“And not much. The bags contained beautifully packaged boxes. I said I hoped I didn’t break anything, and they told me they were vitamins. Sorry I couldn’t get more info out of them, except one of the women didn’t seem very happy with the results so far. They took me to get a cup of tea. That’s when I spotted the scraggly guy.”
“You are good.” Avery smiled.
“Thanks, boss. I’ll be in touch.”
“Be safe,” Avery said before he ended the call. He forwarded the photo of the mysterious guy to Charles.
* * *
Marcus was trying not to have a hissy fit. That creep Jerry had shown up unannounced with a message from Franny. “Cash upon receipt. Or a few baubles. No more credit.”
“But why?” Marcus whined.
“Dunno. Big guy wants it that way. Says he ain’t no bank.”
“But he gets a twenty-five percent commission!” Marcus knew he might as well be talking to the wall.
“What of it? If you want somethin’, yer gonna have to pay as you go.” Jerry turned on his filthy sneakers and walked out.
Marcus realized that he needed to come up with a plan. One thing he knew for sure: stopping the cocaine wouldn’t be a part of it.
Chapter 18
Pinewood
Charles poached some eggs to finish preparing a breakfast of Canadian bacon, wilted spinach, and the aforementioned eggs, all sitting on an English muffin. “Here you go, dear.” He placed the dish in front of Myra while she continued to jot down some notes. “I can see the wheels turning. What is on your mind, love?”
“I think it’s time we let Charlotte know we’re investigating the situation. It’s going to become more difficult to have our meetings without her noticing. Don’t you agree?” Myra asked.
“Absolutely. She should have full knowledge of what those bastards were doing to her. Dr. Falcon said her lab work should be in by noon, so let’s wait and give her all the information at once,” Charles suggested.
“Do you think it might be a bit much for her to absorb?” Myra stopped her writing and looked up at her husband.
“Not if we are methodical about it. And I can say with absolute certainty, you, my dear, are very methodical.” With that, Charles bent to give Myra a peck on the side of her mouth.
“Indeed, I am.” Myra sat taller in her chair. “I think perhaps we should tell her together with Annie and Fergus. It could be overwhelming to have all the sisters sitting at a table, staring at her. She might be embarrassed.”
“Excellent suggestion. I’ll ring up Fergus and Annie and have them come by for lunch.” Charles pulled out his phone and punched in the speed-dial number he had for their friends.
“Meanwhile, I’ll bring Charlotte a tray and tell her we’re going to take a walk after she has breakfast.” Myra was formulating a plan to ease her friend into learning about the machinations of the Sisterhood.
Isabelle was the first to call Charles that morning. “Spoke to Sebastian, my friend in London who studied architecture. He’s sending over the blueprints for Dr. Marcus’s place. Should have them around one o’clock. I have Steinwood’s already. I’m going to send them over now so you can forward them to Avery.”
“Splendid. Avery sent some intel on him from Eileen. I’ll share it with the group when everyone arrives later. By the way, Myra and I think we should bring Charlotte in on this. It’s going to become increasingly difficult for us to operate without her knowing about what we’re doing. And we most assuredly do not want to send her packing. She is still in a fragile state.”
“I think you and Myra are right. Did you ask the others?”
“Not yet. We were just discussing it before you phoned. We’re thinking we’ll do it at lunch with Fergus and Annie. We don’t want to do it in front of everyone, just in case it would embarrass Charlotte.”
“Good idea. What time are we convening today?” Isabelle asked.
“Let me check with the others and get back to you.”
“Roger that.” Isabelle ended the call.
Charles called Annie to ask her to contact the sisters to see who would be available later that day. He also explained that he and Myra wanted to inform Charlotte of what they had discovered, and he asked Annie to bring Fergus over for lunch so they would be there when everything was explained to Charlotte.
Annie agreed, ended the one call, picked up the phone again, and began reaching out to the sisters.