Page 56 of The Ruse

An accomplice?

Someone with the hookups to hide a body?

Why did I agree to be his partner for the scavenger hunt?

Had he somehow known this would happen and had planned all this in order to get me alone so I could be his next victim? Had he made a deal with someone else to tell Miss Crawley that I’d left with Nash and Cambrielle?

Why had I binge-watched a series about a serial killer last week? I was never going to sleep now.

Wasn’t there an episode where Joe went to some cabin, or house in the country, and killed someone while he was there? Had Asher watched the show and taken notes?

Asher must have sensed the sudden shift in my mood because he looked up from his phone and asked, “Is something wrong?”

“Um, no,” I said, tucking some hair behind my ear. “Everything is fine—great. Everything is great.”

Why did I have to sound like I was scared? Didn’t killers thrive off the fear of their victims?

Asher narrowed his dark-brown eyes, like he didn’t believe me. And if he had a slight gap in between his two front teeth, he would have looked surprisingly similar to Penn Badgley.

They both had the dark wavy hair. The brown eyes. The self-deprecating humor.

Was Asher obsessed with rare books, too? Did he like to wear a blue ball cap when he went outside?

I didn’t know how tall Penn was—probably not as tall as Asher, since Asher was in the six-foot-two or three range.

And he was also quite a bit more muscular.

Those things would come in handy if he needed to carry a dead body into the woods.

“Are you worried about being stuck here for a long time?” he asked. “Because Miss Crawley said she’d try to get a couple of snowmobiles out here tomorrow. And that there was plenty of food left up here for us to eat.”

“They’ll be here in the morning?” I asked, grasping onto that piece of information like it was a lifeline.

“She’s going to try.”

And you’re not going to try to kill me before then?

“Well, that’s good,” I said, trying to sound as calm as I could manage. “One night up here shouldn’t be so bad.”

Plus, Miss Crawley knew I was here. Asher wouldn’t do anything tonight if he knew everyone would suspect him.

Unless he pretended like I’d gotten lost in the woods during the scavenger hunt.

Maybe I should FaceTime Ava just so she’d have official proof that I was currently alive and alone with Asher.

“Yeah, we’ll have the whole place to ourselves.” Asher stretched one arm along the back of the couch. “Plenty of time to practice that kissing scene we’ll have together.”

“What?” I pulled my head back, completely caught off guard by his statement.

Had I missed something?

He set his phone on the cushion beside him. “The kiss during ‘All I Ask of You.’” He narrowed his gaze. “You did know about that kiss, right?”

“I, um…” I scratched the back of my neck. “I guess I hadn’t thought about it yet.”

Somehow.

I’d been so focused on wanting to kiss Nash before we kissed on stage that I’d completely forgotten all about the other guy I’d be kissing for the musical.

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