Chapter 3 - THE MAN IN THE JACKET
Campus police arrived at the hospital at 1:17 a.m.
Sergeant Laura Bennett was forty-six, tired-eyed, and careful enough not to make Daniel immediately hate her.
She explained what they knew.
At 11:46 p.m., a campus security officer named Marcus Hale radioed dispatch reporting an injured female behind the science annex.
He claimed he found Lily unconscious beside the service road.
EMS arrived seven minutes later.
Lily’s phone was missing.
Her student ID remained inside her backpack.
Wallet untouched.
No obvious robbery.
Daniel asked:
“And the security footage?”
Sergeant Bennett’s expression tightened.
“There’s a problem.”
Of course there was.
The camera overlooking the service road had been disabled from 11:31 until 11:52.
Daniel stared.
“Disabled?”
“Manually taken offline through the security console.”
“By who?”
“We’re checking.”
“What about the image the nurse showed us?”
“Different camera. Science loading entrance. It caught one partial frame before the feed went dark.”
Daniel looked toward Lily.
Dr. Hayes had given her pain medication. Her eyes remained open but heavy.
Sergeant Bennett continued.
“The security jacket in that frame is standard issue.”
“So the man could be campus security.”
“Yes.”
“Or someone wearing the jacket.”
“Yes.”
“Who has access to those?”
“Employees. Some supervisors keep spares.”
Daniel thought of Ethan.
“He’s not security.”
Sergeant Bennett looked at him.
“Who?”
Daniel showed her the image and pointed at the watch.
“My daughter’s boyfriend wears one like that.”
Lily’s eyes snapped toward him.
Sergeant Bennett saw.
“Lily, is the person in that frame Ethan Cole?”
Lily tried to speak.
Pain stopped her.
Dr. Hayes stepped in immediately.
“No verbal questioning right now.”
Sergeant Bennett nodded.
“Can she write?”
Lily’s dominant hand was uninjured.
Dr. Hayes brought a marker board.
Lily held the marker.
Her fingers shook.
Daniel watched her write one letter.
N
Then another.
O
No.
Not Ethan?
Or no to the question?
Sergeant Bennett asked carefully:
“Are you saying the man in the image is not Ethan?”
Lily closed her eyes.
Then shook her head.
No.
Daniel felt confused.
She erased the board.
Wrote again.
ETHAN THERE
Daniel’s chest tightened.
“Ethan was there?”
Lily nodded.
Then wrote:
NOT JACKET
The room became silent.
Ethan had been present.
But he was not the man wearing the security jacket.
Daniel stared at her.
“Who was?”
Lily’s hand stopped moving.
Her whole body seemed to tighten.
She looked terrified.
Then wrote three words.
HE KNOWS DAD
Daniel felt ice move through him.
Sergeant Bennett asked:
“Your father knows him?”
Lily nodded.
Daniel’s mind began racing through everyone connected to Halston.
Professors.
Security.
Donors.
Contractors.
Then one name landed.
Raymond Voss.
Head of campus security.
Fifty-two.
Former sheriff’s deputy.
And Daniel’s old high-school football teammate.
The man who personally reassured Daniel at orientation:
“If anything ever happens to Lily, call me first.”
May you like
Raymond Voss also wore a silver watch.
Because Daniel had given it to him fifteen years earlier.
