I didn’t leave Lily’s bedside for the rest of the night.

Every few minutes she opened her swollen eye, searching the room until she found me.

Then she relaxed.

She still couldn’t speak.

Her jaw was wired in place after emergency surgery.

The surgeon had warned me that even trying to whisper could undo hours of delicate work.

Just after sunrise, a detective entered the room.

He introduced himself as Detective Harris from the Peoria Police Department.

“We’re investigating the assault.”

I stood immediately.

“What have you found?”

He hesitated.

“Very little.”

I stared at him.

“My daughter was nearly beaten to death on a college campus.”

“Yes.”

“And you have very little?”

He opened a folder.

“The security camera covering the walkway outside the science building stopped recording at 9:41 p.m.”

“When was Lily attacked?”

“Approximately 9:47.”

Exactly six minutes later.

“Equipment failure?” I asked.

“We don’t know yet.”

My instincts immediately rejected that answer.

After twenty-three years in the Army, I had seen too many convenient accidents.

“What about other cameras?”

“The nearest parking lot camera was also offline.”

“Both?”

“Yes.”

I folded my arms.

“What are the chances of that?”

The detective didn’t answer.

Instead, he slid a clear evidence bag onto the table.

Inside was Lily’s broken cellphone.

“The screen was destroyed.”

“Can it be repaired?”

“Our digital forensics team is trying.”

I picked up the bag.

There were tiny bloodstains around the cracked case.

Then I noticed something else.

The lock screen was still visible beneath the shattered glass.

It showed a missed video call.

From me.

At 9:42 p.m.

One minute after the cameras stopped recording.

My stomach tightened.

“She tried to call me.”

The detective slowly nodded.

“We believe so.”

Before I could respond, another officer knocked on the open door.

“Detective…”

“What is it?”

“We found a witness.”

Hope surged through me.

“Who?”

“A maintenance worker.”

The detective and I hurried downstairs.

The elderly groundskeeper sat nervously in a small interview room.

“I didn’t see faces,” he said quietly.

“But I heard shouting.”

“What did you hear?”

“A girl yelling, ‘Give it back.’”

My heart skipped.

“Then?”

“A man’s voice.”

The groundskeeper swallowed hard.

“He said… ‘Delete the video first.’”

The room fell silent.

“What video?” I asked.

“I don’t know.”

The old man shook his head.

“Then I heard something hit the ground.”

“And?”

“Someone said… ‘Now nobody will believe her.’”

Every hair on the back of my neck stood up.

This wasn’t a random assault.

Someone had wanted something from Lily.

Something recorded on her phone.

At that exact moment, my own cellphone rang.

It was Lily’s roommate.

She sounded terrified.

“Mr. Mercer…”

“Yes?”

“I remembered something.”

“What?”

“Yesterday afternoon Lily told me she accidentally recorded something outside the science building.”

I stopped breathing.

“She said she wasn’t supposed to see it.”

“What did she record?”

“I don’t know.”

“She never showed me.”

“She only said…”

The young woman’s voice broke.

“’If anything happens to me, don’t let them erase it.’”

Before I could ask another question, Detective Harris received a message on his radio.

His face changed instantly.

“What happened?” I demanded.

He looked directly at me.

“Someone broke into your daughter’s dorm room this morning.”

My blood ran cold.

“Was anything stolen?”

He slowly lowered the radio.

“Only one thing.”

“What?”

“Her laptop.”

Whoever had nearly killed my daughter…

…had come back to finish hiding whatever she had recorded that night.