Page 97 of Mission: Possible

"We will," said Garrett.

"Austen, Lieutenant Graves is my brother."

Austen glanced up. "I should have caught that from your name. You'll have to forgive my lack of sharpness today," he said, looking at Garrett more closely. "Do you need more from me? Sophie's okay and I can't think of anything else to tell you. Wait... did you watch the security footage?"

"Not yet," said Garrett, "but we will."

"And Manny?" Austen looked at me, his eyes filled with new worry.

"He's okay," I said. "I'll check in on him when we're finished here."

"Okay."

"I need to tell you about some of the things I discovered during the course of my investigation and I think Lieutenant Graves should hear it too. It might have some bearing on what happened today."

"Go on."

"It's not possible to find many people who knew Sophie from her life before Montgomery. When I did speak to one friend, she only knew Sophie because of her friendship with Zach's late wife. She believed Zach was abusive to her friend and she didn't have any good things to say about Sophie either. She said Sophie had drug problems, stole regularly and led a wild life."

Austen glanced at Sophie, lying peacefully on the bed. "Sophie was a drug addict?"

"According to my contact, yes. When Zach's wife died in a car accident, he and Sophie took off and ended up here in Montgomery. She appears clean now but I'm told by the neighbor at Zach's apartment that things seemed pretty volatile."

"That doesn't surprise me. Zach is a hot head. I just can't imagine my wife as a drug addict. She's so vehemently anti-drugs." Austen glanced at Sophie. The woman on the bed looked completely peaceful despite all the commotion.

"Perhaps her former life has something to do with that," said Garrett.

"She seems to have changed a lot since living here. Her colleagues at the museum really liked her and I saw her artwork in your office. It's beautiful. She's very talented."

"She is. I asked Manny to build her an art studio at home. It was supposed to be a surprise. She loves to paint. We talked about having an exhibition of her art one day but she was so reticent. She's always been very shy. How can someone wild turn into someone shy?"

"Perhaps there was another motive," I said. "I've learned that you two didn't meet by accident. Sophie arranged it."

"How so?" Austen frowned. "We met at the theater."

"Where you happened to be seated next to each other."

"I don't follow?"

"Sophie bought the tickets and arranged to send one to you. Shewantedto be right next to you. It wasn't fate or destiny."

"Why?"

I raised my eyebrows, hoping I wouldn't have to point out why a poor, avaricious, pretty woman might want to sit beside a wealthy, single man.

"But she didn't even give me her number!" he protested.

"But shedidsuddenly appear where you were, allowing you to meet again. I suspect that was no accident either," I said, watching his face for the signs that the depressing puzzle pieces were beginning to fit snugly.

"We have so much in common," said Austen, gazing at her. "We like almost all the same things. We're building a happy life together."

"It's more likely they studied all about you."

"They?"

"Zach and Sophie," I clarified and paused, allowing all the nice things that I heard about Sophie to filter through. The loving art in his office, the purported way she looked at Austen. The steps she took to move away from Zach. "Initially, they were probably in it together but I think Sophie might have changed her mind and was trying to stop it."

"She's pregnant," said Austen softly, putting his head into his hands and starting to cry.