Say Goodbye (Romantic Suspense #25) by Karen Rose

            Miss Sinclair chuckled again. “Don’t you want to hear the salary?”

            “Oh.” Liza hoped she hadn’t blown the opportunity. “Yes, please.” Sinclair said a number and Liza’s eyes widened. “That’s . . . more than I was anticipating.” It was double what she’d made at the veterans’ home.

            “We get that a lot,” Sinclair said smugly. “Can you start on Tuesday? Your shift starts at seven thirty a.m., but we’d like you to arrive an hour early for orientation with your supervisor.”

            “I’ll be there. Who should I ask for?”

            “Nurse Innes. She’s one of our charge nurses. She’ll be training you.”

            Innes. The one person Liza had planned to avoid. “Should I bring my own scrubs?”

            “No, dear. We have uniforms for you here. Wear comfortable shoes, of course.”

            “Of course. I’ll see you on Tuesday.”

            Liza ended the call, her hands now trembling. She’d done it. She was in.

            With any luck, she’d meet Pastor and be able to talk to him. With any luck, he’d be in pain, on meds with his guard down, and he’d tell her where Eden was. Or at a minimum she could plant a few bugs so that the FBI could listen to anything Pastor and DJ discussed when the younger man came to visit. And, with any luck, both Pastor and DJ Belmont would go to prison for a very long time and would never be able to hurt Mercy or the others again.

            Clenching her teeth, she steadied her hands enough to type out a text to Special Agent Raeburn. I was offered the job. Accepted. Starting Tuesday. Please advise.

            She looked up from her phone when the door to Rafe’s apartment opened. Mercy stood in the doorway, looking anxious. “Is everything all right?”

            Liza mustered up a smile. “Everything’s good. I just got a new job.”

            Mercy frowned. “Then why do you look like you lost your best friend?”

            Because I did.

            Seeing Liza’s expression, Mercy winced. “That wasn’t what I meant to say.”

            “It’s fine. Did I get the short straw on the breakfast dishes?”

            “No. Sasha did. She’s appealing the decision, saying that the straws were rigged, but Erin’s already got most of the dishes in the dishwasher. Abigail is asking if you’re coming back. We’re getting ready to watch The Little Mermaid.”

            “Better than Batman for a seven-year-old,” Liza agreed. She stood up. “I can watch one movie, and then I need to go home. I’ve got laundry to do.”

            “Would you consider staying here for one more night? We’re worried about DJ. Especially after what he did yesterday.” The evenness Mercy had displayed since she’d heard the news began to fracture as Liza watched. “If Gideon hadn’t been wearing that vest . . .”

            Liza shuddered. “Yeah. I get that. I’ll be fine, though. He doesn’t want me.”

            “You don’t know that. You were there on Wednesday, too. Will you humor me?”

            “Sure.” She slid her arm around Mercy’s shoulders and gave her a hug. “It’ll be all right.”

            Mercy’s smile was sad. “You don’t know that,” she repeated.

            She was tempted to tell Mercy the truth—that Pastor was in a rehab facility and she’d just gotten a job there so that she could help Tom put him away forever. But there was no way she was saying any of that, so she went with what was in her heart.

            “But I do know it’ll be all right, because a seven-year-old told me so when I had a nightmare last night. Have faith, Mercy. I have a feeling things are going to get better very soon.”




GRANITE BAY, CALIFORNIA

            SATURDAY, MAY 27, 11:00 A.M.

            The man was a motherfucking ghost. DJ had spent most of the morning trying to locate Roland Kowalski, which, of course, was not his real name.

            It would be easier to search if he could think. Which would be easier if he didn’t have the fucking hangover from hell.