Page 89 of By the Time You Read This

“Still at the bar,” St. Ivany said, and then she shifted so that she could look at Raisa. “Can I take a guess at what you’re thinking?”

“Sure,” Raisa said, though she was slightly nervous about it.

“Let’s say Delaney killed Emily,” St. Ivany said. “It was because she was looking for someone who was on a murder spree, right? She thought Emily was killing other people, but now that Isabel is dead, she realizes she got the wrong person. There’s still someone out there, and she needs to stop them.”

“Yeah,” Raisa said. That about summed it up perfectly. St. Ivany was more perceptive than Raisa gave her credit for.

“So she must be looking for someone who has a passing interest in Isabel, right? Maybe someone who admires how Isabel went about her business ...”

“Yeah,” Raisa said again, wondering where this was going.

St. Ivany looked sheepish but she shouldered on. “This ... might not exactly be, uh, by the book, but I have an idea.”

“Gabriela Cruz?” Raisa asked, when St. Ivany—who’d retaken the driver’s seat—pulled to a stop outside the girl’s house. “She’s just a college student.”

“A criminal justice major,” St. Ivany added. “She works for us in the summers, and she’ll probably apply to the force once she graduates in the winter. She has some training.”

“Some training filing the archives,” Raisa muttered. “Did she get a fake badge and everything?”

St. Ivany sent her a look. “I’m serious. She monitors campus safety as well. And you say Delaney will either run or clam up if we try to confront her right now. We have to go in sideways.”

That was true. Delaney was too smart for them to break in any conventional way. They needed to apply more pressure, to bait her a little, to get her to act, but to do so recklessly so she’d make a mistake.

She would already be on the alert, just from Maeve approaching her in the bar. If they relented, they would lose the chance to capitalize on that anxiety.

But Raisa was still balking at putting a civilian in harm’s way. Especially one she was rooting for.

“If you have other ideas ...,” St. Ivany said.

“Can you even ask her to do this?”

“We have authority to hire people to go undercover for us,” St. Ivany said. “We would have her miked the whole time, and a whole fleet of police hiding nearby to make sure she’s safe. It would be like any other sting.”

Raisa groaned, but then got out of the SUV, leaving St. Ivany behind.

She crossed to Gabriela’s door and knocked.

“What do you want now?” Gabriela asked when she answered.

Raisa sighed. “I have a favor to ask.”

Gabriela was the one who suggested the party at the beach.

“It’s all over Facebook. Anyone who wants to come can just show up. And there will definitely be boys there who toe the lines with thegirls,” Gabriela said. “If you’re looking for someone who is targeting predators—it’s the perfect place to go.”

“And you’re comfortable with this?” Raisa asked for perhaps the thousandth time.

“Yeah.” Gabriela’s big eyes were terribly wide, and it was obvious she was trying to keep the excitement out of her voice. “She’s not huntingme.”

Maybe. But they were going to make Delaney think that sheshouldbe.

Raisa studied Gabriela, looking for nerves. There were some, under the rush of adrenaline. But they didn’t seem to be crippling.

“Don’t do anything,” Raisa said. “If she talks to you, great. But don’t try to goad her into anything.”

Gabriela sent her a look. “So you’re sending me in there for no purpose at all, then?”

“I’m serious,” Raisa said. “Don’t poke her.”

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