Say Goodbye (Romantic Suspense #25) by Karen Rose

            “That’s a lie!” Joshua cried. “Why would he do that?”

            Mercy stepped forward, her face drawn and pale. “Probably because Coleen found out about me. That I survived. That DJ lied when he said I’d died trying to escape. He shot my mother in cold blood. She did die. But he was interrupted when he was trying to kill me.”

            “That. Is. A. Lie,” Joshua repeated.

            “Listen to it with your own ears,” Molina said. She produced a cell phone and one of the agents hooked it up to a speaker. “The hospital where Pastor was staying provided computer devices to all the patients and their families. They can be used as cameras and tape recorders. We think Coleen was recording Mr. Belmont in an attempt to prove to Pastor what she’d learned. She was suffocated and there were bruises around her neck where Mr. Belmont grabbed her locket chain and twisted.”

            Tom noticed several women in the gathered crowd put their hands to their throats, their expressions indicating that they had also been controlled by their locket chain.

            Molina tapped her phone and DJ’s voice could be heard.

            “Where is he?”

            “Back in the solarium after his nap,” Coleen replied.

            “What did he do while he was there?”

            “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.”

            That drew a gasp from the crowd.

            “How did they get that tape?” Liza asked Tom in a whisper.

            “Someone in billing finally clicked on the link in my e-mail. I got into the security network and downloaded this file while Croft and I were driving to you. Sunnyside uploaded everything the patients and families did on the devices.”

            Coleen went on to accuse DJ of deceit when it came to Mercy. Tom watched the crowd as DJ admitted it all. This was making a difference. And then . . .

            “Are you going to tell Pastor?” DJ asked.

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

            “What are you doing, Sister Coleen?” he asked, his voice suddenly louder.

            “Nothing.” Coleen’s voice was hoarse, like she couldn’t breathe. “Just filling in the blanks. You’re hurting me, DJ.”

            The recording abruptly ended and the crowd was absolutely silent. Even Joshua had ceased his ranting.

            “Sister Coleen was found a few hours later, dead in her bed,” Molina said.

            Joshua stepped back, shaken. “No. That’s a fake. Like the moon landing.” He spun around and addressed the membership. “Don’t listen to her. She’s lying. She probably has Sister Coleen in a cell somewhere.” Then he spied Graham holding the baby and started for him, a foul look on his face. “Don’t you touch my wife’s baby.”

            Graham’s eyes widened and he turned, showing Joshua his back and protecting the baby with his own body. He didn’t have to.

            Tom stepped in front of Graham, never so glad to be six-six with heavy muscle. Joshua wasn’t a small man, but he had to look way up.

            “You will not put your hands on him,” Tom said quietly. “Or the baby. Or her mother.”

            Fear crossed the man’s eyes and he turned to the crowd. “This is how it starts. They come in and tell us what to do. How to live. How to worship. Pastor will fix this when he comes back.”

            Molina cleared her throat. “Pastor is also dead. DJ killed him, too.”

            A collective wail rose from the group, many of the members falling to their knees in grief.