Page 56 of Look at Her and Die

Kent nabbed the ticket and then his eyes widened. “Holy fuck. I think…Searcy. These, I think. Oh…”

I picked up the lottery ticket and my heart started to pound.

The numbers matched.

Holy. Hell.

I pressed play, and the anchor started to talk about the winning Powerball, and how the ticket for the winner had been sold in Decatur, Texas, months ago but hadn’t been claimed yet.

I’d been hearing about this “winner” for weeks, but it’d never occurred to me that the winner could be me!

“The winning Powerball numbers were picked at a small Texas gas station in Decatur, Texas. The winner has not come forward yet, but I’m sure she or he will show up soon!” the anchor chirped.

I sat down hard on the chair and stared.

“What. The. Fuck?” I breathed, my hands literally shaking.

I didn’t know what to do.

Literally, I’d never even contemplated that I’d win the lottery, so why would I have any idea where I wanted to go from this point forward?

Seriously, I didn’t even know what to do with a lottery ticket!

Did I go to the gas station and turn it in? That was what one did with scratch offs.

“What do we do?” Kent looked at me like I was some alien from outer space.

I opened my mouth, then closed it.

I did that a few times before Calliope came in from the back yard—she stayed in a shed out back that we’d converted for her a couple of years ago—and said, “What’s the problem?”

Since none of us were sure about Calliope and her loyalties anymore, Kent replied, “Just talking to Searcy about lunch today. See ya.”

Kent grabbed my wrist in a surprisingly firm grip and asserted, “Come on. You have to take us since we missed the bus.”

Since I rarely drove my car, and I wasn’t even sure it’d start up, that was quite comical.

But I did see the logic in his plan.

“Okay,” I said, voice slightly quivery.

Anders grabbed my hand and we walked out the door.

It was an out-of-body experience if I’d ever felt one.

I didn’t even feel my feet hitting the raggedy steps.

Nor did I hear the creaking groan of the door opening to my car.

I was inside, and at the passenger seat at that, when Kent said, “Where do we go?”

I cleared my throat for a second before saying, “I only have one idea, and I think it might just be a crazy one.”

Because the only person that came to mind that would know what to do was Posy Hicks. The man that I both loved and hated.

“What’s that?” Kent asked as he started the car up.

It actually cranked for once, and he put it in reverse. “We have like fumes. We can fill up while you make your brain work.”

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