The California Coven Project

by Bob Stickgold

  The room was silent for many seconds, until Patricia White, the only woman on the committee, turned to Beckie and said, “I must apologize for my colleague, he appears to have an uncontrollable fear of women.” A ripple of laughter spread through the hall, and lightened the atmosphere immeasurably. For a moment, Beckie thought the whole issue might just blow by without further ado. But her hopes were dashed a moment later, as White continued, “Senator McCardle, you’ve made a rather shocking accusation. It sounds as if you consider Ms. McPhee guilty of manslaughter, or even murder, in the deaths of two cancer patients. Although I can see absolutely no connection between this charge and the purpose of these hearings, I am reluctant to allow this charge to slide by. I am reminded all too strongly here of another senator, from long ago, who used his position on a committee to claim to have lists of wrongdoers and wrongdoings, which he used to pull this entire nation into infamy, so you will forgive me if I pursue this a bit further.” She stared into McCardle’s angry face. “Senator, have you turned your information over to the Attorney General’s office for further action?”

  McCardle frowned. “Senator White, you seem to feel that it would be more politic to investigate me than these midwives. I take it that you’re not as seriously concerned about our wandering off the main purpose of our investigation if you can pick the direction.” He glared at Beckie, who was sitting quietly in her chair. Perhaps we should focus more directly on her, and her practices.”

  But White wouldn’t back off. “Senator, perhaps you didn’t understand that I was asking a question of you. Have you tuned your information on these two alleged deaths over to the Attorney Generals office?”

  McCardle continued to stare at Beckie. “I have not done so yet. Now may we return to investigation?”

  “No! I’d like to know when you plan to turn this information over to the Attorney General’s office.”

  McCardle turned and stared angrily at White. “I’ll turn it over when I’m good and ready. My staff is investigating this matter; when we feel we have sufficient information, we will most certainly go to the Attorney General. Does that satisfy you?”

  White shook her head. “No, Senator. It does not. I don’t believe that you should be doing the work of the Attorney General’s office. Nor do I believe that you have any right to withhold information of possible crimes from the Attorney General for so much as a single day. You have stated here that you believe that this woman, Rebecca McPhee, might be involved in two felony deaths and that you feel she might, in the future, become involved in more, and yet you don’t feel that this information has to be turned over to the Attorney General. I am shocked by such an attitude—unless, of course, you actually have no evidence of any substance.”

  A thin smile spread across McCardle’s face. “Very well, Senator, would you be satisfied if I promised to get the information to the Attorney General by the end of the week?”

  “That would be fine,” she replied.

  “Then I so promise. Now, Senator, may we return to our questioning of the witness?”

  But the exchange had drained most of the energy from everyone involved, and within a half-hour, the bearings were adjourned until Friday.

  Chapter Chapter Thirty

  IT was three before Beckie and Maggie broke free from reporters, lawyers, and well-wishers. They talked quietly while they searched for a coffee shop.

  “Beckie, what are we going to do? it’s as if he has access to our files. How could he know about the Coven?”

  Beckie looked around nervously. “I don’t know. I’ve been wondering if someone in the Coven is a plant, but I know every one, and I can’t believe that any of them would be a fink.” She thought for a minute. “In fact, it doesn’t make sense that way at all.” She looked around again, still concerned about other ears. “Look, if he had a plant, then he’d have information about everything—he’d even know we were curing some people. I mean, if all the information comes out now it would still be a plus for us, and if he had a plant, he’d know that.”

  “On the other hand,” Maggie pointed out, “if he could get twenty percent of the N.M.A. indicted for manslaughter, conspiracy, practicing medicine without a license, or whatnot, that certainly would go a long way toward discrediting the group.” She stopped, and turned to Beckie. “And that also assumes that he believes everything that his stool pigeon tells him. He might very well just reject anything about the successes.”

  They started walking again. “That does make sense,” Beckie agreed. “On the other hand, he might not have an informer at all, in which case we have to think about where he did get his information. We do depend on our patients and their families to maintain silence about our treatment. What if the families of the two patients who died felt guilty and asked their doctors if our treatment could have contributed to the deaths? It’d be easy to see bow that might get around until McCardle finally heard of it.”

  “Of course!” Maggie said. “Look, he can’t have an informer. Something confused me at the time—he said that the cancer cure was given by women who ‘purported to be’ midwives. There’d be no reason to hedge if he had an informer, because he’d be certain that they were midwives. So his information must come from outside the group, in fact, from someone who doesn’t know that the group even exists. Beckie, I think we’re clear for a while. I think we still have some time to maneuver.”

  Beckie thought silently for a while. “I think you’re right, Maggie. Thank God! But we’ve got some pretty fancy footwork to do for a while, and I think it’d be best if you and I weren’t seen together at the hearings, since any investigation is likely to start with me.”

  * * *

  Melanie found Carol as they headed to the lunch hall. “Hey, Carol, have you heard the news yet?”

  “What news?”

  “Big trouble,” Melanie whispered. “Better sit where we can be alone.” Without another word she pushed Carol over to a corner table away from where they and their friends usually ate. She looked around suspiciously. Then in a conspiratorial voice she whispered, “I think they’ve found out about your mom.”

  A wave of fear washed over Carol. “What do you mean?” she demanded.

  Melanie looked around again, and then hunched closer to Carol. “I just heard it on the news. They were talking about the midwives trial up in the City, and some senator said the midwives were trying to cure cancer patients and that a couple had died from the treatment.”

  “That’s not true!” Carol exclaimed.

  Melanie peered at her through squinted eyes. “Sssh! Now just what isn’t true?”

  Carol caught herself just in time. “Oh, the whole thing isn’t true, that’s all.”

  “What do you mean, ‘the whole thing isn’t true?’—I heard it on the radio with my own ears.”

  “Well, what does it have to do with Mom, anyhow?”

  Melanie looked at Carol suspiciously. “What do you think it has to do with your mom?”

  Carol tried to look nonchalant. “Oh, you mean just because she’s a midwife, she’ll sort of be connected to it or something?”

  Melanie looked irritated. “The frogs, you dummy. The experiments. You know what I’m talking about.” She looked around again, just to be sure. “I just want you to know that I’ll keep your secret. No one will find out from me.”

  Carol tried to laugh. “You mean you think my mom actually has something to do with those guys who died? I bet they just died of cancer, anyhow.”

  “Well, listen, you don’t have to go and get defensive about it. Like I said, I’m not going to squeal.”

  “Squeal? You mean start rumors! And I swear, Melanie, if you start any rumors that my mom had something to do with those guys, I’ll tear your eyes out. And I mean it,” she added furiously.

  “Look, don’t get mad at me about it I’m just trying to help, that’s all.”

  “That’s all, my eye. You’re just trying to tease me.” She got up and started to walk away. “And I meant it about
your eyes!” Turning, she stalked out of the lunch hall.

  She ran all the way down to the corner drugstore where there was a phone booth. Punching in her number as quickly as she could, she waked impatiently while the phone rang. Finally, Ann answered.

  “Gramma, is Mom there? I need to talk to her.”

  “No, she’s not, Carol, she’s still in San Francisco, at the hearings. Is there something I could help you with?”

  “No, I need to tell her something.” She paused a moment to think. “Is there any way that I could reach her there?”

  “I doubt it very much. If you tell me, I’ll tell Maggie if she calls again.”

  “Did she call once, already? What about?”

  “Well, I don’t really know,” Ann said. “She was very mysterious, just told me not to talk to reporters or strangers if they called or came by.” She stopped, remembering the conversation. “She told me she would explain it all this evening.”

  Carol sighed in relief. “Well, listen, if she calls again, just tell her I know about it, and that I’ll be careful.” Without waiting for a reply, she hung up and charged back to school. She never should have left Melanie alone in the lunch hall, she realized. It would be smartest to stick close to her until they got a chance to have a serious talk.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  MAGGIE finally arrived home at five, exhausted, only to find a frantic Carol. “What are we going to do, Mom? Should we go away somewhere, so they can’t find us?”

  “Carol, stop it! I don’t have the energy to deal with you when you’re hyper. Just calm down. You want to be treated like an adult? Try acting like one!”

  “Maggie.” Ann said, “don’t take it out on poor Carol.”

  Maggie turned on her. “Mom, I don’t want that from you either right now.” She looked from one to the other in irritation. Finally, she threw her arms up in frustration. “Forget it. I’m going to my room, and I don’t want to be disturbed. You two can talk about it to your hearts’ content.”

  Once in her room, she just stood awhile in frustration and fear, then dropped down onto her bed, feeling the tension in her body, the knotted muscles. Struggling to soothe herself, breathing deeply, concentrating on the muscles, one at a time, relaxing them, neck, shoulders, arms, down the length of her body, a fragile calm was gradually established over her whole body.

  She lay there, thinking about nothing except the calmness of her body, for a full half-hour. Only then did she consider her plight, mentally listing the things to be done; talk to Beckie and map out the next few days, talk with the Coven, and Carol too. Finally she walked into her study and drew up her detailed list. When she finished. she punched Beckie’s number.

  The phone rang several times before Beckie answered. “Don’t say anything until I explain,” Beckie said before Maggie even got in a hello. “I’m afraid my phone is tapped, so try to tell me who you are in an unobvious way, and I’ll get back to you.”

  Maggie was confused. “Uh, Beckie, this is, I mean, you know who this is. I’m at home.”

  “Call you back in five to ten minutes.” She hung up.

  Maggie stared at the phone. She had been counting on Beckie to calm her, and instead she was shaking.

  Several minutes later, the phone rang. Maggie leaped at it. “Beckie, are you all right? What’s going on?”

  “I’m just fine, as far as I can tell.” Her voice wasn’t convincing. “But my damn phone’s been acting strange since I got home, and I’m afraid the D.A. or someone might have decided to check out McCardle’s bombshell.”

  “But don’t you think this will make them suspicious, your running out to a pay phone?”

  Beckie laughed. “Not as much as if you had blurted out that you were scared, going underground, and taking the records with you. For all they know, I’m expecting a phone call from someone about an ounce of dope. They expect you to get paranoid like that.”

  “Just a second, Beckie.” Carol, who bad joined Maggie after the call had come, was tugging at her sleeve. “What do you want?”

  “Mom, what’s going on? Is Beckie okay? What’s happening?”

  Maggie turned back to the phone. “Beckie, Carol’s here Give me a minute to explain to her what’s going on.”

  “Well, I’ve only got three minutes, so let me give you the number here, and you call me back.”

  It was five minutes before Maggie called back. Carol was slipping into hysteria and Maggie had to talk her down. Finally, Maggie called back, with Carol on the extension.

  “Maggie, I’ve been talking to some of the women in the N.M.A.” Beckie said, “and we feel that we have to reply to McCardle’s accusation. I’ve got a rough draft of it here.” There was a pause, while she fumbled for the paper. “The Natural Midwives Association of California categorically rejects the claim of State Senator Steven McCardle that it is in any way participating in the testing of any alleged anticancer drugs, and deplores this attack, which implies that the Association is guilty of manslaughter or even murder. Such attacks are seen by this Association as a futile attempt to create public opposition to the Association, its members, and their practices.” She paused. “This next part is iffy; we haven’t decided whether were going to put it in. The N.M.A., along with all Californians, desperately desires a cure for cancer, and would support any and all reasonable attempts to find such a cure. Any drug suspected of having therapeutic value as an anticancer agent should, we feel, be screened to test this possibility. If, as Senator McCardle claims, such testing is taking place outside of the normal medical research institutions, we feel that the blame for such un-supervised testing lies as much with the medical establishment—which casually and unscientifically rejects all medical claims which do not originate from within its own establishment—as it does with the testers of the drug.” She paused again. “It’s not too well worded yet, but that’s the idea. We were going to maybe insert something about how the medical establishment wouldn’t accept acupuncture or chiropractic even though millions of people had successfully been treated by them. What do you think?”

  “I think it sounds great!” Carol chimed in. “And I really like that last part.”

  “I don’t know,” Maggie admitted. “I mean, that last section isn’t going to help the N.M.A. Any.”

  “Well that’s what we’re arguing about at this end. I want to make sure it expresses the Coven’s point of view, that it sounds good to you.”

  “Well, it certainly sounds fine to me,” Maggie said. “In fact, it might be successful in negating McCardle’s hysteria over the deaths.”

  Beckie agreed, then added. “Listen, about the Coven—it’s got to go further underground. Have you given it any thought?”

  “Not really.”

  “Well, listen. I think it’s important that you get set up so that if, for example, there’s a leak, it doesn’t catch everyone. I was thinking that all of the women you’ve trained should each train another woman, and that no one should be told who that other woman is. That way, the new members will be able to keep going even if all of the original Coven members get rounded up. I think it’s also worthwhile that everyone pick a safe house, where someone would be willing to hide them. And all the Coven members should learn how to make the potion, so that they’re not all dependent on each other. And the network should keep growing, you know, with the new people training other people in secret.”

  “Look, Beckie, do you really think all this is necessary?”

  “Maggie, I hate to say it, but I think the Coven is going to be busted right up the middle.” Beckie had never sounded so weary. “All McCardle has to do is turn the names of the two dead men over to the Attorney General. He’ll interview the families, and for sure he’ll force them to cooperate. Then he’ll go through the midwives photoregistry or have the families examine the photos. Then he’ll bust the midwives who treated the men. And soon, they’ve got us all rounded up.” She sounded defeated. “And once they get to me, I’m afraid the whole N.M.A. is going
to come down around my ears.”

  “We could all go hide.”

  “But that doesn’t really do any good, Carol,” Beckie said. “First of all, that’ll be taken as an admission of guilt, and second of all, treating people while you’re underground would be ten times harder, but I suspect it’s going to be a lot harder getting patients starting right now.”

  “In that case,” Maggie pointed out, “maybe we should think in terms of decreasing the Coven’s size.”

  “No,” Beckie insisted. “The only chance we have of coming out on top is to have so many cures, that we can convince a court that we’re doing right by our patients. Even if the Coven only treats a woman every month, there’s an image of growth and strength that we project to the public.”

  A moment of silence followed before she continued. “Maggie, listen, I can’t stay on the phone, I’m too worried about the connection between me and the Coven. I’ve decided that it’d he best if we didn’t have any contact until some of this stuff blows over.”

  “How long do you mean?”

  “I don’t know. I’m thinking a month, at least.”

  “But Beckie!” Panic was plain in her voice.

  “Maggie, they’re going to be looking for the Coven, even though they don’t know that it exists for sure, and that search is going to start with me. The longer I can keep them off your trail, the better for the Coven. And for God’s sake, don’t panic. Maggie, in Coven affairs all I do is agree with whatever you say. You don’t need me. Besides, you’ve got Carol with you, and you should realize she’s a much stronger and more intelligent member of the Coven than you’ve been willing to admit.