said.
âDid you know that Henry Jellicoe dropped off the face of the earth for a whole year and a half?â At Myraâs and Annieâs blank looks, Maggie nodded. âHe did. I understand heâs back at his farm, or whatever it is, in Pennsylvania. It could also be a rumor.â
âDid he disappearâ¦go awayâ¦right after he hired all his new help?â Myra asked. The glint in her eyes was like cold ice.
âAs far as I can tell, thatâs what happened. There was a thing going on with Jellicoe and the president. In fact, youâll remember, he asked her to marry him and gave her a ring the night of the pardons. No one knows exactly what happened afterward, but there has been a lot of speculation.
âHowever, the press, the Post included, cut her a lot of slack. Engagements and marriage are too personal not to. The president has never made any comments about the engagement or the marriage. In the press photos Iâve seen of her, she wasnât wearing an engagement ring. That might not mean anything since as a rule she doesnât wear jewelry for photo ops,â Maggie said.
âIf anyone would know more about it, it would be Lizzie,â Myra said.
âLizzie is wrapped up in her own little world, and rightly so. When we talk, itâs about the baby and how wonderful motherhood is. I did try to ask some off-the-cuff questions, but she acted like she didnât know what I was talking about. I really donât think she knows anything to share,â Maggie said as she picked up a chicken leg and looked at it as though she couldnât decide if she should eat it or not.
Annie threw her hands in the air. âAnd all that means what? I think you need to spell out what exactly your concern is, so we can talk it to death.â
Maggie laid the chicken leg on a colorful plastic plate. âAm I the only one who is getting this? Ooops, Ted and I are the only ones. Okay, listen up.â Maggie crossed her legs Indian style and leaned forward. âFirst things first. We are having this discussion here in the park, so no one can hear us. Now, do you not find it weird, strange, inexplicable, as to why Henry Jellicoe would turn Global Securities over to our people? And they are our people. Itâs a given that he knew the pardons were going to go through. The man then practically offers up his company on a platinum platter to Bert and Jack, who in the blink of an eye resign respectively as director of the FBI and as deputy district attorney for the District of Columbia, jobs they loved. I know the money offer was a little too enticing to turn down. Ditto for Harry and the others. Global Securities is the eyes and ears of the security world. They do not come any better than that company. The whole world knows that.
âIt has sixty thousand employees around the world. Revenues are off the charts.â
Myra toyed with the food sheâd heaped on her plate. âNo one is disputing that the firm is solvent. What are you trying to say?â
Maggie picked at the crisp batter on her chicken leg with one of her pointy nails. âWhat was the urgency in going after our people? And as you know, Jellicoe immediately scattered our guys all over the world. Lizzie and I are just about the only ones left here in the States. Well, Annie was in Vegas. And someone made sure you stayed down on the farm, Myra, now, didnât they? No one has seen hide nor hair of you in the past year and a half. No one showed up at the farm for Christmas. Iâm sure you asked yourself why a thousand times. From what I can gather, every place one of our people is stationed, there was some kind of crisis that prevented any of them from taking a trip. Never lose sight of the fact that Global is the eyes and ears of the world. They can do what the CIA, the FBI, and all those other organizations canât. They take the law into their own hands and get the job done. Kind of like the