The Subaru started up the street, away from him, and he waited to see what the Range Rover would do. He couldn’t just fly by them. That would raise all kinds of suspicions.

Relax and breathe. He grabbed the binoculars and peered into Rhee’s vehicle. She was behind the wheel, her head barely visible. Beside her was a tall blonde with a ponytail high on her head. That would be Sasha Sokolov.

And in the Subaru? He shifted to one side to get a better view and was finally able to relax. Rafe Sokolov was behind the wheel. A woman with black hair done up in a bun was leaning in to adjust the radio. Had to be Mercy.

Perfect.

The red Subaru had paused, waiting, as it turned out, for the blue Range Rover to follow. So wherever Sokolov and Mercy were going, Detective Rhee would have their backs. That wasn’t good when it came to getting Mercy alone. Incapacitating three people would be a lot harder than just one. But, if they truly were staying together, Ephraim would know exactly where they were going, which more than balanced things out.

He had enough bullets to take all three of them down if he had to. Then he’d get Mercy and go back to Eden. Glancing at his gas gauge, he mentally thanked MacGuire for filling the tank. He wouldn’t have to stop for a long while.

SNOWBUSH, CALIFORNIA

MONDAY, APRIL 17, 12:30 P.M.

They’d run out of conversation about half an hour back, but the silence was an easy, comfortable one. Rafe glanced over at Mercy, surprised to see her awake and alert. He’d thought she might have fallen asleep.

He now knew all about her college major (chemistry with a master’s in cellular biology), her favorite color (green), her favorite band (Journey), and the ins and outs of her job at the NOPD crime lab. She’d talked a little about her job during the time she’d sat at his bedside back in February, so he’d known where she worked. But now he knew about the DNA testing she did, which was impressive.

He’d told her about a few of the undercover busts he’d done and, after some cajoling, had admitted that he’d downloaded every song Taylor Swift had ever recorded.

But one question had bugged him the entire ride and he needed to ask soon or they’d be there and no longer alone. His phone’s GPS indicated that they were less than ten minutes from the general store where Diana from Phoenix had bought the Eden quilt.

“Why two months?” he blurted, and she turned to him, eyes wide behind her glasses.

“What do you mean?”

“Why did you take two months’ leave?”

“Oh.” She pursed her lips. “Well . . .”

She trailed off and said nothing more. Finally he prompted, “Well?”

She sighed. “It’s embarrassing. And I’m ashamed. But it was the kick in the butt that I needed to come here and make things right with Gideon, so . . . I made a mistake at work. It was last week, on Tuesday, the day after that CNN special interview aired. I knew the program was coming, but I guess I didn’t anticipate how seeing his face on the screen would make me feel, you know?”