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CHAPTER 47

Cedar Creek, Nevada Thursday, August 1, 2024

ERIC HURRIED TO THE PASSENGER SIDE AND CLIMBED INTO SLOAN’S car. The tires spit gravel as she backed down the driveway and brought Eric up to speed on the details of Margot Gray.

“Margot Gray?”

“That’s the woman’s name. Wendy Downing was an alias.”

“But why is she confessing to you. Or to me, or whatever is happening?”

“Guilt. From what she told me, Margot Gray was just twenty-three years old when a man approached her at the diner she waitressed at with a deal she couldn’t refuse. The man told her he was an attorney and needed her help with an adoption.”

“Guy Menendez?”

“Yes. He told her he needed to cut through red tape in order to get a little girl to a couple who wanted to adopt her. Margot said she needed the money and decided not to ask questions. When recent news broke that baby Charlotte had returned home and that police were looking for a woman named Wendy Downing, she finally figured it out.”

“Then, what, this lady tracked you down?”

“Yeah. The podcast she listens to mentioned that I was in Cedar Creek reuniting with the Margolis family. She found me by hacking into the Vrbo database.”

“And she’s at your rental now?”

“No, I put her up at the Cedar Creek Inn. I figured my rental’s about to be overrun by reporters. I convinced her to stay put while I found you. She’s very much on edge. It dawned on her that coming clean about her role in my abduction could likely get her in some trouble.”

“It will. Unless she can lead us to Menendez and help us figure out what happened to your birth parents. Then there’s probably a deal for her.”

Sloan nodded. “I’m not sure she knows any more than she told me. Guy Menendez knew what he was doing. He chose Margot because she was an easy target. And it sounds like the guy’s been keeping tabs on her for thirty years. She said every couple of years he either calls her or shows up to check on her. Gives her money and makes sure there’s nothing she needs or is worried about.”

“She’s been in contact with him recently?”

“Sounds like it. She gave me his cell number. I’m hoping it’ll help us find this guy.”

Eric nodded. “My office will be able to trace the number. Let me talk to her first.”

Sloan came out of the foothills and into town. She passed the Louis-Bullat Bridge and turned into the parking lot of the Cedar Creek Inn. When she did, her stomach dropped.

“Shit.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Her car’s gone. She had an older model Mazda and we parked right here. It’s gone.”

Sloan parked in the spot where they’d left Margot’s Mazda and grabbed the keycard from her pocket as she climbed out of the car. She and Eric jogged across the lot, entered the inn, and took the elevator to the third floor. Sloan looked up and down the long hallway as she approached room number 303. She opened the door and entered. The room was empty.

“Margot?”

Eric checked the bathroom. “Empty.”

Sloan walked to the foot of the bed, where the woman had been sitting when Sloan left her.

Margot Gray was gone.