Page 55 of The Ruse

She’d checked in on me all summer, and it was her who convinced me to come back to Eden Falls Academy, even though I hadn’t wanted to.

It was an interesting dynamic since she was only my drama teacher. And yet, she cared more about me and my well-being than my own mother who hadn’t tried calling me from prison in over a year.

After reassuring Miss Crawley that Elyse and I would be okay for a night or two in the cabin, we finally hung up.

17

ELYSE

“So, what exactly is going on?”I asked Asher when he hung up with Miss Crawley. “Did you say they left because of a blizzard warning?”

A blizzard that was apparently going to be so bad, they left here in such a rush and didn’t even notice we were missing from the group.

How had Miss Crawley not done a head count?

“Yeah,” he said, moving to look out the windows. “It must have started in town because it’s only barely starting to snow here, and she said it was whiteout conditions there.”

I stepped up beside him to look out the window. The storm clouds that had been taunting us over the past hour as we’d searched for the cabin had finally broken, and a soft flurry of snow was drifting to the ground.

I hadn’t experienced winter in Connecticut yet—aside from the small amount of snow we’d received the night of my date with Nash—but I imagined it was similar to winter in Ridgewater.

Harsh and cold and long.

“Do you know when they realized we weren’t with them?” I glanced up at Asher, trying not to feel hurt over being forgotten. “Was it not until just barely when she called?”

Because if they were already back in town, they had to have left about an hour ago.

“I didn’t ask. But I had a bunch of texts and missed calls when I picked up my phone.” He looked sideways at me. “I think they noticed you were missing first, since she mentioned there was confusion about you possibly heading back to town with Cambrielle and Nash earlier.”

“I guess that makes sense,” I said, feeling slightly better that they hadn’t completely forgotten about me. I had stowed my suitcase under the bed Cambrielle and I had slept on last night, so it wouldn’t have been visible if they’d done a quick sweep of the cabin.

“I’m not sure when they realized I was missing, though.” He shrugged, his broad shoulders gently rubbing against mine with the movement. “Might not have been until everyone was back and Hunter pointed out that he was roommate-less.”

Asher’s jaw flexed, and I guessed that being forgotten was something he was taking personally.

Which I got. I was hurt myself.

“Either way,” he said, stepping back from the window to head toward the leather couches. “You and I are stuck here for at least tonight.”

And that was when it actually hit me. I was stranded in the cabin with Asher.

With a guy I was just barely getting to know and become friends with…who had also been under police investigation a few months ago.

A spine-chilling feeling wrapped around me.

Was I going to be snowed in with a murderer?

I looked over to where he was now texting someone from his phone. He seemed calm. Relaxed.

Was he too relaxed?

It’s cool. Stay cool.

He’s not a wacko bad guy. He’s normal. Fun. Just like every other guy at school. And he only made a couple of jokes about what serial killers do.

Just because someone joked about something didn’t mean they’d actually do the thing…

He was still texting on his phone. Who was he texting?

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