Say Goodbye (Romantic Suspense #25) by Karen Rose

            She patted his arm. “Think on that. Then we will talk further. Be safe.”

            And then she shut the door in his face. Numbly, he walked back to the SUV, feeling Croft’s gaze with every step. He got in and closed the door.

            “Don’t ask. Please,” he said, pulling his seat belt on. “Let’s go back to the office, okay? We can figure out our next steps on Kowalski.”

            “Okey-dokey.” She had started to back out of the driveway when Tom’s work cell began to buzz. “You are the most popular partner I’ve ever had,” she drawled.

            Tom frowned. “It’s Gideon.”

            Croft stopped the SUV and put it into park. “Answer it. On speaker, please.”

            Tom wasn’t sure if she thought he’d given Gideon more Eden information or not, but he didn’t argue. “I’m with Croft,” he said by way of greeting. “You’re on speaker.”

            “Someone tried to lure Daisy out of the radio station,” Gideon said, a tremble in his voice.

            Croft’s mouth tightened. “What happened, Gideon?”

            “I drove her in to work this morning. All this DJ Belmont stuff has had me rattled. About an hour ago, a man called asking if Poppy was still in the station.”

            “Poppy is Daisy’s radio name,” Tom explained to Croft.

            Croft rolled her eyes. “I know. I’m a listener. Go on, Gideon.”

            “I’d already told the receptionist to let me know if Daisy got any calls. Daisy shot Belmont a month ago. If he knows that, he’ll be gunning for her, too.”

            “Or he might use her to get to you,” Croft murmured. “And to Mercy through you.”

            “Yeah,” Gideon bit out. “I figured that out myself. Another reason why I’m Daisy’s Velcro for the foreseeable future. The guy didn’t get anywhere with the receptionist, who taped the call. I checked it out and it came from a burner. An hour later, a bouquet of flowers arrived. The card said they were from one of the charities that she featured on the show last week.”

            “But they weren’t?” Tom asked.

            “No. I called, because my gut was in knots, and the flowers seemed too timely. The charity said that while they did appreciate Daisy’s shout-out, the flowers were not from them.”

            “And then?” Tom didn’t think he was going to like the answer.

            “And then I got mad. I took the flowers out to the dumpster and chucked them in.”

            Croft winced. “And then?”

            Gideon’s laugh was bitter. “And then the bastard shot me from a goddamn Lexus.”

            Tom shared a tense glance with Croft. “Belmont? Did he hit you?” he asked, because Gideon was still talking. Therefore he hadn’t been hurt that badly, if at all.

            “Vest.”

            Croft’s cheeks flushed in anger. “Motherfucker. He shot you in the chest?”

            “Yep. It’ll bruise, but I’ll live. I pulled my gun, but he drove away and there was too much foot traffic to risk shooting back. I called it in, but the license plates were another fake. Marin County issued the original plates to a Lexus in the same color six months ago.”

            “He has access to private citizen information, then,” Croft said. “Not a surprise.”

            “No, but also, he’s changed his appearance. It all happened so fast that I didn’t realize it until I watched the station’s security tapes. He’s dyed his hair dark. Has a goatee, too. His left arm was in a sling, so he’s still injured. Molina said she was updating the BOLO to reflect.”

            “We need to roll, Gideon,” Croft said. “Do you need a ride out of there?”

            “No. We’re sitting tight here for a while. Molina arranged for a Bureau transport van to pick us up. It’ll be disguised as a delivery van and will back up to the door so that we can crawl in and hide. I fucking hate this guy,” he finished.