Cross Roads. Fern Michaels

The others agreed.

      “So where is this all leading, or where does it leave us?” Alexis asked.

      “Right where we were when we entered this room,” Yoko said.

      Harry reared up and bellowed at the top of his lungs. Everyone froze. “I want to know where Jack and Bert are, and I goddamn well want to know NOW!”

      “Yeah, well, as much as you want to know where they are, that’s how much I want to know where Isabelle is!” Maggie bellowed in return.

      “Shouting and getting angry isn’t going to help us. We need cool heads right now, and we need a plan, a strategy, a map to help us out. Charles has taken the first step by calling Mr. Snowden. I’m confident nothing is going to come of Charles’s calls to Mr. Jellicoe’s home and to his private phone number. I believe it is safe to assume the man is not going to return Charles’s call, I think we are all in agreement on that. We’re on our own. And if it was Mr. Jellicoe’s intention back in the beginning to separate us, it didn’t work, now, did it? Four of us are here along with Maggie and the boys, and we all know something is wrong. Now, let’s try and figure out what it is. But let’s do the video conference with Lizzie first. We need her input, and we need her to get in touch with the president. After that, I think we’ll have a clearer picture of what we’re up against,” Myra said in her take-charge voice.

      “I’ll set things up,” Charles said.

      The room went silent while they waited for the huge screen in the room to come alive. All it took was eight minutes, and Lizzie’s beautiful face appeared on the screen. Five minutes of small talk ensued before Myra once again took charge. Lizzie listened attentively, and said, “I can make the call to the president’s private number. That doesn’t mean she will take the call. When she wants to talk to me, she calls in the middle of the night East Coast time. Even though we’re close personal friends, that is no guarantee she’s going to share details of her love life with me. I’ll do my best, but I cannot guarantee a return call.”

      “Have you heard from Jack, Bert, or Isabelle?” Maggie asked.

      “No. I’ve tried. I wanted to send pictures of Little Jack to Jack, but everything bounced back. When I call Bert, it goes to voice mail, and Isabelle is the same. I finally just gave up. Now that I think about it, it’s been since Thanksgiving last year. Are you telling me none of you have heard from them, either?”

      “None of us have heard a thing. As you can see, Ted, Espinosa, and Alexis are here. They resigned and are back at the paper. Yoko and Harry came back last week. Harry resigned, too. The boys need you to help them with their contracts and to make arrangements to return their sign-on bonuses, prorated of course,” Maggie said.

      “Where is Hank?” Lizzie asked.

      “That’s what we’d all like to know. As far as we can figure out, when he walked out of his offices the day the boys signed their contracts, he disappeared. That’s as much as we know, Lizzie,” Annie said.

      “You can call us anytime, dear. We’re all at the farm. How is Little Jack?” Myra asked.

      “Kind of fussy, he had an upper respiratory infection, but it’s almost cleared up. Now he just has gas.”

      The talk turned to babies and formulas until Charles held up his hand to indicate the conference was over. Good-byes rang loud and clear.

      “I have an idea,” Maggie said. “Let’s call the architectural board to see if Isabelle renewed her license and if they have a new address on file for her. Maybe we could get some snail mail to her since she doesn’t answer her phone. I wish I understood how they can jam all the phones like that. You’d think by now Bert and Jack would have realized what’s going on. The fact that none of us have heard from them is starting to worry me big-time.”

      “I’ve been worried for a long time,” Harry said so quietly, the others had to strain to hear his words. “Jack’s like my brother; Bert, too. Some way, somehow, they would have found a way to get in touch with me if something was wrong.”

      “What if that something is wrong on their end?” Annie said ominously.

      “Chamomile tea, dear,” Annie and Myra said at the same time. “Works every time.”