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“I’m so sorry.” Gabby regretted the blurting but not the sentiment. “It’s...”
“A shock.”
“I just...” What did she say next? How did she dip into the truth without revealing it? “Things aren’t quite... I’m not sure...”
Faith put a comforting hand on Gabby’s arm. “Are you okay?”
“Nothing is what it seems.”Don’t do it. Don’t do it.Donotdoit!“With her death, I mean.”
Faith glanced around before lowering her voice to a whisper. “Gabby?”
Oh,shit.Gabby’s speech picked up speed, matching the dramatic thunder of her heartbeat. “I think you should know the truth. You’re not going to believe it because it’s not believable. It took me a while to... well... There’s this group of women and they wanted Jessa to join, but... I know this sounds impossible, but... it’s not.”
“You’re upset. You should stop.”
“I know. I get it. You don’t believe me, and I wouldn’t either if I were you.” Gabby took in a deep breath. “You’ll hear Darren killed her, but he didn’t. They did. Because . . . she . . . she knew too much.”
There. She’d said it in a rambling, stumbling way, but it was out there. Faith could choose to believe her or call herthat paranoid woman at the serviceor whatever. Gabby didn’t care because she’d said the words.
The sick part was that she’d piled her mess on Faith, and a part of Gabby hated that, but this woman had loved Jessa, had been her best friend through everything. She had a right to know Jessa tried to be better. She’d tried to do the right thing. Gabby wasn’t sure if she’d made that clear or not, but she let the conversation sit there. Let Faith have the next word.
Faith let out a labored exhale. “You never learn. I told Retta you couldn’t be trusted to keep quiet, and I was right.”
Chapter Seventy-Eight
Gabby
Gabby’s mouth dropped open. She could feel it hanging there. She’d stumbled through a messy explanation, expecting Faith to pat her on the head and walk away. Not this. Never this.
“So you’re saying...”Nope.Gabby’s mind still couldn’t get there. “What exactly are you saying?”
“This supposed group you’re blathering on about doesn’t exist, because of course it doesn’t. It couldn’t. But if it did, what good would hitting me with that word vomit do?” Faith no longer wore the sad and despondent expression of a mourner. She looked and sounded pissed. “You need to be smarter and a hell of a lot more careful.”
Not the first time Gabby had heard that. “Right...”
“Why would you make your family a target after you just moved them out of the firing line? Do you want Liam to go to prison?”
“I don’t...”Good Lord.What was she supposed to say? Gabby had no idea about the etiquette or proper response to being sideswiped by a near stranger who might also be a killer.
“You sound paranoid. No one will believe you and your stories about phantom deadly groups, so stop.” Faith hesitated as if waiting for a response. “Do you understand me? Yes or no? Say something.”
Gabby decided to give her one. “Okay.”
“You caused this. You shamed Jessa into helping you. You wrapped up all her insecurities and fired them back at her. Your judgment wore her down. Got her talking about being a better person, as if she needed your permission to exist.” Faith held out an arm. “Now look where we are.”
They’d separated from other people, but Gabby finally got the point. Most of the haze had cleared, and in its place... clarity. “You’re one of them. Part of the group.”
Faith rolled her eyes. “Do you not know what ‘stop’ means?”
Gabby willingly shouldered part of the blame for Jessa’s death, but the vast majority went to someone else. The person with the knife and the person who’d sent him there. “Did you know Earl was going to have Jessa killed?”
“Earl? What does he have to do with this?”
“I thought he... you know... the other...” Gabby couldn’t rein in her babbling response.
“Why are you crediting a man for any of this?”
“Retta said her co-leader, and I... Oh, God.” Gabby’s stomach flipped. A queasy feeling swept over her. She wanted to throw up and run and wake up and have all of this be a nightmare she could wash away with a scalding hot shower. “You. The co-leader. That’s you, not Earl.”
