Tamarack River Ghost: A Novel

33. Different Results

190 Different Results 33 The morning after the zoning committee meeting in Willow River, Emily Jordan punched in a phone number in Dubuque. “Hello, Nathan West Industries, Robert Jordan.” “Uncle Bob, how are you?” “I’m just fine, Emily. How’d the meeting go last night? “It worked. My little number manipulation did the trick. Just heard on the radio that the zoning committee voted four to one to approve the zoning change. We can start building immediately.” “Good news, Emily. What a great idea to have you work undercover as a graduate student! Worked wonders in Ohio; working in Wisconsin, too.” “We may have a problem, though.” “What’s that?” said Robert Jordan, some of the glee gone from his voice. “This dorky assistant professor I’m working for wants to refigure everything . I’ll try to stonewall it, but the guy will likely find out that I tampered with the data. My hope is he’ll be too scared to tell anybody.” “Let him tell somebody. What difference does it make? The committee has voted.” “This will likely end my days as a graduate student.” “So, you’ll be back in the head office a little sooner than we planned. Not a problem. We’ve got lots for you to do. Nobody knows you work for NWI, do they?” “Not a soul. And I won’t tell them either. I’ve got a wild story about why I changed the numbers if they push me, but nobody will find out about why I really did it.” 191 Different Results “Good work, Emily. I knew we could count on you. This will probably earn you a promotion—certainly a bump in salary.” “Thank you, Uncle Bob. Always good to talk with you. Say hello to Aunt Mary for me.” Randy was in his office by 7:00 a.m. the morning following the meeting at Willow River and the little celebration in his graduate student’s apartment . He tried to move that latter bit out of his mind, for he knew well the consequences of a professor sleeping with his student, especially a graduate assistant he supervised. If there was ever a reason for dismissal, it was just that. The university had strict rules about sexual harassment, and he had clearly violated one of the most serious ones. His only hope was that no one would find out. Randy immediately looked for the returned questionnaires he and Emily had been working on. He had not had time to examine them and had left much of the early analysis to Emily. Now he wished he had said “no” to a couple of committee assignments so he could have had more time to work on the research project. Emily had come with such high recommendations for her research skills that he had trusted her to do the early analysis correctly. Still, the project was in his name, and he should have reviewed the preliminary results before she presented them. Perhaps Emily had made an error; there was always that possibility. He needed to go through the returns himself and check what he found against Emily’s work. The university demanded accurate research, checked many times and often by several people. He walked over to the administrative assistant’s desk. “Do you know where Emily Jordan has filed the returned questionnaires from our research project?” “Sorry, I don’t,” she said as she reached to answer the phone. It seemed the phone never stopped ringing at the main desk of the Department of Agribusiness Studies. So much for cell phones and text-messaging replacing all land lines. He waited until she had hung up. “Do you know if Emily is expected in this morning?” 192 Different Results “I’ll check her schedule—don’t you have a copy in your office?” “Probably, but you know my office.” He smiled when he said it, because everyone knew that his office was not the most tidy and organized in the department. “She should be in by nine this morning,” the administrative assistant said, reaching to answer the phone again. “This one’s for you,” she said as she covered her hand over the mouthpiece. Randy returned to his office and picked up the phone. “This is Ben Wesley, county agent in Ames County. I was at the meeting in Willow River, and I’ve been getting lots of calls about the research...