Page 72 of Mission: Possible

"Yeah. Mom forget to tell her secretary to collect me and my dad thought I'd flown ahead. I saw two films and ate dinner in the mall's food court before they found me. That was the first time I tried Vietnamese food! So delicious!"

"Vietnamese food is really nice," I agreed. What I fought the urge to say was Lily's parents were selfish jerks who should have paid far more attention to their kind and lovely daughter. But their loss was my family's gain. We enjoyed having Lily around. We always did. And now she was officially family.

We stopped outside apartment A. The door was directly opposite Zach's apartment and I hoped that meant the resident ran into Zach and Sophie on numerous occasions, or at least often enough to have formed an opinion of them. The woman in apartment D certainly did and it wasn't good. I lifted my hand, rapped my knuckles against the wood, and waited. A couple of minutes later, I rapped again. "I don't think anyone is home," I said after checking my watch.

"Zach's door is open," said Lily, giving it a light push so it opened a couple of inches.

I frowned. "I could have sworn it was shut."

Lily put her hands behind her back. "And yet, it is open."

I narrowed my eyes at her. "Did you pick the lock?"

"Did you see me picking the lock?" she shot back.

"No."

"Then... no." Lily smiled. "We should go inside and take a look."

"That's B and E."

"Is it? But the door's open? Someone might be in trouble!" Before I could protest, Lily darted inside. Sighing, I followed her.

"We have to be fast," I warned her. "Without someone watching the front door, we have no way of knowing if Zach makes a surprise return. I don't even know his schedule for today!"

"He'll never know we were here," she said.

We stood in a tiny entryway that was little more than a square yard corridor that led into the main living area. A bunch of shoes were kicked against the scratched baseboard and two men's jackets hung on a hook on the wall. One was a gorgeous, supple leather with beautiful detailing on the arms. The other, a thin windbreaker. A door led off to a tiny shower room without any cabinetry. I cast a cursory glance over the few men's products cluttering the sink and backed out, following Lily further into the apartment.

The living area was sparse. An old couch, an armchair with a hooded sweater tossed over the back, a huge TV with a sound system and a gaming console, and a coffee table on which were several used mugs and plates, stacked as if someone planned to clear them soon but never got around to it. A desk was shoved against the window with a chair, and a new-looking laptop was closed on top. Noticeably absent were any soft furnishings or plants. There was nothing homey about the place except one sole photo next to the TV. I leaned in, recognizing Zach in the middle, his arms around two women. One was Sophie, but who was the other? A friend or a relative? Could it be the woman he married? I pulled out my phone and took a snap.

"What should we look for?" asked Lily.

"I'm not sure. Paperwork, I guess," I replied, looking around.

"I'll check the kitchen," said Lily.

"Put gloves on if you intend to touch anything."

"I don't think this apartment has been cleaned in months."

"All the same," I said. "If you don't have gloves, pull your sleeves over your hands." I pulled on a thin pair of gloves as I moved over to the desk and pushed the chair to one side. I opened the laptop and it powered up immediately but it was password-protected so I closed it again. I pulled open the drawer and found a stack of papers. Lifting them out, I shuffled through them, finding the paperwork for a brand-new truck, a passport with Zach's name and photo, a receipt for a storage locker, and several credit card statements, all maxed out. I scanned through the statements, noting what Zach bought: clothing, groceries, bar bills, gambling, and numerous cash withdrawals among the more obvious charges. Then I looked again. Some of the statements were in Sophie's name. In total, I counted eleven credit cards, three belonging to Sophie, and they were all past due. I took photos of everything and slipped them back into the drawer.

As I moved the chair to its original position, I noticed the wastepaper basket, stuffed with trash. Chip packets and chocolate wrappers were tossed on the floor next to it.

"The fridge is full of beer and hot sauce," said Lily. "Why do some single men fail to eat properly?"

"What did Jord have in the fridge when you started dating him?" I asked.

"Cheese, mostly. What did Solomon have?"

"The entire contents of the organic produce section and some excellent wine." I stooped and flicked my fingers through the wastepaper basket, hoping to avoid anything sticky or gross. Thankfully, all it contained were dozens of lottery scratch-offs and betting slips, an old pamphlet for the museum, now scrunched into a ball, a newspaper folded open to an article about an award someone received for services to the community, and below that, another article on rare coins.

"Did you find anything?" asked Lily, approaching me.

I glanced over my shoulder. "Zach has a whole lot of bad luck in gambling," I told her, turning back to look through the cluster of other trash. There was a price list for one of the local shooting ranges, some takeout menus, and a letter from the landlord reminding Zach that he was past due on rent. The letter was two months old so I figured he either sorted out the problem or was expecting an eviction notice.

I pushed the chair into its original position and rose. "Anything in the kitchen?"