of agreement? A temporary one, that is, until you find your brother. If I remember correctly, you said you are also a lawman.”
“And you want me to work here so you can make me disappear, as well?”
If he was expecting Rachel to be ruffled at the accusation, he was disappointed. All she did was color slightly. “Alex is missing. You want to find him as much as we do. That’s why you’re here, isn’t it?”
There she went, calling his brother by his first name again, despite her assertions that she wasn’t intimately involved with him. Curious, and not something a well-mannered gentlewoman would be expected to do.
“What did you have in mind, Miss Smith?” the mayor asked.
“It’s not the most ideal situation, but it’s the only one I can think of. Mr. Robinson can adopt his brother’s identity.”
Zane studied Rachel. What kind of town was this that a well-dressed woman could suggest such subterfuge to the town’s mayor with the expectation it would be accepted?
Was it a crooked town, where deception and manipulation were common? It wouldn’t be the first. In his town, Canaan, he had seen the wealthy bend the rules regularly. Was he expecting something different in a town where his brother had mysteriously disappeared?
Rachel met his gaze with only a hint of reluctance. “You mentioned that Alex wasn’t the only lawman in the family. Are you a sheriff, also? If so, where?”
Zane paused. He didn’t want them to know that his latest employment hadn’t ended well. If they questioned his competence or honesty, they might not let him participate in the efforts to find his brother, and Alex needed him. Zane’s disgrace in Illinois didn’t compare to his brother’s safety, and, right now, for full access to Alex’s files and belongings, he would need to convince this pair he was trustworthy. He would just have to take the chance that they would not ask more than the most rudimentary of questions. “I was the sheriff in Canaan, Illinois.”
“Will you take your brother’s place?” There was a hint of desperation in Rachel’s quick words. “It could lead you to Alex.”
Automatically, his lips tightened. “Are you in such a position to offer that to me?”
“No, but I am,” the mayor answered, puffing up more.
“Mayor Wilson wants this town to know that his main priority is their safety and well-being,” Rachel added.
Ah. That’s it. Zane nodded, understanding the situation. “So, it’s an election year?”
“Yes.” Suddenly, a small smile pulled up the corners of the woman’s mouth, one that stated quite bluntly she wasn’t the least bit embarrassed by the stratagem. “Our good mayor wants to keep his job. When our old sheriff passed on several months ago, he immediately hired your brother. Like any frontier town, Proud Bend needs a good lawman, and after you find Alex, he can return to his duties, you can return to yours and the rest of the good citizens will remain none the wiser of the switch.”
Zane watched Rachel blink at him with affected innocence. Should he take this curious offer? It did tempt him. Taking the sheriff’s position would give him access to resources he would not otherwise be able to command. If he didn’t take it, what would that do to his chances of finding his brother?
Pare them down to nothing, that’s what, for surely one word from the older Wilson to the younger one and Zane would be punished for not coming on board with the mayor’s—no, wait, Rachel’s—idea of switching identities. He’d probably be run out of town or, at the very least, be denied access to his brother’s office, the one that held the information on the investigation into Alex’s disappearance.
Oh, how he hated politics. All that sly scheming and manipulation. When he’d refused to bow to Canaan’s mayoral pressure to suspend a recent investigation that pointed the finger of guilt at the mayor’s son, Zane had been the one accused of the theft. He’d tried to fight back, only to be framed and forced out of office.
Zane pinned Rachel with another sharp look. “I’m not interested in Proud Bend’s politics, Miss Smith. Nor should you be. You can’t even vote.”
She straightened her shoulders. “My suggestion benefits both you and this town.”
“So why are you so interested? How does this benefit you?”
She blinked, her jaw tightening ever so slightly as she glanced at the mayor. “I have my reasons.” She cleared her throat. “You need to find your brother. What better way than to follow his movements but as his replacement?”
“As his replacement, or acting as him? I don’t do undercover work.” It smelled too much like what had already happened to him, when those on his staff had bent to the mayor’s subtle threats and gone undercover to plant evidence that implicated him.
Rachel studied him. “Or is it that you just don’t care for lies?”
Zane stiffened. Miss Rachel Smith was proving to be as good at reading people as he was, with her quirked eyebrow and sharp, blue-eyed gaze. He’d have to be careful.
“Both. I don’t care for lies—nor do I care for undercover work,” he answered stiffly.
Her demeanor softened. Was that a hint of respect forming in her expression?
“I appreciate your work ethic, Mr. Robinson,” Rachel said, quickly recovering her cool manner. “But I can’t see you doing anything else. You know you won’t be able to waltz into the sheriff’s office and demand to see all that Deputy Wilson has done in finding Alex. Or read Alex’s file on Rosa and Daniel. The two cases must be related. Two disappearances in a short period of time? You’d need both files.”
“My brother could be working on a covert assignment—he might not be missing at all.”
“You mean, going undercover without telling his deputy?” She looked skeptical. “Does he like undercover work?”
Zane couldn’t say for sure. The topic had not risen in any conversation Zane had ever had with Alex. “I expect he would do whatever is necessary to find your friend.” Even as Zane said that, he heard the hesitation in his words. Did he not believe them? He hated his own doubt.
Rachel must have heard the uncertainty because she frowned ever so slightly. “Perhaps Alex is dallying where he should not be dallying.”
Zane felt his jaw tighten. No. While Alex had often enjoyed life more than he did, his brother would never abandon his job to “dally” with anyone. Rachel’s suggestion was ludicrous, he told himself a bit too fiercely.
Wasn’t it?
“Do you believe your brother would just walk away from a job?” Rachel asked.
Zane paused and swallowed. The Alex he had grown up with would never have walked away. But after Nicola died a few years back, Alex had taken his wife’s early demise hard, even disappearing once for several days and sending their mother into a frantic state. Yes, he’d changed. He’d decided to live more in the moment, he’d told Zane once. Zane knew Alex was running from his grief, but he would say nothing of that aloud, not in front of these people who would judge Alex harshly if he truly had walked away from his life once again.
At
