Free East of the Sun by Janet Rogers Page A

Robert would’ve posed a big enough threat. He wasn’t running the Canadian company after all. He was merely an advisor when things turned sour. They could simply have ignored him if they didn’t like what he had to say.’
    ‘So what do you think is going on?’
    ‘I don’t know, but I think it had to be more than that. I didn’t like his involvement in the whole thing, but I never seriously thought his work at the time had anything to do with his disappearance, but now, after reading the article, I’m not so sure. There seem to be two possible scenarios: in the first, Robert frustrates Sibraz’s efforts to get out of the venture with Prism, so instead they get rid of him, hoping they’d be able to dissolve the deal, but the fall-out is too big and the two companies patch things up until now when Prism discovers that Sibraz was indeed responsible for Robert’s kidnapping.’
    ‘Okay. What’s the other scenario?’
    ‘Maybe there is something more sinister going on. I find this sudden sale troubling. I can hardly say this out loud, but what if Robert wasn’t simply irritating the Sibraz people? What if he posed a bigger threat somehow? Could he have found out something about their business practices, something that they didn’t want him or anyone else to know? Robert has always had the ability to get people talking and he’s dealt with some of this industry’s people before. What if some disgruntled Sibraz employee or competitor told him some of Sibraz’s dirty secrets and they were afraid he would tell Prism and weaken their negotiating power? Maybe Prism has now learnt the truth too and along with it they’ve discovered what happened to Robert? Maybe their integrity or ethical boundaries have been compromised and they feel they ought to get out of the deal despite their losses. I just feel there may be more to this situation than I originally thought. On the face of it, this announcement doesn’t make sense. I really think I should explore a bit more.’
    ‘Is that wise?’ A question Amelia had heard too often in the last week.
    ‘What do you mean?’
    ‘Well, you may not be the best person to be investigating Robert’s disappearance, Amelia,’ Nick said, his use of her first name strange to her ears. ‘There could be a problem with seeing things in perspective. And it could be dangerous. We know this place has its similarities with the Wild West after all.’ His tone was light, but he was clearly attempting to make a more serious point without scaring her.
    Amelia sighed and leaned back in her chair. She was quiet for a while.
    ‘I know,’ she said eventually. ‘I realise all that, but I do think there’s something odd going on. I don’t think I can move on with my life, without understanding, or at least trying to understand.’
    ‘I think I can appreciate that,’ Nick said. He hesitated before he went on. ‘Are you open to the possibility that this announcement could be explained by a very simple fact or two? That Robert’s disappearance could have been a street-mugging gone wrong or a gang-related crime?’
    Amelia started nodding, but then stopped herself. ‘I know I have to be open to that, but it just doesn’t make sense to me. Or not enough sense. Nothing was stolen, not even the car, and no demands were ever made. If it had been a random crime or a kidnapping motivated by gain, wouldn’t some evidence have turned up?’ She grimaced at her own words. ‘I guess I sound like a conspiracy theorist, but the total lack of facts makes me think it’s been orchestrated and subsequently covered up by powerful people.’
    Nick looked thoughtful. ‘If we discount the possibility of a random crime, it sounds like your current theories focus on Sibraz?’
    ‘Who else?’
    ‘It’s a fair assumption given the background. So to sum up, you think that either Sibraz got irritated with Robert’s efforts to rescue the JV, or that there is an extra element to it, that maybe he discovered