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"I was convinced it would never be claimed," says Mary Neubauer, the Iowa Lottery's vice president of external relations, of the jackpot.
“愛荷華州彩票機構負責對外關系的副總裁瑪麗·紐鮑爾在談到這個頭獎時說：“我當時確信它永遠不會被認領。”
And it wasn't, until exactly a year after the drawing—less than two hours before the 4 p.m. deadline—
它確實沒有被認領，直到開獎后整整一年——離下午四點的截止時間不到兩個小時的時候——
when representatives from a Des Moines law firm showed up at lottery head-quarters with the winning ticket.
得梅因市的一家律師事務所的代表們拿著中獎彩票出現在彩票總部。
The firm was claiming the prize on behalf of a trust whose beneficiary was a corporation in Belize.
該公司代表一個信托基金來領取獎金，該信托基金的受益人是伯利茲的一家公司。
Its president was Philip Johnston—the same man who said he'd worn a sports coat to buy the ticket.
該公司的總裁是菲利普·約翰斯頓-就是聲稱穿了運動外套來買彩票的那名男子。
"It just absolutely stank all over the place," says Terry Rich, chief executive of the Iowa Lottery.
愛荷華州彩票機構的首席執行官特里·里奇表示，“這是個充滿著骯臟的地方。”
So they held on to the jackpot while the attorney general's office opened an investigation. But it went nowhere.
因此，當司法部長辦公室展開調查時，他們仍然堅持中了頭獎。但調查不了了之。
Two years later, a baby-faced district attorney named Rob Sand inherited the languishing lottery file.
兩年后，一個長著娃娃臉、名叫羅布·桑德的地區檢察官接手了這份日漸衰落的彩票文件。
In college, Sand had studied computer coding before going to law school, where his specialty was white-collar crime.
在大學里，桑德在進入法學院之前學過計算機編碼，他的專業是白領犯罪。
Still, this case stumped him. His best evidence was that grainy video of a man in a hoodie,
盡管如此，這個案子還是難倒了他。他最有力的證據是一個穿著連帽衫的男人的模糊視頻，
so he decided to release the footage to the media, hoping it might spark leads—and it did.
因此，他決定將這段錄像公諸于媒體，希望能找到一些線索-而后確實找到了。
The first came from an employee of the Maine Lottery who recognized the distinct voice in the video as that of a man who had conducted a security audit in their offices.
第一個線索來自緬因州彩票機構的一名員工，他認出視頻中男子獨特的聲音，這名男子在他們的辦公室做過安全審計。
A web developer at the Iowa Lottery also recognized the voice: It belonged to a man she had worked alongside for years, Eddie Tipton.
愛荷華州彩票公司的一名網絡開發人員也認出了這個聲音：這個聲音屬于她共事多年的同事埃迪·蒂普頓。
Eddie was the information-security director for the Multi-State Lottery Association, based in Des Moines.
埃迪是位于得梅因市的多州樂透協會的信息安全主管。
Among the games the association ran: the Hot Lotto. Eddie cut a big figure around the lottery office.
協會經營的彩票項目包括：熱樂透。埃迪在彩票公司賺了大錢。
He wrote software, handled network firewalls, and reviewed security for games in nearly three dozen states.
他編寫軟件，處理網絡防火墻問題，并審查了近36個州的彩票安全。
His life revolved around his job; he sometimes stayed at his desk until 11 p.m. When a coworker was in a bad mood,
他的生活圍繞著他的工作轉；他有時在辦公桌前呆到晚上11點。
one colleague said, Eddie would pat him on the shoulder and say, "I just want you to know I'm your friend."
一位同事說，當某個同事心情不好時，艾迪會拍拍他的肩膀說，“我只想讓你知道我是你的朋友。”
But he was also a paranoid sort. He rarely paid with credit cards, worried about people tracing his identity.
但他也是一個偏執的人。他很少用信用卡支付，擔心人們追查他的身份。
In private moments, Eddie told friends he was lonely and wanted a family more than anything.
私下里，艾迪對朋友們說，他很孤獨，最想要的是一個家庭。
He built a 4,800-square-foot, $540,000 house in the cornfields south of Des Moines, complete with five bedrooms and a stadium-style home theater.
他在得梅因市以南的玉米地建造了一棟面積4800平方英尺、價值54萬美元的房子，包括五間臥室和一個體育場風格的家庭影院。
Friends wondered why a single man needed such a big house and how he could afford it on his salary.
他的朋友們好奇為什么一個單身漢需要一個這么大的房子，憑他的薪水怎么負擔得起。
Eddie told them he had poured his savings into the house in hopes of filling it with a wife and children.
艾迪告訴他們，他把積蓄都投進了房子里，希望能有個老婆和孩子。
But the right partner never came along.
但是對的人卻從未出現。
