Jackson turned his face once again to the sky. The light rain fell on the latex folds of his “face.” He licked at them; they were cool to the touch, felt good against his real skin. Godspeed to you both, he said under his breath and then smiled.
And God help you if you ever betray me.
He continued down the street, thinking intently and whistling while he did so. It was now time to plan for next month’s winner.
Part Two
Ten Years Later
Chapter eighteen
The small private jet landed at the airstrip at Charlottesville-Albemarle Airport and taxied to a halt. It was nearly ten o’clock at night and the airport had pretty much shut down for the day. The Gulfstream V was the day’s last incoming flight in fact. The limousine was waiting on the tarmac. Three people quickly exited the plane and climbed into the limo, which immediately drove off and a few minutes later was heading south on Route 29.
Inside the limo, the woman took off her glasses and laid her arm across the young girl’s shoulder. Then LuAnn Tyler slumped back against the seat and took a deep breath. Home. Finally, they were back in the United States. All the years of planning had finally been executed. She had thought about little else for some time now. She glanced over at the man who sat in the rear-facing seat. His eyes stared straight ahead, his thick fingers drummed a somber rhythm across the car’s window. Charlie looked concerned, and he was concerned, but he still managed a smile, a reassuring grin. If nothing else he had always been reassuring for her over the last ten years.
He put his hands in his lap and cocked his head at her. “You scared?” he asked.
LuAnn nodded and then looked down at ten-year-old Lisa, who had immediately slumped over her mother’s lap and fallen into an exhausted sleep. The trip had been a long and tedious one.
“How about you?” she asked back.
He shrugged his thick shoulders. “We prepared as well as we could, we understand the risks. Now we just live with it.” He smiled again, this time more broadly. “We’ll be okay.”
She smiled back at him, her eyes deep and heavy. They had been through a lot over the last decade. If she never climbed aboard another airplane, never passed through another Customs post, never again wondered what country she was in, what language she should be trying to muddle through, it would be perfectly fine with her. The longest trip she wanted to take for the rest of her life was strolling down to the mailbox to pick up her mail, or driving down to the mall to go shopping. God, if it could only be that easy. She winced slightly and rubbed in a distracted fashion at her temples.
Charlie quickly picked up on this. Over the years he had acquired a heightened sensitivity to the subtle tracks of her emotions. He scrutinized Lisa for a long moment to make sure she was indeed sleeping. Satisfied, he undid his seat belt, sat down next to LuAnn, and spoke in soft tones.
“He doesn’t know we’ve come back. Jackson doesn’t know.”
She whispered back to him. “We don’t know that, Charlie. We can’t be sure. My God, I don’t know what’s scaring me the most: the police or him. No, that’s a lie. I know, it’s him. I’d take the police over him any day. He told me never to come back here. Never. Now I am back. We all are.”
Charlie laid his hand on top of hers and spoke as calmly as he could. “If he knew, do you think he’d have let us get this far? We took about as circuitous a route as anybody could take. Five plane changes, a train trip, four countries, we zigzagged halfway across the world to get here. He doesn’t know. And you know what, even if he does he’s not going to care. It’s been ten years. The deal’s expired. Why should he care now?”
“Why should he do any of the things he’s done? You tell me. He does them because he wants to.”
Charlie sighed, undid his jacket button, and lay back against the seat.
LuAnn turned to him and gently rubbed his shoulder. “We’re back. You’re right, we made the decision and now we’re going to live with it. It’s not like I’m going to announce to the whole world that I’m around again. We’re going to live a nice, quiet life.”
“In considerable luxury. You saw the photos of the house.”
LuAnn nodded. “It looks beautiful.”
“An old estate. About ten thousand square feet. Been on the market for a long time, but with an asking price of six million bucks, can’t say I’m surprised. Let me tell you, we got a deal at three point five mil. But then I drive a hard bargain. Although, of course, we dumped another million into renovation. About fourteen months’ worth, but we had the time, right?”
“And secluded?”
“Very. Almost three hundred acres, plus or minus as they say. About a hundred of those acres are open, ‘gently rolling land.’ That description was in the brochure. Growing up in New York, I never saw so much green grass. Beautiful Piedmont, Virginia, or so the realtor kept telling me on all those trips I took over here to scout for homes. And it was the prettiest home I saw. True it took a lot of work to get it in shape, but I got some good people, architects and what-not representing our interests. It’s got a truckload of outbuildings, caretaker’s house, three-stall horse barn, a couple of cottages, all vacant by the way; I don’t see us taking in renters. Anyway, all those big estates have that stuff. It’s got a pool. Lisa will love that. Plenty of room for a tennis court. The works. But then there’s dense forest all around. Look at it as a hardwood moat. And I’ve already started shopping around for a firm to construct a security fence and gate around the property line fronting the road. Probably should have already gotten that done.”
“Like you didn’t have enough to do. You do too much as it is.”
“I don’t mind. I kind of like it.”
“And my name’s not on the ownership papers?”
“Catherine Savage appears nowhere. We used a straw man for the contract and closing. Deed was transferred into the name of the corporation I had set up. That’s untraceable back to you.”
“I wish I could have changed my name again, just in case he’s on the lookout for it.”
“That would’ve been nice except the cover story he built for you, the same one we used to appease the IRS, has you as Catherine Savage. It’s complicated enough without adding another layer to it. Geez, the death certificate we had made up for your ‘late’ husband was hell to get.”
“I know.” She sighed heavily.
He glanced over at her. “Charlottesville, Virginia, home to lots of rich and famous, I hear. Is that why you picked it? Private, you can live like a hermit, and nobody’ll care?”
“That was one of two reasons.”
“And the other?”
“My mother was born here,” LuAnn said, her voice dropping a notch as she delicately traced the hem of her skirt. “She was happy here, at least she told me she was. And she wasn’t rich either.” She fell silent, her eyes staring off. She jolted back and looked at Charlie, her face reddening slightly. “Maybe some of that happiness will rub off on us, what do you think?”
“I think so long as I’m with you and this little one,” he said, gently stroking Lisa’s cheek, “I’m a happy man.”
“She’s all enrolled in the private school?”
Charlie nodded. “St. Anne’s-Belfield. Pretty exclusive, low student-to-teacher ratio. But, hell, Lisa’s educational qualifications are outstanding. She speaks multiple languages, been all over the world. Already done things most adults will never do their whole life.”
“I don’t know, maybe I should have hired a private tutor.”
“Come on, LuAnn, she’s been doing that ever since she could walk. She needs to be around other kids. It’ll be good for her. It’ll be good for you too. You know what they say about time away.”