cooperation seriously helped her."
"Wow."
"How did you work out Thomas Mackleton being her brother?" asked Solomon.
"I didn't. Not until I saw her face fall when I told her he was dead. Then it clicked. Vanessa. The robbers' Army training. Nessa the sister who escaped to the Army. Thomas wasn't so lucky but she came back for him. She introduced him to Zach. I don't think she had a clue what Zach was really like."
"I watched Garrett interviewing her. I got the impression she knew nothing about Sophie or the Gallos’ life in Milwaukee."
"Really?"
"She said she would never get involved with a married man."
"That was the least of her problems," I scoffed.
We walked down a long corridor and turned the corner, following the signs to the room number Austen gave Solomon.
"You know this isn't really the conclusion to the case I expected," I told him as we neared the room. "I quickly guessed there was something strange about Sophie's fall but I tried not to believe Austen's suspicions had any basis. I feel so bad for him."
"He wanted the truth. You gave him that. Sophie should have, but you did."
"I think she planned to eventually. Hey, I want a nice case next time."
"Is there such a thing?" Solomon stopped. "We're here. Are you ready for this?"
"Nope," I said as I pushed the door open. When we stepped in, I was surprised to see Austen perched on Sophie's bed, one foot on the floor, her hands folded in his and resting in his lap. Maddox and Farid both leaned against the wall and Jord was sitting in an uninviting chair.
"Hi," I said, trying to temper my curiosity. "You're awake. It's so nice to meet you, Sophie."
"Yes, I am," said Sophie, her voice hoarse. Austen reached for a tumbler of water on the stand next to the bed and held the straw to her lips. She sipped and rested her head on the pillow. "You must be Lexi Graves. Apparently, you worked everything out."
"I'm not sure I worked out everything. I'd like to hear it from you."
"We've already talked," said Austen. "I think you'll be interested to hear what Sophie has to say."
"Then let's get started," said Maddox.
"I am Sophie Gallo," she said, "But you're right, I'm not Sophie, the sister. Zach was my husband until I supposedly died. Officially, anyway. His sister stole my car one night. Not the first time, I should add, and I know she was high because I saw her earlier that day and she was already wasted. She came by the house, demanding money and I said no and told her to leave, but on the way out, she must have grabbed my keys because minutes later, I saw her peel out in my car. Zach and I went after her. She was going so fast that she crashed and we watched my car blow up. Zach said we should pretend she was me. She was my height, my size, and driving my car. It would solve all our problems, but he really meant his problems. I didn't want to go along with it but there was a small life insurance policy for me and we were broke. Zach was a dreamer but a gambler too. He spent everything we had and then some. He owed money to loan sharks. One turned up at our door and grabbed me by the neck and said the next time he came around, he'd take off my finger. Zach said it was the only way to get everyone off our backs. I was so isolated and scared of him, I just obeyed whatever he said."
"You never considered leaving him?" asked Jord.
Sophie shook her head. "No. I already lost my job and most of my friends had distanced themselves so Zach convinced me it was just the two of us. My mom recently died and my dad remarried and our relationship was never good anyway. I was just tired. No, I think I was depressed. And Zach hit me a few times too. I just wanted everything to stop. A new start seemed like a good idea."
"Did you know about the bank robbery in Milwaukee?"
"No. I found out later, but at the time, no. I thought Zach was contracting for an old Army buddy. He was, I guess, just not in the legal sense. After we left, we kind of bummed around a while, looking for somewhere nice to live but Zach didn't like anywhere. He always managed to do something that