Writ of Execution by Perri O'Shaughnessy Read Free Book Online

leaning forward. “She used my name.”
    “Are you married to Mr. Leung?” Nina asked.
    “No, ma’am! I don’t even know him! He was just sitting on the stool next to me jabbering at me and he had told me his name and that he didn’t have any money. I didn’t know what to do. They were pressing me and pressing me. So I thought, Well, I’ll pay him to use his name.”
    “You have agreed to pay Mr. Leung—Kenny—some money?”
    “A million dollars,” the girl said.

5
    “STOP RIGHT THERE,” Nina said. She looked at Kenny Leung. He was trying to look nonchalant.
    “Here’s my plan,” the girl said. “We go back to the casino. I say I can’t find my ID, that I don’t have my driver’s license because my husband drove us up here from the Bay Area. And I’ll tell them to cut the check in my husband’s name. We’ll use his Social Security number since you need one.
    “But then I have to be protected since it’s not my name on the check. Kenny has to sign a paper that says the jackpot isn’t really his. And we need an agreement between us that he will be paid when I get my check. That’s where you come in.”
    Nina said, “That’s your plan?”
    “Right.”
    “Some plan,” Paul said.
    “And what do you think about this, Mr. Leung?” Nina asked.
    “Don’t look at me like that. It was her idea. I’m helping her. It’s fair compensation for losing my virginity,” Leung said, pushing his glasses up on his nose. “That’s a joke.”
    “You’re not even close to losing your virginity, trust me,” the girl said.
    “Well, anyway, it’s only about twelve point eight percent of the winnings. That’s a fair percentage, if she can’t collect without me. Besides, why not? One final futile gesture in the face of an indifferent universe. Indifferent to me, anyway.”
    He was waving his arms and blinking rapidly as he spoke, and he looked more and more like a Dilbert who had escaped his cubicle, not the type to rush into a wild scheme like this so enthusiastically. How drunk was he? And what was he doing with a gun? Still, for that amount of money, anybody would feel adventurous.
    “And you think I can write up an agreement tonight between you and Kenny that will ensure that Kenny turns that money over to you when the check clears?” Nina asked the girl.
    “What do you mean, when the check clears?”
    “Well,” Nina said, “the bank is going to want a week to ten days to process it. Minimum. I’m talking about the first check. It’ll be paid in installments over twenty years. I have no idea how much the initial payout will be. But it certainly will be a week or two before you have any cash in hand.”
    “No,” the girl said. She looked over at Kenny Leung, who nodded. “The casino said that they were having a special promotion on the Greed Machines and the jackpot was an instant payout.”
    “That’s right,” Kenny said. “They said it would all be paid tonight, if we make it back there to collect it, that is.”
    A silence fell over them. Nina was having trouble imagining a seven-million-dollar check. “That’s very unusual,” she said at last. “But you’re still going to be signing at least one document under penalty of perjury that certifies that you’re married and that this is your name. Giving a false name will certainly be looked at as some sort of attempt to avoid paying taxes.”
    “You’re saying there’s nothing I can do?” She sagged back into her chair, overwhelmed with disappointment.
    “I’m not saying that. Don’t tell me your name and please don’t tell me if you’re wanted for a crime. But I need a general overview. Why can’t you give your name?”
    “Publicity.”
    Nina nodded. “Someone will know you won?” “Someone will be able to find me. He’ll find me, and then . . .” Her voice had risen.
    “And then what?”
    “He’ll come after me. Maybe kill me.”
    “Is this the man you thought you saw following you?” Paul asked.
    She nodded.