Page 55 of Abandoned

“If I see her, I’ll tell her to come find you.”

“Thanks. See ya later.” AJ disappeared into the crowd.

Will turned and greeted his friend.

Logan smiled. “How’d the date go?”

Will’s lips tingled at the memory of Zara’s lips mingled with his.

“Quite well, I take it.”

“Yep.”

“Hoped that was the way it went, since Zara didn’t reply to my text last night.”

“Not like her to not reply to a text.”

“Especially since I told her Rainie actually made bail again.”

“Seriously? Why on earth did a judge grant her bail?”

“It was atrociously high too.” Logan shook his head.

The worship leader greeted everyone.

Logan pointed into the sanctuary. “Guess we should find seats. Zara will find us.”

“She always does.”

The men went to the area of the sanctuary where they normally sat and found three seats.

The song started. It was one of Zara’s favorite worship songs. Too bad she was missing it. Why wasn’t she here yet?

Will glanced at his watch. Service had even started a couple of minutes late. Zara was normally here within the first verse of the first song.

Will tried to direct his mind to worship, but the longer Zara wasn’t there, the more concerned for her he became.

The second song began. Then the third.

AJ appeared at Will’s side. She gripped his elbow. “Something’s not right.”

Logan said, “I was beginning to think the same thing.”

The worship leader invited everyone to sit, but the three of them left the sanctuary instead.

AJ turned to them. “I tried calling her. I was going to tell her I’d leave the books with you. The phone rang, but she didn’t answer.”

Logan said, “She could have left it at home.”

Two detectives, Jared Johnson and his wife Becca Palmer, approached them. “What seems to be the problem?” Jared asked.

Will was taken aback. “How did you know something was wrong?”

AJ answered, “I told Caleb.” Jared’s brother, a paramedic who worked at the same station as AJ.

Will nodded. “Zara Grant isn’t answering her phone and hasn’t arrived yet. I was with her until about ten last night. She said she’d see me here.”

Jared nodded. “Since someone broke into her apartment last week, let’s go check on her. I’ll go with you.”