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CHAPTER 22

Cedar Creek, Nevada Friday, July 26, 2024

“MY FATHER WAS ENGAGED WHEN HE MET MY MOTHER?”

Nora nodded. “To Stella Connelly. She was a perfect match for Preston. On paper, anyway. She came rubber-stamped and approved by Reid and Tilly. Stella, like Preston, was a young, up-and-coming attorney at another prominent Harrison County law firm. Because she came from a wealthy and powerful family, Reid and Tilly loved her immediately.”

Sloan crossed her arms awkwardly. “Did my father cheat on her with my mother?”

“Stella Connelly certainly thought so.”

“What do you think?”

“I think Preston and Annabelle were in love. A much deeper love than Preston ever experienced with Stella Connelly. I got close with Annabelle through everything—Preston’s broken engagement, her pregnancy, and the general shunning Annabelle experienced from the rest of the family. I knew how that girl felt because I had once been there myself.”

“They didn’t approve of you, either?”

“Not at first. But I had an advantage Annabelle did not. I came from money. My folks, before they passed, owned a string of restaurant franchises. When Tilly and Reid first heard that my family was in the fast-food business, I was shunned. But when they heard my parents owned over a hundred franchises, and had made a fortune, I was welcomed with open arms.”

“Just because your family had money?”

“Absolutely. Before they knew that my parents were wealthy, I was just a lowly photographer who sunk her fingers into their son so I could suck from the Margolis spigot for life.”

“That’s awful. They told you that?”

“Not in so many words. But it’s what they thought. Reid especially. He’s very protective of the Margolis family fortune, and always careful to fend off those he believes are after it. Ellis and I used to laugh about it because it was so absurd. Being a Margolis boy came with power and prestige, but also with an overbearing parental presence that festered into every part of life.”

“Like what type of home they can own.”

Nora opened her arms to display their lovely, cookie-cutter Victorian that every Margolis family member owned.

“Anyway, when Preston called off his engagement to Stella, it caused quite a stir. When he started bringing Annabelle around, the mood around here turned icy. And when they announced that Annabelle was pregnant with . . . you, well, let’s just say the shit hit the fan. Cedar Creek is a small town, and it was even smaller thirty years ago. Preston and Annabelle were in the middle of lots of rumors before they disappeared. And after.”

“What kinds of rumors?”

“Oh, the usual kind when something like that happens. When one relationship ends right about the time another begins. Annabelle was a home wrecker. Annabelle was a gold digger. Annabelle got pregnant to trap Preston. Those sorts of things. That poor girl walked straight into the flames of hell when she married into this family, and I felt terrible for her. Other than Preston, I was her only confidant when it came to family happenings. Like I said, that’s why she and I became so close so fast.”

“And then she disappeared.”

Nora offered a sad smile. “And then she disappeared.”

There was a pause in the conversation before Sloan continued.

“I’ve read a lot about my birth parents’ disappearance. One of the things that came up often in the articles was the mention that Annabelle was a suspect in a hit-and-run investigation.”

Nora nodded. “That was another big rumor around here. Still is, really, because every few years the disappearance gets stirred up and the town starts talking about it again. I own a photography studio in town. I talk with lots of people and hear all the theories about Annabelle and Preston disappearing with baby Charlotte. The biggest of those rumors is the hit-and-run.”

“Can you tell me about it?”

“It’s been decades, so I don’t remember everything perfectly. But in the summer of ’95, just a couple of weeks before you and your parents went missing, one of Reid Margolis’s law partners was hit and killed out on Highway Sixty-seven. Annabelle’s car was found at the scene, and was determined to be the car that hit the guy. His name was Baker Jauncey. The sheriff was investigating the hit-and-run. He questioned Annabelle a few times and rumors flew through town that she was about to be arrested for manslaughter.”

“And then she disappeared?”

“Yep. A picture of the car made it into all the papers, with the headlight smashed and the front fender dented. One of the rumors, then and now, is that Annabelle went on the run to avoid being arrested for Baker Jauncey’s death, and she convinced Preston to go with her. I always doubted that theory, but now I know for sure it’s incorrect.”

“How do you know?”

“Because you’re sitting in front of me. The FBI told Reid and Tilly that you were given up for adoption. And although I have no idea how that happened, I know Annabelle and Preston were not part of it. You were their entire world. They loved you to death and would never have willingly given you up.”

Another lump formed in Sloan’s throat, a tumor made of guilt and angst. In the course of just a couple of weeks, her birth parents had morphed from mythical figures who crossed her mind only in fleeting glitches of thought, to people she felt a deep connection with. Her obligation to them was like a snowball rolling downhill, picking up speed and girth as it went and becoming a relentless force that only answers could stop.

“And if the theory about Annabelle and Preston going on the run is wrong,” Nora said, “it means what I’ve feared all along is true.”

“What’s that?”

“That something very bad happened to them.”