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

some exhibited symbols or emblems. She minimized this site and googled the Templars. There was a long historical entry, which Jillian scanned, noting key info that jumped-out at her, like when she was a grad student reading a long assignment. “OK, they were involved in The Crusades…they enjoyed prestige and immense wealth…till things turned sour, and then they were tortured and burned at the stake…their order disbanded 1312…whereupon the entered the more powerful realm of myth and legend.”

Jillian looked away from the screen again, first at the wall, then down at the floor, and thought, “The seriously old guy guarding the Holy Gail in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade…wasn’t he a knight who’d lived since The Crusades…maybe he was supposed to be a Templar, too…so, yes, myth and legend…and Indy.”

Next, Jillian opened a couple of the tapestry vendor sites. Some cost less than $100, but other went into the thousands. She looked for Templar tapestries, and found two…one which featured a capital ‘T’, and the another with a lower-case ‘t,’ which was more of a squared-off cross…and like the one on the knight in President Davidos’ office. She wondered what his tapestry symbolized…if anything.

Next, she pulled up a Wikipedia entry on Ayn Rand. She planned to read for 30 minutes. The entry that she accessed had the usual organization, e.g., an intro, material on her early life, details about her work, and so on. The familiar organization made it easier to read, although it was still long. The intro included discussions of objectivism and laizzez-faire capitalism, which made Jillian happy because this material squared with her class notes.

There were other interesting tidbits, for instance, that Rand was one of those ‘anti-communism in Hollywood’ critics, as Dad said. She even was a ‘friendly witness’ at the House Un-American Activities Committee…the McCarthy Hearings. On the other hand, Rand was pro-abortion and against the Vietnam War. Jillian stopped and thought about these various political positions. She read on she noted that Rand was popular among conservatives AND libertarians, and today both sorts of ‘think tanks’ embraced her ideas.

She died in 1982, but still was the darling of the Regan Administration. Jillian wondered if Rand had met Ronald Reagan during those anti-communist Hollywood days. Hadn’t he started his political career back then by railing against the threat of communists in Hollywood? She remembered that from some class.

So, conservative politicians and economists still referenced her. Jillian thought of what the student, Carla Nagel, had said about her dad buying her a car if she’d write her honors thesis on Ayn Rand. She also recalled seeing current members of Congress on the news invoking Rand usually when supporting some law that would roll back regulations in the banking and the financial sectors.

Back to the entry. Jillian read a bit further and then involuntarily pulled back from her screen when she saw that Rand had apparently thought it was OK for the Europeans colonists to take land from the American Indians. “Jeez.”

She took more notes from in the section on Rand’s novels and films. So, she was a best-selling novelist, and one of her films, Fountainhead, was made into a film in 1949. Rand also was critical of Hollywood films that she thought depicted U.S. corporations in a negative light. Jillian assumed that this position had to do with her view that the people in the movie industry were communists.

She skimmed a section of critical reviews of Rand’s novels. The takeaway here was that her novels were best sellers, but not critically acclaimed. The critics characterized her fiction as a vehicle for her economic and philosophical ideas. This reminded Jillian of what Professor Gilroy said about Rand’s novels.

As she read on, Jillian nodded and vocalized, “Hmm.” There was a biopic called The Passion of Ayn Rand, starring Dame Helen Mirren. “Cool,” she thought. Mirren starred in Prime Suspect, the series analyzed by that British cultural studies scholar in Carolyn’s anthology. She’d see if she could stream Fountainhead and the Helen Mirren movie.

And, that was that. Only four minutes over her 30-minute time limit. So now she knew a lot more about Ayn Rand…and, she laughed, “about tapestries and Templars, too.” She wondered if any of this new info would help her figure out who killed Professor Siemens…and why.

She glanced at her watch then hurried into the living room and turned on the TV to watch the 10 o’clock news. She rarely watched TV news, but, Wes had texted earlier that he knew she’d be at judo class and would have missed the news at 6 pm. He added that the press conference went well, and suggested that she should check out the later newscast. She did.

It was a longish story for TV news, mainly because it contained a lot of info about Professor Siemens AND extended coverage of the press conference. She didn’t see Wes anywhere on camera, but knew that he’d been in the room. Mainly, Jillian was impressed that their two chiefs could say so little—there wasn’t much they could say—but look so good saying it.

CHAPTER 9

Jillian dropped her purse and her IPAD case on the desk and turned toward her office door…she was going to say good morning to Wes…but, her cell phone rang and a text came through, literally both at the same time. She answered the call…it was Grace Wilson asking about coffee later in the afternoon. Jillian suggested the café in the Hayden Library.

The text was from Mom, reminding her of dinner tonight. She and Dad would stop by at 6:30; their reservation was for 7pm. Jillian texted back, “K.”

She walked over to the coffee station, poured a cup and held the carafe up toward Wes in his office. He nodded “yes” so she walked over to his office and topped-up his Springsteen mug. He nodded his appreciation, then said, “Go ahead, Jilly, make my day…tell me that your phone call was the perp calling to confess.”

“Absolutely, Detective Sergeant Webb. And get this…it was President Davidos himself…he said it was