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“What?”
“Open it!”
“I’m alone, Sandy. Who the hell do you think I’m bringing with me?”
“Humor me.”
Preston walked to the back of the BMW and pulled open the trunk. Sandy came around and pointed his Glock into the back of the empty space. He went to the passenger’s side door next and pulled it open. Also empty.
“Feel better?” Preston asked.
“Forgive me for trusting a Margolis as far as I can throw him.”
Sandy holstered his gun.
“Where the hell are we?”
“My family’s hunting cabin.”
“Why did you have me come all the way out here?”
“Because someone’s trying to frame your wife for Baker Jauncey’s murder, and I need your help figuring out who it is.”
Cedar Creek, Nevada
Sunday, July 2, 1995 2 Days Prior . . .
SANDY ASSUMED TWO THINGS WHEN HE CONCOCTED HIS PLAN TO ENLIST the help of Preston Margolis. The first was that Preston had nothing to do with the murder of Baker Jauncey and would do everything possible to protect Annabelle. The second was that, as an attorney at Margolis & Margolis, Preston had unprecedented access to files and information that could help Sandy figure out who Guy Menendez was.
“Can I get you a beer?” Sandy asked as they walked into the cabin.
“Maybe a whiskey, instead? It’s not every day that I have a gun pointed at me.”
Sandy motioned to the kitchen island and for Preston to take a seat. He poured two fingers of Jameson into a tumbler and grabbed a beer from the fridge. Sandy took a stool next to Preston and pushed the whiskey over to him.
Preston took a long sip.
“Okay, Sheriff. Start from the beginning.”
“Someone at Margolis and Margolis killed Baker Jauncey,” Sandy said, taking a sip of beer.
“What?”
Sandy nodded. “Marvin Mann, Baker’s investigator, tracked me down a few days ago to tell me an interesting story. Baker had stumbled across evidence of financial fraud inside your law firm— money laundering, embezzlement, misappropriation of funds, and more. Baker enlisted his trusted investigator to help him figure out who was involved, and gave Marvin a stack of documents he took from the firm. The next day Baker was dead—the victim of an apparent hit-and-run. Marvin Mann came to me with his suspicions that Baker’s death was no accident. He handed over all the documents Baker had given him, and I asked my accountant to take a look at them. The bottom line is that some very shady things are going on at your law firm. Baker Jauncey caught wind of them and was killed because of it.”
“Who?” Preston asked. “Who’s involved in this fraud?”
“That’s why I asked you out here. I don’t know who’s involved. But I’m hoping if I share what I know, that you’ll be able to figure it out since you have easy access to Margolis and Margolis files.”
“What did you learn?”
Sandy walked over to a cabinet above the refrigerator and removed a few pages of the files Marvin Mann had given him. These were copies; the originals were still stashed in the Reno safe deposit box.
“This is some of what Baker found at the firm. It’s just a taste of what he gave Marvin Mann.”
Preston skimmed the pages.
“If this is just some of what Baker found, where’s the rest of it?”
