Page 111 of By the Time You Read This

Gabbi’s face went tight with anger and then smoothed out. “You know, it’s funny—Raisa kept blabbing on about the fact that Isabel killed some people just because she wanted to, as if I would be horrified about the fact that she wasn’t always playing a Good Samaritan. But that’s a feeling I relate to more than anything else.”

“Killing someone because they’re annoying? Like you did with Emily.”

“Yes, are you dumb?” Gabbi asked because she had to repeat herself, not realizing that she’d just given Delaney all that she needed. A full confession.

Delaney slipped her hand in her pocket, curling her fingers around the gun. “Okay, Gabbi. What we’re going to do is get off this boat and go talk to Detective St. Ivany. Can you do that with me?”

“Uh, no,” Gabbi said. “Thank you, though.”

Delaney pulled out the gun. “I’m not giving you the choice.”

Gabbi’s smile went angelic for a moment. Then she got up and crossed to Delaney.

Delaney’s finger hovered near the trigger, though she didn’t want to pull it.

The unfortunate truth, the one she hadn’t wanted to admit to this entire time, was that she saw what she could have become in Gabbi.

Had she and Isabel not been split up—if Isabel had spent the last of both their formative years shaping Delaney into who she wanted her to be, rather than going off to become a true serial killer, Delaney didn’t know that she would have been in any different position than Gabriela Cruz was currently standing in.

The boat rocked again, and Gabbi lurched forward, bumping into Delaney.

Delaney tightened her grip on the gun, ready to fight Gabbi for it.

But Gabbi simply shook her head and stepped back. “My bad.”

“It’s okay,” Delaney said, reflexively, and then almost laughed at the ingrained manners. “Gabbi, I want to help you.”

“No, you don’t,” Gabbi said. “You want me to go to jail.”

“It’ll make you feel better,” Delaney said, soothingly. Because it would. Gabbi ... she didn’t want to be doing this, Delaney was certain.

She’d started with people she’d deemed “bad.” Likely as a way to prove herself to Isabel. But slippery slopes existed for a reason, and they were especially treacherous when you weren’t wired like Isabel had been.

Gabbi laughed at her. “Wow, that was a tactic I wasnotexpecting. But do you know what I am expecting?”

Delaney tensed. “What?”

The door that had swung only partially shut behind Delaney opened fully.

Gabbi smiled. “That.”

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Raisa

Day Seven

Dawn was starting to break over the horizon, and on any other day, in any other circumstance, the view over the water would be literally breathtaking.

Right now, Raisa was just trying—and failing—to make all the puzzle pieces fit into place.

She’d stayed out of the way of the crime scene crew most of the morning. At some point, St. Ivany confirmed it had been Declan O’Brien who had eaten his own gun on the bow of a boat.

Raisa thought about his comfy, messy office, the rug and the plants.

And she wished she’d taken the threat to everyone in Gig Harbor more seriously.

She wouldn’t make that mistake again.

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