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

“Yeah, that’s good, but I don’t want to totally ambush him. I’ll go through Hawley to set it up for us. I’ll tell him that a part of the update to the Prez involves the forensics report on Professor Siemens’ electronic devices. That way, if the Prez thinks he’s compromised, he can stew on it. It’ll be interesting to see how he reacts.”

“Sounds good.”

“The other thing I meant to ask…so, when Siemens and Keefer were flying back from Montreal, I wonder if there were any travel changes for either of them. Could you check with Grace Wilson?”

“Already did. The answer is ‘no changes.’ They flew to Montreal on different flights. They did return on the same flight. For both of them, though, the return flight had already been booked and was noted in their original travel requests. Also, their seats were not together…at least not in terms of pre-assigned seats. Guess they could have changed to sit together, but I can’t tell from these records.”

“OK, OK,” Wes nodded. “So, we’re definitely going to be re-interviewing President Davidos and also David Roberts...he was misleading, too. But I think you said three threads?”

Jillian nodded a quiet “yes.” She scooted the Davidos print-outs back to her original side of the table, and pulled across two other pages, which she turned so that she and Wes could read them.

Her lips tightened into a thin line. “The third thread is a very brief email exchange between Professor Siemens and Professor Ian Naremore.”

Wes made no overt expression, just shifted his gaze from the print-outs to look at Jillian. He offered a slight smile and said, “Let’s hear it.”

Jillian took a short breath and said, “OK, so first there’s an email from Professor Siemens to Professor Naremore, saying, quote, ‘I know what you are doing and I assure you that you will not get away with it…this I promise.’ That’s it: no salutation, just those few words I quoted. She doesn’t say what it is that she thinks he’s doing or how she knows about it…whatever ‘it’ is. Professor Naremore’s response does have a salutation. It reads, ‘Dear Venture Capitalist, no, make that VULTURE Capitalist. Do not try to threaten me Nelda. You are nothing more than a running dog lackey, and lap dogs don’t scare me.’”

“What’s that mean?”

“According to Google, it’s an insult that originated in China, apparently long ago. It means someone who has no backbone, who’s always flattering powerful people, trying to get in their good graces.”

“And why would Narmmore use the term on Siemens?”

“I think he meant that she was always trying to ingratiate herself to powerful people. Obviously, in terms of the Civism Foundation…that was a real payday for her. And also…maybe her emails to President Davidos. Maybe she was trying to hook-up with him, but whether or not she was trying to do that, she makes those comments about how great he’s made ASU. And remember, Grace Wilson said she thought that ASU was beneath her.”

Jillian thought for a second, then added, “Grace actually told me that Professor Siemens was very tough on people who she thought were less than her—students and faculty—but acted totally different with those who were above her.”

“Yeah, I remember you saying that.”

“Professor Naremore thought that Professor Siemens was a sell-out. I didn’t know anything about the Civism Foundation, but when I Googled her before, I recognized a lot of very conservative organizations where she is a board member or an affiliate…and these are all well paid positions. I assume that’s Professor Naremore used the term.”

Wes glanced back to the print-out and now read aloud himself. “Professor Siemens responds…’You are warned.’ And Naremore responds, ‘Back at you.’ So, I guess we’ll be adding Professor Naremore to our list.” Wes gave Jillian another slight smile. “That makes three people: President Jaques Davidos; Professor David Roberts; Professor Ian Naremore.”

Jillian nodded, again with a thin smile.

CHAPTER 13

Jillian left Temp PD at 5:20, which gave her plenty of time to meet Eileen Kaplan for dinner at 5:30. She walked down 5th, past Tempe City Hall, the upside-down pyramid on her left. She was headed to Restaurant Mexico on Mill Avenue. As she walked, she mentally replayed their review of the forensics report on Professor Siemens’ electronic devices.

After they’d discussed the various findings from the forensic report and what they might mean for their investigation, she and Wes started arraigning the follow-up interviews. She sat in Wes’ office as he made the calls from his desk phone. He’d first called President Davidos—actually his assistant, John Hawley. Hawley had grilled Wes about the purpose of the meeting. As planned, Wes reminded Hawley that President Davidos had asked to be kept informed about their progress on the case. He told Hawley that they’d now received the forensic work-up on Professor Siemens’ electronic devices, which had revealed some information that they wanted to discuss with the president…in person.

After the call, Wes said, “Hawley obviously was trying to act as an intermediary…trying to deflect an actual sit-down with the Prez. But that last comment about needing a one-on-one because of the forensic report…that shut him down. He said, ‘I see.’ He worked us in tomorrow at 4:30.”

David Roberts was next. When he rang off, Wes said “Roberts had barked a little, too, but also ‘went quiet’ when I mentioned the forensics report. At that at that point, Roberts said, ‘OK,” and his tone changed…like maybe a little down or a little leery…couldn’t tell which. Finally, Roberts said, ‘If it’s convenient, I can be available tomorrow at either 9:30 or after lunch, at 1pm.’ I told him…well you heard…we’ll be at his office at 9:30.”

Naremore was the final call. Afterward, Wes said, “Naremore was pretty prickly, too, at first, but when I mentioned the forensics report on the Professor’s electronic devices, he went ‘hmm,’ got quiet, and I could hear him flipping through some papers…probably his calendar. Then he said, ‘I’m in Tucson at the U of A giving a colloquium tomorrow, but I can