Page 73 of By the Time You Read This

Essi had known the latter wouldn’t play well for Raisa and Kilkenny. So she’d given them something that would make sense but would be nonthreatening. The second Raisa realized Essi just cared about Isabel because of the attention she brought, Raisa had dismissed her as a viable suspect.

She guessed the real question now was whether that meant anything.

If Essi could switch gears like that with such pinpoint precision, there was a solid chance she was a sociopath. While sociopaths didn’t experience emotions in the same way neurotypical people did, one of their skills was being able to give an audience what it wanted.

What if she really did want revenge on Isabel, but she’d known the best way to convince them she didn’t was to pretend to be in it for the money?

Kilkenny had said Essi wouldn’t have drawn so much attention to herself if she’d been planning to kill Isabel, but maybe all that spotlight was blinding instead of illuminating. Maybe it helped her hide what she really wanted.

“So I take it you two aren’t friends?” Raisa asked.

“Oh, we’re friends—you just have to know what you’re getting,” Roan said. “And honestly, she’s one of the best friends anyone could ask for. She always knows how to read your mood and give you what you want. I don’t know what she gets out of that, but for other people, it’s great.”

Raisa would hate the idea of someone constantly performing for her. But she had a grand total of one friend, so she wasn’t exactly an expert. “She gave us your name as a ‘true believer.’”

“See, this is why, friend or no, she would never be the one I’d pick to help hide a body,” Roan said, and then seemed to abruptly remember who he was talking to. “Just an expression, I swear. But, yeah, anyway, I am probably what you would call a true believer in that I truly believe Isabel should have gotten the death penalty for her crimes.”

“You wanted to see her dead?” Raisa asked, pushing a little.

He wrinkled his nose. “I’m definitely not crying over the news. It was the universe righting itself, in my eyes. Sorry for your loss and everything.”

As if Raisa didn’t agree with everything he was saying. “The universe righting itself?”

“Yeah, who would have thought she’d have some mysterious disease that killed her in her early forties,” Roan said. “It’s all that karma catching up with her. And think about it. If you all hadn’t stopped her two years ago, we might never have known she’d existed. So many families wouldn’t have gotten closure. It’s almost spooky, isn’t it?”

Raisa studied him, trying to figure out if he was trying to pull one over on her, like Essi had. He seemed to genuinely think Isabel had died of natural causes, though. Where did that land him on her suspect list?

Especially since he had the strongest motive out of anyone she’d talked to yet.

When she didn’t respond, his smile faded and his eyes narrowed. “Wait.”

“Hmmm.”

“You’re asking me questions,” Roan said slowly. “To find out if I really wanted her dead. There has to be a reason you’re doing that.”

“Hmmm.”

“Oh, shit,” Roan muttered. “You think it was murder. You think I murdered her? Jesus, why would I do that? No,howwould I do that? I’m a tech dude, I don’t know the first thing about prison rules outside ofOrange Is the New Black.”

“I’m just asking questions,” Raisa said neutrally. “But there was a reason I wanted to meet with you, other than you being a ‘true believer.’”

“Goddamn, Essi. You’re right, she’s a shit friend.”

“Did I say that?” Raisa asked.

“No, but your face did,” he said, and then sighed deeply. “Okay, how else did I make the suspect list?”

“Not the suspect list,” she said, and he rolled his eyes, waving her to go on. “You were Isabel’s last visitor.”

His brows tugged together. “What?”

Raisa nodded. “She wasn’t exactly Miss Popular, believe it or not.”

“No, I mean, what?” Roan said, and she tried to make the words make sense.

“You were her last visitor,” Raisa repeated. “I wanted to know what you two talked about.”

Roan shook his head. “You must be mistaken.”

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