Say Goodbye (Romantic Suspense #25) by Karen Rose

            “So we’re really going to do this dance? Me telling you what you already know?”

            “You might be able to fill in some blanks.”

            “I doubt it,” Rafe muttered. “Pastor changed his name a few months after his release and married Marcia himself.”

            “As soon as the ink on her divorce was dry,” Tom commented.

            Rafe nodded. “I saw that. It looks like she divorced Waylon so that she could marry Pastor. Maybe for love? Or maybe to help perpetrate their church scam. Pastor was born Benton Travis, but changed it to Herbert Hampton and applied to be the pastor of a small church outside L.A. He fabricated the backstory that he was a preacher, complete with phony ordination certificate and seminary diplomas.” He glanced up from his notepad. “All of this was in the newspaper because a decade later he was discovered to have lied about everything and embezzled tens of thousands from his parishioners.”

            “Helluva guy.”

            Rafe turned the page in his notepad. “Amos provided a list of the parishioners who sold everything and joined Pastor in Eden. I assume you have this as well.”

            “I do. He told me which ones had died over the last thirty years. It was most of the original members, because most of the people who followed Pastor from the L.A. church after the financial scandal were already retired thirty years ago. Pastor picked the right congregation to fleece.”

            All of the parishioners had had money, some more than others. When they’d sold their land and cars and belongings, then signed the proceeds over to Pastor, it had been the start of the Eden nest egg that had grown into fifty million dollars.

            “I talked to a few of the L.A. church members who didn’t follow Pastor,” Rafe said. “They still hate him, thirty years later.”

            “It was a huge breach of trust,” Tom agreed. “They were betrayed by their spiritual leader. But at least they weren’t also fleeced out of their savings and land.”

            “True.” Rafe flipped a few pages in the notebook. “People in the church remembered Waylon. He did handyman-type work for the church and for Pastor personally. Most of the congregation was afraid of him because of his tattoos and his appearance. But Pastor looked like a college professor and was very charming.” He looked up from the notebook. “Almost every person used that word. ‘Charming.’ ”

            “Charisma is important for cult leaders,” Tom said dryly. “After sociopathy and narcissism.”

            Rafe scowled. “And plain old evil.”

            “In Pastor’s case? Yes, definitely.”

            Rafe flipped a few more pages in his notebook. “I’ve been looking for Pastor’s wife, Marcia, and the kids—who were named Bernice and Boaz. I found their birth certificates.”

            This surprised Tom. “Why? Amos said they were dead. Gideon said they were dead. They both saw their bodies and . . .” Oh.

            Waylon had brought back the bodies of Pastor’s wife and twins after they’d fallen into a ravine, but the remains had been so decomposed that they were unrecognizable.

            Waylon had also brought back a body—also unrecognizable—claiming it was Gideon’s.

            “You think that Pastor’s wife and kids escaped like Gideon and Mercy did,” Tom murmured.

            Rafe lifted a brow. “He shoots, he scores!”

            Tom was still reeling. Why hadn’t he thought of this himself? “What have you found?”

            “Nothing. It was easier to become someone else twenty-five years ago,” Rafe commented.

            “It was easier even twenty years ago,” Tom said, nodding when Rafe’s gaze immediately met his. “My father was an abusive sonofabitch who beat my mother and physically abused me as well. My mother tried to escape several times, but he kept finding her.”

            Rafe looked surprised. “I thought your father was an NBA star turned history professor.”

            Tom smiled. “Max Hunter is my stepfather, and yeah, that’s him. But my biological father was . . . well, he was a murdering bastard. My mother finally escaped after he tossed her down the stairs and broke her back.”