GINA WILKINS - The Right Twin

“How did you end up there, anyway?”

“I found a brochure in—well, near your trash can yesterday. It looked ideal, and since you’d thrown the brochure away, I figured you weren’t interested and I wouldn’t have to worry about running into you or the rest of the family. I’d be completely anonymous. As usual, my plan didn’t work out quite as I expected.”

“Well, what do you expect?” Andrew asked with unmistakable exasperation. “You take off out of the blue to someplace you learn about from my trash can and you’re surprised there are complications?”

“I just needed to get away to think.” Aaron hated that he’d gone on the defensive, as he so often did with his twin lately. “It’s no different from what Casey did when he was questioning his career with the law firm in Dallas. He spent some meditation time in east Tennessee away from the family pressure for a few weeks and it ended up working out great for him. He met Natalie, they went into legal practice together, they’ve been happily married for—what? Four years now?”

“So you headed for southeast Texas looking for a wife?”

Aaron scowled. He was rapidly growing tired of his brother’s sarcasm. “I just need to reassess. Granted, I didn’t know there would be all new expectations of me here, just because I happen to be your brother.”

“What expectations?”

“We’ll get to that in a minute. First, why don’t you tell me exactly what you did for the Bell family that made them all so grateful to you? Were you just doing the job, or did you go beyond the call of duty to reap all this gratitude?”

“They hired me to assist with a problem and I took care of it. It wasn’t a favor—they paid me for my time, though they gave me so many perks at the resort that I took a discount off the total bill. And you know I’m not going to discuss the details of the case with you, Aaron.”

Aaron was not surprised by Andrew’s insistence on client confidentiality, even under these circumstances. “Shelby told me the basics of your job for them last summer, so you wouldn’t be breaking any agency rules to talk about it superficially with me. But I’m not really all that interested in your case. Tell me about Shelby.”

“Shelby?” Andrew’s brusque voice softened. “She’s sort of flaky, but a sweetheart, really. She gets a little carried away. Takes an idea and runs with it. She really got into the investigation when I was there. Came up with a lot of increasingly improbable ideas for helping me, that sort of thing.”

Something about his brother’s indulgent tone rubbed Aaron the wrong way. He found himself getting defensive on Shelby’s behalf. “Are you saying she can’t be taken seriously?”

“No, I didn’t say that. Shelby’s damn good at her accounting job for the resort. She’s the one who figured out what was going on with the guy they all call ‘the evil ex,’ even though she couldn’t find the proof they needed without professional help. And a couple of her offbeat ideas came in rather helpful when we were laying a trap for the jerk. She just goes about things a little differently. So what’s going on with her?”

“She asked me to look into one of the guests here. She thought I was you at the time she asked, but even after I corrected her, she thought I’d be qualified to do some snooping.”

Andrew groaned. “What sort of snooping?”

Aaron filled him in on Shelby’s concerns and her reasoning behind them. He could almost hear Andrew shaking his head before he finished. “Don’t let her drag you into one of her convoluted plots, Aaron. There are things here you need to do—like find a new job. Dad’s already got some prospects lined up for you.”

Aaron wondered if maybe he’d be more successful in any future career efforts if he lined up his own prospects. “I’ll call Dad later,” he said, somewhat curtly. “In the meantime, how about you run a name for me?”

“The hinky guy?”

“Yeah. No harm in checking him out, is there?”

“Give me his name,” Andrew said in resignation.

“Terrence Landon. And I’ve got a license plate. There’s a black SUV parked in front of his cabin.”

A heavy sigh sounded in his ear after he’d rattled off the numbers. “I’ll see what I can find. For Shelby,” Andrew added.

“I’m sure she’d appreciate it. Hell, she and the family will probably rename the resort in your honor.”

“Very funny. Um—have you met all the family yet?”

“Not all. A few. Had to convince the ones I’ve met that I’m not really you in disguise.”

“Have you met Hannah?”

Hannah. Running through a quick mental rundown of Shelby’s chatter about her family, Aaron remembered that Hannah was Shelby’s cousin, Maggie’s sister. “No. Shelby said Hannah is out of the state for a couple of weeks, visiting her mother’s relatives. A vacation from the vacation spot, I guess.”

“I see.” Andrew didn’t sound amused. “I’ll check this name and get back to you. You call Dad and explain why you’ve decided now is a good time to take off on a fishing trip.”

“And maybe you should consider seeing someone about having that stick up your backside removed,” Aaron snapped back. “Seems like it’s been getting more firmly lodged lately.”

He shoved his phone into his pocket before his brother could reply to the rather juvenile taunt. His temper sizzled. Andrew had a lot of nerve acting like Mr. Responsibility these days. Despite his rather recently adopted sanctimonious tone, Andrew had caused more than a few parental headaches of his own, despite excelling from a young age at D’Alessandro-Walker. Most likely because he’d known from the time he was a kid that he wanted to be an investigator.

Aaron didn’t know for certain what he wanted to do next, but he was sure of one thing—it wouldn’t be in the family business where so many people felt they had the right to tell him what to do.

Glancing at the bags still sitting on the floor, he stepped around them. He would unpack later. Maybe. He was beginning to wonder if he should just move on to someplace where he wouldn’t be walking in Andrew’s footsteps.

“He really looks that much like Andrew?”

Both Shelby and her grandmother nodded in response to the question from Shelby’s mother. Leaning her elbows on the polished counter of the Chimes Grill, Shelby said, “It will blow your mind.”

The Chimes Grill was located in one end of the big two-story main building. Decorated in a retro, red-and-chrome ‘50s theme, it held eight red-laminate-topped chrome tables with red vinyl seating and framed ‘50s movie posters on the crisp white walls. A little clichéd, maybe, but they liked it, and so did their guests. The long bar where Shelby sat was also red-topped, with six swivel stools. Her mother bustled around the open cooking area that filled the little diner with tempting aromas, skillfully flipping cooked patties onto waiting buns, which she would top with onion, lettuce and tomato. Pickle spears and chips were served on the side. A warming pot held the soup du jour, vegetable beef today. Homemade pies and soft-freeze ice cream were popular desserts.

The menu was simple and limited, but they didn’t lack for customers from among the campers, guests and day-use visitors. Two couples and one family of four were enjoying early dinners, and two fishermen swapped ones-that-got-away lies over coffee at the other end of the bar.

“I knew almost immediately he wasn’t Andrew,” Mimi said, absently polishing her sparkly glasses on her red-and-purple-flowered blouse. “I mean, at first glance there are similarities, but once I got a good look at him, I knew.”

Shelby rolled her eyes while her mom and her aunt Linda shared knowing smiles they had the sense to hide from their mother-in-law. “Mimi, you demanded that he give you a hug.”