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“Financial fraud, embezzlement, misappropriation of funds, to name a few. Baker took some internal documents from the firm that he thought proved the fraud. He gave them to me for safekeeping. Then he asked me to look into the fraud to see if I could figure out who was behind it, and to do it very quietly. The next day he was dead.”
Eric cocked his head. “What’s it got to do with my dad?”
“I was spooked after Baker was killed, and I suspected that the hit-and-run was no accident. I went to your father to tell him my suspicions. But like stink on shit, your pop was already all over it. He told me Baker was killed by blunt force trauma to the back of the head. And it wasn’t Annabelle Margolis’s car that did the damage, but rather a baseball bat.”
A lump formed in Eric’s throat, and he took a deep breath to contain his emotions. After hearing Dr. Cutty’s interpretation of Baker Jauncey’s autopsy, Eric had assumed that his father knew the truth for the simple reason that he hadn’t arrested Annabelle Margolis. To hear Marvin Mann confirm this fact filled him with pride that transported him back to the nine-year-old boy who looked up to his dad.
“The autopsy from the Harrison County Coroner’s Office states that Baker died from being struck by a car,” Eric said. “How did my dad figure it out?”
“Your dad told me that the Harrison County Coroner’s Office repossessed the body, or whatever it’s called when one morgue snatches a body from another. But before Harrison County took the body, the medical examiner down in Reno had a look. That first autopsy report was never formally registered. Instead, the Harrison County coroner determined Baker’s head injury was the result of being hit by a car. And we all know who owns the Harrison County Coroner’s Office.”
“The Margolis family.”
“Bingo. With what your dad learned from that original, unofficial autopsy, coupled with the documents Baker had given me, your dad and I knew Baker’s death was a direct result of what he had discovered inside the Margolis law firm. And we both knew that Baker had not only been killed because of what he’d stumbled over at Margolis and Margolis, but that the killer was very likely someone at the firm.”
Eric stood and paced his office.
“What did my dad do about it?”
“Your dad decided to go toe-to-toe with the Margolises. He went about it quietly and kept his investigation under wraps. No one knew that Baker had taken the documents from the firm, so your dad and I stashed the files in a safe deposit box until we could figure out what it all meant. Last I heard, your dad was going to ask an accountant friend to look at the documents to see if he could make sense out of them.”
“Who?”
Marvin shook his head and shrugged. “No idea. The last time I spoke with your dad was that day at the bank when we stashed the documents. About a week later, Preston Margolis and his family disappeared, and that story occupied the town’s attention for the next several weeks. Hell, the whole country dropped everything to pay attention. Shortly after the family disappeared, your dad died when he drove his cruiser into Cedar Creek. Supposedly out of his mind on heroin. But I’ve always known your dad’s death was no accident, and was definitely not an overdose.”
Eric threw up his hands. “Christ, Marv! How come you’ve never mentioned this to anyone before now?”
“Put yourself in my shoes, brother! Baker gave me the files and was killed the next day. I gave those files to your dad, and he was dead a week later. I had a wife and three young kids at the time, and I knew two things. One, that no person on earth knew that I had any idea about fraud at Margolis and Margolis. And two, that if the people who killed Baker and your father knew I had seen the documents, I was a dead man. And that’s if I was lucky enough for those bastards to come after me alone, and not my family.”
Eric nodded and took a deep breath. “So why now?”
“Why?” Marvin shrugged. “My conscience, for one. It’s been eating at me for nearly thirty years. And then there’s this girl who just showed up—baby Charlotte. I know that whatever happened to her and her parents can’t be a coincidence. It has to be connected to your dad and Baker, and whatever got them killed. I just need you to promise me you won’t let them go after my family.”
“I don’t even know who ‘they’ are, Marv.”
“Maybe you will if you take a look at the documents I gave your dad.”
Marvin reached into his pants pocket and removed the key he’d retrieved from his desk drawer the night before.
“This is the key to the safe deposit box your dad and I opened all those years ago.”
“Where?” Eric asked, walking over to Marvin and taking the key. “Where’s the safe deposit box?”
“Reno,” Marvin said. “The box hasn’t been opened for nearly thirty years.”
CHAPTER 59
Bend, Oregon Friday, August 2, 2024
SLOAN FOLLOWED NORA OUT OF THE KITCHEN AND THROUGH THE long hallway, at the end of which was a door to the cellar. Nora opened it and clicked on a light before starting down the rickety wooden steps. Sloan followed close behind. The staircase was dark and damp, offering a scent of cold and mold. At the bottom was the door to the darkroom. They both slipped inside and turned on the lights. Waiting on the table was all the photography equipment Nora had introduced her to back in Cedar Creek.
Nora placed the Nikon FM10 onto the table and removed the roll of film that had sat dormant in Annabelle’s camera for nearly three decades. Nora held it up.
“Wanna give it a shot?”
“Me?”
“Sure. I bet you know what you’re doing. Just like Annabelle.”
