The light in the auditorium was blinding after the darkness, and Gabby took a moment, her back against the door, eyes closed. She opened her eyes when she felt Raquel's hand on her arm, to see Raquel's concerned look.
"I'm fine. Honestly."
"Was it bad?" Raquel asked.
"Not as bad as I thought. He's unrepentant. Unbelievable. But that makes it so much easier." She looked down.
"No, don't," Raquel said.
"What?" Gabby looked up.
"Don't waste your pity on him."
"I'm not. I was feeling a little guilty. I enjoyed taking those memories back, retrieving a piece of her soul, repaying the debt. Or at least not allowing him to own it."
"Good. Come on, who's next? How long did that take?"
Gabby checked the tablet and laughed, "Five milliseconds of his time. You're right, I can get them all."
Raquel was nodding, "It's unbelievable, isn't it. He's an American, for God's sake, doesn't he own a gun? You'd have been lucky to repay more than a couple if he'd blown his brains out. When they hang themselves, it takes about four minutes of their time to die, and that's hours and hours for us."
Gabby took a deep breath and checked the screen. Gloria's account had been repaid in full, and somewhere in the world, that brave woman would sense the change; she might not know why, but something tiny would shift. Then, maybe in a day or so, in their time, she might hear the news and maybe realise what it was.
Gabby showed Raquel another profile for one of the transactions. "So, this woman caught my eye. Look what he took from her. Tiny slivers of her soul, slice by slice."
"Have you viewed the memory?" Raquel asked.
"No, but look at the time scale, it went on for years. That's a lot of memories, it's going to hurt like fuck when I take all of that back, isn't it."
Raquel was nodding again, "Oh yes, that's going to tear a hole in his mind."