Page 66 of Hide And Seek

“Holy fuck,” Tamsin muttered, blinking slowly.

“I just…” My voice cracked, and tears suddenly stung my eyes, blurring everything. “Oh my god, I’m sostupid!”

Wren stepped closer, her voice steady. “Hey. Sit down. Just breathe for a second. Then tell us.”

I let her guide me onto the bed, my legs giving way too easily. Then I started talking.

Everything spilled out in pieces. The blood. The timeline. The way things hadn’t added up. The way I’d talked myself out of it.

“I thought I was just being paranoid. Thought I was overreacting,” I finished, shaking my head. “But then… the shoe thing. Helied. I know it.”

The other three girls were completely silent for a beat. Then Jasmine threw her hands up. “Why the hell didn’t you tell us any of this last night?” she demanded.

“It’s like I said. So much of it was circumstantial. And last night, I really thought I was wrong. I figured he must’ve touched his neck after getting Sloane’s blood on his hand,” I said, my voice unsteady despite my effort to control it. “Also, I was alone with him for hours. He had every opportunity to do something to me, and he didn’t. Not last night. Not this morning.”

“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,reallythink about it.”

I blinked. “What?”

She lifted a palm. “Let’s say you’re right, and Rhyshasdecided 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 itwascircumstantial,” 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?”