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

hand, physical therapists have to be willing to hurt people, but it’s for their own good…to make them better. And what you do is to make us safer. I know that in some of your cases, this is exactly what happened…like with that hate crime murder…you and your partner caught the two criminals, and they went to prison. Or what about those drunk ASU frat boys with guns. Somebody’s gonna get hurt, duh…and somebody did. And you and your partner put the case together and those young fools paid the price. Who knows, maybe that’ll make other young men think twice before they get sloppy drunk and start acting macho and waving guns around.”

Jillian was about to speak, but Eileen continued, “And the sexual assault stuff that you’re working on…there’s nothing more important than that…nothing. I know this is all hard, Jillian. I can’t imagine anyone actually wanting to do your job, but honestly, I can’t imagine anyone I’d rather see doing it than you. I mean, you have an opportunity to apply the principles that we learned in our classes. These things aren’t abstractions—well, I guess they are,” she laughed, “but they’re also supposed to be principles that would make things better…if only… And you’re trying to apply them.”

“Well thanks. It’s just…sometimes I look around at some of the other people I work with and I just do NOT want to become like them.”

“I don’t blame you, but if you’ll remember, when you decided to take the job, I promised you then…and I’ll promise you again now…that if I ever see you starting to change, if I see you in danger of becoming Dirty Harry, I’ll tell you.” She raised her hand as if making an oath. “I’m serious.”

“I know you are, and thanks.” Jillian reached across the table, took the raised hand and squeezed. Eileen squeezed back.

The Valley Art Theater was in the next block so it was only a couple of minutes from the restaurant. They were going to see Django, a biopic about the great guitar player, Django Reinhardt. Wes, who loved music and movies about music, had seen it last fall at the Scottsdale International Film Festival. When he saw that the film was playing at the Valley Art, he recommended it to Jillian. He told her that Marilyn had reminded him to remind Jillian that the Valley Art Theater had been in downtown Tempe just about forever, and that that’s where Wes and Marilyn had met. Jillian couldn’t believe that she’d forgotten to mention the film to ZZ. She texted her to let her know once they were seated and before she silenced her phone.

The Tempe night out with Eileen had worked wonders, and Jillian had plenty of energy for their interview with Professor Roberts. It was a pretty, late summer morning, not too hot yet, when she and Wes left HQ. As they stopped at the light on University, they both looked at the Foundation Building, then at each other. “This should be interesting,” Wes said and nodded to the building…”but first things first.”

The light turned and they were a part of the throng crossing University…students heading to morning classes along with a smattering of professors, Jillian thought. A smaller-sized group crossed the opposite way. Still, it made for a mini-pedestrian traffic jam. As they walked across campus, they made a few last-minute tweaks of how they would handle the interview.

Professor Roberts’ door was open but he was at his desk reading and didn’t see them, so Wes gave a light rap with the back of his knuckles. Roberts looked up and motioned for them to enter. He rose from his chair and shook hands with them, then resumed his seat behind his desk. They took the chairs in front of the desk.

Wes waited for a few beats—it always seemed to Jillian longer than it really was and she figured it must seem even longer to the interviewee. When Professor Roberts said nothing, Wes said, “As I mentioned on the phone, we now have a forensic report on Professor Siemens’ electronic devices…all of them.”

Roberts nodded and said, “I understand…yes.”

Wes said, “So let me get right to it then. Professor Roberts, you were not exactly forthcoming in our interview the other day.” Wes gave was quiet again but when Roberts didn’t speak, he added, “About your relationship with Professor Siemens. Clearly, you two were still in contact…apparently you were still getting together. Why didn’t you tell us this?”

Roberts seemed about to run his hand through his hair, but stopped. He cleared his throat and said, “I apologize. I don’t know why I didn’t say something the other day. I guess I thought it wasn’t that big of a deal. But I know I should have said something…so again, apologies.”

Jillian followed-up, “So were you and Professor Siemens back together or working on it…or what?”

“We were together for quite a while, but broke it off late in the spring. I don’t know…after a long summer apart, I think I just wanted to see her…and I think she wanted to see me as well…so, we did.”

Wes again, “From reading your texts and emails, it seemed to us as if you…” and allowed a space for Roberts to fill.

This time, Professor Roberts did fill the empty space. “Yes, we went out…I guess you could say on a date. And we did spend the night together…although it seems strange to think of someone reading our communication. Seems like a real loss of privacy.”

Jillian said, “I’m sure that it does seem that way, but we ARE investigation a murder…so we’re as thorough as we can be. And of course, we have the appropriate warrant for examining Professor Siemens’ electronic devices. So, were you two back together?”

“I don’t know what to say…we were discussing it.”

Wes now, “At the earlier interview, you said that maybe she’d been seeing someone else, but you said you weren’t sure because you hadn’t been in contact much over the summer.” Wes was going through his notes…as