“Damn.” Riggs stood up and looked out the window of his home office. The trees were stunning, the sky a pale blue that was both dazzling and soothing. To the right a squirrel scampered up a tree, a chestnut secured between its jaws. Farther back, through the thickness of the trees, Riggs could make out a slender procession of deer headed by a six-point buck as they made their way cautiously toward the small spring-fed pond situated on Riggs’s property. So peaceful, so serene, all that he had hoped for. He looked back at the receiving device he had used to listen in on LuAnn and Donovan’s conversation. “LuAnn Tyler,” Riggs said out loud. Not Catherine Savage, not even close, she had said. New identity, new life, far, far away. That was something Riggs could certainly relate to. He eyed the phone, hesitated, then picked it up. The number he was calling had been given to him five years ago, for emergencies, just as, unknown to Riggs, Jackson had provided one to LuAnn ten years ago. Just for emergencies. Well, Riggs decided as he punched in the numbers, he supposed this qualified as such.
An automated voice came on the line. Riggs left a series of numbers and then his name. He spoke slowly in order to let the computer verify the authenticity of his voice patterns. He put down the phone. One minute later it rang. He picked it up.
“That was fast,” Riggs said, sitting back down.
“That number gets our attention. What’s the situation? You in trouble?”
“Not directly. But I’ve come across something I need to check up on.”
“Person, place, or thing?”
“Person.”
“I’m ready, who is it?”
Riggs took a silent breath and hoped to God he was doing the right thing. He would at least hedge his bets until he understood matters a little better. “I need to find out about someone named LuAnn Tyler.”
LuAnn’s car phone buzzed as she was driving back home.
“Hello?”
The voice on the other end of the line made her breathe easier.
“Don’t tell me where you are, Charlie, we can’t be sure this line is safe.” She checked where she was on the road. “Give me twenty minutes and then call me at the prearranged spot.” She hung up. When they had come to the area, they had identified a pay phone at a McDonald’s that would receive incoming calls. That was their safe phone.
Twenty minutes later she was standing at the pay phone, snatching it up on the first ring.
“How’s Lisa?”
Charlie’s tone was low. “Fine, we’re both okay. She’s still bumming, but who can blame the kid.”
“I know. Did she talk to you at all?”
“A little. Although, I think we’re both the enemy as far as she’s concerned right now. That little girl’s playing it close to the vest. Chip off the old block, right?”
“Where is she?”
“Crashed on the bed. We drove all night, and she didn’t sleep much, just stared out the car window.”
“Where are you?”
“Right now we’re at a motel on the outskirts of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, just across the Maryland state line. We had to stop, I was falling asleep at the wheel.”
“You didn’t use a credit card, did you? Jackson can trace that.”
“You think I’m a novice at being on the run? All cash.”
“Any sign that you’ve been followed?”
“I’ve varied my route, gone the interstate, back roads, lots of stops in very public places. I’ve checked every car that even looks remotely familiar. No one’s onto us. How’s it on your end? You hook up with Riggs?”
LuAnn blushed at the question. “You could say that.” She paused and cleared her throat. “I met up with Donovan.”
“Who?”
“The guy from the cottage. His name is Donovan. He’s a reporter.”
“Aw, crap!”
“He knows about the twelve lottery winners.”
“How?”
“It gets complicated, but basically because none of us declared bankruptcy. In fact we all became a lot richer through shrewd investment advice. I guess that’s pretty unusual with lottery winners.”
“Damn, I guess Jackson isn’t infallible.”
“That’s a comforting thought. I’ve got to go. Give me the number there.” Charlie did so.
“I brought the portable cell phone too, LuAnn. You’ve got the number, right?”
“Memorized.”
“I don’t like it that you’re all alone in this. I really don’t.”
“I’m holding my own. I’ve just got to think things through a little. When Jackson shows up again, I want to be ready.”
“I’m not sure that’s possible. The guy’s not human.”
LuAnn hung up the phone and walked back to her car. As unobtrusively as she could, she scanned the parking lot for anyone looking remotely suspicious. But that was the problem: Jackson never looked suspicious.
Charlie hung up the phone, checked on Lisa, and then went to the window of the ground-floor motel room. The building was constructed in the shape of a horseshoe so that Charlie was looking out not only at the parking lot but also at the motel units on the other side of the parking lot. He had a habit of checking the parking lots every thirty minutes to see who had pulled in after them. He had selected fairly isolated places that would make it easier to flush out someone who was following them. Despite his sharp scrutiny he could not have seen the pair of binoculars focused on him from the dark recesses of the motel room directly across from his. This person’s car was not in the parking lot because he was not a paying guest of the motel. He had broken into the room when Charlie and Lisa had gone out to eat. The man put down the binoculars and jotted some words down in a notebook before taking up his sentry once again.
Chapter forty-two
The BMW pulled into the front drive. LuAnn sat in the car and stared up at the house. She had not gone home. After driving around for a while, she had decided to come here. The Jeep was there, so he must be as well. She got out of the sedan and walked up the wide steps of the Victorian.
Riggs heard her coming. He was just finishing up his phone call, the paper in front of him covered with notes, more information than he had ever wanted to know. His gut was cramping up just thinking about it all.
He opened the door to her knock and she passed through the doorway without looking at him.
“How’d it go?” he asked.
LuAnn drifted around the room before settling down on the couch and looking up at him with a shrug. “Not all that well, really.” Her voice was listless. Riggs rubbed his eyes and sat down in the chair opposite her.
“Tell me about it.”
“Why? Why in the hell would I want to get you involved in all this?”
He paused and briefly considered what he was about to say. He could walk away from this. She was obviously giving him the opportunity to do so. He could just say you’re right and escort her to the door and out of his life. As he looked at her, so tired, so alone, he spoke quietly and intensely.
“I want to help you.”
“That’s nice, but I really wouldn’t know where to begin.”
“How about ten years ago, Georgia, and you’re running from the cops for a murder you didn’t commit.”
She stared over at him, biting her lip. She wanted desperately to trust the man; it was an almost physiologically compelling need. And yet, as she stared down the hallway to where his study was, where she had previously seen the information he had obtained on her so easily, so quickly, the doubts came flooding back to her. Jackson was suspicious of the man. Who was he? Where had he come from? What had he done in his past life?