“How about Riggs and Tyler?” Berman asked.
“So long as they don’t get in the way, they’ll be okay. If they get mixed up with Crane along the way, well, there’s no guarantee. I’m not going to jeopardize my men to make sure they don’t get hurt. As far as I’m concerned LuAnn Tyler belongs in jail. But that’s why we’ve got some ammo with her. We can send her to jail or threaten to. I think she’ll keep her mouth shut. Why don’t you go oversee the rest of the evidence collection.”
While Berman did so, Masters sat down and read the background information on LuAnn that accompanied her photo.
He was finishing up when Berman returned.
“You think Crane’s going to go after Tyler now?” Berman asked.
Masters didn’t answer. Instead he looked down at the picture of LuAnn Tyler staring back at him from the photo album. He now understood why she had been picked as a lottery winner. Why they had all been picked. He now had a much clearer idea of who LuAnn Tyler was and why she had done what she had. She had been destitute, stuck in a cycle of poverty, with an infant daughter. No hope. All of the chosen winners had shared this common denominator: no hope. They were ripe for this man’s scheme. Masters’s features betrayed the emotions he was feeling. Right at that very moment, and for a number of reasons, George Masters was starting to feel immense guilt.
It was nearing midnight when Riggs and LuAnn stopped at a motel. After checking in, Riggs phoned George Masters. The FBI agent had just returned from New York and he detailed to Riggs what had happened since they had last spoken. After receiving this briefing Riggs hung up the phone and looked over at a very anxious LuAnn.
“What happened? What did they say?”
Riggs shook his head. “As expected. Jackson wasn’t there, but they found enough evidence to keep him in prison for the rest of his life and then some. Including a scrapbook on all the lottery winners.”
“So he was related to Alicia Crane.”
Riggs nodded grimly. “Her older brother, Peter. Peter Crane is Jackson. Or at least everything points that way.”
LuAnn was wide-eyed. “Then he murdered his own sister.”
“Looks that way.”
“Because she knew too much? Because of Donovan?”
“Right. Jackson couldn’t take a chance on that. Maybe he shows up disguised or maybe as his true self. He gets what he wants out of her, maybe he tells her he killed Donovan. Who knows. She apparently was dating the guy. She might have gone nuts, threatened to go to the police. At some point he murdered her, I feel sure of that.”
LuAnn shuddered. “Where do you think he is?”
Riggs shrugged. “The Feds got to his house, but from the looks of the place the man has money to burn, a million different places he could go, a dozen faces and identities he could go there under. It’s not going to be easy to catch him.”
“To finish our deal?” LuAnn’s tone was slightly sarcastic.
“We handed the Feds his friggin’ identity. They’re at his ‘world’ headquarters right now. When I said we’d deliver him, I didn’t necessarily mean in a box with a ribbon on it, laid on the doorstep of the Hoover Building. As far as I’m concerned we’ve lived up to our end of the bargain.”
LuAnn let out a deep breath. “So does that mean everything’s square? With the FBI? And Georgia?”
“We’ll have some details to work out, but yeah, I think so. Unknown to them, I recorded the entire meeting at the Hoover Building. I’ve got Masters, the director of the FBI, and the attorney general of the United States herself, acting upon the authority of the president of the United States no less, all on tape agreeing to the deal I proposed. They’ve got to play straight with us now. But I’ve gotta be straight with you too. The IRS is going to put a big dent in your bank account. In fact after so many years of compounded penalties and interest, I’m not sure how much money you’re going to have left, if any.”
“I don’t care about that. I want to pay my taxes, even if it takes everything I’ve got. The truth is, I stole the money to begin with. I just want to know if I have to keep looking over my shoulder for the rest of my life.”
“You’re not going to prison, if that’s what you mean.” He touched her cheek with his hand. “You don’t look too happy.”
She blushed and smiled at him. “I am.” Her smile quickly faded though.
“I know what you’re thinking.”
She blurted out, “Until they catch Jackson, my life’s not worth spit. Or yours. Or Charlie’s.” Her lips trembled. “Or Lisa’s.” She suddenly jumped up and grabbed the phone.
“What are you doing?” Riggs asked.
“I need to see my daughter. I need to know that she’s safe.”
“Wait a minute, what are you going to tell them?”
“That we can meet up somewhere. I want her near me. Nothing’s going to happen to her without it happening to me first.”
“LuAnn, look—”
“This subject isn’t open for discussion.” Her tone was ferocious.
“All right, all right, I hear you. But where are we going to meet them?”
LuAnn passed a hand over her forehead. “I don’t know. Does it matter?”
Riggs said, “Where are they now?”
“The last I heard, they were heading back into southern Virginia.”
He rubbed his chin. “What’s Charlie driving?”
“The Range Rover.”
“Terrific. It’ll hold all of us. We’ll meet them wherever they are right now. We’ll leave the rental and head out. Go somewhere and wait for the FBI to do its thing. So call them and I’ll run up to that all-night burger place we saw on the way in and get us some food.”
“Good enough.”
When Riggs got back with two bags of food, LuAnn was no longer on the phone.
“You reach them?”
“They’re at a motel on the outskirts of Danville, Virginia. But I need to call them back and let them know when we’re going to be there.” She looked around. “Where the hell are we?”
“We’re in Edgewood, Maryland, north of Baltimore. Danville is a little over a hundred miles south of Charlottesville, which means we’re about five or six hours from Danville.”
“Okay, if we start right now—”
“LuAnn, it’s after midnight. They’re probably in bed, right?”
“So?”
“So, we can catch some sleep, which we both really need, get up early, and meet them tomorrow around noon.”
“I don’t want to wait. I want Lisa safe with me.”
“LuAnn, driving when you’re exhausted isn’t real safe. Even if we start right now, we won’t make it until five or six in the morning. Nothing’s going to happen between now and then. Come on, I think we’ve had enough excitement for one day. And if Lisa knows you’re coming tonight, she won’t get a wink of sleep.”
“I don’t care. I’d rather she’d be sleepy and safe.”
Riggs shook his head slowly. “LuAnn, there’s another reason we might not want to hook up with them right now, and it has to do with keeping Lisa safe.”
“What are you talking about?”
Riggs put his hands in his pockets and leaned up against the wall. “Jackson is somewhere out there, that we know. Now, the last time we saw him he was running off into the woods. He could have easily come back and followed us.”
“But what about Donovan and Bobbie Jo Reynolds and Alicia Crane? He killed them.”
“We believe he killed them, or had someone kill them. Or he could’ve killed all of them personally and hired someone to follow us. That man has a deep pocketbook; there isn’t much he can’t buy.”