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amount of money, but … but—she wanted the rest of it, too. She’d won it, fair and square. Yeah, she’d known, vaguely, that she’d have to pay taxes, but she hadn’t realized the hit would be that big.
    “Sure is. If you add up all the taxes—income, social security, sales taxes, the taxes on gasoline and the phone bill and everything else, it isn’t unusual for people to end up paying over sixty percent to the government, but a lot of it is hidden. If the average guy realized how much Washington is sucking out of his pocket, there’d be riots in the streets.”
    “I’ll carry the pitchfork,” Jenner muttered.
    “I bet you would. Still, we can put a hundred and fifty million to serious work.” She put some more numbers into the calculator. “A return rate of four percent would give you an annual discretionary income of around six million, without ever touching theprincipal. And four percent is a low estimate. You should make more.”
    Okay. Wow. Six million a year, without drawing down the principal at all. She didn’t need six million, she could live on a lot less, so that much could stay in her investments, working and earning. The more she had, the more interest it earned, and her worth kept growing. She felt as if a door had just opened, and she could see what was inside the room. She
got
it.
    All she had to do was be smart, and not blow it.
    Al launched into a mini-lecture about the variety of investments available—stocks and dividends, Treasury bills, and high-level debt. Jenner didn’t pretend to understand it all, but she absorbed what she could and asked a hundred questions. She set her own requirements: no one would be moving her money around without her permission. She didn’t want to find that Al or anyone else at Payne Echols had decided to invest her money in a risky stock or whatever, and she’d lost everything. She wanted to be the final word on every decision. She also didn’t want anything at her house that would leave her open to theft. She wouldn’t put anything past Jerry. He’d do whatever he could to get his hands on the money. People like him were a big part of the reason most lottery winners were broke within five years.
    Al set to work formulating a plan. A small part of the money—a hundred thousand—would be put in a bank for Jenner’s immediate use. Most of it would be in a savings account that she could easily access, moving money to checking as she needed it. She would also need a safe-deposit box where she could keep all her papers, and no one else could get to them unless she personally granted that person access. Al would work up an investment plan, and when Jenner claimed her winnings she could have the money transferred directly into those accounts.
    Jenner breathed a sigh of relief. She wouldn’t claim the money until everything was in place, but Al said she’d put everything else on the back burner and get all the paperwork prepared. In another week, at the latest, she’d be ready.
    Once the plans were hammered out and she was back in the Goose, Jenner blew out a huge breath. She’d walked out of Payne Echols somehow … changed. She was part of the financial world now, and it felt strange, but exciting. Her heart was beating faster, and she felt like laughing and dancing. She wanted to celebrate. She was a multimillionaire! Well, almost. Soon. A week at the most.
    She glanced at her watch. Michelle would be at lunch. Grabbing her cell phone, she paused for a split second as she considered how expensive cell minutes were—maybe she should wait until she was home, and use the regular phone—then reality smacked her in the face again and she laughed. Her cell phone bill didn’t matter anymore. She dialed Michelle’s number.
    Michelle answered with a crisp, “What’s wrong?” because Jenner almost never called during the day.
    There was no easy lead-up, no way other than to blurt out the truth. “I won the lottery.”
    “Yeah, right. Seriously,