Page 45 of The Hunt

My heart soared. This was it! Real proof that could undeniably tie Jake to what happened last night.

If he was charged, people would finally realize what a criminal asshole he was. Julia might even feel emboldened enough to come forward with her own story about him.

“Here’s the bad news,” Harris went on, lips thinning. “The print doesn’t match anyone who’s already in the database. Without any suspects, that leaves us at a standstill. But it’s still positive news overall, because it means we have solid evidence to tie to any suspects who might come up during our investigation.”

As he spoke, I swallowed hard, conflict roiling in my belly. I desperately wanted to tell him to look at Jake as a suspect, but I knew if I did that, Rhett would absolutely hate me—more than he already did, that is—and I felt a strange sense of loyalty to him after all he’d done to help me.

On the other hand, this was my big chance to show the world who Jake really was. To add to that, I felt like I had a duty to other women at this point. Jake had already attacked one woman that I knew of, and now he’d tried to do it to me too.

If I failed to speak up when I had the opportunity handed to me on a silver platter, and he later went on to attack someone else, I’d feel responsible, because I could’ve done something to prevent it and chose to stay silent instead.

Sorry, Rhett.My loyalty to my fellow women trumped whatever weird, twisted loyalty I felt to him. Besides, I was doing him a big favor by not turning him in for breaking into my old dorm and smashing my laptop, so in the end, we could probably call it even.

I took a deep breath and steadied myself. “I think I might know who it was,” I murmured.

Harris lifted his brows, leaning forward. “Who?”

“Just to be clear, I don’t have any proof that it was him,” I said, lifting a palm. “Like I said last night, I didn’t actually see anything. But I have a feeling it could be my ex-boyfriend.”

“What makes you think that?”

“We broke up on really bad terms, and he’s sort of threatened me before,” I said. “I say ‘sort of’ because he never says anything directly. Just vague stuff. Also, he’s in a secret society that seems to have a lot of influence at Hollingsworth. So I bet he could’ve found someone to hack the keycard lock system on campus. That would explain how he got in without breaking anything.”

Harris tilted his head. “Can you elaborate on the vague threats you mentioned?”

I pulled out my phone and showed him the most recent text from Jake.Think you’re safe here, cunt? Think again. Just fucking wait and see what happens. By the time I’m done you’ll be begging me to stop, but I won’t.

Harris stared at the screen, lips pursed. Then he handed it back to me. “You’re right. This guy is definitely worth looking into. Can you give me his details?”

Once I’d provided them, I leaned forward in my seat, hands twisting nervously on my lap. “Does this mean you’ll bring him in?” I asked.

Harris nodded. “Yes. We’ll see if his prints match the partial we found. We can also check him for that bite mark you mentioned.”

I breathed a quiet sigh of relief and leaned back again.

After my admission about Jake, I still had to give a full statement about last night, but I felt much more confident about everything now that I knew the police would officially investigate him.

We wrapped up about an hour later, and as I walked out of the station, the chill of the day hit me. I’d done what I needed to do, but the weight of it all hadn’t lifted yet. It probably wouldn’t for a long time.

I headed to Hollingsworth to take out a book from the library, and then I caught up with Tessa, Bree, and Sloane at a quiet boba tea café on the edge of campus. They were furious and scared for me after I filled them in on what happened last night, but those negative emotions soon transformed into elated victory when I told them about the bloody fingerprint left on my desk.

Like me, the girls couldn’t wait for Jake to be taken down.

After the catchup, I headed back to my hotel suite and slumped on the gigantic bed, letting out a sigh of relief that the day was finally over. My phone started vibrating a moment later, and I rolled over to see that a private number was calling me.

Figuring it was the police calling with another update, I answered, heart thumping with anticipation. “Hello?”

“Hi, Everly.”

My stomach instantly began to churn. It was Jake.

“I’m hanging up,” I said through gritted teeth.

“Wait. I think you’ll want to hear this.”

I rolled my eyes. “Fine,” I said. I quickly switched the call to speakerphone and pressed ‘record’ on my voice memo app. “What do you want? Are you calling to apologize for breaking in last night?”

“I know what you’re doing, Ev, so you might as well stop recording me,” he said smoothly. “Anyway, I heard what happened to you, and I wanted to make sure you’re doing okay.”

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