Chapters (47)
- Also by
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Prologue
- Chapter 1
- Chapter 2
- Chapter 3
- Chapter 4
- Chapter 5
- Chapter 6
- Chapter 7
- Chapter 8
- Chapter 9
- Chapter 10
- Chapter 11
- Chapter 12
- Chapter 13
- Chapter 14
- Chapter 15
- Chapter 16
- Chapter 17
- Chapter 18
- Chapter 19
- Chapter 20
- Chapter 21
- Chapter 22
- Chapter 23
- Chapter 24
- Chapter 25
- Chapter 26
- Chapter 27
- Chapter 28
- Chapter 29
- Chapter 30
- Chapter 31
- Chapter 32
- Chapter 33
- Chapter 34
- Chapter 35
- Chapter 36
- Chapter 37
- Chapter 38
- Chapter 39
- Chapter 40
- Chapter 41
- Epilogue
- Teaser chapter
Charles conveyed the information he had received from Avery Snowden. “To recap, three doctors. Each has a practice in a different city. They’ve been doing this for almost four years. All graduated from Ross University Medical School. Ten years later, they each applied to Lausanne, but there is no record of their actually attending, let alone graduating. Their whereabouts during those missing ten years was something of a mystery, but Snowden was finally able to get a few details. It seems our medical professionals worked for a couple of pharmaceutical companies in Mexico. Interesting fact, twenty of the top twenty-five Big Pharma companies are in Mexico, so with their medical background, it was easy for them to get jobs and blend in. They each worked for Merck, Pfizer, and GSK. What their duties were is still unknown, but I suspect this is when they came up with the idea of Live-Life-Long. They applied to Lausanne when they were in Mexico. They flew to Switzerland for interviews, were accepted, but never attended.”
Fergus jumped in. “Evidently, they found a different way to make a lot of money with little risk. It appears they pinched some stationery from Lausanne and were able to forge diplomas. It was an intricate idea that took them a couple of years to engineer.” He could see the sisters’ faces grimace in disgust.
“Let’s go over the time line again. They graduated from Ross, spent ten years in Mexico, applied to school in Switzerland but didn’t go. They formed this medical group, Live-Life-Long, and spread out. Steinwood went to Aspen, Corbett to New York, and Marcus to London. We’re still looking into where they bank. Their website is very slick. It features a virtual tour of the facilities and montages of older adults frolicking on the beach, riding bicycles, hiking. All very, very robust. And everyone is smiling or laughing. They did a spectacular job with their marketing,” Maggie said.
Annie, who, as the owner of the Post, was Maggie’s employer, gave an instruction to Maggie. “Maggie, I think you need to investigate that alleged suicide. I say ‘alleged’ because something stinks. The scribbled note said, ‘I can’t do it anymore.’ Maybe she wasn’t referring to her life. Maybe she was referring to the program. See if you can meet with the family. Tell them you’re doing a story about depression in people over fifty. Let’s use the word silvers. I don’t like elderly or seniors.”
“Actually, there is an alarming suicide trend among seniors. Er, I mean silvers,” Maggie indicated. “Especially white men over eighty-five. What is even more fascinating is that they have the highest rate of suicide of any other demographic.” “Wows” and gasps filled the room. “I will use that as a part of my angle for the story, adding that we are looking to see if there is a similar trend developing in women.”