Chapter 4 - THE FRIEND DANIEL TRUSTED
Ray Voss had once saved Daniel’s life.
That fact mattered.
Twenty-one years earlier, Daniel and Ray worked summers at a quarry outside Newark. A loader slipped on a wet incline and rolled. Daniel was pinned under part of the cab.
Ray crawled under unstable steel and kept pressure on Daniel’s leg until rescue crews arrived.
Daniel never forgot.
They drifted apart afterward.
Marriage.
Jobs.
Children.
Then reunited when Lily chose Halston.
Ray had been campus security director there for six years.
At orientation he hugged Daniel hard enough to hurt his back.
“Mercer! You got old.”
“You got fat.”
“Management.”
They laughed.
Daniel introduced Lily.
Ray immediately became protective.
“Your dad and I go way back. If any idiot gives you trouble, my office is in Mason Hall.”
Lily smiled.
Daniel felt relieved.
One familiar person on campus.
One adult he trusted.
Now Sergeant Bennett sat beside the hospital bed listening while Daniel explained all of it.
Ray’s watch.
Their history.
His access to security jackets.
His control over cameras.
Sergeant Bennett did not react dramatically.
She simply made a call.
Then another.
Within twenty minutes, Halston’s administration suspended Ray’s system credentials pending review.
But when officers went to his office—
he was gone.
His car remained in the employee garage.
His work phone was inside his desk.
His jacket locker was open.
One jacket missing.
Daniel felt physically ill.
“Find him.”
“We are.”
“Don’t tell me you’re looking. Find him.”
Sergeant Bennett’s expression stayed steady.
“We will.”
Then Lily tapped Daniel’s arm.
Marker board.
She wrote slowly.
RAY DIDN’T HIT ME
Daniel stared.
“What?”
Lily underlined it.
RAY DIDN’T HIT
Sergeant Bennett leaned closer.
“Was Ray there?”
Yes.
“Did he see what happened?”
Lily hesitated.
Then nodded.
Daniel’s anger changed shape.
If Ray was there but didn’t strike her—
why did he hide?
Lily wrote again.
HE HELPED THEM
Them.
Plural.
Daniel’s stomach dropped.
Sergeant Bennett asked:
“Who else?”
Lily’s hand hovered over the board.
Then she wrote:
ETHAN
DR KLINE
Daniel stared.
Dr. Arthur Kline.
Chair of Halston’s chemistry department.
Lily’s research supervisor.
A man Daniel had met twice and liked immediately.
Professional.
Soft-spoken.
Nationally respected.
Why would a department chair, a graduate student, and head of campus security all be involved in whatever happened behind the science building?
Lily wrote one more phrase.
May you like
LAB FILES
And suddenly the assault stopped looking personal.
