Marilee smiled and leaned over to hug her friends. “I know. But thanks.” With that, she whipped around and went back to her tables, picking up several more empty plates along the way.
Ivy and Daisy watched Marilee. “There’s a spring to her step today,” Ivy observed.
Daisy rubbed her forehead. “Yeah. She really thinks we’ve won that silly lottery.”
Ivy cringed. “She’s going to be heartbroken when she discovers that we weren’t the winners.”
Daisy pushed away from the counter where she’d been leaning. “Yeah, well, we really could have a bit more optimism.” Lifting her hands, she held off Ivy’s admonishment. “Not that I believe we won, but we have been pretty down on life lately.”
Ivy chuckled. “You only pretend to have a tough exterior, Daisy. Deep down inside, you’re just a sweet marshmallow, aren’t you?” she teased, giving her friend a hug.
“Yeah, says the kettle to the pot,” Daisy replied, pulling away only when Janice snapped at them to get back to work.
For the next several hours, they took orders, delivered food, cleaned tables, and hurried about to ensure that everything was taken care of. When they all slid into the booth for lunch, which was only soup today, since they’d spent their extra cash last night, the four stared at each other for a long moment.
Tony slid a piece of paper to the center of the table. No one said anything as Daisy pulled the lottery ticket out of her apron pocket. She’d snuck into the break room earlier and stuffed it into her pocket. She wouldn’t admit to anyone that she didn’t trust the ticket out of her sight now.
Her hand covered the ticket and she looked at each of her friends. “We didn’t win,” she whispered prayerfully.
Marilee nodded her head. “I know. But it was fun to dream, right? That alone was worth the price of the ticket.”
Ivy laughed and placed her hand over Daisy’s. “It was worth it, no matter what. I haven’t had hope in a long time. But today, I dreamed and a little bit of hope filled my heart. And it showed. My tips were almost twice as much as normal today. So no matter what, we’re going to savor the excitement today.”
Tony chuckled. “You ladies are weird. Just check the numbers.”
They looked over at him, but no one said anything. They all were waiting.
Slowly, she pulled her fingers away. All four of them leaned forward, looking carefully at the first number on Tony’s napkin, then at the ticket.
It matched!
Quickly, they went through all of the numbers. When they looked at each other again, all four of them had stunned shock in their eyes.
“Impossible!” Daisy whispered.
All four of them leaned closer, once again looking at each of the numbers. All of them matched!
“No way!” Ivy breathed, even more quietly than Daisy’s denial.
Marilee’s eyes were huge. “We don’t have that kind of luck.”
Tony was silent. He grabbed the numbers and compared them side by side. When he looked up at the others, he shook his head. “Let me go back and check the winning numbers again later. Maybe I wrote them down wrong.” Janice yelled at someone and Daisy stuffed the ticket into her pocket. They all knew if Janice knew about the ticket, she would steal it.
“Keep that safe and away from Janice,” Tony warned.
Daisy agreed with him and nodded. “We’re off tomorrow, we need to…”
“Get to work!” Janice snapped out to everyone.
The four of them cleared the table, no one had eaten anything. No one could really think clearly. They were all sort of walking around in a daze.
Went their shift ended, they walked out of the diner together. By unspoken agreement, they all piled into Daisy’s car and drove right back to the field they’d stopped at last night.
As they stepped out of the car and walked into the field, each of them sort of paced around.
“Okay, so no one has claimed the prize and word in the news is that there was only one winning ticket,” Tony explained. “I double checked the numbers. What I wrote down was correct.”
They stood in a circle facing each other. “Does that mean we won?” Ivy asked what all of them were afraid to ask.
Tony looked at them. “Yes. I think we won.”
Silence.
“How much was the jackpot in the end?” Daisy choked out the question on everyone’s mind.
Tony took a breath and slowly let it out. “One point six billion,” he answered softy. He let that number sink in. No one said a word. The number was too high for any of them to really understand.
“After taxes, we would bring home about two hundred million each, I think. Maybe a bit more, maybe less. I’m not sure what the total taxes are on lottery winnings.”
Daisy paced. Marilee dropped to the ground. Ivy bit her lip as she stared off into the dark mountains. Tony just stood there.
“Okay,” Daisy began, “here’s what we need to do. We need to hire a lawyer. Someone good who can represent us.”
“And a financial advisor,” Tony interjected.
“And an accountant,” Daisy added.
Ivy and Marilee were still silent.
“This is crazy!” Ivy finally croaked.
“Are you sure?” Marilee asked.
Tony shook his head. “No. I’m not sure about anything right now. I’m still…I don’t know.”
Daisy put a hand to each side of her head. “Okay, so we’re all off tomorrow. We’ll head into Louisville and contact a lawyer.”
Ivy said what all of them were thinking. “Anyone know of a good lawyer?”
They laughed. “If I knew of a good lawyer, do you think we’d be dealing with Janice?”
They nodded. “Okay, so how do we find one?”
“We look online. We find someone with good reviews and talk to that person,” Marilee announced.
Since no one had a better answer, they all nodded.
“Let’s go home and I’ll pick everyone up tomorrow morning. We’ll drive into Louisville and meet with whatever lawyer…”
“I’ll find someone,” Ivy volunteered.
“Right. We’ll talk to the person you find online. If we all don’t like this person, we’ll find someone else, agreed?”
“Agreed,” everyone said at once.
They piled back into Daisy’s car and she dropped them off at their homes.
By the time she pulled up to her apartment, she already had text messages from each of them. “Come on over,” she typed in a group text. Fifteen minutes later, they were all at her door. They sat in her living room, watching television while trying to figure out if this was real.
Chapter 3
“Are you sure this guy is good?” Daisy asked, looking at the house. The business address for the lawyer they’d chosen didn’t look like a high powered attorney. It looked like some artist’s retreat. The split rail fence surrounding the front yard needed repairs, the horse out back looked like it hadn’t been exercised in about a decade, and the house needed a good layer of paint.
“The reviews said this guy was a shark,” Ivy explained warily.
Daisy shut off the engine and sighed, all of them continuing to stare at the house. “Okay, let’s go talk to him.”
“I didn’t really make an appointment,” Ivy mumbled. When they all looked at her, she shrugged. “Well, I couldn’t reach him by phone.”
Marilee straightened her shoulders. “Let’s just go inside and see if he’ll talk to us. If not, we go find someone else.”
Tony rang the doorbell. A moment later, the door was opened by a tall man in a pair of low-slung jeans, a flannel shirt, and a huge cup of coffee. He hadn’t shaved yet. Probably not in a few days. But he was tall and good looking, with dark hair touched with silver at his temples.
“Are you Mr. Jason Rayburn?” Tony asked.
The man’s sharp eyes took in all four of them in a quick sweep. “Yes. What can I do for you?”
They stood there awkwardly, trying to
explain, but it just felt too weird. Daisy stepped in front of Tony. “We need legal advice, but you don’t look like a good enough lawyer to represent us.
The man laughed and opened the door. “Well, that sounds promising. Why don’t you come inside and I’ll let you know if I can help you?”
They followed him inside and their impressions changed dramatically. While the outside of his house looked like a neglected farm, the inside was completely different. There was an office off to one side with a large space filled on one side with a leather couch and chairs and a gourmet kitchen on the other.
The man led them over to the leather couch and waited until they sat down.
“So, what’s the problem?” he asked, getting four cups of coffee down from a cabinet. He poured each of them a cup and brought them over, handing them out.
Ivy leaned forward. “We have a legal issue. We need someone to represent us, but we need a shark. We need someone who can protect us.”
His dark eyebrows lifted. “From who?”
Marilee took control now, crossing her arms underneath her breasts and glaring at him. “We work at a diner over on Highway Sixty-Four. The owner is a horrible woman who requires us to work twelve and fourteen hour shifts without overtime pay. She steals our tips and docks our pay for arbitrary and absurd reasons.” When he opened his mouth, Marilee lifted her hand to stop him. “The last person who complained, who tried to get help, is now sitting in a jail cell, awaiting trial for embezzlement.” She let that sink in as she watched his face change from curious to sharp. “Furthermore, we don’t have the money to pay you right now, but we might have money later on.”
At the end of her explanation, a change came over the man. His smile disappeared, his eyes sharpened, and his shoulders straightened. The man was tall, but when he stood like that, all four of them felt like they needed to take a step back.
“What’s the name of the diner?” he asked, but the tone of his voice was more raw. Rougher.
“Janice’s is what she called it,” Daisy said. “We wait tables and Tony is the cook.”
The man pulled out a legal sized notepad and a pen. “Tell me your names and the name of the woman in jail.”
“What about payment?” Marilee asked, leaning forward again.
He shook his head. “Don’t worry about payment. This sounds like a perfect pro bono case.”
They didn’t understand and not working for pay made them wary. “Explain,” Ivy demanded.
The man smiled slightly. “I used to work in New York City as a criminal attorney. Suffice it to say, I got sick of the criminals I was hired to defend and left the city, needing a bit of fresh air. Hence why you’ve found me here. I only take cases I care about.” He looked at each of them. “Don’t worry. By the time I’m finished with your employer, you’ll have back wages for however long you’ve worked for her. If she tries to fire any of you, I’ll slap an injunction on her so fast, she won’t know what hit her. The injunction will include fines for unlawful termination of employment.”
“What about her stealing our tip money?” Daisy demanded, liking what she was hearing so far.
The man nodded. “I’ll be honest, unless you have evidence, and I’m talking about cameras that show her stealing the money from the tables, I doubt you’ll get any of the tip money back. But I can get you the back pay you are due, which is required by law, and get her fined for not paying those amounts already.”
The four of them looked at each other, a silent message going around to each of them. When they all agreed, they turned back to the man. “And what can you do about Mindy?” Ivy asked, her tone a bit softer now.
The man nodded again, his eyes still sharp. “Tell me her name, what you know of the case, and where she’s being held. I’ll let you know what I can do about your friend.” He paused. “I’m warning you, the back pay is going to be easy. But I don’t know the circumstances behind Mindy’s arrest, so I can’t make you promises there.”
Tony spoke for the first time. “When will we hear from you?”
He gestured to his notepad, silently telling them he needed more details. “Why don’t you give me more information? I should be able to give you news in a couple of days.”
“And you’ll keep our names out of everything?”
He laughed, the sound was rich and relaxed. “Yes. I understand your situation, the tenuous nature of your employment status, and I’ll be very discreet. Your names will not come up in any way.”
An hour later, they were driving back to LowPoint, in thoughtful silence.
“What do you think?” Ivy asked, the first to break the silence.
A long, heavy silence followed that question. Finally, Daisy spoke up. “I think Marilee had the perfect idea. If this guy knows the law and can help us, then we should hire him to represent us.”
They all nodded, agreeing that the guy had potential, but the proof would be in how he handled the situation with the illegal labor practices that Janice forced on everyone.
Chapter 4
Two days later, Janice was in a snit. “Health inspectors should all just go to hell!” she yelled. She’d gone back into her office, and most of the diner was empty as they all rested in the lull between the lunch and dinner rush.
There was a banging of…something, then silence.
“Anyone know who Janice Kenning is?” a man in a bad suit asked, standing in the doorway.
Marilee, Daisy and Ivy all looked curiously at the man, not sure what to say. They hadn’t heard from Mr. Rayburn, but obviously things were happening. The health inspector had shown up for the past two days, telling Janice that her fridge temperature wasn’t cold enough, her freezer was over packed, the storage room was under capacity, and she had to throw away everything in both areas until they were fixed and up to code. An hour after that, a building inspector arrived. The results from that were several electrical outlets needing to be upgraded and light fixtures replaced. This morning, a state inspector came through, demanding to see the tax forms for each of the employees.
Turns out, Janice had never filed employee taxes on more than half of her employees. That meant that the state inspector wanted to see all employee documents, including timesheets. Daisy, Ivy, Marilee, and Tony sat in their usual lunch booth, whispering about the additional people who had just arrived.
The inspectors took over Janice’s office, so it was fairly easy to hear what Janice was griping about since she had to pace around the dining room talking to her lawyer, or whoever was on the other end of the phone. “They’ve frozen all of my accounts, Harvey! Can’t you do something?”
They ate their soup and turkey sandwiches, pretending to talk amongst themselves, but in reality, they were eavesdropping, delighted with everything they heard.
A half hour later, they were all back at work when the sheriff arrived. “Janice, sorry to have to do this.”
Janice gave him the evil eye. “Don’t you dare tell me that you’re letting that ninny out of jail. I don’t think I can handle another piece of bad news, Jim.”
The sheriff reached behind him, shaking his head. “Yes ma’am. Ms. Lewis was released yesterday morning.”
Janice stared at the gruff-looking sheriff, her mouth falling open. “Why the hell did you do something so idiotic as that for?!” she screamed, throwing her hands into the air.
“Lack of evidence.”
She floundered. “But I told you I’d testify! She stole from me!”
Jim shook his head. “The assistant district attorney dropped all charges against Mindy Lewis after getting a report from the state inspectors office, ma’am.”
She grumbled. “You mean those ninnies in my office now? They’re doing something stupid, sticking their nose into my business. Just a bunch of liberal idiots who think they can tell me how to run my business.”
Jim rubbed the back of his neck, shaking his head. “See, the reality is, you can’t violate the law.”
She stared at him again, about to squawk, bu
t in that moment, he turned her around, taking his handcuffs out of the pocket on his belt. “You’re under arrest, Janice, for willful violations of federal labor laws.” With that, he quoted her Miranda rights as he led her out of the diner.
Janice turned back, looking at Tony. “You’re charge! Don’t let these idiots ruin anything, Tony! I’ll be back in a few hours once this stupidity is fixed!”
A moment later, she was gone.
The four of them were still standing there staring at the empty door when the state inspector came out. “I’m looking for…” and he read off each of their names.
“That’s us. What can we do for you?” Daisy answered, stepping forward. All four of them were terrified after what had just happened to Janice. Were they about to be arrested as well? They hadn’t done anything wrong, but who knew?!
The man smiled at all of them. “We need you to review these documents,” he handed each of them a printout.
“What’s this?” Ivy demanded, staring at the numbers.
“This is the number of hours each of you worked during the time you’ve worked here at this diner. It shows the number of hours you worked, the amount you were paid, the amount of overtime you should have been paid, and the interest on the outstanding amounts. I need you each to look over those numbers and certify that they are correct.”
Ivy hugged the paper close to her chest, looking up at the man, shocked that this was happening so quickly. “What will happen to Janice?”
He sighed and glanced over his shoulder at the sheriff who was still trying to put the horrible restaurant owner into the back of his SUV. “The diner will remain open while she’s presented to the courts. She’ll have the right to an attorney, but a state manager will step in to manage the business while she’s out. We don’t want to further victimize you by closing the diner and causing everyone to lose their sole source of income.”
Daisy looked at Ivy, then Marilee and Tony. A slow grin formed on each of their faces as they realized that their choice of lawyers had been a good one. Daisy turned back to the man. “That sounds like a good plan. If you’d like, I can step in to manage the diner until a new manager can take over.”
The Lottery Winners_A Free Introduction Page 4