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, andexpelled 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.
ChapterEight
“Daddy,” Kennysaid as he took his hand, pulling him over to the table. “You’re not listening…,” he added.
“Sorry.” He had read the offer he’d received three times, and there were still things about it that he didn’t understand. Still, he knew the money being offered was good, and that was the biggest thing, he supposed. “What do you have?”
“I did schoolwork,” Kenny said. Todd wasn’t sure what he was referring to until Kenny showed him a book. He had thought it was another coloring book, but apparently it was a math workbook. “I know all the numbers.”
Todd leafed through page after page of beginning math problems that had been solved. Simple addition and subtraction, all completed correctly as far as he knew. Pages and pages of them. “Where did you get this?” he asked gently, still confused.
“Miss Andrea,” Kenny answered. He pointed toward the house next door. “She gave them to me.”
“Are there more?” Todd asked, and Kenny lowered his gaze before showing him more. One was writing, and the other seemed to be geared around reading and answering questions. He paged through them and realized he had been holding his son back. Kenny should have been in preschool already.
Kenny pulled the book he was using to him and picked up a pencil, opening the book to a page and started working. His numbers were wavy, but legible.
Todd sat next to him, put an arm around him, and they shared a smile. “Do you like doing math?”
Kenny nodded before finishing the page. He grinned, and Todd hugged him tightly, about ready to burst with pride and relief. “Can I watch TV?” Kenny asked, and Todd nodded. Kennyturned on the television and sat on the floor, Cindy curling next to him to watch cartoons.
Rain spattered the windows as he returned to the computer. He had gotten another response to his job inquiries. He scheduled an interview for Friday, hoping it would be okay with Jamie. Now he had two appointments, and it was becoming increasingly clear that he was going to need a way to get back and forth to work. He had seen bus shelters out near the warehouses, so he assumed that there was a way to get out there. Maybe after getting paid a few times, he could get some sort of car of his own.
“Hey, Kenny,” Jamie said as he came into the living room. He must have parked in the garage and come through the back.
Kenny jumped up and ran to hug him. “I did schoolwork today.” He practically dragged Jamie to the table to show him.
“That’s amazing. Did you learn to do this all by yourself?” He paged through the book. Kenny showed him the other ones. “How about you keep working in this one, and this weekend, I’ll show you what to do in these books. Okay?”
“Yes.” He grinned and went back to the television.
“Andrea gave him the books. I’m not sure when.”
“She’s been home-schooling her kids for years. So, I suspect she found some old materials and thought Kenny might get some use out of them.” He put down his bag with a sigh. “On the test-stealing front, our trap bore fruit. We were able to follow the trail, and the Dean is working on it. My colleagues are happy, and hopefully more people will show themselves. But that seems to be working out.” Jamie glanced at Kenny and then kissed Todd gently. “How are things here?”
