“Do you have any idea why someone might do this to you? Is there anyone who might want to hurt you for any reason? Apologies for the direct questions.”
“Not at all. I have no enemies, at least that I know of. I keep to myself.”
“Understood. Is there anything you could tell us about this attacker that might help us identify him? Any recognizable features, tattoos, marks?”
The caller took a moment to consider the question. “I remember his face as clear as day, but there was nothing distinguishable about him.”
“Ella,” Paige interrupted. Ella waved her off for a moment. She needed to get something out of Anderson.
“And this attacker definitely wasn’t a student? Maybe not of yours, but of the college?”
“Certainly not. Four lecturers caught sight of him and none of them recognized him. Between us, we have the whole student body covered. He wasn’t a student at PCHS.”
“Ella,” Paige said again, pointing to her laptop screen. Ella began to get fidgety. Couldn’t her partner see she was busy?
“Then how did he get in? Can anyone just walk in? Don’t people need identification to get on site? How did he get all the way to your lecture hall with a weapon?”
She was grasping, desperate for answers. Anderson could clearly sense it.
“I’m sorry Miss Dark, I don’t have the answers you’re looking for. Not everyone needs identification to get on site. It’s a college. We can’t check everyone who comes and goes.”
Paige jumped out of her chair. “Ella!”
“What?!”
Paige spun her laptop around. There was a picture on the screen. A youngish guy, messy black hair. The text under his name said MISSING SINCE MARCH 16.
“Oh my God. Mr. Anderson, excuse me one second.” She covered the speaker with her hand. “Who’s that?”
“Bret Styles. The only result I got. He fits the profile, even has a military discharge to his name. And get this, he doesn’t have a criminal record, but he went missing the day after the college incident.”
Ella waited, piecing the puzzle together in her head. It fit almost too perfectly.
“Mr. Anderson,” she said down the phone again, “could I send you something? A photograph?”
“Okay. I’m in my office right now. Could you email it?”
“What’s your address?” Ella turned the phone to speaker so Paige could hear it too. She performed the admin duties.
“It’s coming over now,” Paige said.
All three of them went quiet while they waited for technology to do its work. Midday sun beamed through the windows and blistered her neck, but Ella still felt goosebumps along her forearms. If this was the same man, then half the battle was done.
“Miss Dark?” Anderson said. “I’m looking at your picture now.”
“Is it the same person? Is that the man who attacked you?”
The phone crackled a little. Static down the line. “I can say, without a doubt, that is indeed the same man.”
Ella slammed her fists on the table and jumped up. Now the fun part began.