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

directly at her, and said, “Don’t be getting any ideas now…about moving back over here. You’re back on campus…where you belong. We both know that, don’t we Detective Sergeant Warne?”

She couldn’t help but smile. “Yes, Chief…and thank you.”

Back in Wes’ office, Jillian asked, ‘Why’d we all meet here and not in President Davidos’ office?”

“I assume the Prez didn’t want ASU to be front and center on this…wanted it to be more of a public safety issue, which makes sense on a lot of fronts. I just don’t want us to get distracted by this rally business…we have an investigation to run. Speaking of which, how’d it go yesterday with your Professor Patek…I should say yours and Linda’s Timms’ professor?

“Well, my first comment isn’t about our investigation, but it’s still good news. Carolyn told me that Linda has completed a draft of her dissertation…and can defend during spring semester…maybe.”

Wes smiled and gave a thumbs-up.

Before Jillian could continue with the details of her meeting with Professor Patek, Officer Peter Voss knocked lightly on Wes’ door and entered the office, smiling. “Morning Wes, good morning Jillian.”

After they responded, Voss said, “We had a ‘hit’ with President Davidos’ photo.” Then, mainly to Jillian he said, “So, good work on including his photo in our gallery.” He radiated positive energy, as if she’d somehow broken the case.

Jillian and Wes both nodded, alert, awaiting more details.

“I showed the Davidos photo myself, and two of the Professor’s neighbors IDed him. Of course, I’m not sure why they recognized him…maybe from being at the Professor’s, or it could have been some other way. He’s pretty high profile…his picture’s always in in the paper and he’s on TV a lot. I pressed them, and one of them thought he’d seen Davidos visiting, but he may have been reaching, you know to be helpful. Still…maybe it’s something.”

Wes said, “Thanks Peter.”

Jillian said, “Yes, we have to keep an open mind on this. By the way, did you have a sense from the one who was most sure…OK, sorta sure…if Davidos was visiting her by himself, or with others?”

Voss, still eager, said, “Great question, Jillian., and yes, I did ask that. The neighbor thought he’d seen the two of them going into her unit together…just the two of them.”

Jillian said, “Back in a sec…I want to get my notes from my interview with Professor Carolyn Patek.” She walked the few steps to her office, picked-up her IPAD, and as she turned, realized that Voss standing in the doorway behind her. She was a little surprised. “Yes?”

Voss didn’t whisper, but he did speak quietly. “Let me just put it out there…could we have coffee sometime…later today, maybe?”

His question caught her off guard…although, maybe not so much. Quickly, she mentally ran through several possible responses, and then settled on one. She smiled and looked directly into his eyes and said, “No thank you.”

“It’s just coffee…are you sure?”

“Yes, but no thank you.”

Voss smiled although he also blushed. He nodded and said, “OK then, back to it,” and left the area.

She walked back to Wes’ office. There was no eye rolling or knowing smiles from Wes, he just said, “I’m thinking it’s significant that you didn’t use coffee with Grace Wilson as an excuse.”

“You heard?”

“Couldn’t help but…”

“I guess I was waiting for that. And, well, actually I did think about saying that I had something scheduled with Grace Wilson.” She smiled, “This way just seemed more…better.”

“More final,” he answered and smiled, a friend’s smile. “No more Brian’s.”

”Well, no more Brian, that’s for sure…and no Peter Voss either. In terms of the bigger picture…” she shrugged. Jillian glanced around the room. It had been almost empty when they’d first returned from the Chief’s office, but now others were trickling in.

Wes noted her glance and said, “Right, so back to it,” and grinned. OK, tell me about Professor Patek.”

“So, I was going to brief you anyway, but Officer Voss’ comment about a neighbor possibly seeing Professor Siemens and President Davidos at her condo reminded me of something Professor Patek said. First of all, she’s Vice President of the Faculty Women’s Association, and Professor Siemens attended those meeting. Carolyn said she was fairly unpopular because she was critical of the other women who she said acted as if they were victims, and she wasn’t in to coalition-building either. In her view, everything rests on the individual, not on groups…same with people of color. Her view is that sexism and racism have been dealt with…they’re over…so, it’s up to the individual. All of which, by the way, squares with Ayn Rand’s philosophy, too.”

Wes shrugged and said, “Well, I can see her point about individual responsibility, sure, but, at the same time, sexism obviously isn’t over, not in policing, anyway—remember your run-ins with Larry Gruber—and neither is racism…in policing or anywhere else.” He frowned, then said, “I’m thinking these positions would make the Professor very unpopular. Seems like the list of people with a motive keeps getting longer.”

He shook his head in frustration, then said, “Not that we have any real suspects, yet…we don’t…just a lot of little pings on the radar…”

“Right…anyway, here’s why Officer Voss’ comments reminded me of something Carolyn said. She thought that Professor Siemens and President Davidos were friendly. As a matter of fact, she was fairly certain that they sat together at a Faculty Women’s meeting last spring.”

“Of course, Davidos told us that himself…about them being friends.”

“When you pressed him on it…anyway, I also started my homework on Ayn Rand last night. And from what I read, she was as much of a lightning rod in her day as Professor Siemens is…was…today. For example, she argued that a lot of the people in the movie business were communists, and that many Hollywood films were pro-communist…or, at least they were anti-business. She even testified as a friendly witness at the McCarthy hearings.”

Wes whistled “Whew.” HUAC.” When Jillian looked confused he added, “House Un-American Activities Committee…HUAC’s the acronym.”

“Oh, right. And, Rand was basically required reading during the Regan