The Winner (11 page)

“Classical. I really don’t know nothing about that kinda music. I just like the way it sounds. The way it makes me feel, sorta clean and graceful, like swimming in a lake somewhere up in the mountains, where you can see all the way to the bottom.”

Charlie grinned. “I never thought about it that way. Jazz is my thing. I actually play a little horn myself. Outside of New Orleans, New York has some of the best jazz clubs around. Play until the sun comes up, too. A couple of them not too far from the hotel.”

“Which hotel are we going to?” she asked.

“Waldorf-Astoria. The Towers. You ever been to New York City?” Charlie took a swig of club soda and sat back against the seat, unbuttoning the front of his suit coat.

LuAnn shook her head and swallowed a bite of sandwich. “I ain’t never really been anywhere.”

Charlie chuckled softly. “Well then, the Big Apple is a helluva place to start.”

“What’s the hotel like?”

“It’s real nice. First-rate, especially the Towers. Now it’s not the Plaza, but then what is? Maybe you’ll be staying at the Plaza one day, who knows.” He laughed and wiped his mouth with a napkin. She noticed that his fingers were abnormally large and thick, the knuckles massive and knobby.

LuAnn looked at him nervously as she finished her sandwich and took a sip of Coke. “Do you know why I’m here?”

Charlie settled a keen gaze upon her. “Let’s just say I know enough not to ask too many questions. Let’s leave it at that.” He smiled curtly.

“Have you ever met Mr. Jackson?”

Charlie’s features grew grim. “Let’s just leave it alone, okay?”

“Okay, just curious, is all.”

“Well, you know what curiosity did to that old cat.” The dark eyes glittered briefly at LuAnn as the words rolled off his tongue. “Just stay cool, do what you’re told, and you and your kid have no problems, ever again. Sound good to you?”

“Sounds good to me,” LuAnn said meekly, cradling Lisa closer to her hip.

Right before they climbed out of the limo, Charlie pulled out a black leather trench coat and matching wide-brimmed hat and asked LuAnn to put them on. “For obvious reasons, we don’t want you to be observed right now. You can ditch the cowboy hat.”

LuAnn put on the coat and hat, cinching the belt up tight.

“I’ll check you in. Your suite is under the name of Linda Freeman, an American business executive with a London-based firm traveling with her daughter on a combination of business and pleasure.”

“A business executive? I hope nobody asks me no questions.”

“Don’t worry, nobody will.”

“So that’s who I’m supposed to be? Linda Freeman?”

“At least until the big event. Then you can go back to being LuAnn Tyler.”

Do I have to?
LuAnn wondered to herself.

The suite Charlie escorted her to after he checked her in was on the thirty-second floor and was mammoth in size. It had a large sitting room and a separate bedroom. LuAnn looked around in wonderment at the elegant furnishings, and almost fell over when she saw the opulent bathroom.

“You get to wear these robes?” She fingered the soft cotton.

“You can have it if you want. For seventy-five bucks or so a pop that is,” Charlie replied.

She walked over to the window and partially drew back the curtains. A goodly slice of the New York City skyline confronted her. The sky was overcast and it was already growing dark. “I ain’t never seen so many buildings in all my life. How in the world do people tell ’em apart? They all look the same to me.” She looked back at him.

Charlie shook his head. “You know, you’re real funny. If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were the biggest hick in the world.”

LuAnn looked down. “I am the biggest hick in the world. At least the biggest one you’ll probably ever see.”

He caught her look. “Hey, I didn’t mean anything by it. You grow up here, you get an attitude about things, you know what I mean?” He paused for a minute while he watched LuAnn go over and stroke Lisa’s face. “Look, here’s the refreshment bar,” he finally said. He showed her how it worked. Next, he opened the thick closet door. “Over here is the safe.” He indicated the heavy metal door inserted into the wall. He punched in a code and the cylinders whirled into place. “It’s a real good idea to keep your valuables in there.”

“I don’t think I have anything worth putting in there.”

“How about that lottery ticket?”

LuAnn gulped, dug into her pocket, and produced the lottery ticket. “So you know that much, huh?”

Charlie didn’t answer her. He took the ticket, barely glancing at it, before thrusting it in the safe. “Pick a combo—nothing obvious like birthdays or stuff like that. But choose something you’ll remember off the top of your head. You don’t want to be writing the numbers down anywhere. Got that?” He opened the safe again.

LuAnn nodded, and input her own code and waited until the safe was in the lock mode before shutting the closet door.

Charlie headed to the door. “I’ll be back tomorrow morning about nine. In the meantime, you get hungry or anything, just order up room service. Don’t let the waiter get a good look at your face, though. Put your hair up in a bun or wear the shower cap, like you’re about to jump in the tub. Open the door, sign the bill as Linda Freeman, and then go into the bedroom. Leave some tip money on the table. Here.” Charlie took a wad of bills from his pocket and handed them to her. “Generally, keep a low profile. Don’t go walking around the hotel or stuff like that.”

“Don’t worry, I know I don’t sound like no executive person.” LuAnn pulled her hair out of her eyes and tried to sound flippant, although her low self-esteem was as plain as the hurt tones in Charlie’s response.

“That’s not it, LuAnn. I didn’t mean . . .” He finally shrugged. “Look, I barely finished high school. I never went to college and I did okay for myself. So neither one of us could pass as a Harvard grad, so who the hell cares?” He touched her lightly on the shoulder. “Get a good night’s sleep. When I come back tomorrow, we can go out and see some of the sights and you can talk your head off, how about that?”

She brightened. “Going out would be nice.”

“It’s supposed to be chilly tomorrow, so dress warmly.”

LuAnn suddenly looked down at her wrinkled shirt and jeans. “Uh, these are all the clothes I have. I, uh, I left home kind of quick.” She looked embarrassed.

Charlie said kindly, “That’s all right: No luggage, no problem.” He sized her up quickly. “What, you’re about five ten, right? Size eight?”

LuAnn nodded and blushed slightly. “Maybe a little bigger on top than that.”

Charlie’s eyes hovered over her chest area for a moment. “Right,” he said. “I’ll bring some clothes with me tomorrow. I’ll get some things for Lisa, too. I’ll need a little extra time though. I’ll be here around noon.”

“I can take Lisa with us, right?”

“Absolutely, the kid comes with us.”

“Thanks, Charlie. I really appreciate it. I wouldn’t have the nerve to go out on my own. But I’m kind of itching to, if you know what I mean. I never seen a place this big in my whole life. I betcha there’s probably more people in this one hotel than in my whole hometown.”

Charlie laughed. “Yeah, I guess being from here, I kind of take it for granted. But I see what you mean. I see it exactly.”

After he left, LuAnn gently lifted Lisa out of her carrier and laid her in the middle of the king-size bed, stroking her hair as she did so. She quickly undressed her, gave her a bath in the oversize tub, and dressed Lisa in her pajamas. After laying the little girl back down on the bed, covering her with a blanket, and propping big pillows on either side of her so she wouldn’t roll off, LuAnn debated whether to venture into the bathroom and perhaps give the tub a try as well to work the pains out of her body. That’s when the phone rang. She hesitated for an instant, feeling guilty and trapped at the same time. She picked it up. “Hello?”

“Miss Freeman?”

“Sorry, you’ve—” LuAnn mentally kicked herself. “Yes, this is Miss Freeman,” she said quickly, trying to sound as professional as possible.

“A little faster next time, LuAnn,” Jackson said. “People rarely forget their own names. How are things? Are you being taken care of?”

“Sure am. Charlie’s wonderful.”

“Charlie? Yes, of course. You have the lottery ticket?”

“It’s in the safe.”

“Good idea. Do you have pen and paper?”

LuAnn looked around the room and then pulled a sheet of paper and a pen from the drawer of the antique-looking desk against the window.

Jackson continued: “Jot down what you can. Charlie will have all the details as well. You’ll be happy to know that everything is in place. At six
P
.
M
. the day after tomorrow, the winning ticket will be announced nationwide. You can watch it on TV from your hotel room; all the major networks will be carrying it. I’m afraid there won’t be much drama in the proceedings for you, however.” LuAnn could almost envision the tight little smile on his lips as he said this. “Then the entire country will eagerly wait for the winner to come forward. You won’t do it immediately. We have to give you time, in theory of course, to calm down, start thinking clearly, perhaps get some advice from financial people, lawyers, et cetera, and then you make your joyous way up to New York. Winners aren’t required to come to New York, of course. The press conference can be held anywhere, even in the winner’s hometown. However, many past winners have voluntarily made the trek and the Lottery Commission likes it that way. It’s far easier to hold a national press conference from here. Thus, all your activities will take a day or two. Officially, you have thirty days to claim the money, so there’s no problem there. By the way, in case you haven’t figured it out, that’s why I wanted you to wait before coming. It would not look good if people were aware you arrived in New York
before
the winning number was announced. You’ll have to remain incognito until we’re ready to present you as the winner.” He sounded upset that his plans had been altered.

LuAnn scribbled down notes as fast as she could. “I’m sorry, but I really couldn’t wait, Mr. Jackson,” LuAnn said hurriedly. “I told you what it would be like back home. It’s such a small place and everything. People would know I’d got the winning ticket, they just would.”

“All right, fine, there’s no sense wasting time discussing it now,” he said brusquely. “The point is we have to keep you under cover until a day or so after the lottery drawing. You took the bus to Atlanta, correct?”

“Yes.”

“And you took suitable precautions to disguise your appearance?”

“Big hat and glasses. I didn’t see anybody I knew.”

“And you of course didn’t use your real name when buying your ticket?”

“Of course not,” LuAnn lied.

“Good. I think your tracks have been effectively erased.”

“I hope so.”

“It won’t matter, LuAnn. It really won’t. In a few days, you’ll be much farther away than New York.”

“Where exactly will I be?”

“As I said before, you tell me. Europe? Asia? South America? Just name it and I’ll make all the arrangements.”

LuAnn thought for a moment. “Do I have to decide now?”

“Of course not. But if you want to leave immediately after the press conference, the sooner you let me know the better. I’ve been known to work miracles with travel arrangements, but I’m not a magician, particularly since you don’t have a passport or any other identification documents.” He sounded incredulous as he said this. “Those will have to be prepared as well.”

“Can you get them made up? Even like a Social Security card?”

“You don’t have a Social Security number? That’s impossible.”

“It ain’t if your parents never filled out the paperwork for one,” she fired back.

“I thought the hospital wouldn’t let a baby leave without that paperwork having been completed.”

LuAnn almost laughed. “I wasn’t born in no hospital, Mr. Jackson. They say the first sight I saw was the dirty laundry stacked in my momma’s bedroom because that’s right where my grandma delivered me.”

“Yes, I suppose I can get you a Social Security number,” he said huffily.

“Then could you have them put another name on the passport, I mean with my picture on it, but with a different name? And on all the other paperwork too?”

Jackson said slowly, “Why would you want that, LuAnn?”

“Well, because of Duane. I know he looks stupid and all, but when he finds out I won all this money, he’s gonna do everything he can to find me. I thought it’d be best if I disappeared. Start over again. Fresh, so to speak. New name and everything.”

Jackson laughed out loud. “You honestly think Duane Harvey will be able to track you down? I seriously doubt if he could find his way out of Rikersville County if he had a police escort.”

“Please, Mr. Jackson, if you could do it that way, I’d really appreciate it. Of course, if it’s too hard for you, I’ll understand.” LuAnn held her breath desperately, hoping that Jackson’s ego would take the bait.

“It’s not,” Jackson snapped. “It’s quite simple, in fact, when you have the right connections, as I do. Well, I suppose you haven’t thought of the name you want to use, have you?”

She surprised him by rattling one off immediately, as well as the place where the fictitious person was from.

“It seems you’ve been thinking about doing this for a while. Perhaps with or without the lottery money. True?”

“You got secrets, Mr. Jackson. Why not me, too?”

She heard him sigh. “Very well, LuAnn, your request is certainly unprecedented, but I’ll take care of it. I still need to know where you want to go.”

“I understand. I’ll think real hard about it and let you know real soon.”

“Why am I suddenly worried that I will regret having selected you for this little adventure?” There was a hint of something in his tone that caused LuAnn to shudder. “I’ll be in touch after the lottery drawing, to let you know the rest of the details. That’s all for now. Enjoy your visit to New York. If you need anything just tell . . .”

“Charlie.”

“Charlie, right.” Jackson hung up.

LuAnn went immediately to the wet bar and uncapped a bottle of beer. Lisa started to make noise and LuAnn let her down on the floor. LuAnn watched with a big smile on her face as Lisa moved around the room. Just in the last few days, her little girl had started to really get the hang of crawling and now she was exploring the large dimensions of the suite with considerable energy. Finally, LuAnn got down on the floor and joined her. Mother and daughter made the circuit of the hotel room for about an hour until Lisa grew tired and LuAnn put her down for the night.