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.”