“Prof. McDermott, do you have a moment?”

My secretary was standing in my office doorway, looking like she’d just committed some kind of deadly sin. Women always seemed to have that look on their faces when they interrupted me—like they were afraid they’d completely ruined my day—or I was about to ruin theirs. I found that especially true of the women who worked in the administrative floor at Westshire College and it always struck me as amusing the effect it had on my cock.

If a woman I was attracted to looked at me like that, I’d want to rip her clothes off and fuck her face until tears and saliva were ran streaks through her makeup. But this woman? She made my cock shrivel up like I’d just jumped into a pool of cold water—which was fine because I was here to work, not to fuck the help.

“Yes, Maggie, come in.” I had just gotten into the office and was still checking my email and voice mails. It was Friday and I didn’t have any classes, but I had a few things to take care of before I left for the weekend.

“Sir, I wanted to let you know that Ashley Neil’s boyfriend has reported her missing.”

“What?” I immediately looked up from my computer. “Did he call here?”

“No, apparently he called the RA of her dorm last night and they contacted us this morning. He said she’s been missing for at least twenty-four hours.”

I stared up at my secretary for a moment, not entirely sure what to say. I did not expect that little twit to notice that she was missing so soon, let alone report it. I guess I’d underestimated him.

“She’s the one you were concerned about, right, Prof. McDermott?”

“What?” I saw Maggie’s mouth moving, but the words that were coming out seemed to be blending in with the walls and furniture as my mind raced. I really had to get over to Ashley’s room. The cameras that I’d installed weren’t obvious at all, otherwise she would have noticed them by now. But if her absence was already reported, then the possibility of the police going to go over there was likely. There was no way I could leave them in place and risk anyone finding them. It was way too dangerous.

I had to get over there as soon as possible. Maggie was still yakking away while I tried to figure out how I was going to get over there without being seen, and her words seemed to drone on in the background. I was the Dean of Humanities at the college, so I could pretty much go wherever I wanted, but I didn’t particularly want to draw any unnecessary attention to myself in a student’s dorm. Particularly one I had held prisoner in my home.

“She’s the one you had on suicide watch for the first month at school, right? Isn’t she the one that came straight here from that private hospital?”

“Yes … yes, she is the one.”

“The one you made special arrangements for before she arrived—“

“Yes, Maggie, that’s the one,” I said with a bit too much irritation on my voice. That same looked passed over the woman’s face again, like she feared for her job, which wasn’t too far from the truth at the moment. “Has anyone else been alerted?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, the police, Maggie. Has anyone called the police?” I was starting to feel a little hot. I loosened my tie as I tried to focus on the words coming out of my secretary’s mouth even though each syllable was starting to sound like nails on a chalkboard. I needed to get out of there and over to Ashley’s dorm room immediately.

“Oh, well, our department hasn’t contacted the police, but it’s possible that the boy did. Would you like me to call them now? Or maybe have her boyfriend brought in to the office?”

“No, that won’t be necessary. I’ll contact them myself.” I got up and put my jacket on. “I’m going to be out of the office for the rest of the day, Maggie—“

“Oh, but you just got here. What about the meeting with Dr.—“

“Yes, I know, Maggie. But there are some issues on campus that require my immediate attention. And I’m sure I’ll need to talk to the police at some point. Please cancel all of my appointments, and if anyone calls, tell them I’m out until Monday, will you?”

“Of course, Sir. Should I call you if I hear anything about the girl?”

“No, that won’t be necessary,” I paused a moment, deciding to change my answer. “Only if something has happened … if the police try to contact me here.”

“Yes, Sir. Have a good weekend.”

I passed by my secretary without responding and headed to my car. The campus was fairly large and the dorms were on the other side, so I drove to Ashley’s building and parked my car. It was the middle of the day—not exactly the time I’d ever planned on going over there, considering how easy it would be for someone to see me. But I didn’t have much choice. I didn’t know if the police had already been in her room, and if they had, and found the surveillance cameras I’d set up, I was in trouble.

Not that they would easily be able to trace them back to me, but it was possible. I had a key that one of the cleaning staff had given me before the semester started, and I had been the one to assign the room to her. If someone tried they could definitely put things together.

The chances that the police had already been to her dorm room were slim, though. She had only been missing a day … a day and a half at most. That couldn’t possibly be enough time for them to start a full-fledged search. Especially when there was no apparent sign of foul play. I had no idea what that little asshole was doing claiming she was missing. She would go for days without seeing him, and as far as I knew they had no plans to meet up yesterday. If this was all because he was hoping to get his dick wet, I was going to strangle the little bastard.

I made my way up to Ashley’s room and knocked quietly on the door. I didn’t want to bust right in, using a set of keys that I really had no right to have in my possession. That wouldn’t look very good at all.

Once I got inside and locked the door, I worked quickly, removing the two cameras I’d installed. One was a lower quality camera that was inside a decoy smoke detector. That was the one that had a view of the entire room. If the angle was right, I could watch Ashley’s face while she was on the computer, as well as see what she was doing in pretty much every corner of the room. I got on a chair and pulled the entire unit down. It had been wired into an old socket, and I just left those wires dangling. I hoped no one would notice them because I didn’t have time to deal with them now.

The other camera was a very high quality mini camera that had been installed across the room, and had just happened to be at the perfect height to view Ashley’s computer screen. I had been able to read all of her correspondences anytime she was on her computer or see anything she looked at or searched for. As I pulled that camera, I realized it would probably be a good idea to take her laptop too. I wasn’t sure if she even had it password protected, and I didn’t want to take any risks.

But just as I shoved the cameras into my briefcase and started for the laptop, I heard voices in the hall. I slammed my case shut and looked around the room in a panic. I hoped that maybe the sound from the hallway was amplified in the room, but as soon as I heard a key sliding into the lock I knew I was screwed. Within seconds the door was open and two police officers walked in, along with that Justin kid.

“What are you doing in here?” one of the policemen asked. I put my hands up in front of me because they both looked like they were about to draw their guns.

“I’m Prof. Drake McDermott, Dean of Humanities. My secretary told me that Ms. Neil had been reported missing.”

“So you came into her room?” The little twerp was looking at me like he was ready to fight me, for some reason. I just scowled in his general direction and address the police officers again.

“As one of the deans I have access to all of the student’s room keys, and since Ashley was on suicide watch throughout the first month of the semester, I thought it would be best if I checked up on her. Have I broken any laws, gentlemen?” I knew I really had no business being there. This was something an RA or maybe one of Ashley’s own professors would look into, but not a dean.

“Was Ashley one of your students?”

“No … not yet, anyway. She was in my department and … well, to be honest she was a friend of the family. She was my daughter’s best friend … for their entire lives, practically.”

“Was?” one of the officers asked. “What do you mean was?”

“My daughter passed away over a year ago. There was an accident and it hit everyone very hard, especially Ashley … Ms. Neil. My daughter’s death, as well as the death of Ms. Neil’s own parents … well, that’s the reason Ashley was on suicide watch. She’d tried to kill herself after … after everything happened, and … to be honest, I was worried about her. That’s why I came up here.”

“So you just let yourself in?” There was that kid again. Why was he acting like he cared so much? He didn’t seem to care about what Ashley wanted every time he tried to get into her pants. I was seriously about to strangle him.

“I knocked and there was no answer, so yes, of course I let myself in.” I couldn’t even bring myself to address that little asshole. I just looked right at the police officers. “Have you heard anything at all?”

“No, Sir. We just opened the file on this one. We’re going to talk to everyone who knew the girl—had any contact with her in the last forty-eight hours—and see if we can find anything.”

My mind immediately jumped to the chat conversation—the one where I told her to pick up her phone. I silently thanked the lord that I hadn’t made those arrangements online, but still, I was the last person to have talked to her. I wished I’d been able to get the damned computer into my briefcase in time. I didn’t know if they were going to take it with them, but they might.

“Well, if you find anything out at all, please let me know.” I reached into my pocket and pulled out one of my cards. “My cell number is on here, as well as my home phone. Call anytime of day or night.”

“We will, Mr. McDermott.”

“Do you need anything else from me?” I asked, not looking anywhere near that Justin kid. Just the thought of him with his hands on Ashley, trying to get his little prick in her made me want to rip his head off. “I have to get back for a meeting.”

“Wait. If she killed herself why wouldn’t she have just done it here? Where’s her body?”

That fucking kid. I looked over at him and gave him the most intimidating vibe I could without looking like an ass in front of the cops. “Who are you, exactly?” I asked. I wanted him to know just how insignificant he was in this whole conversation.

“Justin Hayes, I’m Ashley’s boyfriend.”

Not anymore, you’re not, I thought to myself as my eyes narrowed in on his.

“And you’re the one who alerted the police to her absence?”

“Yeah, I told the RA last night and called the cops this morning. It’s not like her to be gone so long. She never goes anywhere. I can barely get her to come over to my place—“

“I’m sure the police officers here are interested in your story, son. But as to what happened to her … I imagine that they also appreciate as much information as they can get with a missing person.”

“I’m just saying she didn’t seem like she wanted to kill herself, is all.”

“Well, thank you for your input, Justin, but I’m sure the police are interested in looking into all possible angles. Now if you’ll excuse me,” I said to the officers.

“Uh, yeah, sure, Mr. McDermott. I don’t think we have any more questions for you right now. But we’ll give you a call if we do.”

I left the room as calmly as possible, then got the hell out of that building. I held my breath until I got to my car. I couldn’t believe how stupid I’d been, leaving everything in her room like that. I’d planned the whole thing out for weeks, and the one thing I’d neglected to take care of was the goddamned evidence in her room. There was nothing linking me to her through the cam girl site, though. I’d set all that up under another identity. Luckily Daddyland didn’t have as high level of background checks as they thought they did.

But now that one of my mistakes just about got me in hot water with the cops, I was nervous that I’d left an online trail somewhere.