Shaniqua walked in as Andrew was settling in for the beginning of his shift. She pulled an energy drink out of the cooler and walked to the counter.

     “Any news on that ticket?” she asked as he rang her up.

     “It had to be Willy.” he took her change. “Everyone else has reported in. I got worried last night, I called every hospital in town. No one has heard of or seen him. I called the police, he’s not reported missing.”

     Shaniqua widened her eyes in shock.

     Andrew was defeated, “I even asked them if I could report him missing, but it seems only a family member can do that.”

     The television behind the counter caught both their attention as a breaking news alert blared from it.

     It was set on Shaniqua’ rival station, KKSW. The anchor came on with an air of excitement in her voice. “The winning lottery ticket has been claimed.”

     Shaniqua and Andrew looked at each other and then back to the news.

     “This is the biggest lottery payout in all the Tri-State Lottery history. A Half BILLION Dollars was claimed by two anonymous persons this morning.”

     “Two?” Andrew’s face became puzzled, then suddenly relieved. Excitement filled his voice as hope filled him again. “William Barrett is married!” he almost wanted to kiss Shaniqua on the lips. “He’s alive! He has to be! It makes perfect sense! Why wouldn’t he lay low and discuss this with his wife before cashing it.”

     “Right.” Shaniqua agreed. “Family First.”

     “Exactly!” Andrew’s smile was so bright it could have illuminated the whole city.

     “I’m glad to know your friend is ok.” Shaniqua smiled at him and waved.

     “You have a good night!” Andrew waved back to her.

     ‘Indeed, I will.’, thought Shaniqua. She would spending the entire night finding out everything she could about William Barrett and his lovely wife.

    

    

     The address for the Barrett family was a vacant house the bank was now listing for sale. The place had been cleaned out by a professional crew. Shaniqua made an appointment with the realtor and took the tour, but there was not a scrap of evidence to be found.

     William Barrett left behind no living relatives, none that she could track with her limited resources. Christine Barrett, his wife, had plenty of family ties in the state. The first on the list was the most obvious, her listed emergency response. The mother.

     The house was situated in the middle of a suburb in a middle class neighborhood. The birds sang overhead, there was plenty of shade and quiet. The house hadn’t been painted in twenty years or so, and even then it had merely been painted over not scrapped down first.

     Shaniqua knocked on the door and took a step back.

     A blonde woman opened the door and stared in dazed confusion at the visitor.

     “Christine?” Shaniqua questioned. Why was his wife here and not out with the millions of dollars?

     “I’m gonna kill you!”, a loud yell came from somewhere in the back of the house.

     “Not if I kill you first!”, a higher pitched scream of a girl echoed back.

     A loud banging of several pans hitting the floor followed by a small dog yipping and snarling in response to the madness.

     Shaniqua knew immediately what needed to be done. This poor woman was in need of a rescue. You take her out of this nightmare for a few hours to some place safe, and she’ll sing like a bird all you want.

     Shaniqua was quick and intrusive, “Is your mother here to babysit? You look like you need lunch, maybe a mani-pedi if we have some time. My treat.”

     The blonde woman looked dazed, “Why are you here?”

     “I’m here about your husband.”

     The woman began to tear up, slowly she swayed slightly from side to side.

     “Christine?”, Shaniqua stepped up closer and set her hand on Chris’ right arm. “Are you alright?”

     Right at that moment an elderly woman walked to the doorway and interrupted the two. “Can I help you?” she glared at Shaniqua.

     “I just came to talk to Christine.” she tried to explain.

     The old woman ushered Christine back into the house and closed the door so that only she was visible. “Exactly what is this about? What has her husband done this time that you jackals can’t let him rest in peace. He’s not five minutes into grave and you vultures are gathering.”

     “What are you talking about?”, Shaniqua put her hand on the door as the old woman was closing it.

     “The morgue reported him dead to us two days ago. We had the funeral service today.” the old woman pushed the door harder to close it.

     “Why wasn’t anyone told?”

     “He was a worthless gambler, whatever he never did with his life the least his wife deserves is peace. It was a private gathering, there’s no mention of his name. Let his widow grieve in peace.”

     “But what about the lottery winnings?” Shaniqua yelled through the crack in the door. She banged on the door after it shut. “There were two people at the lottery commission.”

     She received no further communication.