Delilah smiles slightly.
“We already suspected,” she says.
Of course they did.
“Then why didn’t anyone say anything?” I press.
“Because suspicion isn’t confirmation,” Brooke replies. “And confirmation changes how we respond.”
I cross my arms.
“Well, consider this confirmation-adjacent.”
Delilah nods once.
“That’s fair.”
She reaches for the notebook, flipping through the entries with quick, practiced efficiency. Her brows lift slightly.
“This is good,” she says.
I blink.
“Good?”
“Detailed. Observant. Useful,” she clarifies.
Brooke leans in to look over her shoulder.
“Yeah,” she adds. “You’ve got patterns already.”
A small, unexpected flicker of pride sparks in my chest. I squash it immediately. This isn’t a gold star moment. This is apeople are potentially hunting usmoment.
“So what do we do?” I ask.
Delilah closes the notebook and sets it back on the counter.
“We watch back,” she says.
“That’s it?”
“For now,” she replies. “If we move too soon, they disappear. And then we learn nothing.”
That makes sense. Annoyingly.
“But if we wait too long—” I start.
“They act first,” Brooke finishes.
“Exactly.”
Silence. Because there’s no perfect move here. Only better or worse ones.
Conrad arrives not long after. Doesn’t hesitate. Just steps inside like he’s already been expecting this conversation.
“You called it,” he says, nodding at me.
I arch a brow. “I’m starting to feel like that’s becoming a trend.”