to explain why weâre all here and whatâs expected of us. By the way, Marti, how are you going to handle the Secret Service you have protecting you, as far as weâre all concerned?â
The ex-president laughed. âI went straight to the top. Meaning Lizzie Fox. As you know, sheâs my best friend. Sheâs taking care of it just the way she did for you, Nellie, when you wanted your protection gone so you could become Cornelia Easter, private citizen. Lizzie said my protection will be a thing of the past in two days. She said my ace in the hole was the Post, where I would give an interview saying I have no need of protection at the taxpayersâ expense. I look forward to my unfettered freedom just as you did, Nellie. As far as Iâm concerned, itâs a done dealâas everything is once Lizzie takes it over.â
Everyone nodded to show they were sympathetic to Martiâs feelings and that they all understood and accepted Lizzie Fox as Martiâs solution.
âMaggie, the floor is yours,â Myra said.
Maggie leaned closer to the table, her voice at conversation level. âOkay, here goes. Right now Iâm going strictly on my reporterâs instinct, which has been dormant way too long. The fact that it kicked in is telling me I am on to something. I want to say right now, at the outset, that I have no proof of anything. Absolutely none. All I have is this gut instinct telling me Iâm right, and things need to be investigated. Now, if Iâm wrong, which I donât think I am, you can all drum me out of here with a broomstick, but I donât think thatâs going to happen. There is also the possibility I am reading more into this based on that case in Pennsylvania. I donât think so, but you all need to know there is that possibility. I havenât had any real quality time to do any research. I did a Google search, but the info I managed to get is limited. Itâs just social networking stuff.
âBaywater, Maryland. Thatâs the location weâre going to be working. Two hours from here, perhaps less if you have a heavy foot on the gas pedal. There are two judges who are twins and appear to control the courthouse and the system. There appears, I say appears to be no crime whatsoever in Baywater. Because . . . everyone who appears before these two judges is sent to jail, prison, or a work farm. Almost like those camps from the place in Pennsylvania. At least thatâs what a young reporter was trying to say in an article he wrote in a weekly paper. Being a reporter, Iâm trained to read between the lines, and I can tell you that article was a watered-down version of what the reporter wanted to say. Iâve got calls in to him, but so far thereâs been no response.
âI might be a little ahead of myself here. The reason that particular article triggered my interest is because I remembered reading, as Iâm sure you all read, about the judge in Pennsylvania who was sending kids to boot camps and taking kickbacks.â Maggie looked around to see all the women nodding to indicate they remembered the judge in question and the case she was talking about.
âI havenât had the time to do a real background check; Charles is doing that. But what I do know is what Iâve read recently. The twin judges are Eunice and Celeste Ciprani, famous in the state of Maryland. They call each other Nessie and Cee. No one else would dare call them by their childhood names.â
âIâm not getting it, Maggie. What was it that triggered your interest? Twin judges, I grant you, are unusual, but there must be something else to bring us all here at this time,â Pearl said.
âWell, for starters, Baywater is virtually crime-free. I drove fifteen miles out of my way to visit Baywater before I came here. Itâs a Stepford town. Remember that movie? The whole town just looked like it had been scrubbed clean. It didnât look
The ex-president laughed. âI went straight to the top. Meaning Lizzie Fox. As you know, sheâs my best friend. Sheâs taking care of it just the way she did for you, Nellie, when you wanted your protection gone so you could become Cornelia Easter, private citizen. Lizzie said my protection will be a thing of the past in two days. She said my ace in the hole was the Post, where I would give an interview saying I have no need of protection at the taxpayersâ expense. I look forward to my unfettered freedom just as you did, Nellie. As far as Iâm concerned, itâs a done dealâas everything is once Lizzie takes it over.â
Everyone nodded to show they were sympathetic to Martiâs feelings and that they all understood and accepted Lizzie Fox as Martiâs solution.
âMaggie, the floor is yours,â Myra said.
Maggie leaned closer to the table, her voice at conversation level. âOkay, here goes. Right now Iâm going strictly on my reporterâs instinct, which has been dormant way too long. The fact that it kicked in is telling me I am on to something. I want to say right now, at the outset, that I have no proof of anything. Absolutely none. All I have is this gut instinct telling me Iâm right, and things need to be investigated. Now, if Iâm wrong, which I donât think I am, you can all drum me out of here with a broomstick, but I donât think thatâs going to happen. There is also the possibility I am reading more into this based on that case in Pennsylvania. I donât think so, but you all need to know there is that possibility. I havenât had any real quality time to do any research. I did a Google search, but the info I managed to get is limited. Itâs just social networking stuff.
âBaywater, Maryland. Thatâs the location weâre going to be working. Two hours from here, perhaps less if you have a heavy foot on the gas pedal. There are two judges who are twins and appear to control the courthouse and the system. There appears, I say appears to be no crime whatsoever in Baywater. Because . . . everyone who appears before these two judges is sent to jail, prison, or a work farm. Almost like those camps from the place in Pennsylvania. At least thatâs what a young reporter was trying to say in an article he wrote in a weekly paper. Being a reporter, Iâm trained to read between the lines, and I can tell you that article was a watered-down version of what the reporter wanted to say. Iâve got calls in to him, but so far thereâs been no response.
âI might be a little ahead of myself here. The reason that particular article triggered my interest is because I remembered reading, as Iâm sure you all read, about the judge in Pennsylvania who was sending kids to boot camps and taking kickbacks.â Maggie looked around to see all the women nodding to indicate they remembered the judge in question and the case she was talking about.
âI havenât had the time to do a real background check; Charles is doing that. But what I do know is what Iâve read recently. The twin judges are Eunice and Celeste Ciprani, famous in the state of Maryland. They call each other Nessie and Cee. No one else would dare call them by their childhood names.â
âIâm not getting it, Maggie. What was it that triggered your interest? Twin judges, I grant you, are unusual, but there must be something else to bring us all here at this time,â Pearl said.
âWell, for starters, Baywater is virtually crime-free. I drove fifteen miles out of my way to visit Baywater before I came here. Itâs a Stepford town. Remember that movie? The whole town just looked like it had been scrubbed clean. It didnât look
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