Chapter 7 #2
“The more who know our plan, the easier it will be to get out. Seed exam questions that will require someone to ask you about a subject. It’s the one way I know of to actually start unraveling this mess.
Agreed?” he asked. Everyone said yes. “Anyone with a better idea?” Silence.
He could even hear the air-conditioner whir softly.
“Then let’s do it. If you suspect one of your students, then come to me or Harry.
Don’t question them alone. We need witnesses to everything.
Remember, a lot of our students have wealthy and powerful parents.
” They all nodded and then began to leave the room.
Jamie got his coffee and returned to his office to prepare for this first class of the day.
He really hoped this issue came to a head soon.
I got another interview, and the chocolate people called, and they will be sending a job offer. The text made Jamie smile.
Schedule the interview, and we can review the job offer when they send it. Great job! he sent in return, adding a smiley face. At least he had some good news today. Jamie was so tired, he yawned as a girl who wasn’t in one of his classes knocked on the door.
“Can I help you?”
She shifted from foot to foot. “I’m Katie, and I’m trying to help my roommate.
She’s in your afternoon American Studies class.
She got a study guide, and there was something on it that we didn’t know about.
I was on my way to another class in this building, and I thought I’d ask because maybe the study guide she got was old or something.
” She pulled out a handwritten sheet of paper.
“She wanted me to ask about Intelligent Design. I know that it was a theory about creationism that courts struck down as trying to get around the prohibition of teaching religious doctrine in schools, but that’s about all.
” She then showed him a copy of his fake exam.
“Please have a seat,” he said, and picked up his phone. “Sorry, a friend has a sick kid and he’s out of town.” It was just a cover so he could message Harry. “Who is your roommate?” he asked, trying to play it cool.
“Celia Harper,” she answered, and Jamie wasn’t surprised. Her work had been subpar all semester. “I’ve been trying to help her raise her grade in your class.”
Harry popped his head in.
“Come on in. This is Katie, and she’s trying to help her roommate prepare for her exam.” He watched Katie, who didn’t seem nervous as he handed the study guide over to Harry.
“Is something wrong?” she asked, concern and confusion in her voice.
“I’m afraid so. This isn’t a study guide. This is an exam that I entered on the college’s system. This wasn’t handed out to anyone. She is using you to help her prepare to cheat on the exam. There have been issues with system security.”
“Oh God. I didn’t know. I work hard, and I….” She paled. “I didn’t know. You have to believe me.”
Jamie did, and it seemed Harry did as well.
“It’s okay. You need to get Celia over here. Message her that you have what she needs, but that you need to work on a project. Tell her to meet you in the union. We’ll have campus security bring her here.” He waited while she did as instructed.
Harry called the Dean to explain what happened and what they had. The Dean said he would meet Celia and campus security in the union. He also asked Jamie and Harry to meet him in his office in half an hour.
“What about me?” Katie asked. “I would never cheat. Ask my professors. I work hard for my grades. Celia never seemed to, but she’s my roommate, so I agreed to try to help her. I didn’t….” She looked about ready to cry.
“I believe you,” Jamie said, with Harry nodding. “Go on back to your room and study for your finals.”
She shook her head. “Celia involved me, so I’m going to see this through. I need to make sure I’m not drawn into this any more than I already am. I hope to go to law school someday, and I will not let something like this keep me from that.”
Jamie wasn’t going to argue with her. She had a stake in how this came out, so they waited until he received a call from the Dean and then headed to his office in the administration building with Harry and Katie.
Jamie knocked on the door. When he asked them to come in, he found a woman sitting at a table, looking nervous as hell.
“What did you do, Celia?” Katie demanded. “Did you try to buy a copy of an exam and then send me out to give you cover?” She hurried over to the table. “Answer me!”
“I didn’t think you’d get in trouble.” Jamie was convinced that Katie had nothing to do with any of this.
“You can go. We know you were just helping your roommate,” Harry told her.
“We will make sure your record is not affected in any way.” Harry opened the door, and Katie left the office.
“Now, you… are a completely different matter, and I suggest you start telling us everything you know about this stolen exam, including how and where you got it.” He was a big man and intimidating as all hell.
“I bought it on the internet,” she said.
The Dean leaned over the table. “Try again, young lady. You don’t think we have people monitoring sites where things like this are sold?
We’ve been down that road before. So, unless you want your records frozen, credits made untransferable, and expelled from this school, you’d better start coming up with answers and fast.” Harry was bluffing, but she didn’t know that.
Jamie joined the Dean. “Someone supplied the test, but it was fake, so you were duped. But that doesn’t mean you are in any less trouble.
If you tell us who supplied the information, the Dean can consider putting you on academic probation for the next two years, and you can attempt to finish your degree.
But you must tell us everything.” He figured a little good cop would get her to talk.
Celia may not have been in the choir, but she sang like a canary. Jamie spent the next hour taking notes of everyone involved. Then he turned his notes over the Dean, leaving him to deal with Celia, as well as the rest of the test-fixing ring.
“Thank you, Harry,” he said as soon as he closed the door behind him.
“No. We all have you to thank. You caught one of the small fish and made it possible to follow the chain upward.”
“Thanks,” Jamie said softly.
“And you proved your leadership and problem-solving skills. I’ll make sure that they’re all documented in your file, so it’s considered when you’re up for tenure in a few years.
” Harry smiled. “You did very well, and plenty of people know it, as well as the administration. You did us all a real service.” He headed out of the building, and Jamie walked across campus to get his things.
He couldn’t wait to tell Todd how well his plan worked.