Say Goodbye (Romantic Suspense #25) by Karen Rose

            Brooklyn grinned impishly. “Is horse hockey like bullshit?”

            Liza shook her head. “And on that note, we are going back to your room.”

            “Can we get a picture?” Brooklyn asked, clearly trying to delay their departure. “I like to show them to my mom when she visits.” She patted her tablet, on which she’d been watching BeDazzler videos on YouTube. “Pleeeease?”

            Coleen gave Pastor a nervous look. Pastor smiled. “Of course. Just for us, though, right?”

            “Oh yes,” Brooklyn said, genuinely serious. “There’s hippo stuff.”

            Coleen looked confused. “Hippo stuff?”

            “She means HIPAA,” Liza explained. “It protects the privacy of patients.”

            “Oh.” Coleen smiled thinly. “Of course.”

            “You get in the picture, too, Liza!” Brooklyn insisted.

            Liza positioned herself behind the group, putting the tablet in selfie mode. “Say cheese!”

            “Cheese!” Brooklyn belted out.

            Liza snapped the photo, then put the tablet in Brooklyn’s bag. She’d send a copy to Agent Raeburn ASAP. “All right. It’s really time to go now. Say goodbye to Pastor, Brooklyn.”

            The child waved merrily at Pastor and Coleen. “Goodbye! See you tomorrow!”

            See you in hell, Liza thought, but made herself smile. “Tomorrow.”

            She pushed Brooklyn back to her room, thinking that was all she’d see of Pastor for the day. She got Brooklyn’s lunch and sat down with her tablet, as Brooklyn had access to the Internet. Liza didn’t know who was monitoring usage and didn’t want to get caught.

            “Brooklyn, do you want to send this picture to your mom?”

            “Yes, please. Her e-mail address is under Mom.”

            Liza found the contact and blind carbon copied herself before sending, then deleted the e-mail from the sent folder. She knew from Tom that a simple delete didn’t permanently delete a file, but it would be gone at a cursory glance.

            She was encouraging Brooklyn to eat her lunch when Nurse Innes arrived a half hour later.

            “Miss Barkley? May I have a word? In private?”

            Shit. What had she done? Had she been found out? Had they seen the e-mail she’d sent? “Of course. Brooklyn, I need you to stop playing with that food and actually eat some of it. You need your energy if we’re going to BeDazzle again.”

            Brooklyn was rolling her eyes as Liza joined Nurse Innes in the hallway.

            Innes pulled Brooklyn’s door closed. “You’ve had a bit of an assignment change,” the woman said. “You’ll still be working with Brooklyn, but when she’s sleeping, you’re to report to Mr. Alcalde’s room.”

            Liza got a bad feeling in her gut. “Of course, but who is Mr. Alcalde?”

            Innes looked at her warily. “The man you just spent an hour talking to.”

            “Oh, I’m sorry. I don’t think he said his last name, so I was confused. What will my duties be?”

            “He wants you to read to him and talk to him. I think he likes your voice.”

            Liza made herself smile. “I’ll be happy to.”

            “Meet him in the solarium in an hour. That’ll give you time to get Brooklyn settled for the afternoon. Nurse Williams can take it from there. Mr. Alcalde has you until four.”

            “Yes, ma’am.” Liza stood where she was as the woman walked away, then muttered quietly, hoping that Tom was listening, “I’ll do my best to get him to talk about Eden.”





TWENTY-NINE



SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA

            TUESDAY, MAY 30, 11:30 A.M.





That’s him?” Tom asked, joining Croft at the two-way window to the interview room.