A Familiar Sight (Dr. Gretchen White, #1)

by Brianna Labuskes

“Because Viola Kent is apparently a . . .” He waved a hand in her general direction. “A psychopath,” Gretchen replied, somewhat amused by his hesitation. “You can say it. It won’t summon her.”

Genetics loaded the gun, environment pulled the trigger.

“You can’t deny you’ve been curious about how that would go,” Gretchen tried. “Me facing off with a psychopath? Come on.” “Make a better argument,” Shaughnessy said, but didn’t deny it. Gretchen grinned. He would die before admitting it, but Gretchen knew Shaughnessy found her endlessly fascinating.

Gretchen would quite willingly hurl someone under a bus if it served her purpose. Some would say that made her a bad person, but considering that she was quite up-front with that aspect of herself, she tended to attract people who knew how to roll to avoid the wheels.

“If you try to follow me, I’ll slash your tires,” Gretchen sang out cheerily as she sailed out the door. She heard Shaughnessy sigh behind her. “Don’t test her. She’s done it before.”

“I like my life, my home, my career. I understand enough about my diagnosis that, due to my penchant for boredom and my lack of concern about consequences, I could easily ruin all that. So, long ago I accepted a moral code into my life that wasn’t exactly religion but seems to have worked.” “Do I want to know what this ‘moral code’ is?” Gretchen grinned even though he couldn’t see her. “Proving you wrong.” “Are you shi—messing with me?” “Not even a tiny bit,” Gretchen said. “Anytime I get the urge to stab someone in the neck because they’re walking too slow in front of me, I think of how much you’d gloat about it.”

Gretchen raised one eyebrow, a skill it had taken years to perfect but that she’d never once regretted learning.

“Don’t get complacent,” Gretchen said, adding a little snap to the warning so it came off as threatening and not lighthearted. “Just because we’ve made some morally questionable decisions together doesn’t mean I won’t—” “Stab me with a fork, yes, I know,” Marconi said with a, quite frankly, impertinent eye roll.