"No, I don't think you were mistaken. Like I said, there wasn't any blood on the staircase but I caught the smell of bleach. Someone cleaned the stairs recently but didn't do such a fabulous job. Manny confirmed that neither he nor his crew would clean the stairs at this stage of construction so I think someone else had to have done it."
"An attempt to cover it up?"
"It's possible. I also think there's some merit to the idea that the balustrade was unscrewed deliberately."
"Lexi, does this mean you agree with my suspicions? Do you think someone intentionally hurt my wife?"
"I think it's possible things didn't happen the way they appeared, and someone is covering something up. That doesn't mean it's malicious, it just means you don't have all the facts or the truth," I said as diplomatically as I could. I didn't want to rule out a terrible accident. Perhaps someone was simply afraid for their job but it could also be as terrible as attempted murder. I didn't know enough yet to determine that but I got a bad feeling.
"Will you take the case?" he asked, fixing me with a long look. "Whatever the answer is, I want you to find out what happened."
"Before I commit to anything, I need to know if you can think of any reason why someone might want to hurt your wife?"
Austen looked away, focusing on Sophie's still face. For a long moment, he appeared lost in thought. "Yes. That is, maybe. I'm not sure."
"What's your concern?" I asked.
Austen's shoulders sagged. "Over the last couple of months, I've had the strangest feeling my wife isn't who she says she is. If she's not Sophie, then I don't know who she could be. Perhaps somebody else does? Someone who wanted to hurt her? It's stupid, I know, but I can't shake the feeling." He looked up, his eyes filled with obvious worry. "I really need your help."
"Tell me everything you can," I said.
Chapter Six
"I don't know where to start," said Austen, resting his head in his hand. "Everything has spun around my brain ever since I found out Sophie got hurt. No, even before that. My mind is a mess."
"You're sleep deprived too. That doesn't help," I told him. "You really should go home and get some rest."
"I can't go home. Not back to that house, not without knowing what happened."
"What about a hotel?" I suggested. "Or a friend’s place?"
"Maybe. But..." He glanced at Sophie. She hadn’t moved since the last time I visited. Her head still lay on a pillow, her eyes were closed and her hands were clasped together over a soft, yellow wool blanket that didn't appear to be hospital issue.
"I can have someone from the agency sit with Sophie all night if you're concerned about her safety. You can meet with them beforehand and they'll call you if any issues arise," I assured him. "You don't have to agree now. Just consider it a feasible option." I didn't want him to feel pressured to leave his wife's side, especially not while he was so worried, but I knew he would feel and think better if he got a few hours of rest. Plus, if he wanted me to investigate, I needed to clear his mind as much as possible.
"I'll think about it," he agreed with a weary nod.
"You said you had suspicions before Sophie's accident?" I prompted, moving him along from pondering all the what-ifs and hoping to keep his thoughts more ordered.
"Yes. I can't say what particularly made me think there was something wrong but I guess lots of little things began to puzzle me before they all seemed to collide in my head at once, and now I've had nothing to do but think... well..." He sighed again.
"Such as?"
"Well, for one thing, Sophie rarely speaks about her life before me, before us. Things like her parents, where she grew up, her school, places she traveled, jobs. Barely anything beyond the basics. Right from when we first met, she always said she was future-focused, and liked to look forwards not backwards, which I thought was an attractive asset. It felt like such a positive, exciting way to look at life."
"But you don't think so now?"
"Oh, I still think it's a great way to focus on life, but... nothing from her past? Even her brother shuts down when I bring up something innocuous like a funny thing that happened at my senior prom, or the time my friends and I went to Cabo for spring break in my freshman year of college and I ask where did they go? Or discussing the dog I had as a kid and did they have any pets? Sophie barely replies. I guess I just thought I knew all about her. Now I can only wonder if I know anything."
"You mentioned her brother?"
"Yeah." Austen's face darkened and he drew a deep breath. "Zach Gallo. They're really close. I met him about three months after we started dating and..."
"You don't like him," I filled in, sensing Austen was trying, no, struggling, to come up with something diplomatic to say.
"No, I don't," he admitted. "I get they're close what with being the only family members they still have, but it's too much. He's always in Sophie's business. He speaks over her or for her. He makes decisions for her that he has no business making. I used to think it was heavy co-dependency that I hoped would improve after we got married, but it's still too much. Zach wanted me to turn part of the house into an annex so he and Sophie could be closer. I could tell Sophie didn't want that — she's been pulling away from him more than before in the last few months — but even though she came up with one excuse after another, he wouldn't accept it. When I refused, he flew into a rage, cursing us both, and even getting right into my face."
"That seems a little over the top."
"It was crazy. Any normal couple wants to start their married lives living alone. Just because we’ve been married a while and bought the house doesn’t change that!" Austen leaned back in the chair and crossed his legs, looking tired as he stifled a yawn. "I've seen him blow up at Sophie before and she just accepts it. I'll admit I strongly pushed us into buying the house we're renovating because I thought it would be a good project for us to share as a couple. I also wanted to put more distance from Zach and the apartment they rented downtown. I was surprised when Sophie so readily agreed."
"You didn't think she would? It seems like she was on the same page as you?"
"I thought she might want to stay closer to Zach, but yeah, turned out she was on the same page. We've been talking about starting a family and making that house our forever, family home. We didn't want to raise a family in my apartment. Even though Sophie never protested, I thought it was important for her to have her own home, and not feel like a guest in mine. I don't like Zach, I'll admit that, but I don't intend to cut them off from one another. I just wanted a little extra space for our life as a married couple, and later, for our family."
"What did Sophie say about Zach's idea to include an annex?"
"Privately, she agreed with me. She wanted more space too. She was excited about the new plans and decorating and making all the decisions. I'm not particularly interested in interior design although I like to have some input but Sophie is really creative. She loves art and she knows how to put things together, what colors work best to complement each other and things like that. I think Zach scares her sometimes, too much for her to say no to his face. So I told him. I don't mind being the bad guy in that scenario. I'm supposed to protect my wife."