Death of the Ayn Rand Scholar by Gray Cavender (classic literature list txt) 📕

find his place on the printout. “Of course, all this changes after Montreal. There’s two, sometimes three a day…stuff like, ’I’ll always remember Montreal differently, now,’ or ‘last night was fantastic.’ Then, starting about two weeks ago, he invites…she declines. This is in…” he checked his notes, “… three different texts. She begs off that she’s too busy.”

Wes arranged print-out sheets side by side and moved one hand down each sheet. “Jilly, some of these texts declining Keefer’s invites line-up with her more recent get-togethers with Roberts. Now, we know that Siemens and Keefer did have a date the Saturday night before she died—he told us that, and now you have some confirmation from other residents at her condo.”

She nodded and he continued. “The day after that Saturday ‘sleep over,’ there’s a text from Keefer saying how much he enjoyed ‘last night,’ and another one saying that he’s relieved that things are good with them. Her response…neither confirms nor denies that things are good, just an invite from Siemens for drinks after work ‘one day next week.’ He responds that he’d hoped to see her sooner, but she texts back explaining that she’s booked till mid-week. He agrees saying, ‘till Wednesday, then.’ But of course…that never happened.”

They both were quiet for a few beats, then Wes added, “No texts between Siemens and Davidos. And, that’s it for me.”

As she listened, Jillian made notes. She finished her last note as Wes was ending his review. She nibbled on her pen, then asked, “Any indication in the texts that Roberts knew about Keefer or that Keefer knew about Roberts?”

“Good question, and no.”

She nodded. “Same with the emails. Maybe with one exception, which I’ll get to in a minute. As for Professor Siemens’s emails…I’d characterize them like you did with the calls and the texts…a lot of professionally-related traffic. The emails give us an even better picture of her life…which is really interesting.“

Jillian nodded to herself, and continued. “Again, like you, there’s a lot less back and forth with Professor Keefer in the spring. And what there is…is professional…regular English Department business. Things like…emails where she asks for things related to that Ayn Rand conference that she was planning. But, there are also a few emails…” she paused and glanced at her notes…”four of these. They’re about Professor Keefer’s promotion to Associate Dean. I’d characterize these emails as ‘her supporting him.’ She tells him that she’s talked with someone—a professor or an administrator, can’t tell which—in his behalf. Her comments are cryptic, but I take it that one of her contacts actually was a member of the Search Committee for that dean’s job.”

Wes said, “Hmm. So, Siemens was lobbying a committee member for Keefer. Were there other candidates for the job?”

“Yes to both questions. There were three candidates plus Professor Keefer. Two were from other universities…external candidates. Like I said, Professor Siemens apparently had a contact on the Search Committee and lobbied that person on Professor Keefer’s behalf. Here’s the thing, though, that lobbying wasn’t done on email…she doesn’t even mention her contact by name…just alludes to it in her emails to Professor Keefer. My read is that she lobbied this unnamed contact in person. In another email with Professor Keefer, she shares her ‘take’ on the dean’s position, generally, but also her sense of what the committee is looking for…you know, their view of the ideal candidate.”

“What, like insider trading?”

“Not exactly…nothing that overt. More along the lines of…she conveyed to Professor Keefer the skills and strengths of what would made a good Associate Dean, at least according to her contact on the Search Committee.”

When Wes canted his head and squinted, Jillian laughed and said, “I guess that sounds like insider trading, huh?”

“Pretty much, yeah,” Wes laughed and gave a vigorous nod. Then, he jotted a note in his book.

“Do you think this is important, Wes?”

“Maybe…yeah.”

Jillian thought for a second or two, then continued. “Anyway, other than that, there’s not much interesting about Professor Keefer until after Montreal. The emails change then, at least for a while. I mean, nothing intimate, just more personal, affectionate. But, the tone changes again about ten days ago, and in a way that’s consistent with what you said about the texts…and at about the same time.” She pointed her pen to her print-out and the notes she’d made on it.

“Also, Wes, it’s like your other point…Professor Keefer is the one initiating the emails. I’d describe some of them as being like ‘I want to be with you…is everything OK.’ Her responses are non-committal…she responds, but isn’t responsive. Does that make any sense?”

“Yep, it’s like the texts.”

“Exactly. To me, Professor Keefer comes across as getting a little desperate. Also, there are no emails setting-up or confirming their last get together…the one last Saturday night. From your description, I think they must have made those arrangements through texts.“

“Or maybe in person…after all, they were in the same building.”

“Could be,” Jillian said and glanced back to her printout. “Then, there’s an email late Sunday afternoon essentially saying, ‘I’m glad we’re back on track.’ Her response was two words…‘nice night.’ And that’s it for Professor Keefer.”

“Were Professor Siemens’ emails all in her Inbox?”

“Mixed. Many of her professional emails were in various files within her ‘Important’ folder. I’m thinking she stashed them there because they’d be easier to find when she wanted to refer them. Other emails were in her ‘Deleted’ Items. Like her emails to Professor Keefer about the dean’s position…all these were in Deleted. So were most the emails about their affair. But, she hadn’t deleted her Deletes. We could have gotten them even if she had…this just made it quicker.”

He nodded as she nibbled on her pen again. “You know, Wes, my reading of her emails, especially in light of what you said about her texts, is that she was getting ready to end the ‘thing’ with Professor Keefer. Maybe he had a sense that she was moving away from him, and that’s what made his emails seem desperate.”

“Sounds