17. Game Over

by Fern Michaels

  Cosmo sat back down, his shoulders quaking.

  “Holy shit!” was all Jack could think of to say.

  “Lizzie Fox Cricket a Supreme Court justice! Man, it doesn’t get any better than that!” Ted said.

  “Do you think Lizzie will want the position?” Jack asked carefully as he watched for Cosmo’s reaction.

  “I don’t know. I know I’d certainly give it some serious thought if I were under consideration. I’m afraid for Elizabeth. My position in the gambling mecca of Las Vegas may not help her. She would make a top-notch justice. There was something about that call, though, that is bothering me. Maybe I’m too jaded, but the thought that maybe it was a setup of some kind did cross my mind.”

  “Jesus, I can see the headlines now,” Bert said.

  Ted whirled around, a snarl in his voice. “I hope you aren’t referring to the Post, Bert. Maggie will be front and center, and you have to admit, she has a way with words. The Post will be on Lizzie’s side, and woe to those who oppose her.”

  They all started to talk at once as they extolled Lizzie’s virtues and how criminal they all thought the vetting process was. The final summary was that Elizabeth Fox Cricket was a legend in her own time, and only a bunch of fools would even consider rejecting her nomination. Cosmo sighed as he heaved himself to his feet.

  “So, what’s the game plan, Cosmo? What do you want us to do? That’s why you called us all here, right? Do you want the Post to get on it? Are we supposed to keep quiet? Do you want us to call the mountain? We need a plan here, big guy!” Jack said.

  Cosmo threw his hands in the air. “I don’t know. That’s why I came to you five. I thought you might have some advice.”

  Ted Robinson stood tall, squared his shoulders. “The best advice I can give you is to let Maggie and the vigilantes handle this. We can stand in the wings, but this is right up their alley. If you want it to happen for Lizzie, turn it over to them. That’s a big if.”

  The others murmured among themselves and ended up agreeing with Ted.

  “I think the big question is, do you want this for Lizzie? You personally?” Jack asked.

  “It’s going to change our lives if it happens,” Cosmo replied. “I will support Elizabeth one hundred percent if it’s what she wants. Listen, thanks for taking time out of your day to come out here and talk to me. I’ll let you know if I hear anything, and I’d appreciate it if you’d all do the same.”

  The guys agreed as they trooped to the door. It was still snowing lightly.

  Bert turned around as Cosmo locked the front door. “I think this magnificent house is befitting a justice of the Supreme Court.” He clapped Cosmo on the back and said, “Fly safe.”

  The others made their way to their respective cars.

  “That was a mindblower, wasn’t it, Harry?” Jack said as soon as they were settled and back on the road.

  “If it happens, I don’t think Lizzie will take it, Jack.”

  “Don’t be so sure, Harry. It’s what every lawyer aspires to, the highest position of its kind. A job for the rest of your life. You get to make law. I know Lizzie is outside the box, over the top of the box, and way out there, but she’s going to think long and hard about it. If the job were offered to Nikki, I would be jealous as hell but happy as hell for her. Cosmo’s right, though. Their lives will change. I’m glad I’m not him. He’s just plain miserable right now. Just out of curiosity, Harry, what would you do if it were Yoko?”

  “Run for the hills. I’m a simple guy, Jack. I think I would always feel I didn’t measure up to all those legal brains that would be part of her life. And it would be a separate part of her life, one I couldn’t share. I wouldn’t like that at all. It’s just my personal opinion, but I think Lizzie will turn it down if it’s offered to her. On the outside she’s all glitz and glamour, and I would never underestimate her legal expertise, but inside, Lizzie is home and hearth and simple, like me. If you laugh at me, Jack, I will kill you on the spot.”

  Jack let his mind go back to that long-ago night when he found Lizzie at the cemetery with a bunch of frozen violets in her hand. She would have frozen to death if he hadn’t picked her up and taken her home. “I think you’re right, Harry.”

  Chapter 4

  Maggie Spritzer looked around the empty newsroom. Then she looked at the bank of wall clocks that gave the time all over the world. To verify the time, she looked down at her Cinderella watch, a funky gift from Ted eons ago. Ted was late. She walked over to one of the newsroom windows and looked out at the falling snow. Enough with this winter weather already, she thought.

  Maggie whirled around when she suddenly realized she wasn’t hungry. She felt a wave of panic at this strange phenomenon. She tried to remember the last time she wasn’t hungry but couldn’t come up with a time or a place. Where was Ted? More to the point, why hadn’t he called in all afternoon? She hated it when the Hardy Boys, as she secretly thought of Ted and Espinosa, didn’t check in. Therefore, something was up somewhere.

  It was totally dark outside. She stared at her reflection in the darkened glass. Down below and across town, she could see a mass of twinkling lights. She knew the roads and sidewalks would be a mass of wet slush.

  Maggie looked at the bank of clocks again. Either dinner with Ted was going to be canceled or he was running late, which wasn’t like him at all. Normally, Ted was pretty good about following her rules. She’d give him another ten minutes, and then she was outta there.

  Ten minutes later Maggie was pulling on her red ladybug rubber boots, another funky gift from Ted, and getting ready to leave the office. She looked up and said, “If you ever turn your cell phone off again for five hours, you’ll be in the unemployment line. Are we clear on that?”

  Ted shuffled his feet and looked properly chastised. Espinosa, who was standing next to him, backed up a few steps to get out of the line of fire. He knew that a verbal barrage was going to be engulfing Ted shortly. Maggie stood up, her red boots the only splash of color in the room.

  “The weather isn’t all that good, Maggie. I don’t think we have to worry about our dinner reservation. I’m sorry, okay?”

  “Cancel the dinner reservation. I’m not hungry. I haven’t heard an explanation, Teddy.”

  “What do you mean, you’re not hungry? Are you sick?” Ted asked, hoping to divert Maggie, which he knew would not happen.

  “No, I’m not sick, and I am as mystified as you are about why I’m not hungry. You look guilty. I’m going to count to three, and I want to know what you’re keeping from me. Freeze, Espinosa,” Maggie barked when she saw her star photographer trying to inch his way backward into the newsroom.

  “It’s personal, Maggie. I’m sorry I turned off my cell, but nothing happened, and the world didn’t come to an end.”

  “Don’t try feeding me that line of crap. You do not have anything personal going on in your life, and we both know it. Tell me now or regret it.”

  There was such menace on Maggie’s face, Ted turned white. “Jesus, Maggie, will you please cut me some slack here? This is a guy thing, okay?”

  “So, who cares? I’m a girl. Last chance.”

  “Oh, shit! Listen, if I tell you, will you keep it a secret?”

  “No!”

  Ted’s shoulders slumped.

  Espinosa leaned against the wall. “You’re weak, Ted,” he said through clenched teeth.

  Ted inched himself into Maggie’s office and sat down. “My life is on the line here. If those guys find out I blabbed to you, I’m toast.”

  “You’re ashes if you don’t tell me right now.”

  “Okay, okay! Don’t go getting your panties in a knot. Espinosa, Jack, Harry, Bert, and I got a call from Cosmo Cricket. He wanted us to meet him at a location in Old Town in Alexandria. Cricket bought this big old fancy, high-end house for Lizzie back in the fall, had it gutted, and it’s now ready to move into. He wanted our opinion. We gave it to him. We told him whatever he did, not to decorate it, because that’
s the woman’s job. Cricket was real nervous. Now he wishes he had told Lizzie or not even bothered to buy the damn house. He’s on his way back to Vegas, if his plane left on time. We promised not to tell Lizzie or anyone. Anyone means you, too.”

  Maggie stared up at her best reporter, her best friend, her lover, and said, “Do you think I just fell off the turnip truck? Now, give me the rest, the real reason he asked you all to go out there.”

  Ted squirmed in his chair. He gave it one more shot. “Maggie, that’s it. Call Cricket yourself or the others. They’ll tell you just what I told you.”

  “I’m not sleeping with them, and I won’t be sleeping with you, either, you schmuck. Now, tell me straight up.”

  Ted took a deep breath. “Lizzie Fox Cricket is on Martine Connor’s short list to be nominated for the Supreme Court. One of the justices, Justice Douglas Leonard, who is a very close friend of Cricket’s from way back, is going to retire when the court term ends in June. Well, it’s not definite. Things keep switching up, so maybe yes, and maybe no. If it’s yes, Lizzie gets nominated. That’s why you have to keep it quiet, in case it turns out to be a bad rumor.”

  “And you didn’t call me on this?” Angry sparks flew from Maggie’s eyes. “What is the first rule of a good reporter, Mister Robinson?”

  “Tell your boss the news so they…she can decide if she wants to go to the mat with it and get out a special edition. Reporters don’t take sides. They just gather the news, and you print it. Jesus, Maggie, I gave my word.”

  “You had no right to give your word. The only right you have is not to reveal your source. That I respect. But you gave me your source at the outset, so that cancels that right.” Maggie kicked off one of her ladybug boots.

  “What? You can’t run with this, Maggie!”

  The other boot hit the floor. “One reason, just one, why I can’t go with this. It’s not too late. I can get something out if I hustle.”

  Ted stood up, a defiant look on his face, his shoulders squared, as though he were ready to go to battle. “Lizzie doesn’t know, Maggie.” It was all said so quietly, Maggie had to strain to hear the words.

  Maggie stared at Ted as she tried to figure out if he was lying to her or not. “How could she not know? She’s been working at the frigging White House for four days now. She’s Martine Connor’s best friend! There are no secrets in the White House. Or in this damn town, that’s for sure. How could she not know, Ted?”

  “I can only tell you what Cricket told us. She doesn’t know, Maggie.”

  “I have to call the mountain. I’ll do whatever Annie says since she owns this damn paper.”

  Espinosa decided he needed to weigh in. “Don’t do it, Maggie. Please. This is Lizzie we’re talking about. Don’t screw it up for her. Sometimes headlines aren’t where it’s at. People count. You know that. Like I said, this is Lizzie’s life you’re diddling with.”

  Maggie sat down and pulled on her boots again. Ted and Espinosa were right, and she knew it. She would have thought it through and…She was almost sure she wouldn’t have run with the news. She shivered. She’d been a hair away from maybe doing something disastrous. Damn, maybe something was wrong. Something was happening to her. She still wasn’t hungry, and she had almost made a serious mistake. Something hot burned behind her eyes.

  “Let’s go get something to eat,” Ted said, hoping to drive the awful look from Maggie’s face.

  “No, you guys go. I couldn’t eat anything if I tried. I’m going to stay here for a while. I need to think.”

  “Then why did you put your boots on?” Ted asked.

  “Because my feet are cold, not that it’s any of your business,” Maggie said. “Be sure to stop for some cat food. If you recall, you asked me to remind you this morning you were all out. Look, I’m sorry for jumping all over you two. I’m not liking this at all, but I do understand, and to show there are no hard feelings, go out to dinner, use your expense account, and eat till you’re stuffed.”

  “Are you sure, Maggie?” Ted asked.

  “Yes, I’m sure. Go on before I change my mind.”

  Maggie could see the elevator from the newsroom windows. She waited till she saw the doors close and the numbers light up overhead before she picked up her phone and hit the speed dial.

  “Abner, sweetie, I need some help here. I need us to keep an open line, and I want the information as you get it. By early morning if possible. Let’s not go to the wall on this. This is one of those name your price and it’s yours. Of course, if you try to screw me, I’ll have to kill you, but not before I splash your face all over the front page of the Post. This is top secret, classified, need to know, the whole ball of wax. You following me here, Abby?”

  Abner Tookus, Maggie’s supreme hacker bar none and one of her best friends in the whole world, simply said, “I had a new DVD I was going to watch tonight.”

  “Boo-hoo. Listen up.”

  Abner Tookus listened. And then he whistled. “A month in Hawaii. I loved that last trip you gave me. Black American Express card to use while I’m there. First-class tickets for two, five-star accommodations. And a new Porsche when I get back. Silver, black interior.”

  “Done,” Maggie said.

  “Why am I thinking you’re getting me cheap?”

  “’Cause you’re stupid. A deal’s a deal.”

  “Maggie…”

  “I have your back, Abby. At any point if you feel…you know, uneasy, shut down, cover your tracks, and our deal is still a deal.”

  “That will never happen, Maggie. I’m too good. That’s not what I was going to say or ask. I was thinking maybe instead of the Porsche, a check for a down payment on some beachfront property in Hawaii.”

  Maggie hung up, but not before she said, “Remember, an open line on that other cell you have. I’m leaving here now, so just keep talking even if you don’t hear me.”

  Twenty minutes later Maggie exited the Post building and walked straight to her transportation, a Town Car with a driver, the most beloved perk of her being the EIC of the Post. If she had looked behind her and to her right, she would have seen Ted and Espinosa huddled in the side doorway of the Post building.

  “Goddamn it, I knew she was going to do this!” Ted hissed.

  “I might be stupid on my stupid days, but how did you know she was going to come out and get in the Town Car? She does that every day. She’s probably going home,” Espinosa said.

  “I know because I would be doing the same thing she’s doing. I’m a reporter, or did you forget that? Maggie at heart is still a reporter, and she is not going home. Five will get you ten she’s going to Lizzie’s house. Well, do you want the bet or not?” Ted hissed again.

  “Nah, that’s a sucker’s bet. So, does that mean we’re going to follow her? And, why should we if you’re so sure that’s where she’s going? It’s cold out here, and I’m freezing. We’ll have to pay a taxi some big bucks, that’s providing we can even flag one down. I’m all for a three-inch-thick steak, some nice greasy fries, and French onion soup. C’mon, Ted, Maggie isn’t going to blow it.”

  “Yeah, Joe, she is, but not in the way you think.” Ted called Espinosa by his given name only when he was really and truly worried about something.

  “Do you mind spelling that out for me, Ted? How can she blow it but not blow it?”

  “She’s going to tell Lizzie she’s on the short list. They’re females, Joe. Females stick together, no matter what. They’ll screw us over in a heartbeat, and you damn well know it. The one thing Maggie won’t do is tell Lizzie the information came from Cosmo Cricket. I’d stake my life on that. The screwy thing is I can’t really get mad, because if a secret involved you, Jack, Harry, or Bert, I’d be doing the guy thing, too.”

  “So does that mean we’re going to go get that steak?”

  “Yeah, that’s what it means. And before you can ask, no, Maggie won’t call the mountain. She knows she stepped over the line with me.”

  “You are so weak wh
en it comes to Maggie,” Espinosa sniffed. “I hope I never turn out like you.”

  “You should be so lucky. Right now you should be worshipping the ground I walk on.”

  Espinosa gave his buddy a hard shove, which pushed him into a snowbank under a lamppost.

  Lizzie Fox looked down at her watch when she heard her front doorbell chime. Then she looked at the dinner she had just served up. She shrugged as she made her way to the door, where she looked through the small cut-glass triangle that passed for a peephole. Maggie! She mentally calculated the amount of the surefire, quick stew recipe that was in the warming pot. Certainly there was enough for Maggie. She flung open the door, looked at the falling snow, and said, “You’re just in time for dinner. Homemade stew, warm rolls, soft butter, crisp salad, and sorbet for dessert.”

  “I’m not hungry, Lizzie.”

  “Are you sick? What’s wrong? What are you doing here, anyway, at this time of night? My, God, did something happen on the mountain? Is Ted okay? Talk to me, Maggie.”

  Maggie kicked off her boots and shed her down jacket. She trailed behind Lizzie to the kitchen. She eyed Lizzie’s bowl of food but didn’t bat an eye. Instead, she opened the refrigerator and picked up a bottle of water. “Go ahead and eat. We’ll talk when you’re finished. Everything is fine. Nothing is an emergency.”

  Lizzie started to eat but realized she’d suddenly lost her appetite. She stirred the food around and watched Maggie out of the corner of her eye.

  “So how do you like working at the most famous address in the world?” Maggie asked.

  “It’s a job, Maggie. New people came on board when I did, so in a sense we’re all getting to know each other. Tobias Daniels is a great guy, and he’s going to be a superb chief of staff. We’ve known each other for years. He genuinely likes the president, so that’s a definite plus. Lowra Dilic was a great pick for press secretary. I’ve known Lowra for a long time, and she’s a great team player. I’m just glad Marti took my advice. I heard through the grapevine, that’s the White House gossip chain, that the old chief of staff is going to be indicted along with Baron Bell. I didn’t hear any other details, but Marti got rid of him just in time.”