Say Goodbye (Romantic Suspense #25) by Karen Rose

            Giving her an ear scratch, he got up to look for Liza, then remembered that she had company. Mike the Groper had stayed and he’d heard them watching a movie when he’d come home from the field office.

            That he’d had to press his ear to the wall to get that tidbit of information wasn’t anything he’d admit to anyone. Even to Pebbles, although she’d never tell.

            He peeked through the blinds, relieved to see his driveway clear. He hadn’t heard the garage door open, so Liza’s car was still in there, parked next to his own. Mike the Groper was gone.

            Going to the door, he called for her. “Liza! Where are you?” Because she always came in with Pebbles. They’d have dinner together and settle in to watch some TV.

            Tom needed that. He’d been staring at his computer screen for far too long and was becoming frustrated. He’d been unsuccessful in tracking Cameron Cook’s e-mail. He’d traced it through several proxy servers, then hit a wall.

            Either their network person was really good, or their server was no longer active. He hoped Croft was having better luck with tracking the Chicos’ tattoo artist.

            “Liza!” he called again, then sighed when his phone buzzed with an incoming text.

            I just put Pebbles in your house. She’s been fed.

            That was all. No See you later or How’s it going or What’s for dinner. He wondered if she and Mike were still going out tomorrow. He wondered if he should have told her not to go.

            She’d almost seemed like she’d wanted him to.

            He started to call her, then stopped himself. He didn’t know what to say. They’d been friends for years. Liza had been the only person he’d trusted with knowledge of Tory while they’d dated. They’d shared secrets and hopes. He’d even told her when Tory got pregnant.

            But not so much after that. Tom had been in love, blind to the rest of the world. And then he’d been in shock, grieving. And then he’d been focused on getting justice for his love and their unborn child.

            He’d shut Liza out, albeit unintentionally. He’d never even told her that Tory was dead. She’d found out when she’d arrived home from Afghanistan last Christmas Day. She’d come fully expecting to meet the woman he’d wanted to spend his life with.

            He still remembered the shock in her eyes when he’d told her that Tory was dead. Then the hurt that he’d kept it from her.

            “But she seemed fine after that,” he told Pebbles, who stared up at him. “She was happy.” Until she wasn’t. And when did that really start? Now he couldn’t seem to remember. Distracted by the danger Mercy and Gideon were in, he hadn’t been paying attention. “I don’t know what to do,” he confided. “What do you think is wrong?”

            Pebbles simply wagged her whip of a tail, her tongue lolling to the side.

            “You’re no help at all.” He leaned down to rub her ears. “But you’re still a good girl.”

            She licked his face and he abruptly straightened, grimacing. He’d nearly broken her of that habit, but Liza let her do it.

            He sank back into his chair, glumly staring at his screen. He’d created a project file for Eden a month ago, when Ephraim had been intent on kidnapping Mercy Callahan. It was still pathetically thin.

            He heard the car engine a second before Pebbles began to bark. She sounded fierce, even though she’d most likely just lick a burglar’s face.

            He shushed her, then checked the window again, frowning when Rafe Sokolov and Mercy Callahan emerged from the Subaru parked in his drive. Leaning on his cane, Rafe escorted Mercy up the front walk, keeping his body between hers and the street every step of the way.

            A glance across the street revealed a black SUV with Agent Rodriguez behind the wheel. His shift would be over soon and his replacement would take over guard duty. For now, the man was watchful, giving Tom a slight salute before resuming his surveillance of the street.

            Mercy quickly disappeared into Liza’s side of the duplex, as if Liza had been holding the door open. This made him want to march down there and remind her that she’d witnessed an attempted murder only hours before.

            He’d be giving her a lecture on proper security when her guests left. For now, Rafe was with them, and that was more than good enough in Tom’s eyes. The homicide detective was savvy and knew his way around firearms. He wasn’t a sharpshooter like Gideon’s girlfriend, Daisy, but he was more than capable of protecting Liza.