Death of the Ayn Rand Scholar by Gray Cavender (red scrolls of magic TXT) 📗

as if she was an advocate for Professor Naremore. She was looking for things, either in what he’d said or inconsistencies in what others had said, that would exonerate him…something to show, something to prove, that he didn’t murder Professor Siemens. She looked away from her screen, angry at herself…she had no business reading the file from this perspective. She was a homicide detective, and this was still a homicide investigation.

She turned back to the screen and kept pushing, and was eventually able to get into her file…to a degree. For almost an hour, she slogged through the file and the crime scene photos. Still, nothing jumped-out to her. Then, she realized that she was reading the words, but that they weren’t sinking-in. Frustrated, she closed the IPAD and left for the day. The Jupiter on the ride home was one of the older, more funky-looking models.

Jillian sat on the inside, facing the front and leaned her head against the window. It had been a long, intense day and she was tired and depressed. Between what Professor LeJohns had to say and then Professor Naremore’s attitude, and then seeing Wes so upset…it all bothered her. And the run-in with Doc Halliday was another worry that she did not need. The only bright spot about Doc was that engaging him seemed to have perked Wes up a bit.

She kept returning to Professor Naremore…his situation really troubled her, and for all sorts of reasons…some related to the case…others were at a much larger level. Her mind flashed to his Black Lives Matter flyer. Jillian knew that she if she was still a student, she would be there with him at the demonstration, probably along with a lot of other Justice Studies students.

And that flyer and the interview…she couldn’t get out of her mind her conversation with Wes about policing. There was so much going on…her mind was in a muddle.

Jillian tried again. Having just re-read her case notes, they were up front in her mind. Even though she’d seen nothing new, she mentally replayed them again. She hadn’t been very successfully when she’d tried reading her file…maybe she’d do better if she could think it through.

What about President Davidos? During both interviews, he made her uneasy….it was almost as if he wanted to make her uneasy. What was that about? And, all these professors were telling her how broke universities are these days, and here he was flying first class…personally, she didn’t like that. Professor Siemens seems to have been part of that academic elite, just as Rand was part of an intellectual elite. She remembered what Wes had said: ’rank hath privileges.’

But, just because she didn’t like President Davidos didn’t mean that he was a murderer. Wes kept saying that, too.

And what about Professor Naremore? Wes had said that just because he had a temper and a motive didn’t necessarily mean… It still troubled Jillian that he didn’t have an alibi for the night Professor Siemens was murdered. Plus, he had a history of bad interactions with her, including several in the last few weeks. And worse, there was that grievance. And obviously, from his perspective, a grievance could derail his chances for promotion and was therefore a solid motive.

And what about Professor Roberts? He seemed to be wound tight. So? Jillian again thought about the biopic and Ayn Rand’s disdain for conventions, like being monogamous. She didn’t know if she could buy Roberts’ comment that Professor Siemens was tired of the single life and that they might get back together. It seemed too pat, and it did go against the movie depiction of Rand’s personal life…whatever Doc Halliday thought.

Out of the corner of her eye, Jillian saw her reflection in the window. She was frowning. Maybe Doc was right about her being too influenced by a movie. Or by what she’d googled about Ayn Rand. On the other hand, this is how she did detective work, and, well, it usually worked out for her…that’s what Wes had told Doc, anyway.

The Jupiter stopped at the four way stop at the intersection of College and Alameda. In a spur of the moment decision, Jillian decided that she’d change clothes and go to a movie. There actually was a Nancy Meyers film playing at the Scottsdale Fashion Square mall. She could grab a bite to eat at the concession stand. She laughed because the movie had been listed in the section of The Republic that Doc had left on her desk.

She hoped that getting away from the case tonight would get her out of her funk and maybe recharge her batteries…give her a fresh perspective. And, maybe figure out what it was that she was missing. She certainly wasn’t making any headway playing and replaying the file, either on her IPAD or in her mind. Her brain felt so cobwebby.

Whether going to a movie and getting away from the case had cleared her head was yet to be determined, but at least she’d enjoyed the movie. And, when she got up the next morning, she felt refreshed.

Jillian’s plan was to spend all morning and part of the afternoon working at ASU PD. Wes would be in court most of the day, and she did need to catch-up on her assignment on the Sexual Assault Task Force.

For the first 30 minutes that she was at work, though, she sorted through her email, and read notices and updates that were circulating through the department. Given the size of ASU’s student population—tens of thousands of young adults living in what essentially was a small city—some updates were wild. Several times, Jillian shook her head in disbelief at the crazy things that students did and what happened to them as a result.

She then turned to her assignment, reading and organizing her notes from the several Task Force meetings. Ersula arrived at 9:30, excited to see where Jillian worked and what the offices were like…she’d never been in a campus police station. Jillian introduced her around. She met