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Since Preston had told her what he’d found at the firm on Sunday night, and what Sheriff Stamos had discovered about Baker Jauncey’s death, Annabelle had been a nervous wreck. Preston’s plan—to act as normal as possible and get through the Fourth of July and the Cedar Creek Gala without tipping anyone off about their impending escape from Cedar Creek—had her both giddy with excitement and paranoid at the same time. She wanted nothing more than to get away from this crazy town that Preston’s family controlled, but she knew it wouldn’t be as easy as packing up and leaving. There would be repercussions for Preston attempting to lead a quiet life far removed from the Margolis political machine. But that was a long-term problem they’d deal with at some point. For their immediate plan to work, they needed to make their getaway under the cover of darkness. With July Fourth falling on a Tuesday, and the Margolis & Margolis offices closed for the week, there was no better time to skip town. It would be days before anyone knew they were gone. Preston wasn’t due back at the office until the following Monday, and by then most of their plan would not only be set in place, but well under way.
Annabelle looked around. Sailboats cut through the creek and a band played Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA” from a stage behind her. Annabelle continued to take photos of Charlotte and the gala. She ran through a roll of film and loaded another into her camera. She hoped the ruse was fooling anyone who might be watching her. The plan was for Annabelle and Charlotte to stay at the gala and make their presence known while Preston slipped away to pack their things at the house. She wondered what was taking him so long.
She spotted Stella Connelly walking her way. Annabelle turned quickly, grabbed the handle of the stroller, and pushed Charlotte in the opposite direction. Narrowly avoiding a run-in with Preston’s ex, she took a deep breath to calm her nerves, and then reminded herself that they were leaving tonight. Annabelle hoped they would never look back.
Cedar Creek, Nevada
Tuesday, July 4, 1995 The Day Of . . .
ANNABELLE EXHALED A SIGH OF RELIEF WHEN SHE SAW PRESTON walking down the sidewalk toward her. She was rocking Charlotte in the stroller.
“What took so long?” she asked when Preston came up and gave her a kiss.
“Just making sure we had everything. Every suitcase we have is packed full, and just about every drawer in our bedroom is empty. You head home now and make sure I got everything that’s essential. I’ll stay here and make sure people see me.”
Annabelle nodded. “Okay. Charlotte’s sleeping. I’ll bring her home with me. She’ll need to eat when she wakes up.”
Preston kissed her again. “Remember, we don’t need everything. At some point we’ll come back and collect it all, but right now we need the essentials. It might be a while before we’re back here.”
“I can pray,” Annabelle said.
“Go. I’ll stick around here for an hour or so. Then, as soon as I get home, we’ll hit the road.”
Annabelle tried to smile but tears welled in her eyes instead.
Preston hugged her and whispered in her ear. “It’s almost over.”
“Promise?”
“Promise.”
Cedar Creek, Nevada
Tuesday, July 4, 1995 The Day Of . . .
ANNABELLE PULLED INTO HER DRIVEWAY AND PARKED. SHE OPENED the trunk of the BMW in anticipation of stuffing it with luggage. As she turned from the car, she took a moment to admire the house where she was supposed to raise her kids and grow old with her husband. Despite the forced design, it was a beautiful home. She looked to the still-unfinished three-car garage with Lester’s ladder tilted against the side. She saw the tread marks in the grass, left by the bulldozers and backhoes that had dug the hole for the pool. Waiting at the corner of the driveway were chest-high stacks of pavers meant to line the side of the house and lead to the back patio and pool deck. Part of her was sad that she’d never see this home completed the way she and Preston had planned. Another part of her was ready to run like hell and never look back.
In the distance, positioned high in the branches of a lodgepole pine, a Cooper’s hawk sat. The bird released a long crow that echoed into the afternoon. Annabelle squinted her eyes at the beautiful sight, lifted the camera that still hung from her neck, and snapped off a photo of the bird just as it took flight—its wings outstretched and the colorful underbelly visible. The bird was gone in just a few powerful strokes of its wings and Annabelle hoped the single shot she’d managed to get off had captured the beauty of the animal.
She collected Charlotte from the baby seat and hurried through the front door. Several suitcases waited in the foyer. For the first time, she allowed herself to believe her family was actually leaving. She climbed the stairs to the second floor. In her bedroom she placed Charlotte in the bassinet next to the bed and walked into the bathroom to wash her face. Things had been spiraling out of control ever since her car was found abandoned on the side of the road where Baker Jauncey’s body had been discovered. In her postpartum confusion, and suffering from sleep deprivation over the last two weeks, Annabelle’s mind had spun with possible explanations—even conjuring the possibility that she had taken her car out that night during a forgotten moment of delusion. She secretly wondered if she had been the one who ran Baker Jauncey down, only for her sleep-deprived mind to block out any memory of the event.
She had become sick with these thoughts until Sheriff Stamos invited Preston out to his hunting cabin to break the news that Baker Jauncey had not died from injuries suffered when Annabelle’s car struck him, but had instead been killed by a baseball bat. And, Sheriff Stamos added, whoever killed Baker Jauncey was likely behind the fraud happening inside Margolis & Margolis. Preston had spent all of Sunday night at the office digging through the firm’s files and looking into the fraud. When he came home early Monday morning he told Annabelle about everything he had found. It was then that they had decided to leave Cedar Creek. Annabelle was not so naïve to think that they could escape this godforsaken place without interference from Preston’s family. She only hoped that she, Preston, and Charlotte were far enough away when the rest of the Margolis family figured out their plan.
Annabelle cupped cool water in her hands and splashed her face. She soaked a washcloth and rubbed the coolness into the back of her neck. Finally, she took a deep breath and walked back into the bedroom. Charlotte was sleeping in the bassinet. She opened the dresser drawers to make sure Preston had packed everything she needed. She was about to check the armoire when a car door slammed outside.
Annabelle hurried to the bedroom window, hoping Preston was ahead of schedule and that they might get an early start on their stealth exit from Cedar Creek. But when Annabelle pulled the window curtain to the side, it was not Preston she saw.
“What the hell?” she whispered to herself.
Annabelle’s breath caught in her throat. Although she wasn’t sure why—intuition, maybe, but a premonition more likely—she lifted the Nikon FM10 that still hung from her neck, placed her eye to the viewfinder, and snapped several photos as she stood at her bedroom window, capturing the person’s movements as they walked across the driveway and to the front door. Annabelle’s stomach dropped when she heard the doorbell chime.
She thought briefly about not answering, but her car was in the driveway with the trunk open. It was obvious someone was home. She took a deep breath, lifted the camera strap over her head, and placed the Nikon in Charlotte’s bassinet. She grabbed the handle and carried her daughter down the stairs.
CHAPTER 60
Reno, Nevada Friday, August 2, 2024
ERIC AND MARVIN MADE IT TO THE RENO BANK IN JUST OVER AN HOUR. Eric pushed his 4Runner during the drive, topping 100 mph in spots because he knew he was up against the clock, and had unintentionally placed Sloan in danger by encouraging her to burrow her way into the Margolis family. Eric believed his father’s death was related to Baker Jauncey’s hit-and-run, and that someone inside the Margolis family possessed information about it. But until Marvin Mann offered his amazing story, Eric hadn’t considered that a Margolis family member was responsible for his father’s death. If it were true, Eric had sent Sloan into the lion’s den.
