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!
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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.