Page 98 of Hide And Seek

By the time we were done with the dishes, a few people had already started dragging things into the center of the assembly hall. Blankets from cupboards that were usually used on movienights. Seat cushions. Jackets. Anything that could even vaguely pass as bedding.

The lights stayed on. No one even suggested turning them off.

I grabbed a spare blanket from one of the piles and spread it out beside Jasmine’s makeshift spot on the floor. She dropped down with a quiet sigh, rubbing at her face like she was trying to wipe the whole day off.

I lowered myself beside her, pulling the blanket over me. Around us, other people were shifting and settling, the low murmur of voices gradually fading as exhaustion started to win out over panic.

I turned toward Jasmine, lowering my voice so that no one else could hear. “I’m sorry Sutton went off at you like that,” I murmured. “And thanks for not throwing me under the bus and saying you heard the theory from me.”

Jasmine huffed softly, not opening her eyes. “It’s fine,” she muttered. “She’s a fucking bitch, but she’s just freaking out like the rest of us, so… I get it.” A beat passed. “Besides,” she added. “The theory didn’t really come from you. It came from Rhys.”

I swallowed. “Do you think he’s okay out there?”

“I’d say he’s probably more okay than the rest of us,” she whispered back. “The killer thinks he’s dead, remember? So it’s not like he’s keeping an eye out for him.”

I closed my eyes as she spoke, chest tightening slightly. I pictured the cabin. The unanswered knock. The food we’d left at the door.

My eyes suddenly flew open again. “Oh my god,” I whispered, pulse picking up. “I just thought of something.”

“What?”

“The killer moved the bodies. So he would’ve seen that Rhys was missing. And that means he probably knows he faked his death.”

“Or he just thinks the second killer moved him,” Jasmine said. “Honestly, I wouldn’t worry. I think Rhys is fine.”

“I hope so,” I said softly.

Around us, the room had gone quiet, because everyone was utterly drained, including me. But even as my body started to sink into the floor, exhaustion creeping in, my mind didn’t settle.

It kept circling back, over and over. To Rhys. To Knox. To Brad and Olivia. The road. The woods. The way Chris had said it all happened so fast. My thoughts just kept on picking at the same pieces, trying to force them into something that made sense.

A quiet voice from earlier eventually drifted back to me.

The only thing that would really make sense is if it’s one of us, hiding in plain sight. But we already know it can’t be one of us.

Wren had said that.

A small, uneasy feeling stirred low in my stomach as I considered the notion again. Because it wasn’t entirely true anymore, was it?

We’d ruled people out based on where they were when certain things happened, and who could confirm it.

And Rhys…

He was the only one in the group who had no alibi for the time period in which Sloane and Reid were killed. But we’d all written him off as a suspect anyway, because by that stage, he’d technically had the strongest alibi of all.

He’d been dead.

My breath caught slightly as the thought landed properly for the first time.

That was Rhys’sonlyalibi; the fact that he’d been murdered by the killer. Except… that hadn’t actually happened. I knew that now.

I swallowed hard, my gaze still fixed on the ceiling as something cold started to spread through my chest.

No.

It didn’t mean anything. The guys had explained everything about the fake death plan, and it made total sense. And Jasmine had been so sure they were telling the truth…

My thoughts stuttered.