Say Goodbye (Romantic Suspense #25) by Karen Rose

            “I can imagine. You have no family here in Sacramento?”

            “No, ma’am. My family is gone.”

            Sinclair’s expression softened in sympathy. “What happened?”

            Like you haven’t looked me up six ways to Tuesday. “My mother died of cancer. My sister was murdered.”

            “How horrible.”

            “It was. I was only a few months from high school graduation. I somehow made it through, and then, after that, I joined up.”

            “You have a stellar military record. How did you get the job at the veterans’ home? It appears you started just a few weeks after your discharge?”

            Liza told her what she’d told Irina—the truth. “My nursing school advisor helped me. She’d been in the army and took me under her wing.”

            “So you’ll be starting school soon?”

            “July, ma’am.”

            “Would you be staying on here as well?”

            “Yes, ma’am,” she lied. “I’m not wealthy. I need to eat.”

            “But surely you have funds. Your husband’s death benefits. Didn’t you receive those?”

            Liza flinched, not expecting that question. It was also none of this woman’s business. But she answered, because on this point she could be honest. “I did. I put enough away for tuition and lab fees, textbooks, that kind of thing. I put most of Fritz’s money in a trust for his family. He’d have wanted his parents to have a retirement cushion.”

            “How kind of you,” Sinclair said, and she sounded so sincere that Liza wondered if the woman knew that they harbored a criminal like Pastor. But of course she knew. Molina and Raeburn had prepped Liza on the nature of the facility’s clientele. Mostly celebrities, but a fair share of drug kingpins and mafia bosses.

            Liza shrugged uncomfortably. “It seemed like the right thing to do.”

            “I’m sorry to have to ask you about your husband. I hope I didn’t offend.”

            “Of course not.”

            “I assumed that it had been a long time since his death. I was surprised to see it upset you.”

            Aren’t you the bitch? “How long is long enough?” Liza asked, thinking about Tom and Tory and their unborn child. “I saw Fritz die, so perhaps my feelings are a bit more raw.”

            Sinclair nodded. “I suppose they would be. How do you feel about children?”

            Liza frowned. “I don’t think you’re allowed to ask if I have children or plans to have any.”

            Sinclair chuckled. “No, I meant in a general sense. Can you deal with a pediatric patient?”

            “Oh. Then, yes, I can deal quite easily.”

            “Even if the child is terminal?”

            Liza froze for a few seconds, then exhaled as it hit her that her patient would be a real person—a real sick person—and not an FBI plant. “It wouldn’t be easy, but I could still deal.”

            “Good. If we decide to hire you, when can you start?”

            “As soon as you need me to.”

            Sinclair stood, extending her hand. “Thank you for coming in. We plan to hire someone quickly, so I’ll be able to let you know fairly soon one way or the other.”

            Liza shook her hand. “I’ll be looking forward to your call.”

            Sinclair took her to the lobby, passing through a different series of hallways on the way out than they’d used on the way in.

            Liza tried not to be obvious about looking into the patient rooms, but Sinclair noticed. “Apologies,” Liza said. “I’m not trying to be nosy. I’d like a feel for the layout and the kind of equipment you’re using here.”

            “We have all the equipment you’ll find in any other facility,” Sinclair said proudly. “And if a patient needs what we don’t have, we get it.”