She had picked a very bad time to lose her mind.

There was Cognac in the nightstand, very high-end Cognac, a gift from the French president. She’d already had one snifter. Now she had a second one. She downed it in a gulp.

No one would blame her for having a drink.

Except of course that she didn’t drink. Never had liked the stuff.

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release

Summary: White House Releases details of memorial service for First Gentleman Monte Morales.

WASHINGTON, DC, Today: The White House office of protocol announced today that the funeral for First Gentleman Monte Morales will take place on Saturday. It will be a strictly private event. Mr Morales, a U.S. Air Force veteran with service in the Iraq Theater of Operations, will be interred at Arlington National Cemetery.

Following the funeral service and interment, a public memorial service will be held at the National Cathedral.

In addition to the POTUS, foreign dignitaries will include British Prime Minister Bowen and Mrs. Victoria Poplak-Bowen; Hanna Ellstrom, First Lady of Canada; Claude Dehaye, First Gentleman of France, and Mexico’s First Lady, Sofia Soto.

The full list of dignitaries is appended.

Notes for book proposal: Billionaire Freak Show by Jan DeVoor

Lengthy prelim interview with Carmela Fazenda. Claims she was a maid working at the Armstrong household NYC yrs, 1982 to 2008. Cuban native hired by Arthur Armstrong. Worked as general downstairs maid later assigned to work specifically for C and B. Later, subsequent to AA’s death, worked for C & B.

Much talk of Arthur’s fanatic anti-communism. Fazenda sympathized as a Cuban expat. Liked C & B much pity etc. C was the cool calculating one. B maybe smarter but volatile.

Says twins raised in near-total isolation. Attempts to intro them to staff children generally disastrous. An attic space was eventually set up as a sort of artificial environment. Mannequins dressed and posed in artificial environments. Twins would pretend they were real. (Note: mannequins believed purchased from Bloomingdale’s. May have searchable records.)

The attic space was called the doll house.

Relations betw AA and C & B were good. AA fascinated by his grandchildren. Believed them a sign from god.

Fazenda says things changed when AA became ill. Twins panicked. What would become of them etc. Spent more time in attic mannequin menagerie. AA orders them out of attic to focus on business.

AA disease degenerative ups and downs and C & B start to use the time to learn more. Take to business.

Fazenda believes C & B may have assisted AA suicide. Fazenda witnesses conversation between C & B. “This dies with us, brother. As dead as him.”

Fazenda retired, replaced by woman Ling (last name? first name?) Warned not to speak to press. But now terminal herself she is talking.

Second interview sched for Monday.

Update: Fazenda dead after fall on subway tracks.

ELEVEN

“The attic,” Benjamin said. “I was thinking of the attic.” “I often remember it,” Charles admitted, but he didn’t like talking

about their childhood.

The Twins traveled by private jet. There was no other practical

way. Their jet had a specially built seat, and handrails bolted to the

overhead so they could hold themselves upright for the trip back and

forth to the specially built bathroom.

They stayed aboard the plane during refueling in Novosibirsk,

Russia. They did not get off until the plane had landed and taxied into

a secure hangar at Hong Kong International.

The Twins had traveled with three bodyguards, a personal assistant named Samuel, and an old Vietnamese woman named Ling. Ling

was a piece of work—ancient, wrinkled, short but squat and amazingly strong. There would never be a need to wire Ling to ensure her

loyalty—the Twins owned her body and soul after they had bribed

the communist authorities in Hanoi to release Ling’s son from prison. At the airport Charles and Benjamin transferred to a helicopter. It, too, was specially equipped. It belonged to the Doll Ship and had been flown to shore to accommodate them. The only problem with the helicopter was that it was too small to take all three of the bodyguards. There was room for only the Twins, Ling and a single AmericaStrong operative whom everyone called Altoona after his

hometown.

The helicopter whined its way to full power and tilted out through

the doors of the hangar. The weather had turned nasty, with low

clouds and gusting winds. Rain and worse wind was ahead. Already

the flight conditions were less than optimum for a landing on a pitching ship. But they hadn’t come all this way to be denied now. “Our friends were mannequins,” Benjamin said bitterly, spitting

the words.

“Listen, brother, you must fight these memories. She wired you,

that McLure girl. You know that. You know that these memories are

given too much prominence because she wired you.”

Benjamin stared dully ahead. “My best friend was Poppy. Do

you remember her, brother? I imagined going out to the movies with

her. With a mannequin. With a thing. A thing made of plaster over a

metal frame, topped with a yellow wig.”

The helicopter lifted off with a lurch that upset the stomach they

shared. The city stabbed up at them with a hundred bright skyscrapers. Then the busy harbor. And finally they were out over gray water. “I wanted to look under her dress,” Benjamin said. “A mannequin.” “For God’s sake, let it go. We aren’t those children anymore, Benjamin.” The words were painful. The memories were painful. Worse