The Winner (18 page)

Waymer wrestled his considerable girth out of his La-Z-Boy and headed toward the telephone. “I phoned up to the train stations around here and at the airport in Atlanta, but I hadn’t heard nothing back yet. I didn’t take her to be heading up to no New York, though. I didn’t put no APB out on LuAnn because I didn’t think she’d be able to get out of the county, much less the state. I mean, the girl ain’t even got a car. And she had the baby and all. I thought for sure she’d just hightail it over to some friend’s house.”

“Well, it sure looks like she slipped right out on you.” Doris pointed at LuAnn on the TV. “Right or wrong there ain’t many people that look like that, that’s for sure.”

“Well, Mother,” he said to his wife, “we don’t exactly have the manpower of the FBI down here. With Freddie out with his back I only got two uniformed officers on duty. And the state police are up to their eyeballs in work; they couldn’t spare nobody.” He picked up the phone.

Doris looked at him anxiously. “You think LuAnn killed Duane and that other boy?”

Waymer held the phone up to his ear and shrugged. “LuAnn could kick the crap out of most men I know. She sure as hell could Duane. But that other guy was a hoss, almost three hundred pounds.” He started punching in numbers on the phone. “But she coulda snuck up behind him and smashed that phone over his head. She’d been in a fight. More than one person saw her with a bandage on her chin that day.”

“Drugs was behind it, that’s for sure,” Doris said. “That poor little baby in that trailer with all them drugs.”

Waymer was nodding his head. “I know that.”

“I bet’cha LuAnn was the brains behind it all. She’s sharp, all right, we all know that. And she was always too good for us. She tried to hide it, but we could all see through that. She didn’t belong here, she wanted to get out, but she didn’t have no way. Drug money, that was her way, you mark my words, Roy.”

“I hear you, Mother. Except she don’t need drug money no more.” He nodded toward the TV.

“You best hurry up then, before she gets away.”

“I’ll contact the police up in New York to go pick her up.”

“Think they’ll do that?”

“Mother, she’s a possible suspect in a double murder investigation,” he said importantly. “Even if she ain’t done nothing wrong, she’s probably gonna be what they call a material witness.”

“Yeah, but you think those Yankee police up in New York gonna care about that? Huh!”

“Police is police, Doris, North or South. The law’s the law.”

Unconvinced of the virtues of her Northern compatriots, Doris snorted and then suddenly looked hopeful. “Well, if she’s convicted wouldn’t she have to give back the money she won?” Doris looked back at the TV, at LuAnn’s smiling face, wondering whether to go out to the trash and try to reconstruct all those lottery tickets. “She sure as heck wouldn’t need all that money in prison, would she?”

Sheriff Waymer didn’t answer. He was now trying to get through to the NYPD.

LuAnn held the big check, waved, and smiled at the crowds and answered a barrage of questions thrown at her from all sides of the vast room. Her picture was transported across the United States and then across the world.

Had she definitive plans for the money? If so, what were they?

“You’ll know,” LuAnn answered. “You’ll see, but you’ll just have to wait.”

There were a series of predictably stupid questions such as “Do you feel lucky?”

“Incredibly,” she responded. “More than you’ll ever know.”

“Will you spend it all in one place?”

“Not likely unless it’s a really, really big place.”

“Will you help your family?”

“I’ll help all the people I care about.”

Three times her hand was sought in matrimony. She answered each suitor differently and with polite humor but the bottom line was always “No.” Charlie silently fumed at these exchanges; and then, checking his watch, he made his way out of the room.

After more questions, more photos, and more laughter and smiles, the press conference was finally over and LuAnn was escorted off the stage. She returned to the holding room, quickly changed into slacks and a blouse, erased all the makeup from her face, piled her long hair under a cowboy hat, and picked up Lisa. She checked her watch. Barely twenty minutes had passed since she had been introduced to the world as the new lottery winner. She expected that the local sheriff would be contacting the New York police by now. Everyone from LuAnn’s hometown watched the lottery drawing religiously including Sheriff Roy Waymer. The timing would be very tight.

Davis leaned his head in the door. “Uh, Ms. Tyler, there’s a car waiting for you at the rear entrance to the building. I’ll have someone escort you down if you’re ready.”

“Ready as I’ll ever be.” When he turned to leave, LuAnn called after him. “If anybody shows up asking for me, I’ll be at my hotel.”

Davis looked at her coldly. “Are you expecting anyone?”

“Lisa’s father, Frank.”

Davis’s face tightened. “And you’re staying at?”

“The Plaza.”

“Of course.”

“But please don’t tell anybody else where I am. I haven’t seen Frank in a while. He’s been on maneuvers for almost three months. So we don’t want to be disturbed.” She arched her eyebrows wickedly and smiled. “You know what I mean?”

Davis managed a very insincere smile and made a mock bow. “You can trust me implicitly, Ms. Tyler. Your chariot awaits.”

Inwardly, LuAnn smiled. Now she was certain that when the police came for her, they would be directed as fast as possible to the Plaza Hotel. That would gain her the precious moments she would need to escape this town, and this country. Her new life was about to begin.

T
he rear exit was very private and thus very quiet. A black stretch limo confronted LuAnn as she left the building. The chauffeur tipped his cap to her and held open the door. She got in and settled Lisa in the seat next to her.

“Good work, LuAnn. Your performance was flawless,” Jackson said.

LuAnn nearly screamed out as she jerked around and stared into the dark recesses of the limo’s far corner. All the interior lights in the rear of the limo were off except for a solitary one directly over her head that suddenly came on, illuminating her. She felt as though she were back on the stage at the lottery building. She could barely make out his shape as he hunkered back into his seat.

His voice drifted out to her. “Really very poised and dignified, a touch of humor when it was called for, the reporters eat that up, you know. And of course the looks to top it all off.
Tres
marriage proposals during one press conference is certainly a record as far as I’m aware.”

LuAnn composed herself and settled back into her seat as the limo proceeded down the street. “Thank you.”

“Quite frankly I was concerned that you would make a complete fool of yourself. Nothing against you of course. As I said before, you are an intelligent young woman; however, anyone, no matter their sophistication, thrust into a strange situation, is more apt to fail than not, wouldn’t you agree?”

“I’ve had a lot of practice.”

“Excuse me?” Jackson leaned forward slightly but still remained hidden from her view. “Practice with what?”

LuAnn stared toward the darkened corner, her vision blocked by the shining light. “Strange situations.”

“You know, LuAnn, you really do amaze me sometimes, you really do. In some limited instances your perspicacity rivals my own and I don’t say that lightly.” He stared at her for several more seconds and then opened a briefcase lying on the seat next to him and pulled out several pieces of paper. As he sat back against the soft leather, a smile played across his features and a sigh of contentment escaped his lips.

“And now, LuAnn, it’s time to discuss the conditions.”

LuAnn fumbled with her blouse before crossing her legs. “We need to talk about something first.”

Jackson cocked his head. “Really? And what might that be?”

LuAnn let out a deep breath. She had stayed awake all night deciding how best to tell him about the man calling himself Rainbow. She had first wondered whether Jackson needed to know at all. Then she decided that since it was about the money, that he would probably find out at some point. Better it be from her.

“A man came and talked to me yesterday.”

“A man, you say. What about?”

“He wanted money from me.”

Jackson laughed. “LuAnn, my dear, everybody will want money from you.”

“No, it’s not like that. He wanted half of my winnings.”

“Excuse me? That’s absurd.”

“No it ain’t. He . . . he had some information about me, things that had happened to me, that he said he would tell, if I didn’t pay him.”

“My goodness, what sorts of things?”

LuAnn paused and looked out the window. “Can I have something to drink?”

“Help yourself.” A gloved finger came out of the darkness and pointed to the door built into one side of the limo. LuAnn did not look in his direction as she opened the refrigerator door and pulled out a Coke.

She took a long drink, wiped her lips, and continued. “Something happened to me right before I called to tell you I was going to take your offer.”

“Would that possibly be the two dead bodies in your trailer? The drugs there? The fact that the police are looking for you? Or perhaps something else you tried to hide from me?” She didn’t answer at first, nervously cradling the soda in her lap, the astonishment clear on her face.

“I didn’t have nothing to do with those drugs. And that man was trying to kill me. I was just protecting myself.”

“I should have realized when you wanted to leave town so quickly, change your name, all that, that there was something up.” He shook his head sadly. “My poor, poor LuAnn. I guess I would’ve left town quickly too, confronted with those circumstances. And who would have thought it of our little Duane. Drugs! How terrible. But I tell you what, out of the goodness of my heart, I won’t hold it against you. What’s past is past. However”—here Jackson’s tone became starkly forceful—“don’t ever try to hide anything from me again, LuAnn. Please don’t do that to yourself.”

“But this man—”

Jackson spoke impatiently. “That’s taken care of. You certainly won’t be giving any money to him.”

She stared into the darkness, amazement again spreading across her face. “But how could you have done that?”

“People are always saying that about me: How could I have done that?” Jackson looked amused and said in a slightly hushed voice, “I can do anything, LuAnn, don’t you know that by now? Anything. Does that frighten you? If it doesn’t, it should. It even frightens me sometimes.”

“The man said he was sent to kill me.”

“Indeed.”

“But then he got called off.”

“How terribly peculiar.”

“Timewise, I figure he got called off right after I called you and said I’d do it.”

“Life is chock full of coincidence, isn’t it?” Jackson’s tone had become mocking.

Now LuAnn’s features took on their own glint of ferocity. “I get bit, I bite back, real hard. Just so we understand each other, Mr. Jackson.”

“I think we understand each other perfectly, LuAnn.” In the darkness, she heard papers rustling. “However, this certainly complicates matters. When you wanted your name changed, I thought we could still do everything aboveboard.”

“What do you mean?”

“Taxes, LuAnn. We do have the issue of taxes.”

“But I thought all that money was mine to keep. The government couldn’t touch it. That’s what all the ads say.”

“That’s not exactly true. In fact the advertising is very misleading. Funny how the government can do that. The principal is not tax-free, it’s
tax-deferred.
But only for the first year.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

“It means that for the first year the winner pays no federal or state taxes, but the amount of that tax is simply deferred until the next year. The underlying tax is still owed, it’s just the timing that’s affected. No penalties or interest will accrue of course, so long as payment is made on a timely basis during the next tax year. The law states that the tax must be paid over ten years in equal installments. On one hundred million dollars, for example, you will owe roughly fifty million dollars in state and federal income tax, or one half the total amount. You’re obviously in the highest tax bracket now. Divided by ten years the tax payment comes to five million dollars per year. In addition to that, generally speaking, any money you earn from the principal amount is taxable without any type of tax-deferred status.

“And I must tell you, LuAnn. I have plans for that principal, rather grand plans. You will make a great deal more money in the coming years; however, it will almost all be taxable income, dividends, capital gains, interest from taxable bonds, that sort of thing. That ordinarily would not present a problem, since law-abiding citizens who are not on the run from the police under an assumed name can file their tax returns, pay their fair share of tax, and live quite nicely. You can no longer do that. If my people filed your tax return under the name LuAnn Tyler with your current address and other personal information, don’t you think the police might come knocking on your door?”

“Well, can’t I pay tax under my new name?”

“Ah, potentially a brilliant solution; however, the IRS tends to get quite curious when the very first tax return filed by someone barely out of her teens has so many zeros on it. They might wonder what you were doing before and why all of a sudden you’re richer than a Rockefeller. Again, the result would probably be the police, or even more likely the FBI, knocking on your door. No, that won’t really do.”

“So what do we do?”

When Jackson next spoke, the tone that reached LuAnn’s ears made her tighten her grip on Lisa.

“You will do exactly as I tell you, LuAnn. You are ticketed on a flight that will take you out of the country. You will never return to the United States. This little mess in Georgia has bestowed upon you a life on the move. Forever, I’m afraid.”

“But—”

“There’s no
but
to it, LuAnn, that is the way it will be. Do you understand?”