Page 110 of By the Time You Read This

Gabbi sat cross-legged on the table, empty-handed. She smiled at Delaney. “Hey.”

The scene was so unexpectedly different from what she’d been braced for, Delaney nearly wobbled on her feet. She put out a hand to steady herself.

The cabin was tight, especially right at the stairs, before it opened up into a living room / kitchen area.

“Hey,” Delaney said, just as easily. “What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to talk to Essi, but it seems like she’s left,” Gabbi said. “She and I are old friends.”

“Oh yeah?” Delaney asked.

“Yeah,” Gabbi said.

“I thought you might hate her,” Delaney said, carefully.

“Oh.” Gabbi’s eyes crinkled in pleasure. “You’ve decided to drop the act. I’m so pleased, Lana.”

“How long did you know?” Delaney asked.

“Raisa’s right, you look like Isabel,” Gabbi said. “But I didn’t really know until the beach. Your sister thought I was goading you into being creepy, but you’re like that naturally, aren’t you?”

Before Delaney could say anything, Gabbi shrugged. “It’s okay. No one can go, like, five seconds without realizing how much I want to burn this world down.”

“Okay.” That was a fairly accurate assessment. “How about you tell me more about you and Essi being ‘old friends.’”

“That’s a twist, isn’t it?” Gabbi asked. “I bet you thought you had me all figured out. But I was the one who figured out Essi’s father was killed by Isabel in the first place.”

“You wanted to have ammunition about people who made false claims in Isabel’s name,” Delaney realized. “So you did the legwork for the police.”

“I have this really cool formula I developed that figures out the odds of someone’s death being linked to Isabel,” Gabbi said, looking so young as she did.

Delaney decided she needed to be taken down a peg, if for no other reason than it would be satisfying. “You mean a basic actuarial formula?”

Gabbi’s nose wrinkled. “I forgot you’re actually smart. I have to say, most people are pretty impressed by that.”

“You’ll never impress me with statistics.” Her parents had invented actual theories, not just silly plug-and-play pattern-finders.

The slap landed, even if it was just a graze. Gabbi looked away. “Anyway, Essi decided to get really annoying with it. So that’s where she lost my support.”

“You have to dole out justice in your community,” Delaney said. “And Essi needs to be punished for her greed.”

“I am the moderator,” Gabbi said, unironically.

Delaney would have laughed at her had she not been familiar with how dangerous Gabbi was right now. Her mind had to be reeling, awash in unpleasant chemicals for too long. She was probably holding on by a thread, and doing it admirably. Or as admirably as she could, considering she was in the midst of a psychotic break likely resulting in a killing spree, should Delaney not be able to stop her.

“Why did you hit Kilkenny?” Delaney asked.

“Oh,” Gabbi said. “You’ll see.”

“Okay.” Delaney wasn’t impressed byanyof Gabbi’s posturing. Isabel was her sister; there was no one who came close to touching her in terms of threats. “And Lindsey Cousins?”

“She was a psychopath,” Gabbi said. “The world should be thanking me for taking care of that problem.” She blinked a few times. Her pupils were the size of dinner plates. Arousal.

“And Emily Logan?” Delaney pressed, forcing her to remember her most gruesome kill. “She was a mistake, wasn’t she?”

“Not a mistake,” Gabbi snapped. When Delaney remained silent, Gabbi shrugged. “I mean, was she part of aplan? No. She was just fucking annoying.”

“Where does that fit in with your vigilante justice?” Delaney asked softly.

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