“What do you think? They both made the same mistake on questions seven and—”
“What do I think?”
Ivy frowned. She hated repeated questions. Nothing said “stall” more than repeating the words of the person you were speaking with back at them.
Where were you last night—the seventeenth of April, Mr.Criminal?
The seventeenth of April? Why, I was...
“I think that this is concerning,” Dr.Moorehead said after a pause.
Ivy also disliked noncommittal replies such as this one. Still, she rolled with it.
“I agree. And with the department’s—no, theuniversity’s—zero tolerance policy on cheating... ”
‘Nuff said.
Or so Ivy thought.
“It’s concerning that two students are copying off each other.”
The wording was off, and Ivy didn’t care for the insinuation.
“Dr.Moorehead, Rebecca Quinn is one of my brighter—”
“If the two tests are mostly identical, as you say, then that’s a problem. But unless you actually saw Mr.Godfrey actively cheating off Ms. Quinn, then I’ll have to bring them both in for questioning.”
Ivy’s lips formed a thin line. She hadn’t actually witnessed the infraction.
She said nothing.
“Right.” Borderline smug, but not condescending. Ivy was, after all, Dr.Moorehead’s golden goose. Youngest professor in mathematics department history, Clay Fellowship winner,blah, blah, blah.“But I’ll tell you what. I’ll pull Mr.Godfrey in for an informal meeting. How does that suit?”
You should have done that last time.
As usual,zero tolerancemeantzero tolerance forsomepeople.
Ivy still didn’t say anything, just stacked the two tests and prepared to leave.
“How’s your work going, Dr.Reeves? I got an email from the ACM conference. They’ve reserved a spot for you— not just a poster, but a talk. This is a big deal.”
A big deal forwhom?
“To be honest, I’m not really at a point where I’m comfortable sharing my work just yet.”
If Dr.Moorehead can speak in a cipher, so can I.
Dr.Moorehead saw right through her words. But unlike Ivy, he had the authority to call her on it.
“I understand your desire to carve your own legacy, Dr.Reeves. Understandable—noble, even. But there is no shame in taking over your father’s work. There’s even something romantic about it, if you believe in that sort of thing.”
I do not.
“He was close, you know,” the man continued. “Gene kept most of his work a secret for obvious reasons. He and Dr.Neely both. But I know they were close to finding a solution. If you looked over what was left after the fire, you might—”
“Dr.Moorehead, I appreciate your advice.”How do you like being cut off, sir?“But I’m making progress. If you think that I should present at the ACM, then I’ll put something together.”
Even if you discarded romanticism, the problem with Dr.Moorehead’s suggestion was that only two people were smart enough to solve the Riemann hypothesis. And one of them wasn’t her.
