Chapter 44 Carter
Carter
Carter and Beck had squeezed together on one of the two double beds.
Carter was trying to keep her phone screen turned away from him so he wouldn’t see the team T-shirts she’d designed.
HELSINGS SLAY! THE ESCAPE GAME SEASON FIVE was printed above a glowing chemistry set.
Carter had placed the order the day after the fun-house round.
Now she couldn’t for the life of her figure out how to cancel the order.
Custom order. Nonrefundable.
Beside her, Beck studied Alicia’s cryptic letter about the affair for the thousandth time. They hadn’t given it to the detective who questioned them at the villa, knowing he would have used it as further confirmation that Louis was the killer. Now it was their only clue left.
Old episodes of The Escape Game played on the TV. Carter should have turned it off. It was torture watching previous contestants puzzling through each round, knowing her time on the show was over.
Sure, there had always been a possibility of elimination, but never had Carter thought it could happen like this. To have victory ripped from their hands when they were so close, when they’d done so well, all because Adi hadn’t believed in them.
Beck smoothed the letter across the lampshade on the nightstand. They’d already tried that at the villas. No hidden message had appeared then, and none appeared now. He sighed. Flipped the paper over. Upside down. Back and forth.
“Give it up,” said Carter, opening her phone.
She had three missed calls from her parents, but she couldn’t bring herself to return them, knowing she would burst into tears the moment she heard their voices.
Instead, she mindlessly scrolled through her Domain videos.
“The key to that would be in Elijah’s villa, hidden in a light fixture or something.
” She stared at her avatar. The bright red hair.
The round glasses. A crop top paired with a trendy skirt.
In this shot, Carter had the avatar winking and giving a thumbs-up.
It was supposed to be encouraging, but now it felt like the character was mocking her. “We’re never going to find it now.”
Beck’s brow was set with determination. He was beginning to act as obsessive as Sierra. “Or maybe it has something to do with episode two’s sheet music.”
They’d watched that episode a dozen times since finding the note, but they couldn’t find anything in it that was relevant to Alicia’s letter.
Carter was relieved when she heard footsteps and the telltale click of a key card—anything to keep them from losing their minds.
The door flew open, striking the wall. Sierra burst in, breathless and frazzled.
And behind her, Adi.
Carter tensed. She and Beck might’ve been the ones to convince Sierra to talk to Adi, but that didn’t mean Carter wasn’t still mad at him.
“Oh good, you’re both here,” said Sierra, dropping onto the other queen bed. “We have news.”
Carter crossed her arms. “Is it that Adi didn’t cheat after all and we’re back on the show?”
“Um . . . no.”
Carter huffed.
Sierra glanced at Adi, who was standing near the door as though he wanted to leave his escape route open.
“You owe them an apology,” Sierra said.
Adi inhaled deeply. “I’m sorry. I really am. I screwed this up for us, and I hate it.”
Carter narrowed her eyes. He sounded genuine.
“Good enough,” said Sierra. “Now listen to this.”
She explained how the person who had given Jarius the recording was probably the Real Game Master.
The whole time she talked, Adi remained silent, leaning against the wall while his attention darted back and forth from the TV.
Like watching old episodes of The Escape Game was somehow more interesting than tracking down evidence of Ranielle’s crimes.
A silence fell over the group while Carter and Beck digested Sierra’s information, until Adi straightened and said, “What season is this?”
Carter glanced at him. “What?”
Striding across the room, Adi grabbed the remote control and turned up the volume. “What season is this from?”
“Um.” Carter eyed the contestants on the show, who were scrambling to wrap a strip of mummy bandage around a tall staff covered with painted hieroglyphs. “Season two.”
“What episode?”
“Huh?”
“What episode?”
She let out a frustrated noise and threw her hands into the air. “I don’t know! Second, I think? What does it matter?”
“This is it. What we’ve been missing.” He whipped toward her. “Where’s Alicia’s letter?”
“Here.” Beck picked it up from the side table and handed it to him.
“Does anyone have scissors?”
“Scissors?” Sierra barked. “You can’t destroy my sister’s letter!”
“We have to.” Adi was grinning now. “It’s a scytale cipher.”
Carter gasped. “A scytale cipher. Oh my gosh. You could be right. Why didn’t we think of that?”
“Er. Yeah. Scytale cipher. So obvious,” said Beck. Then he looked at Sierra, who shrugged.
“It’s when you wrap strips of paper around a cylinder to reveal the message,” explained Adi.
A light entered Beck’s eyes. “Oh, that. Yeah, okay, that could work.”
“What if you’re wrong?” said Sierra.
“I’m not wrong. But if I am, well . . . take a photo of it first.”
After a pause, Carter said, “I think I have nail scissors in my bag . . . ?” She glanced at Sierra, unsure she should be volunteering this information.
A muscle twitched in Sierra’s jaw, and she gave a short nod. Carter recognized it for what it was. A vote of confidence. In Adi. In Team Helsing.
Carter climbed off the bed to search through her bag. After she produced the scissors and Sierra snapped a photo, Adi made quick work of Alicia’s letter—cutting it into pieces so that each line of text became an individual strip.
Only once he’d completely destroyed the best lead they had did he hesitate. “Crap.”
Beck raised an eyebrow. “That’s not what we want to hear.”
“We need a rod or a cylinder,” said Adi.
“I have ChapStick?” said Carter.
He shook his head. “It will only work if we have one that’s the exact dimensions of whatever Alicia used to create the cipher. What would she have . . .” With a groan, he slumped against the wall. “The light from the number-four villa. She must have used a lamp base or something.”
“Okay,” said Sierra. “We need to get back into the villas and figure out which light she was talking about. Do we know anyone on the inside who would be willing to help? Can we trust Lisa?”
“No need,” said Beck, crossing his ankles and leaning back into the pillows. “She was probably referring to the flashlight. The one that came with the welcome kit.” He reached into the book bag he’d brought in from his own room and produced the flashlight, twirling it between his fingers.
“Nice work, Beck!” Sierra squeezed onto the bed, forcing Beck to be squashed between her and Carter. She took the flashlight and opened her palm to Adi. “Give me those strips.”
“This was my idea,” he said. “Shouldn’t I be the one to do it?”
Sierra shot him a look.
Adi made a face, then gathered up the strips of paper from the letter and handed them to Sierra. She took the first one and, holding one end at the top of the flashlight, wrapped it around so that it spiraled down the cylinder.
She rotated it, scanning the new columns that had been formed from the letters, but Beck spotted it first. He pointed. “Here!”
“W-I-L-L,” Sierra read. “G-O-T-O . . .”
“Go to where?” Beck said eagerly.
Sierra grabbed the next strip of paper and repeated the process, revealing the next words. “M-E-D-I-A . . .”
“About the affair?” said Carter. “She was going to go public?”
Sierra already had the third strip of paper wrapped around the flashlight. It only took a minute to go through the entire letter, spelling out Alicia’s final message.
Willgoto
Media_
About
Affair
black_
mailing
Rani.
offer4
silence
Iloveyou
“I love you,” Sierra whispered as they stared at the final line. The last thing her sister would ever say to her.
Carter reached across Beck to lay a hand on Sierra’s leg. “Want to take a minute?”
Sierra swallowed. “No. I want to end this.”
“It was blackmail all along,” said Adi. “She was blackmailing Ranielle.”
Sierra’s hands were shaking. “This has to be Ranielle’s motive.”
Adi dragged a frustrated hand through his hair. “We already had a motive. Alicia was sleeping with her husband.”
“Which is bad enough, but this? If Alicia went public about her relationship with Louis, it would destroy the show. Hitflix would drop them instantly. How much money does Ranielle stand to lose if that deal falls apart?”
“That’s a good point. But it’s still not proof.”
“Alicia was being reckless,” said Sierra, gazing at the translated message. “She knew she was in danger. Whatever Ranielle offered her, Alicia was risking a lot for it.”
Suddenly, Beck gasped. “I know what we need to do!” He launched himself from the bed, scattering the strips of paper in his hurry to get up. “We’re going to need paper, pencils, and a lot of markers.” His face split into a giddy smile. “We’re going to make a murder board.”