He let Sierra in and snatched his phone from the bed.
Her attention flickered to his packed bag, then back to him. “Why did you take the cheats? We could’ve gotten through on our own.”
“We did. I didn’t use the cheats, no matter what Jarius and the others say.”
“So why bother?”
Sierra waited, looking vulnerable. There was an openness to her expression. Without the sharp lines on her eyelids and the sneering black lipstick, Adi felt like he couldseeher.
“Ranielle offered me a job as host of the show next season,” he said.
She drew back. “What?”
“She brought it up after the first elimination round.”
“What about Fitzy? Is she firing him?”
“Hitflix wants him gone. She gave me some spiel about going in a new direction, but I was wondering . . . Maybe she’s canning him because he knows something he shouldn’t?” He frowned. “You don’t thinkhecould be the Real Game Master, do you?”
They stared at each other a beat before Sierra’s shoulders started shaking. Her fingers touched her lips, as if to belatedly try to stop her growing smile. Then came a sound Adi realized he’d never heard from her before.
She was giggling.
“Fitzy?” she said. “Planting clues? Anagrams?”
“Okay, I see your point.”
The giggles were snowballing. “You think he put together that ribbon clue? Using a columnar transposition cipher?”
“Oh god, no.”
There were tears in her eyes now. “He didn’t even know what pi was!”
A laugh burst from Adi, too. “Fine, fine. I don’t know why I said it. God, I hate that guy.”
Sierra’s good humor faded. She gave Adi a look that made him feel strangely transparent.
“Despite your accusations yesterday,” she said, “I don’t have nothing.”
“Look, I’m really sorry about that—”
“I have Carter. And Beck. And maybe you. That’s why I’m here. I wanted to set things straight. Because you were right—I had to cool down. I wasn’t ready to listen to you yesterday. I am now. Tell me what you wanted to say about the recording.”
“All right,” he said. “Ranielle offered me the cheats because she didn’t want a loser hosting her show. I told her no at first, but she offered again the morning of the fun-house room, and I had to distract her because she almost caught me stealing the Sweetbrier Resort files for Beck. That was the audio Jarius had. Only, I don’t know how he got it. Her office must be bugged.”
“Is Jarius even capable of that?”
“He wasn’t behind it. I know because Ranielle and I were talking about me being host during that meeting and Jarius didn’t say a thing about it. Don’t you think that’s information he would’ve loved taunting us with?”
Sierra lifted an eyebrow. “You’re saying he didn’t know?”
“Exactly. And the only reason he wouldn’t have known is because someone else supplied him with an edited version of the recording. Someone has been listening to her. And I was thinking . . . maybe they’ve inadvertently recorded evidence that could help get her convicted for Alicia’s murder, or Louis’s.”
Sierra leaned against the wall, considering. “The Real Game Master,” she whispered. “They know Ranielle killed Alicia, and they’re trying to get that missing information they’re so desperate for.”
“Maybe they’re planning to reveal audio proof during the finale.”
“This is huge!” Sierra began her signature pace. “We have to get Jarius to tell us who gave him the recording.”
