Say Goodbye (Romantic Suspense #25) by Karen Rose

            “He met a little girl earlier, and they chatted. He wanted to feel the sun on his face, so I took him back and left him with his nurse. I wanted to talk to you.”

            “What did they chat about? And who’s with him now?”

            “They chatted about all kinds of things. His kids, you know, his real kids. Bo and Bernie.”

            “That doesn’t hurt me like you think it does,” DJ said. “I never wanted to be his kid.”

            “He told the child his name was Ben.”

            DJ stared. “He what? Has he gone senile?”

            “The nurse said it’s probably an aftereffect of the anesthesia. That sometimes people get confused. I looked it up on the computer there—” She pointed to the computer the facility provided for the suite. “And it’s true. But I also looked up all kinds of other things.”

            “Like what?”

            “Like the news. Lots of stuff has happened in thirty years, you know? I kept up with medical news on the computer you gave me, but it seems most of the Internet wasn’t available. I wonder why that is.”

            Because DJ had blocked their access. “Stop talking unless you have something to say.”

            Coleen tilted her head. “Mercy Callahan.”

            Fuck. “I don’t know that name.”

            Coleen smiled. “Well, she went by Mercy Burton back then. She looks just like her mother. It’s uncanny. Oh, and she’s alive. Which you knew because you’ve been trying to kill her.”

            “I killed her thirteen years ago. I told you that.”

            “Either you were mistaken or you lied. Either way, you’re trying to kill her now. And not doing such a good job of it.”

            He took a step closer, annoyed when she didn’t flinch. “And how do you know this?”

            “Because I saw a report this morning, before I took Pastor to the solarium. It was an interview with a lady whose husband’s body was found in a freezer yesterday by the FBI. Who say you’re the lead suspect. But you knew that, too.”

            DJ took another step closer. “That has nothing to do with Mercy Callahan.”

            “That’s not what the man’s widow is saying. She said that the family down the street is responsible. That they took in Mercy Callahan and Gideon Reynolds. Their photos popped up on the screen, and imagine my surprise. I thought Gideon was dead, too.”

            So had I. Thanks, Dad.

            “Seems like your father also lied,” Coleen said. “I wonder what Gideon’s mother had over men. I mean, she was pretty, but not that pretty. But she had Amos and Ephraim and Waylon wrapped around her finger. And you, too, until you actually killed her.”

            “She did not have me wrapped around her finger,” DJ spat. “I wanted to kill her when I let her stow away in my truck.”

            “Both Mercy and her mother were supposed to die then?”

            At least Coleen saw the truth. “Yes. I wanted them to think they were getting away.”

            “So you took them to civilization, let them think they were getting their freedom, and then you killed them. Or tried to.”

            “I thought Mercy was dead. I didn’t know until last month that she wasn’t. Gideon either.”

            “I see.”

            He smiled tightly. “Good. Glad we had this chat.”

            “Well, maybe.”

            Coleen was playing him somehow. “Are you going to tell Pastor?” he asked.

            She shook her head. “If I were going to tell him, I’d have done it already.”

            She was lying. He could see it in her eyes. He moved faster than she’d been expecting, trapping her against the door, pressing his forearm into her throat.

            “What are you doing, Sister Coleen?” he asked in a low hiss.