Lottery 1
There were no reports of the lottery ticket anywhere on the net. The man committing suicide made the local news on what would have been considered a UHF channel. Too remote for anyone who mattered to see it. She still clicked on the video feed and watched what they had from the grainy traffic cameras that were located at the end of every street.
The camera showed her from behind. It was above her and to the left, it angled down and most of the scene was off camera.
Lucy watched the video on repeat, full screen, for a loop of thirty times before she was satisfied.
The traffic feed showed half of the man’s body, and most of the time his face wasn’t in frame. Only for a few seconds when he leaned forward to her, could you see his face. It was too quick to make out his facial features to identify him, and too high up for anything accurate. It showed the man walking up, it looked as if he was pushing her away and warning her to stay back, then Bam. The gunshot goes off, all you see is a flash of light on the left side of the screen, then man’s body falls flat to the ground. The second person runs off away from the scene, always back to the camera.
Lucy breathed in several deep breaths. There were no words for the relief she felt now the she knew she could not be identified from the film. Then she glanced to her right and noticed her hair.
The best thing for her to do right this very instant, was dye her hair and get a hair cut. She quickly made an online appointment at a local salon. The less camera’s between her and her new look, the better.
She glanced at the lottery ticket. It laid under a glass ashtray on her coffee table. She didn’t smoke, never had. It was a housewarming gift from her brother. Lucy thought of calling him. “Maybe later.” she announced out loud.
At KKRY, a local news channel, a small wager was being made. Sixteen reporters wanted to crack the lottery story. Someone out there had just won the biggest jackpot of all time. Who were they? Why haven’t they come forward? The story could be anything from cowardice to foul play. Only one reporter would scoop it, and that reporter would walk away with a very nice office pool of winnings.
The reporters went out and each with their own tactics headed down to the convenience store where the winning ticket had been purchased.
Shaniqua Paston waited for all the others to tap out their resources. She acted like a regular customer at every shift change, buying gum one time, and a soda another time. Each time she would casually bring up the lottery ticket being sold at the store.
No clerks were helpful or forthcoming with any information at all.
It was just past midnight and the last employee came in for the graveyard shift.
Shaniqua went in and bought an energy drink.
As the clerk rang it up she began to speak.
“Wow that sure is crazy the winning lottery ticket was sold here.” She reached for her debit card to pay.
“Yeah, that sure is a funny thing.” the clerk replied back to her. “I’ve been asking around, everyone that works here and everyone that bought a ticket. No one’s won.”
“What do you mean no one’s won?” she smiled as if he was joking.
“None of the regular customers say they won anything, they all say their ticket was bust.” the clerk shrugged.
“Do you think the machine got it wrong?” Shaniqua realized this could be an even bigger story than the one she thought she was after. A malfunction in the lottery machine would be big news.
The clerk shrugged. “I dunno. I’ll keep asking, I’m sure not everyone has come in. It was just yesterday anyway.”
The clerk seemed disinterested now in the subject and was back to his homework behind the glass.
Shaniqua decided she’d come back and visit this clerk again in a day or two. Just to see if he learned anything new.