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Sloan smiled. The last thing she wanted was a wine tour.
“How does that sound, dear?” Tilly asked.
Sloan pushed a smile onto her face and nodded. “Yeah. Sounds great.”
“Excellent,” Reid said. “We’ll get ready. Let’s meet in the tasting room in an hour and we’ll get started.”
Reid and Tilly disappeared into the first-floor bedroom, leaving Nora and Sloan alone in the kitchen.
Nora smiled. “Sorry. You just got a little behind-the-scenes look at my constant struggle.”
Sloan smiled. “I think you handled it well.”
“I probably could have done better, but it’s early and that’s all I had. Before the grand tour,” Nora rolled her eyes, “let’s head into the darkroom and see what’s on that roll of film.”
“Now?”
“Sure. We’ve got an hour.”
CHAPTER 58
Cedar Creek, Nevada Friday, August 2, 2024
ERIC WALKED INTO HIS OFFICE AND POINTED TO THE CHAIR IN FRONT of his desk. “Sit and talk,” he said to the aging PI.
Marvin Mann was well known in Harrison County. Over the years his PIs had caught cheating spouses, uncovered siblings hiding inheritance money from each other, found employees stealing from their bosses, and everything in between. One of Marvin’s investigators had even assisted Nevada law enforcement in solving a Las Vegas murder a few years back. As far as private investigators went, Marvin Mann was as legit as they came. So when the man mentioned his father, Eric was more than curious.
Eric spun his finger in the air as he took a seat behind his desk. “It’s early on a Friday morning and my plate is full. Start talking.”
“I’ll get right to the point. Back in ’95, right before your dad died, he and I were working a case together.”
“You and my dad?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Were working on a case together?”
“Yes, sir.”
Eric looked up and did some quick math. “Your PI firm hasn’t been around long enough for you to be doing PI work for my father in ’95.”
“It wasn’t PI work. And you’re right, I didn’t even have my agency at the time. Back then I was a legal investigator for Margolis and Margolis. My boss was Baker Jauncey.”
Eric sat up straight, as if his spine had turned to ice. “The guy who was killed in the hit-and-run.”
“That’s him,” Marvin said. “Only it wasn’t a hit-and-run.”
Eric stood up and closed his office door before returning to sit on the edge of his desk in front of Marvin.
“How do you know that, Marv?”
“Your dad told me.”
“Why was my dad talking to you about Baker Jauncey?”
“I told you. Baker was my boss. And, the night before Baker died, he told me about some shady things going on inside the Margolis law firm.”
“What sort of shady things?”
