“You’re so funny.” Gabby laughed and cracked open her second can of Mountain Dew that morning. “Hey, ignore the chopstick piece, okay? One of the assistants did all the shopping and research for it. She can write it and I’ll polish it up. Also, even though you’re more accomplished and way cuter than I am, I’m technically your boss now. So you can write this impossible exposé about some hard-to-get-to tiki restaurant in Tasmania and make it sound all Anglophilic and shit. I tried to call and talk to someone, but he was drunk and unintelligible.”

Wendy giggled. Gabby might enjoy dopey photos of cakes and pies, but she was fun to share an office with. “I have friends in Australia. Maybe they can help me.”

Gabby pressed a series of buttons on her desk phone, causing it to beep and squawk.

“Hi, Gabby.” One of the Enjoy! assistants came on the line, on speakerphone.

“Write up the chopstick buyer’s guide, please, since you did all the legwork? And also book lunch in an hour for me and Wendy at the yummy Indian place? We’re starving.” She hung up the phone. “Is that okay?”

“Lunch?” Wendy never ate much lunch. Certainly not Indian food. Lately she’d felt like she was competing with Shy for how little she could eat in a day.

“We eat at this magazine,” Gabby said firmly. “Hey, did you see they found the head? There’s a picture of it and everything.”

Wendy stood up quickly, leaving her chair spinning. The image on Gabby’s screen was surreal: gray engorged face, huge blue eyes, tendrils of long brown hair cascading over the seaweed-strewn rocks, pale mouth gaping open, torn neck connected to… nothing.

Wendy felt like she was looking in the mirror.

They stared at the picture in silence for a good minute. Then Gabby switched off her monitor.

“Whoops, that was a quick hour. Lunchtime.”

Chapter 10

“DNA test results show the blood and hair found in Belsito’s garage match those of the head and torso. Searches for the remaining limbs are ongoing. Belsito has been detained by Staten Island police and will remain in custody. Belsito has a history of prescription medication abuse and was suspended from high school three times before dropping out. He purchased one chain saw at a nearby Lowe’s in May, and a second, larger chain saw at Home Depot in August. Strands of Lelani Dimakis’s hair were caught in the blades of both saws.”