwood was en route to New Jersey.
Their work in London was done. Myra and Annie had to get back to Pinewood for the grand finale. They encouraged Charlotte to stay on in London, at Annie’s place. No need for her to witness the details of the final act of this play. Charlotte was undecided. She wanted to see it through. But Annie and Myra knew there were some things that should not be shared and convinced her to stay.
Annie called her pilot to have him get the jet ready for the return trip to the States.
“Tell Maryann we are sorry we missed her this trip, but something came up with Fergus and some business deal, and I have to get back.” That was always a convincing excuse.
On the flight back, Myra and Annie discussed their plan for Corbett and Steinwood. Fergus would keep tabs on Marcus. If Franny didn’t put him in the hospital, they would go to plan B, but they were certain Franny would handle it as well as they could. He had a reputation for showing little mercy. But after meeting Norma Marcus, Annie and Myra were almost convinced that she was torture enough.
* * *
The morning after the fund-raiser, Marcus was flying high. His obtaining two new patients, Myra Rutledge and none other than Countess Anna Ryland de Silva, plus the return of Charlotte Hansen, had Marcus on cloud nine. And with the new arrangement he had with Franny, he was feeling just fine. Fine enough to order a month’s worth of cocaine. That would save a lot of dealing with that rotter Jerry Hardy. Before he left for the office, he went to the jewelry safe. There were at least five tennis bracelets. Norma wouldn’t miss one of them. He pinched one that had been appraised for twenty thousand dollars. Franny would give him credit for half of it. That was fine with Marcus. It was a win-win for him. He would get cocaine for diamonds and gold. The only costs were for making the fake replacements. Something Norma would never figure out.
Chapter 36
Pinewood
When Myra and Annie returned to Pinewood, Charles had a platter of empanadas waiting for them. “Just a little something to tide you over.” He set the tray down and wrapped Myra in his arms. “Good to have you back, old girl.”
Lady and her pups were yelping and yapping. Myra and Annie squatted to hug and snuggle the pooches. “I missed you so much.” Myra draped her arms over as many dogs as she could.
Charles clasped Annie’s shoulders. “You managed to stay out of trouble, I see,” he said jokingly.
“I do the best I can!” She pecked him on the cheek. “Where’s Fergus?”
“In the war room. Dealing with Interpol.”
“Goody. Is he optimistic about their cooperation?” Annie asked.
“Anything Nazi related is fair game. The girls will be arriving in about an hour to go over the rest of the details. I’ll bring your bags up, and you can get comfortable. I’ll let Fergus know you’re here, Annie.” Charles buzzed Fergus on his phone and let him know Annie and Myra were back. Then he carried Myra’s luggage to the master suite, with Myra and the dogs following behind.
An hour later, the sisters began arriving. High fives to Annie for the jewelry heist; high fives to Kathryn and Yoko for discovering the pill mill; high fives to Isabelle and Alexis for the Brewster info; more slapping for Maggie’s work on Lorraine Thompson’s apparent suicide and for Charles’s and Fergus’s intel. Nikki, with assistance from Lizzie Fox in Las Vegas, had made a contribution to the mission, also. She and Lizzie had compiled a list of all previous patient victims of Live-Life-Long and were going to file a class-action suit against the individual men. But that would have to wait until they were arrested. A lawsuit could tip them off and send them running. As of now, none of them had any idea about what was coming.
After the hugging, kissing, and hand slapping, Nikki spoke up. “Where’s Charlotte?”
Multiple questions flew out of the sisters’ mouths at the same time.
“Easy.” Myra gestured for them to calm down. “Two things. Even though Charlotte played an enormous role in this, we felt that leaving her out of certain things would suit her preferences more than involving her. While she seemed to relish the process of gathering the ingredients, I doubt she would want to be present for the making of the sausages.”
Taking the opportunity for a pun, Annie blurted, “Speaking of suits and suitors, there is Lincoln Gladwell, my personal jeweler. He and Charlotte hit it off swimmingly.”
Oohs and aahs came from the group.
“Do tell!” Alexis begged.
“Nothing to tell yet,” Myra said evenly. “They met. They chatted. They plan to get together soon.” She couldn’t hide her joy over the new friendship. “It was sweet. Let’s just leave it at that and say some prayers for Charlotte’s happiness.”
“Hells bells, girls! Happiness for all!” Kathryn bellowed.
Charles motioned for everyone to go to the war room to finalize their plans. After the ritual salute to Lady Justice, everyone took their seat. Charles powered up all the monitors and ran down everything they had accomplished, accumulated, and planned. Everyone knew how imperative the timing was. Once the mission began, the final challenge would be the snatch.
The FBI in the US and Scotland Yard in London had to raid the doctors’ offices as well as the property in Michigan. Simultaneously, the FBI would arrest Steinwood for grand theft larceny and Corbett for multiple felonies, and in addition, Interpol would take Corbett in for international art theft. Marcus would be on the run from Franny O’Rourke, assuming that Franny hadn’t found him already. It was anyone’s guess how that would turn out.
Annie and Maggie would alert all their contacts to make sure the media was on standby to break the stories across the country and the free world. Live-Life-Long was going down.
Chapter 37
Pinewood
Three days later, the sisters gathered around the kitchen table for morning coffee, fruits, muffins, scones, and other baked goods. Myra checked the big clock in the entry. It was almost time.
“Ladies, I think we should head downstairs and watch some television,” Myra announced.
The excitement among the women and the men was palpable. This was act one. Act two would follow shortly.
Sag Harbor—The big night
Raymond Corbett took another look at himself. Perfection. He drove himself to the yacht club, where he would greet his guests, including a representative of the Museum of Modern Art. He had made sure there would be plenty of press coverage in the Hamptons as well as New York City. When he arrived at the yacht club, he noticed several men in dark suits, with earpieces. Must be the security team I hired. He nodded at the men and tossed his car keys to the valet. He straightened his shirt cuffs to reveal his expensive cuff links, adjusted his ascot, and sauntered up the steps.