Lottery 1
Aston knocked on the door as he spoke aloud, “I need to speak to Christine Barrett, please.”
Christine walked outside quickly after seeing who he was through the curtains. “I don’t have any money.” she began to plead with the man. “William is dead, why can’t his debts die with him. I had no part in that, I never borrowed a cent from anyone. Why should I have to pay…”
“Dead?” Aston pulled out his phone and called in.
Lou’s voice could be heard on the other end of the phone.
“She say’s he’s dead.” Aston awaited his next orders.
There was muffled talking and then Aston hung up the phone. He looked at the woman who was crying silent tears. “Alright, so this is how it’s going to work. We get you a job, you work and pay off his debts.”
“What!” Christine shrieked out in despair. “Why am I responsible for his debts?”
Aston took in a deep breath and calmly related what he was told. “Here’s the reality of your situation. Your husband borrowed a lot of money from Mr Artou. Now he’s out that money, it’s gone. Where did Will spend it? We don’t know. Maybe he spent it on you. Mr Artou didn’t ask what he spent the money on, that wasn’t part of the deal. The deal was he would lend the money, and then he would get the money back. Now Mr Artou is out fifty six thousand dollars, he didn’t ask what it was spent on and he doesn’t care how it gets paid back. This is what you are going to do. You’re going to pay back Mr Artou all fifty six thousand, or I’m going to take one of your kids.”
Christine screamed loudly and fell to her knees.
Aston leaned over her and continued explaining. “And then. If you still don’t pay. We’re going to kill the kid. Just so that you know we’re serious, when take the other.”
Christine just cried loudly, sobbing and gasping in between the sobs.
Aston was not moved by her display of emotion, he always saw crying and sobbing. It was part of the job. “We’ll be in touch.” he said casually then walked back to his black sedan.
After he got back to his modest one bedroom apartment, he kicked off his shoes and turned on the television. He began to make coffee when he heard the anchor say “William Barrett.”
Aston looked at the television, Barrett’s driver’s license picture came up in the top right of the screen. “However further investigation came up with this disturbing video of William Barrett’s last few minutes caught gruesomely on camera.” The video now played in place of the picture.
The frame paused on a clear shot of the back of a slender woman with medium length dark hair.
“Who is this woman standing with her back to the camera? Does she have some kind of information about the winning lottery ticket? Was she the one who cashed in a half billion dollars?” The picture of Barrett returned to the screen. “What kind of human being would cash in on someone else’s suicide?” The camera cut off and returned to the main anchors.
Aston muted the T.V. and made another call to his boss.
Lucy and her brother waited at the airport on the flight to Montreal, Canada. The news played on the screen over head, it was muted and the closed captions ran at the bottom of the screen.
Lucy felt a chill run up her spine as she watched a video clip run behind a local news anchor.
The frame paused on her backside. The captions at the bottom read, “Who is this woman standing with her back to the camera? Does she have some kind of information about the winning lottery ticket? Was she the one who cashed in a half billion dollars?” The picture of Barrett returned to the screen. “What kind of human being would cash in on someone else’s suicide?”
Her brother commented, “Looks like we’re heading out of town at just the right time.” He tried to comfort his sister, “By the time we get back this will have all blown over. It will be forgotten, yesterday’s news.”
Lucy felt unsettled though, something inside her had known this was bad from the start.
The intercom announced boarding for their flight.
Lucy decided to put it out of her mind for now, maybe her brother was right. Maybe it would all just fade in to the past like a bad memory. But she couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that her winnings were going to cause her more harm than good.