Twenty One

It was past midnight when Hayleigh and Tara were called to the dean’s office. Dr. Martin looked straight out of bed in his unkempt hair and disheveled suit, and Hayleigh felt bad the poor man had to be summoned in the middle of the night because of her.

“I’m relieved to see both of you ladies are unharmed,” the dean said from across his desk as he glanced at Mr. Hammond, the head of security, standing behind Tara’s chair. “Were you able to find anything in the surveillance footage?”

“There’s... a bit of a problem, sir.” Mr. Hammond uneasily cleared his throat. “We weren’t able to find any footage. It’s been deleted.”

“Deleted?” the dean repeated in disbelief. “How is that possible? How much has been deleted?”

“Just the one during the time of the attack, which we’ve placed between 11 AM to 12 noon while most students were in class.”

“Was no one on the floor at all? Had no one skipped class or called in sick and heard anything?”

“No one’s come forward yet, sir.”