Chapter 15 #4
“Girl…” Wren let out a slow breath, tipping her head back for a second before looking at me again. “Think about that for a second. Like, really think about it.”
I blinked. “What?”
She lifted a palm. “Let’s say you’re right, and Rhys has decided to start murdering people here. He obviously wouldn't want to get caught, would he?”
I shook my head.
“So if that’s the case, being paired up with him is literally the safest position you could be in,” she went on.
“Everyone knew you were his search partner last night. And everyone knew you were with him again this morning for the ax throwing thing. So if anything happened to you during either of those times, he’d be the first suspect on everyone’s minds.
So of course he didn’t hurt you. It would’ve been stupid. ”
I sank even lower on the bed, stomach dropping again. So much for all that logical thinking I’d tried to employ last night.
“Oh my god,” I said in a hollow voice. “I'm so stupid. I didn't even think of that.”
“Hey, don’t be so hard on yourself.” Tamsin frowned slightly. “Maybe we’re all just jumping to conclusions here.”
We all looked at her.
“Maybe it was circumstantial,” she added. “Like you originally thought. And maybe he didn’t actually lie about the shoes.”
“But he did lie,” I insisted. “He didn’t wear those shoes to paintball. I swear!”
“That’s not what I meant. I meant… maybe he didn’t know he wasn’t telling the truth. Maybe a kid really did get a nosebleed on him, and it was during a different activity when he was wearing those shoes, and then he just mixed it up with paintball. No one has a perfect memory.”
Wren tilted her head slightly. “That’s a fair point. He genuinely could’ve thought he was telling the truth.”
“Also,” Tamsin said, her brow creasing, “the other blood thing? It doesn’t really make a ton of sense. I mean, you said you saw Rhys come out of the bathroom block with Jensen just before Maren came and told you that she couldn’t find Sloane. Right?”
Jasmine shook her head. “They weren’t together. Jensen came out after him. Like, a minute later, maybe.”
“Whatever.” Tamsin lifted a hand again. “My point is, even if Rhys had just slaughtered two people and gotten their blood all over him… he showered afterward. So why would there be any blood on his neck?”
“It was just a speck,” I said. “I figured he could’ve missed it, because it’s not like people can see the back of their necks when they’re washing.”
“Yeah, I guess that’s possible,” Wren said, though she didn’t sound convinced. “I just… I don’t see it. Why would Rhys do something like that? Sloane, Reid, and Delia were all his friends.”
Jasmine let out a sharp, disbelieving laugh. “I can’t believe you’re actually trying to defend him right now.”
Her gaze snapped back to me.
“Alissa, I’m a hundred percent on your side. If you think it’s him, then it’s him. I’ve always thought there was something off about him. Like, psychopathically off. Those eyes of his?” She shuddered. “Cold and dead. Like a shark.”
Tamsin raised a brow. “If you really thought all that, then why didn’t you suspect him as the killer before now?”
“Because I had him pegged as more of a corporate-style psychopath,” Jasmine replied. “You know, manipulative, soulless, screws everyone over for money. I didn’t have him pegged as a full-on ax murderer.”
“Okay, okay.” Wren chimed in again. “Even if we aren’t totally certain it’s him, we can’t just ignore the possibility, can we? So the question now is: what do we do about it?”
I straightened slightly, forcing myself to think past the panic. “If it is him, and he realizes we’re onto him…” My voice faltered for a second, then steadied. “Then we’re in danger. All of us.”
No one argued with that.
“So we shouldn’t confront him,” I continued. “We should wait a couple of hours. The cops should be here by then, and then we can tell them our suspicions about him when we’re completely safe.”
“That seems like the smartest move,” Wren said, nodding slowly.
She glanced at her phone. “It’s just past ten now.
If Brad and Olivia make it to Millhaven by lunchtime like they said, I guess we can expect cops to arrive anywhere between twelve-thirty and one-thirty.
So yeah… we just need to sit tight and keep our mouths shut for a few hours. ”
“And stay the fuck away from Rhys,” Jasmine added flatly.
“Yup.” I took another deep breath. My heart was still racing, but it felt different now. Less like immediate danger. More like something looming just out of reach.
But soon, help would arrive, and this would be over.
The four of us stayed in the cabin, spread out across the beds with books we weren’t really reading. No one talked much.
Time dragged.
Just after one, a sudden pounding on the door shattered the quiet, loud enough to make all of us flinch.
“What the fuck?” Jasmine muttered, jumping to her feet.
“Guys?” A feminine voice called from outside, thin with panic. “Are you in there?”
Wren frowned. “That sounds like Sutton.”
Jasmine was already halfway across the room, and we followed close behind as she yanked the door open.
Sutton was standing there, pale as a ghost, her eyes wide and glassy. “You all need to come out here,” she said, voice shaking. “It… it’s Rhys.”
Jasmine let out a breath. “Yeah. We know. We figured it out earlier.”
Sutton blinked at her. “What are you talking about?”
“Uhh… what are you talking about?” Jasmine asked, frowning.
Sutton dragged a hand down her face, her breath hitching. “He’s dead,” she said, voice cracking slightly. “Rhys is dead.”