Free the Onion Field (1973) by Joseph Wambaugh

from my folks."
    "You bet we will," said Greg, hugging her close.
    "And then the allotment check'll stay with us."
    "Well, not if we're married, honey," Greg reminded her.
    "Oh, that's right. But I'll get something, won't I?"
    "Those things have to be worked out. But don't worry, my luck's gonna change."
    And Greg tried a car wash and gas station and finally a scheme to open his own automotive garage, and for one reason or another all ended in failure. Then the final battle of Gregory Powell's family war drove him out of the house for good. It evolved over an anonymous letter one of his sisters received accusing her of various marital infidelities and of having had incestuous relationships with Greg. The girl took the letter to the family council, and Greg's father found some notes in Greg's pocket written by Maxine and, after a family conference and homemade handwriting analysis, it was decided that Maxine was indeed the culprit. And further, that the vile and libelous letter should be brought to Greg's attention. It was, and Greg drove Maxine straight to San Diego to a detective agency where he paid sixty dollars for a polygraph examination and the examiner said he was satisfied Maxine was telling the truth. Next, Greg returned to the family with his polygraph results and demanded they turn the letter over to a handwriting analyst for further clues as to who wrote the despicable letter. But they had already made up their minds. "You've got no feeling for my private life," Greg told them, his jaw muscles throbbing. "You went in my pockets and took notes from my girl to me. You had no right. None at all."
    "Look what she wrote about your sister. And about you."
    "I don't believe she wrote it. She said she didn't. And now the point is that you'd treat me like this! Just go into my pockets!"
    "It's for the good of all of us. It's for the family."
    "I oughtta tell you what I think of this family. That's what I oughtta do. But I won't. I'm leaving this house as of now. Oh, I'll still see you, don't worry about that. I won't abandon you. Somebody's gotta direct you or you'd all walk off a cliff or something. But I'll never live in your house again."
    And he was right. He never would.
    Toward the end of 1962, Greg and Maxine decided to go to Boulder City, Nevada, to care for his sister Lei Lani, who had been in a traffic accident, leaving her neck broken and her leg terribly burned by battery acid. Gregory Powell found he still couldn't get away from them, and it was not only his sister but his mother who became disabled by illness and again announced that she was going to die. He found himself making trips between Boulder City and Oceanside with Maxine, his father, brother, and mother when she was able.
    In January they knew Maxine was pregnant, and Douglas, by now a heroin user, had come to Boulder City. Greg told Maxine that he could never escape the family. Never. And once again he was right. But he was always to wonder if he really wanted to escape.
    Greg was growing restless at his sister's home surrounded by his family. One day he concocted a bizarre scheme in which he and Doug were to drive to Oceanside and kidnap Maxine's children from their grandparents and bring them to Boulder City and their mother's loving care. After several hours of planning the brothers drove to Oceanside but they returned the same day. Greg once more had changed his mind.
    Then on January 29, Douglas Powell, using the identification of a cousin, Thomas Powell, residing in Michigan, bought a Beretta 7.65 automatic from a Las Vegas pawnshop.
    On January 31 a service station in Las Vegas was robbed by a lone gunman. On February 6 a Las Vegas drugstore suffered the same fate. On February 9 the original service station was robbed again. The Powell brothers announced to the other family members that they had acquired a night job driving a truck and unloading boxcars. The job would last about four hours on each night they worked. The pay was surprisingly