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Caswell ignored my question. “The security camera near the stairwell on the fifth floor actually shows a partial view of the hallway. That view includes your door, seeing as it’s so close to the stairs,” he said. “We saw you and your friend entering your dorm at 9:04 p.m. Then she left at 11:36. After that, no one else entered or exited your dorm.”
“In fact, no one entered the fifth floor hallway at all after that,” Steenkamp added. “Not until your neighbor left his room and banged on your door at 2:04 in the morning, after he heard the screaming.”
I blinked. “What are you trying to say?”
“No one broke into your dorm, Sienna. After you went to bed, you were in there alone all night.”
“That’s ridiculous,” I said hotly. I knew Paxton was in my room last night. I saw him. Heard him. Felt him. Even came for him.
“It’s what the evidence shows us.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Are you seriously implying that I took a boatload of drugs, ripped my pajamas off, and then handcuffed myself to my own bed?”
“We aren’t implying anything. We’re just following what the evidence tells us as we try to figure out what happened last night.”
I rolled my eyes. “That’s just a roundabout way of saying you do think I handcuffed myself to my bed.”
“Believe me, we’ve seen stranger things in our time,” Steenkamp said, raising her brows.
I kept glaring at her. “Why the hell would I do that to myself?”
“Is it possible you were expecting a visitor last night? A date?” Caswell cut in. “The handcuffs could’ve been some sort of erotic plaything.”
“Are you joking?” I said, gaze snapping over to his face.
“Perhaps your date didn’t show up,” he went on. “You could have fallen asleep waiting and had a vivid nightmare because of the drugs.”
“I think I’d remember if I invited some guy over. Also, I don’t own handcuffs,” I said, heat rising in my cheeks again.
“How do you explain their presence in your dorm, then?”
I sighed and rubbed my forehead. “Honestly? I think someone drugged me and broke into my room to scare me, and then they tampered with the CCTV footage from Whittaker and edited it to hide the fact that they came into the building. That’s possible, right?”
“But who would do that, Sienna? And why?” Steenkamp asked, leaning forward.
I curled my hands into fists on my lap, furious that I couldn’t answer her question properly. Paxton must’ve hired a hacker to mess with the footage so that he wasn’t visible entering or exiting my room last night, but I couldn’t accuse him of that without looking like a lying bitch all over again.
Shit, shit, shit.
It wasn’t likely that the police would figure out Paxton’s involvement in this debacle during their investigation. Not with the edited security footage and the lack of evidence left in my dorm.
He’d really played this whole thing perfectly. Set me up to look like an unstable troublemaker.
I coughed to clear my throat. “I don’t know. You must be right,” I said softly, looking down at the blanket. “I must’ve handcuffed myself. But I don’t remember any of it.”
“Do you remember where you got the drugs?”
“I’ve never bought or taken drugs in my life,” I said, shaking my head. “So I honestly can’t explain that part. Maybe someone spiked my drink in the dining hall. I really don’t know.”
“Hm.” Caswell frowned. I had a feeling he could tell I was hiding something, but he knew he couldn’t prove it. “All right.”
“Am I in trouble?” I asked wearily. “For the drugs?”
“Not right now, no. I think you’ve been through enough,” Steenkamp said, rising to her feet. “And right now, we can’t even be sure that you took them yourself. It is possible you were spiked somewhere, and we have to take that into account.”
“Thank you,” I murmured.
“If you remember anything at all, please let us know,” Caswell said. “We’ve left our details with Dr. Ackley.”
