Page 17 of Deadly Designs

“Tyler, I’m putting you on speaker. I have Aja BlueLaLonde with me.”

A snort sounded through the line. “Yeah, okay. Dreamon, Z.”

“I’m serious.”

“What?”

They both jerked back from the screech.

“TheAja Blue Lalonde, ofAja Blue andPolly Toofame?”

Aja Blue smiled. “Hi, Tyler, and yes, I’m her.”

“Oh my gosh, I’m fanboying here. I loved that show! Iwanted to be president of your fan club, but someone beat me to it.Z, snap a pic for me, would ya?”

“Tyler, this is official business.”

“Right. Sorry.” His voice instantly turned serious.“No police report was filed during the timeframe you gave me, noraround that address all day.”

“What? The cop didn’t arrest him? He was pointing hisgun at him and frisking him.”

“For some reason, he didn’t pull thetrigger—figuratively. I don’t mean literally,” Tyler corrected.

“The guy must’ve talked his way out of it,” Christiandecided. “Or there was no evidence of a crime to arrest him.”

“He was looking in my car.”

“That in itself isn’t enough. He might’ve thought itwas his, or that’s what he told the cop.”

Aja Blue huffed in outrage. “That sucks.”

“Yeah, it does,” agreed Christian. To Tyler, he said,“Thanks for getting back to me so quickly.”

“No problem. Now, Z, about that pic—”

Christian disconnected.

“We’d better let Roland know what happened while wewait for authorities to arrive.”

#

Roland was visibly upset when Aja Blue told him whathad transpired in her condo. By the time they finished talking tothe police, it was late, and Christian was exhausted. A crime sceneunit had dusted for fingerprints around the hole, and everyoneagreed with his assessment that the person had repelled down,though no ropes or climbing devices were found when the roof wassearched. The perp had policed their gear.

The cop assigned to the case, Nicole Herbert, hadtaken down the information on the man Aja Blue had spotted severaltimes. Aja Blue told the detective about the cop who had detainedhim, and she promised to look into it. Detective Herbert wanted toknow if anything had been stolen, but nothing had, as far as AjaBlue could tell among the destruction.

“Is it okay to grab some things now?”

Christian glanced around at the mess, now augmentedby black fingerprint dust. The cops were gone. It would be safe forher to gather her items. “Yeah.”

He followed Aja Blue to her bedroom, and his gaze wasdrawn to the wall of windows overlooking the ocean and the slidingglass door that led to a deck. What a view to wake up to eachmorning.

“Chocolate fudge-covered baseball-sizedspitballs.”

Christian turned to see Aja Blue standing with herhands on her hips as she stared into her closet. The intruder hadalso destroyed this room, shoving her mattress from the frame andupending drawers. He walked over and looked inside. Nothing wasleft hanging or on the shelves. It was all in a giant pile on thefloor, shoes included.

She crouched down and picked up a blouse. “At leasthe didn’t destroy them, though they might need to bedry-cleaned.”

That was something. The vandal could’ve taken a knifeto everything and ruined her wardrobe. He’d seen it happenbefore.

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