As he sat back down, Charlie winced in pain. He was acutely aware that he was slowing down, a process that was exacerbated by the rough treatment of his body in his youth. The difference in years between the two was now more pronounced than ever, as nature took its toll on him. Even with all that, he would do anything for her, would face any danger, confront any enemy she had with every ounce of strength and ingenuity he had left.
It was the look in Charlie’s eyes as LuAnn read these very thoughts that made her finally start talking.
“I had just left the house. He was standing in the middle of the driveway waving for me to stop.”
“And you did?” Charlie’s tone was incredulous.
“I didn’t get out of the car. I couldn’t exactly run over the man. If he tried anything, or pulled a gun, you can bet I would’ve done just that.”
Charlie hitched one leg up over the other, an action that was accompanied by another painful wince. “Go on. Eat while you’re talking, and drink your tea! Your face is white as a sheet.”
LuAnn did as he said, managing to get some bites of egg and toast down and a few sips of the hot tea. Putting the cup back down, she wiped her mouth with a napkin. “He motioned for me to roll the window down. I cracked it a bit and asked him what he wanted.”
“Wait a minute, what’d he look like?”
“Medium height, full beard, a little gray at the edges. Wire-rimmed glasses. Olive complexion, maybe a hundred sixty pounds. Probably late forties or early fifties.” Over the last ten years, memorizing minute details of people’s appearances had become second nature to LuAnn.
Charlie mentally filed away her description of the man. “Go on.”
“He said he was looking for the Brillstein Estate.” She hesitated and took another sip of the tea. “I told him that this wasn’t the place.”
Charlie suddenly leaned forward. “What’d he say then?”
Now LuAnn was perceptibly shaking. “He said he was looking for somebody.”
“Who? Who?” Charlie asked again as LuAnn’s blank stare dropped to the floor.
She finally looked up at him. “LuAnn Tyler from Georgia.”
Charlie sat back. After a decade, they had pretty much put the fear of exposure on the back burner, though it was still there and always would be. Now that flame had just been rekindled.
“Did he say anything else?”
LuAnn rubbed the napkin across her dry lips and then sat back up. “He said something about wanting to talk to me. Then... I... I just went blank, slammed the accelerator, and almost ran over him.” She let all the air drain out of her after speaking. She looked over at Charlie.
“And he chased you?”
She nodded. “I’ve got strong nerves, Charlie, you know that, but they have their limits. When you’re going out for a relaxing early morning drive and you get hit with something like that instead?” She cocked her head at him. “God, I was just starting to feel comfortable here. Jackson hasn’t shown up, Lisa loves school, this place is so beautiful.” She fell silent.
“What about the other guy, Riggs? Is his story true?”
Suddenly agitated, LuAnn stood up and paced the room. She stopped and ran her hand fondly along a row of finely bound novels resting on the shelves. Over the years, she had read just about every book in the room. Ten years of intensive education with some of the finest private tutors had produced an articulate, polished, cosmopolitan woman far removed from the one who had run from that trailer, from those bodies. Now those bloody images would not budge from her mind.
“Yes. He just jumped right into the middle of it. I probably would’ve lost the guy, anyway.” She added quietly, “But he did help me. And I would’ve liked to have thanked him. But I couldn’t exactly do that, could I?” She threw up her hands in frustration and sat back down.
Charlie rubbed his chin as he pondered the situation.
“You know, legally, the lottery scam amounts to a bunch of felonies, but the statute of limitations has expired on all of them. The guy can’t really hurt you there.”
“What about the murder charge? There’s no statute of limitations on that. I did kill the man, Charlie. I did it in self-defense, but who the hell would believe me now?”
“True, but the police haven’t pursued that case in years.”
“Okay, do you want me to go turn myself in?”
“I’m not saying that. I just think you might be blowing this out of proportion.”
LuAnn trembled. Going to jail over the money or the killing was not her biggest concern. She put her hands together and looked over at Charlie.
“My daddy probably never said one word to me that was true. He did his best to make me feel like the most worthless piece of trash in the world and any time I built up some confidence he’d come along and tear it down. The only thing I was good for according to him was making babies and looking pretty for my man.”
“I know you had it rough, LuAnn—”
“I swore to myself that I would never, ever do that to any child of mine. I swore that to God on a stack of Bibles, said it on my mother’s grave, and whispered it to Lisa while I was carrying her and every night for six months after she was born.” LuAnn swallowed hard and stood up. “And you know what? Everything I’ve told her, everything she knows about herself, you, me, every damned molecule of her existence is a lie. It’s all made up, Charlie. Okay, maybe the statute of limitations is expired, maybe I won’t go to jail because the police don’t care that I killed a drug dealer. But if this man has found out my past and he brings it all out into the open, then Lisa will know. She’ll know that her mother told her more lies than my daddy probably ever thought of in his entire life. I’ll be a hundred times worse than Benny Tyler, and I’ll lose my little girl as certain as the sun comes up. I’ll lose Lisa.” After this outburst, LuAnn shuddered and closed her eyes.
“I’m sorry, LuAnn, I hadn’t thought about it like that.” Charlie looked down at his hands.
LuAnn’s eyes opened and they held a distinctly fatalistic look. “And if that happens, if she finds out, then it’s over for me. Jail will seem like a day in the park, because if I lose my little girl, then I won’t have any reason to be anymore. Despite all this.” She swept her arms around the room. “No reason at all.”
LuAnn sat back down and rubbed at her forehead.
Charlie finally broke the silence. “Riggs got the license plate number. On both cars.” He fiddled with his shirt and added, “Riggs is an ex-cop, LuAnn.”
Her head in her hands, LuAnn looked at him. “Oh God! And I didn’t think it could get any worse.”
“Don’t worry, he runs your plate, he gets nothing except Catherine Savage with this address, legit Social Security number, the works. Your identity has no holes in it. Not after all this time.”
“I think we have a very big hole, Charlie. The guy in the Honda?”
Charlie conceded the point with a quick nod of his head. “Right, right, but I’m talking about Riggs. Your end with him is okay.”
“But if he tracks the other guy down, maybe talks to him?”
“Then maybe we got a big problem.” Charlie finished the thought for her.
“You think Riggs might do that?”
“I don’t know. I do know that he didn’t buy your story about not knowing you were being chased. Under the circumstances, I don’t blame you for not acknowledging it, but an ex-cop? Hell, he’s got to be suspicious. I don’t think we can count on him letting it lie.”