Game Over. Fern Michaels

get excited, girls.”

      “Ah, I’m suddenly seeing some light and perhaps the beginning of a plan,” Nikki said. She yawned elaborately. “I think I might be able to sleep now.”

      The yawn was contagious as the others followed Nikki out of the room. Only Myra and Annie remained.

      Annie reached down into the bowl of candy and popped a handful of M&M’s into her mouth. When she finished chewing, she said, “Cough it up, Myra. Where did Charles go? And don’t even think about telling me you don’t know, because if you say that, I am going to snatch those pearls right off you and drape them around Murphy’s neck. He will eat them, and there go your beloved pearls.”

      “I think, and I say I think, he went to see Hank Jellicoe.”

      “I need more than that, or those pearls belong to Murphy,” Annie snapped.

      “Henry Jellicoe of Global Securities, also known as Hank to his friends. When Hank was known as HJ Securities and just starting out, he did the security for my candy company. When Charles came to the States, he took over, and Hank moved on to become Jellicoe Securities. Over the years he built the company, until today it’s known as Global Securities. He’s got offices all over the world. His yearly revenue, Charles told me last year, was in the billions. You want security, you go to Hank Jellicoe. He hires only the best of the best. Ex-FBI, ex-CIA, ex–Secret Service. Then he debriefs them and retrains them at some secret location. He pays his people astronomical sums of money, and there’s a waiting list to get hired. Anyway, he and Charles are great friends. Oh, did I mention his people also do, or at least they used to do, security for the White House when big doings are going on? Impeccable reputation. Oh, one other thing. He keeps files on everyone. You think J. Edgar had files. Ha! According to Charles, what J. Edgar had was kindergarten stuff compared to Jellicoe. You happy now, Annie?”

      Annie nodded sagely. “Okay, you get to keep the pearls. By the way, Myra, I have yet to see you on the pole.”

      “This might be a very good time for us to retire for the evening, Annie dear,” Myra said as she headed to the door to go back to the main building, which she shared with Charles.

      “Why don’t you stay here this evening? There’s an extra bed in my room. You don’t want to be alone, do you?”

      “Oh, Annie, I thought you’d never ask. You’re right. I hate being alone.” Myra hugged her old friend, and together they walked down the hall to Annie’s room. “About that pole…”

      Three hundred miles away as the crow flies, Maggie Spritzer stared at Lizzie Fox. People, she thought, really did go into trances. Who knew?

      “Lizzie, you need to say something. I don’t even care if you tell me you hate me for coming here and telling you all this. Just say something, okay?” Maggie watched, fascinated at the way Lizzie’s throat muscles worked and the way she tried to lick at her dry lips.

      “I don’t know what to say. The whole thing is…bizarre. Why me? It must be some kind of trap. It has to have something to do with the vigilantes. They’ll hash that over forever. Then they’ll start digging into my background and run with my husband’s family. You know how that went down. Doesn’t matter if we were innocent bystanders or not. Cosmo. I don’t understand why…Oh, poor Cosmo, he must be in such turmoil. They’ll go on the attack and chew him up.”

      Maggie laughed. “No, they won’t. You have the most powerful weapons there are on your side. You have the Post. You have the vigilantes. You have all of Vegas and all those important people Cosmo knows. I’m thinking they’re going to be treating you with kid gloves.”

      Maggie leaned across the table and took Lizzie’s cold hands in her own. “The big question, Lizzie, is, do you want to be an associate justice of the Supreme Court? You know as well as I do, it’s not what you know. It’s who you know. The best thing you could have done was take on the job of chief White House counsel pro bono. Cosmo bought you that big, wonderful new house, so that’s out of the way. You two can commute just the way you’re doing now, if it’s what you want.”

      “Oh, Maggie, if it was only that easy. I made a promise to the girls to get their pardon. I won’t be able to work behind the scenes to make that happen. I will be under such scrutiny. I do not like people watching me. Unless I want them to watch me. But to answer your question, I’ve always had this picture in my mind of myself in my black robe, sitting with the other eight justices. I was always sitting in the middle. I think every lawyer ever born sees himself sitting on the highest court in the land. Yes, yes, a thousand times yes, I want that. But not at the girls’ or Cosmo’s expense. How long do you think I have before the word gets out?”

      “I think you have plenty of breathing room, Lizzie. No one knows about Justice Leonard’s decision but Cosmo and the president, and, of course, the girls. The president is going to sit on it for a little while. Don’t forget, this is all new to her, too. Remember now, you can’t let on you know. That means you cannot call up Cosmo and talk it to death. At least not yet. The other thing is, do not get angry that Cosmo held out on you. I want your promise on that.”

      Lizzie nodded.

      “You know what? I think I’m hungry. No, I’m ravenous. What do you have to eat?”

      Lizzie laughed. “My larder is full. Did you forget Cosmo was here? I have some of everything,” she said, jumping off her chair and running to the refrigerator. “I have ham, roast chicken, a potato-cheesy-onion casserole that Cosmo loves and made himself. All kinds of vegetables and fruit. Beer, wine, soft drinks, or coffee.”

      “A little bit of everything. I’ll make the coffee. Are you going to join me?”

      “Damn straight. We need to celebrate. Oh, Maggie, do you think it’s even remotely possible that one day soon I will be sitting on the Supreme Court, just the way Sandra Day O’Connor did? She was my idol, you know. Still is.”

      Maggie turned away from the sink, where she was measuring coffee into the pot. She set it down and placed her hands on Lizzie’s shoulders. She looked deep into her friend’s eyes and saw only honesty, integrity, and hope. “Honey, us women are going to put you there if that’s what you want. As Annie would say, you can take that to the bank. You know the bank I’m talking about, the one that is owned by a woman in the District.”

      Lizzie burst out laughing and almost dropped the ham she was holding.

      The two women high-fived one another before Lizzie started to slice the ham.

      One impossible dream coming up, Maggie thought happily.

      Chapter 7

      Even in the dark, with all the snow and the ground and tree lighting, Charles Martin thought it was the most beautiful spot in the entire world. He remembered thinking the same thing some thirty-odd years ago, when he’d been brought here as a guest of the owner.

      Back then he’d been told this place was called Lord’s Valley by the owner. These days it was called Jellicoe Valley. There was even a quaint sign five miles back, right underneath the road marker, that said so. This time he was coming as an uninvited guest.

      Charles sucked in his breath, knowing that all manner of eyes, human and electronic, were on him, even though the night was pitch-black. He wondered just for a moment if he should get out of his Hummer and wave a white flag, but he didn’t have a white flag to wave. He supposed a handkerchief would do it. On second thought, the wisest thing to do was probably just to sit there and wait for someone to come and get him.

      The thought no sooner passed through his mind when he heard a light tap on the window. He pressed the power button and said, “You’re good.”

      The man ignored the compliment. “Welcome to Jellicoe Valley, Mr. Martin. Mr. Jellicoe said to ask you what took you so long.”

      Charles chuckled. “A little of this, a little of that. Thirty years isn’t all that long.”

      There was no return chuckle. “Follow me,