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.

Except Rafe didn’t go inside. Blowing a kiss to Mercy, he stepped back from Liza’s doorstep, aiming a look up at Tom’s window before crossing the grassy patch between their two front doors. His knock had Pebbles barking again and Tom went downstairs to open the door.

“Hey,” Rafe said, his eyes taking Tom in. “No offense, dude, but you look like shit.”

Tom smoothed his hair, which had to be standing every which direction. “I’ve been working,” he said stiffly.