Page 97 of Camera Stays On

My tummy fluttered. Did I like his kissing?

I didn’t get the same tummy flutters I had with Asher’s kiss, but… Asher left.

“Purdy, I know I’m not good with my words, but I’ve liked you for a long time. I knew that first day I saw you, I wanted to make you my girlfriend and marry you, and—and kiss you.” He came forward again, and this time his movements were less stiff. This time, my lips moved too. I was an active participant in this. My belly was doing leaps and twists, unsure of how I felt about it all, and then—

Flashlights shined down on us from the sidewalk. I leaped away, mortified that we’d been caught.

“There they are.” Asher pointed at us as two policemen came toward us, my mother behind them.

“Oh thank God!” she wailed, running toward me. Tackling me, she wrapped her arms around me and began to sob into my hair. “Andi, oh my God.”

“What’s g-g-going on?” I asked, unsure of what to do. We weren’t a hugging family. I tried to wiggle away from the uncomfortable show of affection.

“Ray’s dead.” She managed to get out before collapsing in my arms. My eyes darted to Sawyer, who was currently being scolded by his parents and the police.

“What?” The words felt funny on my lips.

“He’s dead! Someone murdered him. Right in our living room!” she wailed.

“Who? Do we know who?” I asked.

Again, my eyes flicked back to the boys. Sawyer caught my gaze and, careful to make sure his parents weren’t watching him, he shook his head ever so slightly, as if to tell me not to say anything.

What had he done?

Chapter 43

Asher

“I KNOW YOU killed Ray,” Andi blurted as I shut the door. Before I could register what she’d said, I started forward into the dim basement, then paused mid-step. I turned back, reached for the handle, twisted it, and threw the door back open.

“You knew?”

She jumped, grabbing for the blanket and covering herself. She looked back at me, her big brown eyes wide as she slowly nodded.

“I knew this whole time,” she whispered.

My entire body relaxed as I came back inside, shutting the door slowly.

“And you never turned us in.” I let that settle in. Hundreds, thousands of moments flashed in my mind. So many looks, smiles, head nods she’d given us. She’d known the entire time the details of what we’d done. “And you still...”

“Loved you? Yeah.” She gave a small, half smile and shrugged. “You guys saved me.”

Guys. Both of us. My heart sank momentarily, but a small flickering light bulb began to buzz in my brain.

“It didn’t scare you, seeing the photos, hearing the stories of people trying to guess exactly what happened?”

I’d listened to them all. Those true crime content creators. It sickened me—the ones who did their makeup while making vile jokes about the victims. Most of them earned money off it, and never spared a dime to help the people who’d survived the brutal crimes. But, natural curiosity forced me to consume anything regarding the murder of Ray Gould, even if my morals said it was wrong. It was my deep dark secret, my guilty pleasure, I’d venture. In most ways, I considered myself normal, but maybe it was the narcissist in me—I liked to see my crime.

I liked to relive it.

She looked down at the ground, and my insides twisted. I didn’t want to hear it, but at the same time, I needed to. What Sawyer and I had done was something no one should ever do. And she’d inadvertently helped cover it up. We’d never asked her to; she did that on her own.

“I tried to avoid it all. And my mom never wanted to talk about it, obviously. It was kind of a head-in-the-sand situation.”

“But why? Weren’t you scared?” I kept pushing, curiosity getting the best of me. She looked up and laughed.

“Scared? Ha! I wasn’t a monster. I knew you and Sawyer weren’t going to kill me.”