“That might be the way you operate, Martin. But it’s not the way I do things. Garret’s grade for the dig has already been submitted. As has Ms Hall’s.”
Riley looks panicked, as well she should. I gave her a conceded pass, making sure to detail why it wasn’t higher.
“What I’d like to know, Martin, is what your interest is in all this. You were copied in on Ms Hall’s complaint email. Why?” Jen skewers Martin with a look sharp enough to cut glass.
“I’m her supervisor. That’s appropriate.” Now he's sweating almost as much as Garret was.
Jennifer raises one brow.
“Are you sure you didn’t exert any influence on Ms Hall, hoping to force Ethan into resigning, expecting it would benefit you in some way?”
There’s a scoffing noise from Sadie and a gasp from Riley.
“Wait a minute. Professor Carter has resigned?” Riley asks.
“What did you think would happen when you complained, Ms Hall?”
I can see Jennifer is herding Collins and Riley to the edge of the cliff, confirming my suspicions.
“I didn’t think he’d resign. I thought Sadie would get kicked off the PhD program.” Riley looks at Martin. “You said it would be Sadie who—” And there it is. The smoking gun.
Chapter Forty-Eight
Sadie
“Professor Collins put you up to making a complaint about me and Ethan?” I can’t believe what I’m hearing.
I look at Professor Collins. I can almost hear the gears grinding in his head as he tries to work out the best way to spin this.
“Deliberately sabotaging the career and destroying the reputation of a fellow professor is a very serious breach, Martin.” Jennifer’s tone is arctic. I don’t miss that since Garret left, she’s reverted to calling him by his first name, marking a lowering of her respect.
Ethan is sitting back in his chair, looking pissed of but thoroughly unsurprised by developments.
“It was obvious something was going on. The way he fought to be her supervisor? Please. I merely suggested Ms Hall should ensure she wasn’t disadvantaged by his bias. And you can’t deny they acted inappropriately. They clearly had sex. On a university-funded dig. That’s not acceptable.” If his wordsweren’t insulting enough, his derisive tone sends it over the edge.
“I fought to supervise Sadie to save a brilliant student from being used by you.” Ethan almost spits, causing Professor Collins to shrink in his chair. “And I object to you suggesting bias. I have been scrupulously fair in every way.”
“Martin, there is absolutely no evidence of bias. Further, Ethan and Sadie are both consenting adults. Their only crime here—if one could call it that—is not telling me of their pre-existing relationship.” Jennifer closes the open file on the table in front of her.
Riley’s eyes nearly pop out of her head.
“It seems to me you’ve been manipulated here, Ms Hall. I’d like you to give serious thought to whether you’d like to stand by your claims or withdraw your complaint. What you choose to do is entirely up to you. May I suggest you think it through without influence from others. You may go. You too, Sadie.”
In the space of less than half an hour, Professor Stone has managed to turn the tables.
I follow Riley out of the office, and even though we close the door behind us, we can clearly hear the raised voices. I think I just make out the word ‘prick’ in Ethan’s voice.
Riley turns on me the minute we’re out of sight of the office.
“Why didn’t you tell me you and Ethan knew each other before?” She’s got to be kidding me. As if I owe her anything.
“It was none of your business.”
“You know, if you’d told me you had a thing going, I wouldn’t have said a word. I even asked you in Cairo. You denied it. To my face. You let me go on and on about hooking up with him. And all the time you were sleeping with him.”
“I wasn’t sleeping with him. We’d hooked up once before he started working here. I genuinely didn’t know who he was.” I lean against the wall, already exhausted by this conversation.
“I looked like a fool. I’ll bet you thought you were so clever. Making fun of me behind my back.” Riley’s cheeks are pink with indignation, hands planted on her hips. Any minute now I expect her to stamp her foot.
