Page 68 of Deadly Designs

“Do you think he took a trip somewhere?” Kayneasked.

“No hits to his credit card, and his name didn’tappear on any flight records,” Christian told him.

Christian called the cops while Aja Blue’s gazewandered to a plane coming in for a landing so low she could seepeople in the windows. Even if he somehow used a fake name, Jaywouldn’t have disappeared without telling her. Something terriblehappened to him, and it all circled back to Pastor Chet.

The cops arrived, followed by a crime scene team.They did a quick dusting for prints, including the rear-viewmirror, before loading the vehicle on the back of a flatbed andtowing it to the crime lab for processing.

Much like yesterday, dawn lit the sky when theyarrived at the new safe house. It was a modern structure made ofiron, stone, and glass, as impressive as the last one, but it wasonly a single story. It would make sneaking into Christian’s roommore difficult, but she was up for the challenge.

The layout turned out to be a split floor plan, withtwo bedrooms on one side and two on the other, making it easier tohide their nocturnal activities. Aja Blue picked one and walked tothe bed, falling face-first onto the light-blue comforter. Beforeshe knew it, she was fast asleep.

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Christian needed a few hours of rest before they hadto pick Presley up from the hospital. After he carried thegroceries inside and put them away, he headed to the hallway whereAja Blue had disappeared. With Christian’s nudge, Kayne selected aroom on the opposite side of the house. He was pretty sure hiscoworker didn’t realize why he’d steered him to that area, but thenagain, maybe he did. Christian feared he wasn’t hiding his feelingsfor Aja Blue particularly well.

He deposited his bag in the empty room and approachedthe other, rapping lightly on the door. When there was no answer,he eased it open to find Aja Blue spread eagle on her stomach,sound asleep.

He started to back up when she stirred and lifted herhead to glance over her shoulder. Then she held out a hand. He waspowerless to resist.

Christian kicked off his shoes, put his cell and gunon the side table, climbed into bed, and gathered her in his arms.As much as he wanted to make love with her, she needed sleep. Himtoo.

A buzzing phone woke Christian. He glanced at hiswatch to see he’d gotten about an hour and a half rest as he pickedup the cell.

“Mr. Zamora? My name is Detective Harvey. CaptainParsa asked me to call you and let you know that a body washed upnear Croatan Beach. It’s been positively identified as JayGuitterez.”

Chapter Twenty

Aja Blue was dreaming thatChristian was rocking her world, as he did each time they madelove. She even felt her body trembling.

“Aja Blue. Wake up.”

Her lids fluttered. It wasn’t a dream. He was gentlyshaking her shoulder. “Hey.” She smiled. “Is it time to pick upPresley?”

“No, honey. I need you to wake up.”

His tone alerted her that something was wrong.What now?She sat up with a resigned sigh and tossed herlegs off the side of the mattress. “What is it?”

“There is no easy to say this, but they foundJay.”

Her lungs heaved. “He’s not alive, is he?”

“No, honey. I’m sorry.”

Someone made a wailing sound. It wasn’t Christian, sothat meant it was her. Then she felt powerful arms gathering herclose and holding her while she cried. She barely noticed Kaynerushing inside the room with his gun drawn. Christian saidsomething to him, but Aja Blue couldn’t hear over her sobs.

Minutes or hours later, she had no concept of time,the tears slowly stopped. Then, her mind started racing. There wasso much to do. She was the executor of Jay’s will. Her employeesneeded to be notified. She had a funeral to plan.

At some point, Christian handed her a wad of tissues,and she mopped her face.

“Do you need me to call his family?”

That he offered to do that pushed her over the edgeinto full-blown love. It was the worst imaginable job for anyone,yet he would do it for her. She shook her head as tears blurred hervision. Her voice was watery when she said, “Jay has no otherfamily besides our small office group.”

“I can call them for you.”

She reached out and cupped his cheek. “Thank you, butI need to do it.” She dropped her hand and took a deep breath. “Howdid they find him?”

He brushed a strand of hair from her face. She mustlook frightening, with puffy eyes and a red nose. He didn’t seem tomind. “He washed up on shore south of here.”

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