Page 77 of Romance Is Dead

“. . . no, nobody suspects anything, not. . . Oh, sorry.” She cleared her throat, and when she spoke again, her accent was gone—she now sounded decidedly un-British and instead straight out of the American Midwest. “Is that better? It’s become such a habit. What was I saying?. . . Oh, yeah. The director is so damn worried about falling behind schedule, she wouldn’t notice—”

My head snapped toward Teddy, whose own eyes had grown wide. Where had her accent gone? Had she been faking it this whole time? And what was the person on the other end worried people would suspect? I pressed myself closer to the wall, straining to hear better.

“No, I know. I know. No one’s going to find out though, I promise.” Her steps picked up again, this time heading our way. She was now dangerously close to our hiding spot, so close that if she stopped she would surely hear us breathe. I peeked through the crack in the door, unable to resist.

“That’s an idea,” Audrey continued. “Anywho, I’ve got to get going.”

I strained my eyes in the dim light, holding my breath as Audrey got closer. She reached up to swipe the hair out of her face as she passed, and there on her wrist, I saw Trevor’s friendship bracelet. The one his niece had made him.

The one that had been missing when he died.

“Please stop worrying. I’m keeping it under wraps.” Audrey gave a little laugh. “Mmm hmm. Bye-bye.”

My heart pounding, I listened to her descend the steps to the floor below. The conversation had been barely five minutes, but we’d learned a lot.

Audrey had been faking her accent.

There was something Audrey had to worry about people being suspicious of.

And Audrey possessed a missing piece of Trevor’s property, something he wouldn’t have let go of willingly.

I backed away from the door, shooting Teddy a look. His mouth was a grim line and his forehead was furrowed, suggesting he’d also seen what I had. Suddenly, I didn’t want to be anywhere near Audrey.

Chapter Twenty-five

Something was definitely wrong with Audrey.

It was the next morning, and we had started filming one of the longest sequences in the movie. The three college students who remained—me, Teddy, and Chloe—were preparing to make their first attempt to defeat the witch. They’d ultimately fail, of course, and Chloe’s poor character would meet her demise via a spell that mummified her from the inside out. It was pretty gnarly and would mark the end of act two, with only two of the main cast left.

It was a complex scene, but the plan was to start with a few simple shots: my character fetching the potion from where we’d hidden it under the sink, Teddy rigging together a makeshift shelter from the kitchen table and chairs, and Chloe pouring salt around the perimeter to create a circle of protection in preparation for Audrey, as the witch, to arrive and wage her attack.

Even before we started filming, no one seemed to want to be there. Teddy was distracted, screwing up the blocking twice by grabbing the wrong set of chairs. Chloe’s energy was muted, with none of the verve she usually brought to set. Even the crew were dragging their feet, needing multiple reminders of the time as they prepped the set.

Natasha, especially, looked haggard from her long meetings with reps from the production company late at night. Dark circles ringed her eyes, and her usually perky hair was lying flat and greasy. Her energy seemed sapped—the only time she spoke was to snap at people.

I didn’t blame anyone for feeling off. In the days since Brent’s death, the vibes on set had only gotten stranger. Darker. Members of the cast and crew alike were constantly on edge, suspicious. The strange noises in the house had grown more frequent: odd groans and scurrying in the walls. Things had gone missing from my trailer—a chunky gold ring here, a marked-up script there—enough for me to notice but not be sure whether they were taken or just misplaced.

I couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was lurking around, unseen and undetected. And even though the police still hadn’t found hard evidence to the contrary, no one believed Brent’s death had been an accident, and more and more were starting to whisper about Trevor, too.

So, everything considered, I understood why Natasha was out of sorts. But my empathy dissipated once cameras started rolling.

First, she accused me of closing the kitchen cabinet too aggressively after retrieving the potion. Then she made Chloe reshoot her portion of the scene, claiming the salt circle wasn’t smooth enough. She completely unloaded on Teddy, yelling at him for not stacking the chairs on the table in the precise way she wanted. And Audrey couldn’t even creep in the background without reprimand. Apparently, she needed to “lurk with more energy.”

By the time we wrapped, we were all in rotten moods, and I felt bad that Chloe and Audrey had to come back after lunch while the rest of us had the afternoon off.

Relieved to get out of the house and away from its oppressive vibe, Mara and I set up a picnic on the lawn, inviting the others to join us. Nobody wanted to eat at the designated tables, with the image of Brent collapsing and asphyxiating to death still potent in our minds. The weather was gorgeous—sunny but crisp with a slight breeze rustling the leaves—and we stayed even after Chloe and Audrey returned to set to continue filming their scene.

We sipped warm apple cider out of our thermoses, decompressing after the stressful morning. Teddy hooked one arm around my bent leg, anchoring me tight against him as he lazily rubbed my calf. The gesture was subtle but intimate, making me feel safe and noticed in a supremely cozy way.

Unfortunately, Mara noticed, too. She immediately clocked our entwined limbs, a smirk slowly spreading across her face.

“Wow, you sure ate your food fast, Teddy,” she said, despite the fact that we’d all finished our lunches at least fifteen minutes ago. “Do you. . . like eating?”

I narrowed my eyes, knowing exactly where she was going with this.

Teddy, however, was nonplussed. “Sure, I guess so.”

“Interesting. What would you say. . . is your favorite thing to eat?”

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