Page 40 of The Hunt

“Ouch,” he said with a sympathetic wince. “It looks like it might need a couple of stitches, just in case. For now, keep applying pressure to it with that towel.”

“She can get it stitched at the campus medical center,” one of the campus security officers said. “I already called the emergency night nurse just in case.”

“We’ll go there soon. But first, I need to ask a few questions,” the cop said, his tone calm but firm as he kept his gaze on Ev.

She nodded, eyes wide and fearful. He asked her several questions, piecing together what had happened from the time she fell asleep to the moment she woke up to the guy pinning her down. Meanwhile, the other officers spread out, scanning the dorm for evidence with sharp eyes.

The gray-haired cop finally looked at me. “You’re the one who called it in?”

I nodded and rose to my feet. “Yeah. Rhett Sinclair.”

“Can you tell me what happened on your end?”

“I heard Ev crying from the hall, so I ran in here and saw a guy on top of her,” I said. “I managed to fight him off her, but he got away. I figured the guard at the door would probably get him.”

“Unfortunately, it seems he went out through an emergency exit at the back of the building,” the cop said. “That exit is always locked from the outside, so there was no guard stationed there, and the guard at the front saw nothing.”

“So he’s still out there somewhere.”

“For now, yes.” He paused, eyes narrowing slightly. “How did you get in here tonight?”

Fuck.

“I—”

Ev cut me off. “He’s my boyfriend,” she said hurriedly. “I invited him here and left his name with the guard to make sure he’d be allowed into the building. I know we’re not supposed to do that, but I just… I really didn’t want to be alone tonight. Not after what happened earlier.”

I stared at her, surprised that she hadn’t thrown me under the bus. I could only guess that she felt some sort of twisted loyalty to me now that I’d saved her from the other guy.

“Yeah, that’s right,” I said. “She invited me over.”

The cop looked back at Ev, frowning. “Didn’t you say you were sleeping when the attack happened?”

“Yes,” she said. A slight tremor had entered her voice. “I mean… I tried my best to stay awake until Rhett got here, but I was really tired, so I must’ve drifted off at some point. I don’t even remember doing it. But… that’s why I was asleep when he arrived.”

“Ah. I see.” The cop’s brows rose as he looked back at me. “So how did you get in if she wasn’t awake to let you in? To this room, I mean. Not the building.”

“The door was slightly ajar when I got here. The other guy must’ve left it like that after he broke in,” I said, rubbing my jaw. “Obviously, I’d usually knock and wait for Ev to let me in, but when I heard the weird noises and realized the door was already open, I went in and… well, you know the rest.”

“I see,” he repeated, dipping his chin in a curt nod. He turned his attention back to Ev, face softening slightly. “Are you sure there’s nothing you can tell us about the attacker that might help us to identify him? Anything you saw or heard, no matter how minor it seems, could be useful.”

She looked down, hands fidgeting on her lap. I knew she was considering her crazy theory that it was Jake who attacked her tonight, but the question had been specifically phrased to include things she’d seen or heard, and she hadn’t seen or heard a single thing that could be used to positively identify Jake, let alone anyone else.

“There’s nothing,” she finally said, meekly shaking her head. “It was too dark, and he didn’t say a word to me.”

Something suddenly occurred to me. “Wait, thereissomething that might help you find him,” I said to the cop. “She bit him. That could’ve left a mark, right?”

Ev sat up straight, eyes widening. “Oh! Yes! I totally forgot to mention that,” she said, nodding fervently. “I bit him really hard. Hard enough to draw blood.”

“Where?” the cop asked, forehead wrinkling.

She tapped on her left forearm, just below the wrist. “It was around here. I could tell because his hand was so close.”

“That’s helpful,” the cop said, nodding slowly. “We’ve already got several officers and half the security guards on campus searching for any lone men in the area. So, if and when they find anyone, we’ll have them check their arms for bite marks.”

“Okay,” Ev murmured, lowering her eyes again.

“For now, I’ll get someone to escort you to the medical center so you can get that lip looked at,” he said, eyeing her bloodied mouth again. “But I’d like you to come into the station tomorrow afternoon to give us a formal statement. By then, you might’ve remembered something else that could help us.”

---