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

back and forth about some kind of anti-Rand Studies article that’s supposed to appear in The Chronicle of Higher Ed. Maybe the talk about that has re-energized some of the opposition.”

“Anything specific?” Wes asked.

“Nothing that she’d mentioned, no.”

“Do you know who the author was…of the article?”

“No.”

Jillian asked, “How did Professor Siemens handle the opposition? Did it ever get to her?”

Moser smiled. “Never. She was undaunted by opposition. If anything…” she paused…

“If anything…” Jillian repeated.

“You have to understand, Nelda is an ‘in your face’ type person. She has boundless energy AND boundless confidence. Not only does she not back down in the face of opposition, she engages her detractors. Maybe her approach sometimes made things worse…I don’t know…but that’s just who she is. Nelda isn’t the sort of a person to ‘make nice.’ I suspect if anyone actually does publish the infamous article in The Chronicle, she’ll dash off a smart, blistering reply. Except now…” She sniffled and left the thought unfinished.

Wes again, “But the Professor hadn’t indicated anything specifically to you about anyone bothering her?”

She shook her head no.

Jillian said, “Our forensics team has tentatively established Professor Siemens’ time of death at around midnight or even later. Given that this was so late at night, it makes sense that no one heard anything suspicious…most people were probably long gone by that time. But one thing I wondered is why she’d be at her office that late. Does that seem unusual to you?”

“Not so much. Nelda was a night owl. She tended to sleep fairly late in the morning, but once her workday got rolling, she’d work long hours. I think it was just a biorhythm thing with her. So, that seems late, but with Nelda…yah…”

Wes spoke next, after making a point of looking through his notes. “One of her colleagues who we’ve spoken to was Professor David Roberts. He was very helpful, but he also told us that he and Professor Siemens had been romantically involved, although he did say that this was no longer the case. Could he have been a problem?”

Moser smiled and said, “I don’t think so.”

When she didn’t add anything more, Jillian asked, “So, who caused the break-up?”

Moser smiled again. “I guess that depends on how you look at it. In a way, I guess you’d say that David broke things off. But, the reason…OK, he wanted more…he wanted to be, you know, exclusive.” And well…” She paused.

Wes asked, “And the Professor didn’t?”

“No…their relationship was interesting, maybe even out of the ordinary. See, Nelda was older than David…by several years…but he was the one who wanted a more stable relationship. Nelda just wasn’t interested in that.”

“Was she seeing other people,” Jillian asked.

“Sometimes…maybe not all that seriously, but yes. And David just couldn’t handle that. He gave her…I guess you’d call it an ultimatum. And she said, OK, if that’s how it has to be, then so be it.”

“And what’d he say,” Jillian and Wes asked, almost simultaneously.

“I think he was surprised. I don’t think he expected her to react that way, but she did. Nelda’s her own person…she liked David—a lot—but if she wanted to see someone else at the same time, well, that’s what she was going to do. So, they broke-up right around the end of the school year…maybe early in the summer…which was good timing for Nelda because she was away a good deal during the summer.”

“Where,” Wes asked.

“Mostly consulting…in California, back east, in the Midwest…Kansas, I think. For her, it was a way of cooling things down between them…you know, out of sight, out of mind.”

“And for Professor Roberts?”

“I don’t think he was happy about it, but I know David mainly through Nelda…and since she was gone much of the summer…I don’t really know.”

Wes asked, “What sort of consulting did the professor do?”

“Well, Nelda’s on a number of corporate boards of directors. And she also consults with several business-oriented think tanks…things of that sort.”

“Was that…lucrative?” Wes asked.

“Very much so, yes. Nelda’s in demand…she’s also a frequent public speaker, and she’s well-paid for that, too. It’s driven by her reputation as a Rand scholar, and now these Rand Studies Centers at several universities…all at a time when there’s been this resurgence of popularity about Ayn Rand and her ideas...in Congress, in several state legislatures, in many business organizations…so Nelda’s been busy. And, yes all in all, her extracurricular activities generate a good deal of revenue for her.”

Jillian waited to see if Wes had any follow-up questions along this line of inquiry. When he didn’t, she said, “If you don’t mind, I want to return to the question of who Professor Siemens was dating. We really are trying to flesh-out who all was involved in her life, professionally, romantically…anything.”

“I understand, Detective Warne. OK, so at the time she was seeing David—like I said, this was last year—she was also seeing a lawyer in Phoenix…Anthony Bradley. He’s with a small firm, Freeman and Bradley, that mostly represents businesses who are defendants in law suits, for…well, for all sorts of things: complaints against businesses by their employees, worker’s comp claims against businesses, breach of contract by an employee…that sort of thing.”

Jillian asked, “And Professor Siemens was seeing Mr. Bradley while she was also seeing Professor Roberts?”

“Yes…she’d been seeing David all last academic year, but it was during the spring semester that she started going out with Anthony. David found out about it, and that’s what prompted his…ultimatum.”

“Were Professor Siemens and Mr. Bradley still seeing each other?”

“No…but that had nothing to do with David. I think things with Anthony just fizzled when she travelled so much this summer.”

Jillian looked-up from her IPAD and asked, “Anyone else?”

Moser nodded. “Yes, for a while Nelda was involved with a professor at ASU’s downtown campus…Carlton Spann…he’s in The School of Public Affairs. He’s a policy specialist, mainly interested in government/business partnerships.”

“When was this?”

Moser thought, then said, “This would also have been last year…I want to say during fall semester. Carlton was married, but he and his wife were separated.”

“Did Professor Roberts