Page 37 of The Jade Stone Sleuth

“I was a mess when you chased her. What if it had been the murderer? That drop-off right there… I could see your body broken on the rocks below.” Clara hated admitting this to him. She was so weak, and she wanted to have faith. She fisted his shirt in her hands, her stomach still sick. “I can’t lose you, Brex.”

He gently kissed her forehead and held her tightly. “I’m sorry, Clara. It’ll be all right. We’ll stay safe and figure this out.”

She clung to him, but his promises were empty. The murderer might never be found. There was no guarantee Brex would stay safe.

Her faith was failing her. They hadn’t prayed together, but thankfully he’d been all right. Why had she felt such a deep urge to pray? Why was her faith so weak?

Was Brex the love she’d longed for?

All she knew for certain right now was she never wanted to leave Brex’s arms.

Chapter

Twelve

Brex didn’t pushClara to hike any cliffs over the next few days, but he knew they needed to. They were running out of time, and it was the only way to draw out the murderer.

Watching Clara throw up and holding her while she cried had been a gut punch. She was petrified he would die. He could try to claim her panic was because she’d watched three other boyfriends die, but it felt much deeper than that.

The genuine angel had told him she loved him. That had slugged him harder than anything. How could she love someone like him? Brex. Not the image of a successful, tough, suave, Range Rover driving operative for Aiden Porter. Simply him. She didn’t even know what car he drove. He’d never bragged to her that he owned a condo in ultra-expensive San Diego.

Clara saw him and believed that he was good. That befuddled him. Shouldn’t a light-filled being see darkness and want to stay away from it? Her light was so bright that maybe it eradicated the darkness and that was why she couldn’t see it. That was how it felt when he was with her.

She’d claimed she loved him no matter that he didn’t have faith. That blew his mind. Alayna had dumped him because hedidn’t have enough faith, clout, or money and her dad wanted her to be with a ‘substantial man of faith’. He hadn’t been enough for Alayna.

Clara couldn’t care less about clout or money. She cared who he was.

What would she do when she found out he was a liar?

Her faith was extremely important to her, but she wouldn’t push him away for not believing. How could she be so genuine and good?

All he wanted was to be near Clara, see the light sparkle from her jade-colored eyes and that cute smile on her face, hold her close and kiss her. Be the man she thought he was.

He’d counseled with Nick on drawing the murderer out and his uneasiness with the case, but he hadn’t admitted that he’d fallen in love with Clara and was messing this case up because of that or possibly because of his lack of experience in cases like this. Yet how many cases were there like this? It was as unique as the woman he’d fallen in love with.

He wanted to proclaim his love for Clara to her and to the world, but he couldn’t. Not yet.

When Nick called two days before Clara was supposed to leave for Africa, Brex was driving to the police station. He pushed the button to take the call in his Range Rover.

“Brex,” Nick greeted him, friendly as ever. “Anything new?”

“No.” He drove with one hand, squinting a bit. Even with sunglasses on, the sun was bright in this desert valley. He liked the red sandstone and desert landscape, though he imagined he’d always prefer the green mountains of his youth. Especially as the temperatures were soaring into the hundreds in the afternoons now that it was almost June. He definitely preferred summer days with highs in the eighties like Colorado or San Diego’s temperate climate.

“Clara flies out in two days,” he reminded Nick. “Do I tell the Hendrys we’ll have to try again when she returns?” What could he accomplish without Clara here?

His gut tightened at the thought of Clara leaving, of giving up on her or the case. He saw no clear path, and it made him sick. He was going to lose a million dollars, the chance to prove himself successful, but more importantly … he was going to lose Clara.

“Or tell them the case is too cold, with no real evidence, and might never be solved?” Nick asked.

“That is an option.” His hands grew slick on the steering wheel. Surprisingly, it wasn’t just the loss of all that money that gave him cold sweats. It was fear of how Clara would react when he could finally tell her the truth.

“Don’t take this too hard, Brex. Sometimes the clues, the evidence, the killer, they just aren’t there. But you know that from years as a detective.”

“True,” he agreed, pulling into the parking lot of the police station. How could he express his fear of failing when Nick had just told him not to take it too hard? This was a cold case with little to no evidence. Maybe it wasn’t his fault for falling in love with the prime suspect.

He smiled at that. Clara was no suspect, and he’d been doomed the day they met. There was no way to resist her angelic and genuine nature.

“You have no suspicions of Clara Gem being the murderer like the Hendrys believe?” Nick clarified.

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