Mission

by Camilla Chafer

  "You came to Montgomery," I said.

  Sophie nodded. She paused to sip the water Austen offered her. "We had no money except for the little bit we made doing odd jobs. Zach didn't want me to work anywhere. He hated seeing me work anyway. He always said I was rubbing his face in his shortcomings since I landed better jobs than he could but I was still less than nothing to him. Plus, he used to turn up at my old job and embarrass me. What could I do now?" She stopped, coughing, and Austen wrapped his arm around her. "I was pretending to be the other Sophie Gallo. My sister-in-law barely had any qualifications, no resume, and nothing that said she could do anything. I couldn't be me anymore. Then Zach came up with a brilliant idea, a scheme so crazy that he claimed without a doubt, it would solve all our problems. I should have left him the moment he announced it."

  "He was abusing you," said Austen. "Where would you have gone?"

  "I could have gone somewhere," she said, holding back a sob. "I should never have done what I did."

  "What did you do?" asked Maddox.

  "This," she said, glancing at Austen. "I nearly ruined an innocent man's life."

  "Tell them everything," said Austen.

  "Zach saw Austen’s picture in a newspaper. He read a report about his business and realized Austen was a big deal. He started researching him and soon became obsessed. He learned that Austen was single and pieced together all the things Austen liked. He decided Austen would like me." She stopped to catch her breath again and I wondered if we should take a break but Sophie seemed more eager to talk. Plus, no one was stopping her; we were all rapt.

  "Zach said Austen had so much money it wouldn't hurt him to share it. At first, he just wanted me to get to know him and introduce them. Zach planned to tell him about some non-existent business deal and hoped Austen would invest. Then Zach realized Austen was a bigger fish if he married me. He said I had to convince him to fall in love with me. I had to get a job that would appeal to Austen's status and interests and start doing things he liked and... I wanted a job! I wanted to work again so I got a job volunteering at the museum.

  I figured I could do that for a little while before getting a real job. Zach stopped hitting me and I started feeling better. I thought about ways to leave him but I knew I couldn't."

  "Why didn't you?" asked Maddox.

  Sophie’s gaze flicked to him then back down to the blankets again, shame filling her face. "I was trapped. Zach said I would go to prison if the insurance fraud came to light. And he threatened to tell the cops I gave his sister the alcohol and drugs so I would be prosecuted for manslaughter since my car was the one she was driving. I was so afraid I just did what he told me to do." She tightened her grip on Austen's hand. "We set up both opportunities for me to meet Austen. For a while, I thought, maybe I could convince him to loan me the money to escape, but every time I opened my mouth to ask him, I thought about what Zach said. And... and I liked Austen. I didn't want him to think horrible things about me. That I was a thief or a killer. Austen was, is, so kind to me. He always has been. He's had nothing to do with this, you must believe me! He didn’t know anything about the money!"

  "We know," I said. "I also know you signed a pre-nup that precluded you from getting a penny from Austen. If Zach's plan was to take his money, why did you do that?"

  Sophie stared at her blanket, her shame coloring her face. "I fell in love with him. I think Zach realized that because he started threatening to tell Austen everything. He said he would kill him too, and me. Insisting on a pre-nup was the only thing I could think of to protect him. No matter what Zach threatened to do, he'd never get a penny out of Austen through me. And the longer I stayed with Austen, the kinder he became, and I started to see how terrible things were, how manipulative Zach was. Then, one day, I found something."

  "Go on," said Austen.

  "An annulment certificate," she said. "Zach annulled our marriage right after we said our vows and never told me. When I found out, I was so shocked. I thought I was married to that bastard. Instead, he duped me. I could have left without staging my death!"

  "Why would he do that?" I asked.

  "I don't know. Maybe he regretted it. Maybe there was another woman. I have no idea. But I saw an opportunity to right a wrong although I think I got it all wrong." She yawned shakily.

  "Since Sophie’s marriage to Zach was annulled, she was free to marry me," explained Austen. "She used her own birth certificate, not her sister-in-law’s. We are legally married. I think."

  Sophie clasped his hand harder. "I should never have done that to you though. I should have told you everything up front."

  "You wanted to," he said. "I knew you wanted to put more distance between you and Zach. You kept saying that. I should have put you on a plane and hidden you somewhere he could never find you. Especially with the baby."

  Sophie's hand slipped to her stomach. "I knew I couldn't hide the baby forever. I told Zach I'd had enough. I told him I was staying with Austen and would tell the police everything so he could never come near me again. I had the cash as evidence of what he had done. That's when he smashed my head into the banister and pushed me down the stairs. I remember the most searing pain, then nothing. He left me there to die in Austen's home."

  "Our home," said Austen. "I've already told Sophie the rest. How Zach wanted to know who would inherit the money if I died. And he came here to kill her when it looked like she would awaken soon, and probably would have tried to kill me too. Maybe not then, but eventually. If not for Manny, he might have succeeded."

  "I am so sorry," sobbed Sophie, a weak hand rising to cover her eyes as her jaw wobbled.

  "I think Zach realized his scheme to fleece Austen went off the rails quite a while ago," I told them. "That's why he devised the scheme for the bank robbery. He reeled in another woman and engaged her brother to join the team. Probably gave them wild stories too. I'm almost certain he killed her brother."

  "We ran ballistics on the gun he had with him when we took him into custody," said Maddox. "It came up as a match to the bullet removed from Mackleton. That's good enough for me."

  "He was going on the lam with a woman and we're not confident that she would have survived very long since he was eliminating anyone who could report him," I told them. "But he can't be charged with what-ifs."

  "We don't need to," added Maddox. "Zach Gallo was charged with so many crimes, the DA feels like it's his birthday."

  "What happens to Sophie now?" asked Austen.

  I glanced around, looking for any indication of the answer. I had no clue.

  "Nothing. She'll be required to testify against Zach of course, without any spousal privilege to spare him." Maddox turned his attention to Sophie. "You weren't involved in the bank robberies so we'll take your testimony, and you never committed bigamy. If Austen chose to divorce you for fraud, it’s a reasonable possibility, and the insurers will certainly want their money back on the policy they paid out to Zach."

  "That sounds bad. I don't want my baby born in jail." She gripped Austen's hand harder. "You'll look after him or her always, won't you?"

  "You'll do that as our baby's mom," said Austen. "I'll get the best lawyers for Sophie and make sure the policy Zach cashed in is paid back in full. I don't blame Sophie for any of this."

  "You don't?" she whispered hoarsely, staring at him, hot tears filling her eyes.

  "No, sweetheart. You did your best in a terrible situation and everything you could to protect me. It might not have started out that way but if your actions weren't coming from love, then I don't know what love is," said Austen. "Thank you, Lexi, for all of your help. You did exactly what I needed from you."

  "You're welcome," I said, taking that as my cue to leave. I nodded to Solomon and we both moved toward the door. Before leaving, I turned back, "I hope everything works out for the two of you. I really do," I told them.

  "Thanks," said Austen. "From both of us."

  "Let's all take a break now," said Jord. "Rest up, because I'
ll need to talk to you both again soon."

  "I'll walk out with you," said Maddox, stepping behind us as we filed from the room. He ushered us through and closed the door. We took off down the corridor before locating a quiet place to talk.

  "That is an amazing tale," I said. "I think I believe her."

  "Me too," said Jord.

  "Did the coin turn up in Zach's possession?"

  "It did," said Maddox. "With all the hallmarks of Joe Bagshot's involvement."

  "Bagshot made a helluva mess by dying," added Farid. "All kinds of people wanted his stash."

  Maddox laughed. "I bet he'd love knowing about all the chaos he caused. Anyway, an insurance policy paid out on the coin years ago, so it won't be returned to the owner but the insurers are very happy to take custody of it. I have already submitted paperwork to that effect. Apparently, several armed guards are on their way to retrieve it."

  "Who hired Zach?"

  "Even Zach doesn't know. He said it was all done by burner phones and wire transfer. We have a team tracing the wire transfer but it's been shunted all over the world from one shell corp to the next. Someone knew exactly what they were doing."

  "They had to know Zach in order to approach him," said Farid. "I think he’s hiding more than he's admitting."

  "And the rest of the crew don't know who called the shots?"

  "Nothing," said Maddox. "Zach called all the shots. They just got paid and walked away. It seems only Mackleton didn't do his job properly; instead of ditching the van, he kept it. Probably too lazy to walk home and figured no one would notice. Zach found out and knew Mackleton could be traced to Vanessa and her to him so he shot him."

  I winced. "And Charlie?"

  "Claims to know nothing at all," said Jord. "Says he only asked you guys to step in to eliminate the bank’s employees as suspects."

  "Yeah," I scoffed.

  "I have no doubt he was simply opportunistic. Seems his pension was mismanaged and his golden parachute for years of service is much smaller than he anticipated. It was all over the news. Even Dad knew about it. He read it in the newspaper," explained Jord. "Charlie wanted a better retirement for his years of service and figured no one would miss a coin that was hidden in a vault by a deceased man. I figure after he regained consciousness, he probably searched for the coin and realized it was gone so he knew exactly what was stolen."

  "I sensed he didn't want us to look too closely at the item we were supposed to be looking for," said Solomon.

  "Anyway, we can't charge him with anything," said Jord. "He'll probably get a nice thank you card from his employers and should consider himself lucky."

  "We should change banks," I told Solomon.

  "On it," said Solomon.

  "If you'll excuse me, I need to question Sophie about all the places they went to between Milwaukee and Montgomery. I suspect there might be other robberies we don't know about yet," said Jord.

  "I'll join you," said Farid. With a wave, they both took off.

  "What do you really think of Sophie's story?" asked Maddox.

  "I think she endured some very unhappy years and is very lucky Austen is as crazy about her as she is about him," I said.

  "It blows my mind," said Solomon. "What a way to meet."

  I laughed. "They're going to be one hell of an anniversary story. To think I once thought my meeting you was crazy."

  "You? Which one of us are you referring to?" asked Maddox.

  "Yeah. I'd like to hear the answer to that," said Solomon.

  I smiled and hooked my arms through theirs. "You know exactly whom I mean."

  Lexi Graves will return!

  Want to know when the next book is available? Sign up to the mailing list online at www.camillachafer.com.

  ~

  If you enjoyed Mission: Possible, you’ll love Deadlines, a spin-off from the bestselling Lexi Graves Mysteries, out now in paperback and ebook!

  Shayne Winter thinks she has everything she ever wanted: a job as chief reporter at The LA Chronicle, a swish, new apartment in a fabulous neighborhood, and a California-cool lifestyle. But on the very first day, it all goes horribly wrong. The apartment is less “young professional” and more “young offender,” as the only furnishing is a handsome squatter with roving eyes. Even worse, Ben Kosina, her predecessor at The Chronicle, has returned to claim his former job, leaving Shayne nothing but the obituary column and a simple choice: take it or leave it.

  Her first assignment should be easy: eulogizing the accidental death of washed-up former child-star, Chucky Barnard, and filing her column. Yet when Shayne interviews the people closest to Chucky, his sister claims Chucky had everything to live for, suggesting his untimely death could only be murder.

  Convinced this could be the perfect headline to put her life back on track, Shayne vows to find the truth, persuade a reticent homicide detective to investigate, and bring a killer to justice, all before Ben grabs her story and the killer makes Shayne his or her personal deadline.

  Other books by Camilla Chafer:

  Deadlines Mystery Trilogy:

  Deadlines

  Dead to the World

  Dead Ringers

  Lexi Graves Mysteries:

  Armed and Fabulous

  Who Glares Wins

  Command Indecision

  Shock and Awesome

  Weapons of Mass Distraction

  Laugh or Death

  Kissing in Action

  Trigger Snappy

  A Few Good Women

  Ready, Aim, Under Fire

  Rules of Engagement

  Very Special Forces

  In the Line of Ire

  Mission: Possible

  Calendar Murder Mysteries:

  Jeopardy in January

  Fear in February

  Murder in March

  Alibi in April

  Mayhem in May

  Stella Mayweather Series (Urban Fantasy):

  Illicit Magic

  Unruly Magic

  Devious Magic

  Magic Rising

  Arcane Magic

  Endless Magic