Say Goodbye (Romantic Suspense #25) - Karen Rose Page 0,15

guy named Cameron Cook. His pregnant girlfriend disappeared two months ago. He got an e-mail from her, saying she’d been taken to Eden and she needed him to bring the cops to spring her. He said she sounded scared. She’s due in two weeks.”

Tom sucked in a breath, both excited and dismayed. Eden’s conditions were primitive at best. Many women died in childbirth. “How did she get an e-mail out?”

“He doesn’t know. He told the police and they went to the coordinates in the e-mail but the place was just forest.”

Tom stood straighter. “She sent him coordinates?”

“Yes, but they were bogus. The cops got mad at him, threatened to have him arrested if he kept bugging them, because he kept calling. He finally went to the newspaper. He’s desperate. He’s been searching the area around the coordinates for weeks all by himself.”

“Where is he?” Tom asked, his pulse ratcheting up. This could be the break they’d been hoping for.

“With me, in the lobby of your building. I drove to San Francisco to get him. I figured you’d want him to stop talking to the newspaper.”

A grin pulled at his mouth, so wide it hurt his cheeks. “You thought right. I’ll be down to get you both as soon as I can.” He started back for the meeting room. “Don’t let him leave.”

Jeff whooshed out a relieved breath. “Thank God you believe me. I told him that he could trust you.”

Tom paused, his hand on the doorknob. “Thank you,” he said, then ended the call, reentered the meeting room, and smiled at Molina when she stopped talking to meet his gaze.

“Well?” she asked.

“We may have someone on the inside. Of Eden.”

Molina’s eyes sparkled. “Yes.”

Raeburn looked reluctantly impressed. “Explain.” Then pointed to Agent Croft when Tom had finished giving them the details. “Check it out.”

Tom held up his hand. “The kid came to see me. He was told to trust me. I don’t know that he’ll be as forthcoming with Agent Croft.” He glanced at Croft. “No offense.”

Croft’s lips twitched. “None taken.” She turned to Raeburn. “I’ll take Tom with me. It’ll be good training for him.”

Raeburn glared. “I want regular updates. Report back directly to me. Go.”

Tom looked at Molina questioningly, because Raeburn’s orders excluded her.

“Come on,” Croft muttered. “I’ll fill you in.”

With a last look over his shoulder at Molina, he followed Croft.

TWO

GRANITE BAY, CALIFORNIA

WEDNESDAY, MAY 24, 9:30 A.M.

Liza Barkley looked up at the security camera over the Sokolovs’ front door, wondering if anyone else had been watching her standing on the porch, psyching herself up to enter. The FBI agent standing guard by the door certainly had, although he hadn’t said a single word.

Just go in, she told herself. You can paste on a smile. You do it every day.

But she wasn’t certain that she could pull it off today. She’d tossed and turned, trying to forget the six-six blond, blue-eyed Adonis whom she’d loved for seven years but who’d unknowingly stomped on her heart the evening before. Tom was completely unaware of her feelings—as he’d shown last evening by making friends with her date. I should have known better than to try to move on with anyone new. Her own reaction to Tom’s lack of reaction was proof that she had no business trying to date other men. She wasn’t ready. She wasn’t over Tom.

She’d wanted to stay in bed today with the blankets pulled over her head.

She had, however, made promises to the stepsisters—one a little girl and the other a grown woman only a few years older than Liza. Both deserved a lot more than life had given them so far, so she knocked, taking a surprised step back when the front door flew open before she could rap the second time.

“Liza! You’re here!”

Liza barely had time to lift the cake plate she held out of the way before she was tackled by the seven-year-old who wrapped her in an impressive bear hug. “Hey, Shrimpkin,” Liza said, hugging back with one arm while balancing the plate on the other palm. Without making it obvious, she angled her body so that Abigail Terrill was shielded from both prying eyes and any other dangers that might be lurking.

Yes, there was an FBI agent standing guard, but Liza had sharp eyes, trained eyes, and she intended to use them. Because no one in this house was safe. Yet. “Careful. I’ve got cake.”

Abigail pulled back, her gray eyes wide. “You brought me cake?”

Liza tapped the end of Abigail’s nose while