Chapter 3

The officers arrived fast. The one in front let his gaze sweep across all of us.

"Who called it in?"

"I did, Officer."

I raised my hand and glanced at the badge in his hand. Simmons.

Before Officer Simmons could ask what had happened, Quinn Whitney shouldered his way over from the side.

He stepped up and grabbed the officer's hand. "It's a misunderstanding, all a misunderstanding. Sorry to drag you out here for nothing."

Officer Simmons pulled his hand back, ignored him, and turned to me for the standard questions.

"What happened?"

I handed him the thesis and the certificate I'd organized, along with the recording I'd just made, and gave him a quick account of what had gone on.

When Officer Simmons saw the words "law school" on my certificate, the corner of his mouth twitched.

He gave Quinn Whitney and Professor Norris a long, meaningful look.

The look seemed to say, you're really going to slander a law student? Seriously?

Officer Simmons cleared his throat twice. "May I ask when, and where, the two of you supposedly saw this thesis?"

Professor Norris's eyes drifted. "I, I don't remember."

Quinn Whitney jumped in at once.

"Right, Officer, we just glanced at it in passing. Who's got nothing better to do than memorize a thing like that?"

I turned the question back on him.

"Just glanced at it in passing, but you remember it well enough to accuse me, and yet you can't remember when or where you saw it?"

He had no comeback.

I went on, unhurried. "And if I remember right, Professor Norris just said my regular coursework is all copied. I'd love to know what evidence Professor Norris has that any of that is true."

Professor Norris turned his face away, unable to look at me.

"Who has time to sit around collecting evidence like that? Leah Henson, quit making a scene and wasting the officers' time. I've already made myself perfectly clear about the thesis. I simply don't remember where I saw it!"

I smiled.

Did they really think that if they clamped down on "I don't remember," there'd be nothing anyone could do?

"Officer, since both my advisor and Professor Norris say they don't remember, then I'd like to request that IT pull all of their browsing records. If they claim they saw it, the records will show it."

At that, Quinn Whitney lost it completely.

"No. I absolutely refuse. That's a violation of my personal privacy!"

"Leah, just treat it as your teacher having a little joke with you. Do you really have to blow this out of proportion?"

Me, blowing this out of proportion?

Why hadn't they thought about the consequences when they were spreading their lies?

Now they turned around and accused me of blowing it out of proportion. Didn't they find that laughable?

If I hadn't fought this all the way today, if I'd let it fester, would they have stepped forward on their own to clear my name and set the record straight?

No.

So the only person who could clear my name was me.