Page 26 of Mission: Possible

"Possibly. I think Sophie would like it too. She's a fun person. Anyway, we've been together ever since that night. It's funny really. I'm forty-seven. I got to the age where I thought, maybe there's no one out there for me. I've always worked hard, long hours, building my business, but my personal life? Sure, I've had plenty of partners and I even got engaged once but nothing seemed to fly until I met Sophie. Yes, she's younger than me, a lot younger, and it felt like a cliché at first, but it doesn't seem to matter. She gave me a new lease on life. With Sophie, I had,have, everything. A wife, a friend, a companion. We were even talking about starting a family. The idea of losing her is just unimaginable. I don't know what I'll do if she doesn't wake up. The only thing I can think of, aside from her wellbeing right now, is what the hell happened to her? If I can't protect her, what kind of husband am I?"

"I'll find out what happened," I told him. "Can you tell me more about being unsure of Sophie's identity?"

Austen's shoulders slumped as he leaned back in the chair. "It feels like such a stupid thing to say. I fear you think the sleep deprivation is playing with my brain. Maybe it is."

"I think you're a smart, successful man. You noticed the blood drops and I already confirmed some of the stairs were bleached. If you noticed something else, I'll take a look into that too."

"Thank you for not saying I'm an idiot."

"Tell me more about this theory. What else aroused your suspicions?"

"I don't know it was any one thing. I told you already how she avoids discussing her past, and the way Zach behaves. For a brother, it's kind of creepy."

"Some siblings are closer than others." I knew that from my own family circumstances. As the youngest of five siblings, I had distinctive relationships with each. I probably saw my brothers, Garrett and Jord, the most often. Garrett, being the oldest, was also significantly older than me and pretty much out of the house while I was just beginning to enjoy my toddler years. Given the age difference, we didn't experience any sibling rivalry. Since I became a private investigator, our cases intersected on more than a few occasions, and I thought we shared a healthy respect for each other.

Jord married my best friend, Lily, after years of denying their feelings for each other, so we socialized plenty. My other brother, Daniel, was the quietest of the siblings and we once bonded over our exes cheating on us with each other. We both happily moved on and Daniel married Alice. My only sister, Serena was an uptight overachiever and every time I thought she mellowed, she reverted back to her old self. However, she did appear to be a lot happier since her marriage to my colleague, Delgado. I awarded myself some kudos for sending him over to help her when she needed it. As it turned out, he never stopped helping her.

"Like I said, at best, they're so close, they’re verging on co-dependence. At worst, Zach is a controlling bully. I suspect Sophie feels responsible for him in a way since they are the only family members left; maybe that's why she lets him push her around. I don't mean physically because I've never asked that but I wonder if he could have abused her in the past."

"What made you think that?"

"I walked in on them arguing once and he grabbed her by the arm so hard that he left a bruise. I told him if he did that to Sophie again, he wouldn't be welcome in our house. I even threatened to call the cops."

"What did Zach do?"

"He was steaming mad but he let Sophie go. He got in my face about how their family business had nothing to do with me, and how I could never come between them. I thought he would punch me until Sophie begged him to calm down and he left. It was weird."

"Is Zach usually so aggressive?"

"He's just an ass, and maybe Sophie was getting tired of it too because she started making more excuses not to have him over. Like that bothered Zach. Instead of calling first and not being invited, he would just turn up at the house instead. I thought maybe he was just an annoying in-law with a poor knowledge of boundaries. Do you have any of those?"

"I have a brother-in-law who's very nice," I told him, thinking about Delgado. "I also have several sisters-in-law and one not-so-great brother-in-law." Solomon's parents were deceased and his brother was currently in witness protection. That was far too long a story to relate to a virtual stranger. Then I thought about the enormous family Solomon acquired by marrying me and a sigh rose inside my chest. "My family probably are the annoying in-laws," I admitted.

Austen smiled at hearing that. "I guess Zach is just clingy because he and Sophie were alone for so long that it's hard sharing his only family member with her new husband. It'll probably get easier when he meets someone he likes or develops a wider social circle," he said. "I think he might be jealous of me for taking Sophie away but I haven't done that really. I just love her."

"That's a good way of looking at things. I'd like to know more about Sophie. You've told me how you met but where does she work?"

"Prior to the accident, she wasn't working but I think I told you she was considering a course in interior design, maybe enrolling in some college classes. When we first met, she worked in a museum gift shop and did volunteer work in her spare time. She likes art and history but said she wasn't good enough to do anything professional with them. I liked her humility. I used to meet women at work who were always incredibly career-driven like me. I'm sure I was just a stair on the ladder to some of them, a way to get ahead in their vocations or increase their social standing. It was nice to meet someone who was such a free spirit and didn't care about any of that stuff. Sophie made me relax. She made me see there was more to life than closing the next business deal."

"What about Sophie's friends?"

"Sophie is pretty shy. She doesn't have a lot of friends. She introduced me to her colleagues at the museum but other than those people, she hung out with Zach or preferred to be by herself. She said she was content with that but looked sad to me sometimes. Like she was lonely without acknowledging that feeling."

"What about school friends?"

"She didn't grow up in Montgomery so she doesn't have any here."

"Where did she grow up? Is she in touch with any friends on social media?"

"She was raised in Milwaukee but she and Zach haven't been back there in a long time. She doesn't have any social media presence."

I frowned. "None?"

"None at all. She said she likes real life, not online life. I know it's unusual, perhaps, in this day and age, but I don't have any social media either. I'm really not interested in seeing photos of people's lunch or engaging in one-upmanship. I'd rather pick up a phone and connect that way."

While Austen was talking, I took notes, not that there was much information to record. No family except the brother. No career and currently, no job. No close friends but a few former colleagues. An interest in theater, interior design and art. For a woman in her thirties, there wasn't a lot to Sophie. That was curious in itself, although not outside the realm of normality. It would, however, make checking up on Sophie more difficult.

"Nothing stands out as too abnormal," I told him. "But all those things added up to make you suspicious about her identity?"