I was finally able to tell Amy about the exam being stolen. And we talked about ways to figure out who took it. We ended up going bowling with Charlie and Jackie, and I told them about wanting to have the ‘57 Chevy out here. And, I ended up rewriting the exam. Not fun.

Monday morning I was at the Dean’s office just before eight. I wanted to talk to Sara before I talked to Dr. Joe. And, when I got to the office, it was still dark. But, it wasn’t long until Sara walked up, saw me, and said, “Kai, what are you doing here so early?”

“I need to talk to you before I see Dr. Oshie.”

“What’s wrong.”

“Something I can’t talk about right now.”

As she unlocked the door, she said, “Oh. Come on in.”

I followed her into the office, and as she turned on the lights, she asked, “So, Kai, what do you need?”

“When you made the copies of my two exams did you make exactly the number of copies that I asked for?”

“Yes. We have to keep a log of all the copies that we make. Let me show you.”

Sara retrieved the log from the copy machine, and she showed me. As she did, she said, “We write down the beginning and ending counts that are on the counter.”

She located the entries for my copies, and said, “See. You had us make seventy-five copies of the one exam that had four pages, so the counter shows three-hundred pages copied. The other exam you had us make sixty-five copies of three pages, so it shows one-hundred and ninety-five pages.”

“Thank you, Sara. That answers my question.”

“Not going to share the reason behind the question?”

“Can’t. But, I can give you a hint.” With that, I opened my briefcase, took out the new exam, and handed it to Sara.

She looked at it, and said, “Is this a new exam for your one course?”

“I’m afraid so.”

“Why?”

“Let's just say that the University Police have asked us not to talk about it.”

“Oh.”

“I’ve got to run. And, I’m sorry for the extra work.”

“That’s all right, Kai. I’ll have it done by noon.”

I quickly walked over to Dr. Joe’s office, I knocked on the door, and I heard a “Come in.”

I opened the door, walked in, and said, “Have you heard anything from the University Police?”

“Good morning to you too, Miss Nez.”, Dr. Joe said.

“Sorry. Good morning Dr. Joe. I’m just in a hurry to make my class, and I want to run something past you first.”

“That’s better, Kai. What do you want to run past me?”

“My idea.”

“Go for it.”

“First, I checked with the Dean’s secretary this morning about the numbers of copies that they made for me, and they were what I thought they were. They keep good records of the number of copies that they make for who”

“That’s good to know.”

“Now, I think that I may be able to feel who in my class stole the test if I confront the whole class with the information that a copy of the test was stolen.”

“You think that'll work?”

“I hope it will.”

“The University Police don’t want us talking about it.”

“I know. That’s the only stumbling block in my idea.”

“Have you rewritten the exam?

“Yes. I dropped it off to the Dean’s secretary this morning for typing.”

“Good. Why not do this. Don’t say a word to the class right now. Act as if nothing has happened. Then on the day of the exam, hit them with the news of the exam being stolen and that the one that their taking is a complete rewrite. Then try to pick out who might have stolen it.”

I thought for a second, then said, “I like your idea, Dr. Joe.”

“I thought you might.”

“I’ve got to run.”

“Stop back after your done.”

“It won’t be until Noon. I’ve got a grad level class to take.”

“I’ll be here.”

I left Dr. Joe’s office and headed for my class. And again I was almost late. As I looked over the members of my first class, I didn’t sense anything different. And, I felt the same thing in my second class. I couldn’t help but wonder if my students had anything to do with the theft or not.

I also didn’t mention anything about the exam being stolen.

After I’d finished teaching my two classes I went to my grad-level class, and as I walked in my instructor, Professor Donaldson, in front of the whole class, said, “Miss Nez, I need to apologize to you.”

“For what sir?”, I asked.

“For the things, I’ve said when you’ve come in here all dressed up.”

“Professor, did the Dean say something to you?”

“Yes.”

I shook my head, and said, “I asked him not to.”

“But, I’m still sorry.”

“Professor, I felt no malice from you. So, I didn’t take it personally.”

“It wasn’t said with malice. It was just strange seeing someone that dressed up in a college class. And, I now know how important those meetings were. Congratulations on your part in the Apollo program.”

I received a few questioning looks from my classmates.

Professor Donaldson asked, “Miss Nez, do you mind if I tell the class?”

“I guess not.”, I replied.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I know I’ve been a little out of line when Miss Nez has come to class all dressed up. And, I’ve just found out how important these meetings were that she attended.

“The university has been working on a research project for the Los Alamos National Laboratory. And, I know that Miss Nez has just been told that the research had to do with the Apollo Space program. And, Miss Nez has been an important part of that research.”

I felt my face get warm. And, I said, “I was just one of the research team. Just a research assistant. And, we were meeting with our liaison at Los Alamos.”

“Miss Nez, weren’t you just given a research fellowship?”

“Yes, sir. I guess I was.”

“So, you’re just a research assistant. I think not.”

As I said, “I guess not.” I shrugged my shoulders.

We made it through class, and I headed to Dr. Joe’s office. As I got there, I saw two men, in work clothes, walking out of the office with a dolly. Since the door was open, I just walked in, and asked, “Dr. Joe, who were those guys?”

He pointed to a file cabinet, and said, “They just delivered that.”

“A new file cabinet?”

“A high security, fireproof, file cabinet. And, here’s your key.” Dr. Joe said as he handed me a key. Then he said, “We have the only keys.”

Then I asked, “Where did this come from?”

“When they showed up with this, and since I knew nothing about it, I called the Dean. And, he told me that Dr. Fontheim requested that we have it for the new project. Plus they’re going to change the lock on the door.”

“And, you didn’t ask for any of this?”

“No. But, with the door lock, I figure that the Dean got wind of something to do with the theft of the exam.”

“It wouldn’t … “

Just then there was a knock on the door. And, Dr. Joe said, “Come in.”

The door opened, and Dean Rutherford walked in. As he did, he said, “Good. You’re both here.”

“What did we do?”, I asked.

“Nothing, Miss Nez. I heard about the theft and wanted to see if you knew any more.”

“Nothing, Dean.”, Dr. Joe said. “I did hear from building maintenance that they’re going to replace the lock on the door. Plus they just delivered the file cabinet.”

“Yes, I requested a new lock, and I knew that Los Alamos had required the file cabinet.

“So, Miss Nez, someone has stolen a copy of your final exam?”

“It appears that way, sir.”, I replied.

“What have you done so far?”

“I spent the weekend rewriting the final, and Sara is typing it up for me.”

“That’s good.”

“I taught the classes this morning that the exam is for, and I couldn’t tell if anyone in either class had anything to do with it.”

“How could you tell?”

“It’s just something that I can sometimes do. But, with a group of people together like what’s in the classes, I may not be able to.”

“Miss Nez, are you telling me that you can … ”

“Dean.”, Dr. Joe said, interrupting the Dean. “Believe me, as a native, that Miss Nez can tell how people feel about things especially where it concerns her. Remember that she’s a two spirit person.

“Do you remember when we interviewed her to determine if we’d let her, as her, teach Dr. Kilmer’s classes?”

“Of course.”

“Do you remember what she told Dean Miller?”

“I’m not sure.”

“She told him that at first, she felt that he was against her and that you and Mr. Robertson were undecided. Then after we interviewed her, she felt that you and Mr. Robertson had decided to give her a chance and that he, Dean Miller, was now undecided.”

“I do remember that now and how I was surprised that she could know that.

“So, Miss Nez, what are you planning to do?”

“Nothing until I give the exam. Then I’ll tell my students about the theft, the new exam, and that we have an idea as to who the thief is. And, I'll see if I can feel a reaction.”

“Do we have an idea who the thief is?”, the Dean asked.

“No, sir. It’s just a ploy to see if anyone reacts.”, I replied.

“Do you think it’ll work?”

“I’m not sure. But, I hope it does.”

“Keep me informed.”

“We will, sir.”

The Dean left, and Dr. Joe said, “Kai, be careful with this. Don’t go taking on the thief if you figure out who it is. Take it to the authorities.”

“I will.”, I said.

“Promise me. I don’t want you getting hurt.”

“I promise.”

“Thank you. Now, let's get some lunch.”

After lunch, I stopped by the Dean’s office. Sara saw me walk in, smiled, and said, “All done, Kai.”

“That was fast.”, I replied.

“Not really. You have nice handwriting, and it’s easy to read.”

“Thank you. Now all I have to do is draw the circuits, and then we can make the copies.”

“The Dean said to give you priority.”

“Why?”

“No idea. Except that he likes you.”

“Teacher's pet?”

“No, I don’t think so. The Dean likes the idea of a girl doing as well as you do. It’s gotten some of the men out of their rut and trying to keep up with you.”

“Oh. Now I’m making enemies among the faculty.”

“Just the opposite, Kai. They’re taking a liking to you.”

“Even Dr. O’Riley?”

“Don’t worry about him. You took him down a couple of notches, but I overheard him tell another instructor that you add a lot to the faculty here.”

“I’m not faculty. Am I?”, I asked.

“You’re part-time faculty.”, Sara replied. “So, you are faculty.”

As Sara handed me a manila folder with my new exam in it, she said, “I also made two copies just encase you have a problem with your circuit drawings.”

“Good thinking, Sara.”

“That’s why I get paid the big bucks.”

With a smile. I said, “You should be paid the big buck.”

I put the folder in my briefcase, said so long to Sara, and headed to the apartment. Amy wasn’t home yet. So, I set to work drawing the circuit diagrams on the exam that Sara had just typed up for me. When Amy came home, I’d just finished the last diagram that I needed to do.

Amy walked over to me, kissed me on the cheek, and asked, “Did you figure out who stole the exam yet?”

“No, we decided to go at it from another direction.” And, I told her what Dr. Joe had come up with, and she agreed that it might work. I also told her about what my one instructor had done when he apologized to me. She thought that it was nice of him to apologize, but he shouldn’t have done it in front of the whole class. I agreed with her but told her that he’d brought up the way I was dressed in front of the entire class. And, it may have made him feel better to apologize to me in front of the whole class.

Then Amy said, “You know. He may have done it that way because he’s proud of you and the University.”

“That’s possible.”, I said. “He is an odd duck. And, may not be able to express himself about things like this.”

I can’t say much about the rest of the week. It was a typical week for us. We did go for a walk along the Rio Grande River, and the Eagles did show up. We also went out for dinner on Friday night with the Etsittys and the Oshies. The restaurant that we went to was the High Noon Restaurant and Saloon. A new place for us. The short ribs there are to die for, and they also have some excellent wines. The restaurant is in a building that was built around 1785. It’s a great old building.

That week when Sara gave me the copies of the exam, I took them and wrote a different number from one to three on the front of each one. Why? You’ll see.

Also, Dr. Joe made it through the nine books, and amazingly he picked the same book that I did. So, we had the book for the new class. I stopped at the bookstore and found out that there was a teachers guide for the book, and I had them order me one.

We got together with Jackie and Charlie on Saturday afternoon and went bowling again. Amy showed us that she could bowl, she won two of the three games. Charlie won the third. Then it was off for pizza at Nunzio's. We had to wait a half an hour for a table, and it was cold out, but as usual, the wait was worth it. And, we found that the last final exam for Jackie and Charlie was on Thursday, and they were going to fly home on Friday morning. Luckily that worked for both Amy and me, and we could take them to the airport.

Also, while we were eating, I said, “We’re thinking of going up onto the Sandia Crest tomorrow and you're welcome to come along.”

“Isn’t it too cold?”, Jackie asked.

“No, not if you dress for it.”

“Why go up there this time of year?”, Charlie asked.

“We miss the snow from home, and there’s probably a foot or so up there.”

“We’d better not. I've got some studying that I need to do.”

“Me too.”, Jackie said.

“You know.”, Amy said. “I think it might be good for us to study on Sunday too.”

“You’re right.”, I replied. “Maybe we can run up after we’re back in town.”

“That would work for us too.”, Jackie said. “And, we could bring winter clothes back with us.”

“Yeah.”, Charlie said. “We didn’t realize how cold it could get out here. So, we didn’t bring any winter stuff with us.”

“Don’t feel bad.”, Amy said. “We didn’t either, and we had our mothers send us a care package of our winter stuff.”

That brought smiles.

Sunday was just a study and housework day.

Monday was the first day of exam week. And, the schedule of exams was different than the class schedule. Somehow they were able to rework things so that during exam week, each class had one hour and fifty minutes for their exam. The first class I was giving an exam to was Electric Circuits on Monday morning at eight. The second was Electronic Circuits and Systems on Monday afternoon at two. And I had the same schedule on Wednesday for the other two sections of the two classes that I taught.

The exam on Monday morning for my Electric Circuits class went off without a problem, and everyone finished early. Maybe I made the exam too easy? We’ll see what kind of scores they have.

On Monday afternoon when I walked into the classroom to give the exam to the class in Electronic Circuits and Systems most of my students were already there. As the bell rang, I walked up the aisle to close the door, and as I noticed one of my students running for the door. As he arrived, a little short of breath, he said, “Sorry, Miss Nez. I had an exam at Noon, and it took the whole time.”

I smiled, and said, “I hope this one won’t take that long.”

“Me too.”

I closed the door and walked back to the front of my class. The first thing I said was, “Gentlemen, I’d like one seat between you. So, please move, so that happens.”

It only took a minute or so for them to move so that there was a seat between each of them. Then I looked at my students, and said, “First thing gentlemen, is a copy of the original exam that I was going to give you was stolen out of my briefcase while it was in Dr. Oshie’s office. So, I took the time to write a new exam, and sorry to say it’s harder than the first one.”

It wasn’t harder, but that brought a moan from the class.

I continued with, “By someone stealing the exam, and we think we know who took it, it made more work for me and others. Am I unhappy about this? Yes! And, so are other people.

“You will also note that your exam has a number on it from one to three. There are three different versions of the exam. Yes, I took the time to write up three different exams."

I really hadn’t written three different exams. But, the class didn’t need to know that.

Then I said, “When you’re finished bring your test down and place it on my desk. On the corner of my desk is a short survey that Student Services would like you to take. It’s on how I did as your instructor. If you’d like to take the survey, take one, my name is already on it, answer the questions, and turn it into Student Services in the Student Union. It’s anonymous.”

As I walked up the aisle handing out the exams, I said, “Be sure that your name is on each page. And you have until three-fifty to finish it. Good luck.”

I walked back down the aisle and sat at my desk. I had the book for one of my grad level classes with me, so I read, and every once in a while I’d look up at the class to be sure that everyone was doing their own work.

It took the first student to finish about an hour and twenty-five minutes. As he placed his completed test on my desk, he picked up a survey, and quietly said, “See you in January, Miss Nez.”

I smiled at him.

Slowly over the next twenty minutes, everyone finished their test, and almost everyone picked up the survey. Some of them said something, and others didn’t.

When the bell rang at three-fifty, I was by myself. And, I thought, ‘That was interesting being on the instructor's side of an exam.’

Then I thought, ‘When I told them about the exam being stolen I didn’t feel anything other than shock. So, maybe no one from this class had anything to do with it.’

I picked up everything and headed to the apartment. As I walked in, I got a kiss from Amy, and she asked, “So, how did it go?”

“Good.”, I replied. “Though I might have to rethink the test for Electric Circuits.”

“Why’s that?”

“They finished too quickly. The test might be too easy. I’ll know when I grade them.”

“How about the theft?”

“Nothing with this class. Other than a moan when I told them that the rewritten test is harder than the original. We’ll see what happens Wednesday.”

“Is it harder?”

“No. I just reworked some of the questions, added a couple, removed a couple, and put them in a different order.”

Tuesday morning I was able to grade the exams that I had given yesterday, and the curve for the Electric Circuits course was only a little slanted towards the high side. So, I guess it wasn’t too easy.

In the Electronic Circuits and Systems class, there were two D’s, about the number of C’s I expected, a higher number of B’s then I thought there would be, but less A’s then I thought there would be.

Tuesday afternoon I took one of my exams in my grad studies class.

Amy was also giving and taking exams. And, she was happy with everything. As we were walking over to the grocery store to pick up something fresh for dinner, Jackie and Charlie were coming down the sidewalk.

We stopped, and Jackie asked, “Where are you two off to?”

“The grocery store.”, Amy replied. “We thought it would be nice to have something fresh for dinner. Want to join us?”

“Sure. But, we want to pay our share.”

“Come on. This is our treat.”

“Well, what are you thinking of making?”

“Salmon.”

“Oh. That’s a real treat.”

“I know we haven’t had it for a while.”

“What about sides?”

“We were thinking asparagus and potatoes. And ice cream for dessert.”

“You guys know how to put together a good meal.”

“Thanks. Want to join us?”

“Sure. But, only if you let us buy the sides and dessert?”

I looked at Amy, and she said, “Okay.”

That evening Amy and Jackie put together a great meal. And, afterward, we just sat around and talked.

On Wednesday, just like on Monday, I had to administer one exam at eight in the morning and another exam at two in the afternoon. The eight o’clock exam was for the class in Electric Circuits, and it came off without a problem. The two o’clock exam was for the class in Electronic Circuits and Systems, and that came off all most as Monday's did. I told them the same things that I’d told the Monday class about the exam being stolen, and just like on Monday I wasn’t feeling anything from anyone other than shock.

The only difference in the Electronic Circuits and Systems exam was when of my best students finished his exam. As he dropped his exam on my desk, he also dropped a folded piece of paper on my desk. As he did, he whispered, “Miss Nez, read this in private.”

He wanted it kept private, so I set my book on top of the note.