“With a light, fluffy lemon pie or maybe a pineapple cake for dessert,” Kathryn said.

“I’d settle for a corned beef on rye with a ton of mustard,” Nikki said.

“Well, none of that is going to happen unless we get up, go to the kitchen, and toss those weenies I know she’s going to make down the garbage disposal,” Alexis said.

“We could go in and help,” Myra said hesitantly.

“We could, couldn’t we,” Nikki said, making no move to get up.

No one else moved either.

No one said a word.

Because it was suddenly so silent, the Sisters were able to hear the gears of the cable car as it descended the mountain. Suddenly realizing that the cable car was going down, the Sisters looked at one another.

They moved then as one, racing to the main building, where the gun cabinet was located. Within seconds, Nikki had it opened and was handing each Sister her weapon. In bathing suits and bare feet, they ran out of the building, across the compound, and stopped only when Annie shouted for them to wait as she flew down the steps, gun in hand and a string of hot dogs dangling around her neck.

“Jack’s in court,” Nikki said. “I just talked to him at lunchtime.”

“Harry’s at Quantico,” Yoko said.

“Bert is at the White House having lunch with the president,” Kathryn said.

Alexis and Isabelle looked at one another and shrugged before Alexis finally said, “Joe Espinosa is on assignment in Baltimore.”

“Lizzie?” Annie asked.

“She’s in Las Vegas. She checked in early this morning,” Myra said.

“Nellie and Elias went to Virginia to see Elias’s new grandchild,” Isabelle said.

“Then some stranger is on his or her way up the mountain,” Annie, the best shot of them all, said. “Wait a minute, what about Maggie?”

“She and Ted went to Nantucket for a long weekend,” Nikki volunteered.

“Then it has to be someone who knows us, knows about the cable car, and knows about the switch at the bottom of the mountain,” Myra said. “Maybe we should stop the car halfway up until we decide who it is.”

“But if someone knows about the car and managed to get it to the bottom, they know about the safety switch inside,” Kathryn said. “We should cut the power! As you can see, the dogs aren’t real happy. Otherwise, they’d have gobbled those weenies, and Annie would be flat on the ground.”

The Sisters looked down at the two dogs belonging to Kathryn and Alexis, then to Annie and her necklace of hot dogs. As the two dogs pranced on and off the platform that housed the cable car when it was inactive, they snarled and pawed the ground.

“C’mon, c’mon, someone make a decision here,” Kathryn hissed. “The car is coming up. Now, goddamn it!”

“Wait two minutes and cut the power,” Myra said calmly.

Kathryn raced to the platform, her index finger on the master switch. “Tell me when, Myra.”