main pocket, turning it inside out to be sure nothing remained; then I examined the two exterior pockets. Inside was a receipt for the bag, stamped two years ago, and a stick of gum.
"Sophie buys that brand of gum," said Austen with a sigh.
"It still doesn't prove anything. Millions of people buy this brand of gum. Remember, you know Sophie." I began to stack the bundles and when I finished, I knew we grossly underestimated the amount. One of the bundle bands was a little loose but even despite a few missing bills, there was close to a hundred thousand dollars. A helluva lot of cash for a woman who didn't have a job and previously worked at a museum. "Can I take one of these?" I asked, holding one of the bundles. "And do you have somewhere secure to store the rest of it?"
"There's a safe in my study. I can put it in there."
"Do that now," I told him, stuffing the cash back into the backpack and handing it to him. "I'd like to take another look at the closet where you found it."
"Go right ahead but it's empty. I already checked."
While Austen took the backpack to his study, I searched the closet. I patted the walls but couldn't find any false compartments, or anything else that could have fallen from the backpack. Instead, all I found was a pile of old-fashioned drapes, folded and stacked. I stuffed the single bundle into my purse and walked out of the room, meeting Austen as he jogged up the stairs.
"What happens now?" he asked.
"Don't tell anyone about the money," I decided. "Let me look deeper into it first. I'll let you know if I learn anything."
"I have to get back to the hospital now. I'll walk you out."
As we descended to the entryway, I asked, "Did Sophie mention saving for any large purchases?"
"No, she has a car and she's not particularly materialistic. I'm a wealthy man and we can afford whatever we need or want. There's not a lot I would squirrel away a bundle of money for, except to have a comfortable life and retirement. I'm not the kind of man to lust after a private jet or yacht."
"Perhaps she intended to purchase something she didn't want to discuss, like a gift for you?"
"I have a luxury car. I don't need a fancy watch, studded with diamonds, or an expensive vacation on a tropical island. Lexi, I've asked myself all these questions and I just can't work out how she got that money or what she planned to do with it." Austen picked up the bag he left by the door and turned to me. "I don't want my wife to be a mystery to me. I just want to know what's going on."
~
I picked up lunch on the way to the office and parked in the downstairs lot, jogging up the stairs. The agency was quiet when I arrived. My first task, after eating the halloumi salad I purchased, was typing up the list of recovered items Charlie and I catalogued on the vault's floor. When I finished typing into my laptop, I whipped the list from the printer and added it to the table in the boardroom where Solomon set up the "command center" for the bank case. There wasn't much I could contribute by way of notes but I figured someone else might have a good idea whether anything on the list could be linked to a valuable missing item. It was a long shot but something to show for my efforts.
Returning to my laptop, I spent the next couple of hours diving deeper into Sophie's information. Austen gave me permission to examine his bank accounts, sending over two years worth of records, which more than covered the time he'd known Sophie. Along with Austen's checking account, and the joint one he and Sophie shared, there were several savings accounts and a stocks portfolio that made my eyes widen. But even as I scoured the records, I couldn't find any cash withdrawals that amounted to the thousands stashed in the backpack, or any unexplained transactions. When I got to the last page, I knew Sophie wasn’t siphoning money from her husband and converting it into cash. So if she didn't get it from him, where did it come from? I tucked the sheaf of statements into a folder and made a coffee while I contemplated my next steps.