Jennings sat down on the other, messier bed, his shoulders slumped.
“I honestly don’t know. I did some pre-partying in here and by the time people showed up around nine, I was already pretty wasted.”
“But you admit that it’s possible that you said or did something to upset someone?” Hannah confirmed.
“It’s possible,” he said.
“Probable,” Finn corrected.
Hannah re-adjusted herself on the bed, closing her eyes as she tried to think of another way to get answers. Under normal circumstances, if someone was so distraught over something he said or did in public, it should have been noticeable to other people there at the time. But at a party in a fraternity house, with the crowds and the noise, some offense might be completely missed, assuming anyone cared to notice. What she needed was someone—or something—with a clear-eyed view of the party. She opened her eyes.
“You said the exterior camera was destroyed. Are there any interior ones?”
Casterly brightened.
“Actually yeah,” he said. “We have a couple. One behind the bar in the corner of the living room and one above the front door, facing inside. Technically they’re for legal protection.”
“What does that mean?” Hannah asked.
Finn took that one.
“A couple of years ago, a brother leapt down from the landing to the first floor and broke his leg. His parents sued the fraternity, saying it was unsafe and that he slipped. They settled but after that, the cameras were added so that if anyone sued again, we’d have proof if they did something stupid.”
Now they were getting somewhere. She was about to pursue it further when Casterly snickered.
“What?” she asked.
“Nothing,” he said.
She wasn’t having it. “I’m assuming it has something with your use of the word ‘technically’ earlier?”
“You are pretty sharp,” he said. “We tell new members that’s what the cameras are for, and officially that’s true. But there are added benefits.”
“Go on,” she said, though she wasn’t sure she wanted him to.
“Well, at a lot of these parties, girls will get pretty wild, dancing on tables and stuff. Maybe they get water sprayed on their tops. Maybe some of them take off those tops. Maybe guys like to go back and watch that footage for fun.”
Hannah fought the urge to vomit. Instead she glanced over at Finn, who was red-faced with embarrassment. She held off on what she really wanted to say, trying to stay focused.
“How can I access that footage?” she asked.
“Why?” Casterly asked snarkily, “so you can catch an eyeful?”
“I swear to god,” she said, standing up, her restraint quickly dissipating. “I’m on the verge of taking you out myself. Now if you want my help, stop being so gross and tell me where this footage is.”
Casterly’s grin faded. “The house manager has it. But maybe I can just watch it myself and look for something suspicious.”
“No offense,” she said, “but you don’t strike me as the type to pick up on subtle body language. If the person who wrote that note was here last night, my guess is that they kept how they felt under wraps in public, worried that calling you out might just make things worse. This is where you have to trust that I know what I’m doing. I’m good at noticing this stuff. Give me the tools to do it.”
Casterly squirmed on the bed before responding.
“Okay,” he finally said. “But the house manager has to get approval from the chapter president to give it to a non-brother. The rules are really strict on that, which means I have to convince him. Doing that while keeping things on the down low will be a little tricky. I can get it for you, but it will probably take until tomorrow.”
“Fine,” Hannah said, happy to have an excuse to get out of here and starting for the door. “Let Finn know when you have it for me.”
Finn got up and shuffled after her as she opened the door. Then she had a thought and turned back around.
“And Casterly?”
