Dr. Joe was finally able to look over the nine books that I’d given him as a possible textbook for the new class in computer design, and he picked the same book that I did. So, I could now start planning the course.

I’ve given my classes their final exams, and I wasn’t able to feel anything, other than shock when I told my Electronic Circuits and Systems classes of the theft of their final exam. But, during the second test session for Electronic Circuits and Systems, one of my students had slipped me a note, and whispered, “Miss Nez, read this in private.”

I sat there through the rest of the exam period wondering what was in the note. Finally, my last student finished his exam and left the classroom. I picked up my purse, took the note out of it, unfolded it, and read it. All I could think was that this is interesting.

I folded the paper back up, put it in my purse, picked up the papers on the desk, and put those in my briefcase. Then I walked out of the classroom and towards Dr. Joe’s office. As I walked up to the office, there were two university maintenance men there working on the door. One of them looked familiar, and it was Charlie.

As I got to the door, I said, “Hello, Charlie.”

Charlie looked up from what he was doing, and said, “Hi, Kai.”

“What’s going on?”

“We’re changing the lock on the door.”

“No exams today?”

“No. So, I volunteered to work. Where are you off to?”

“Right here. This is Dr. Oshie’s office. He’s my faculty advisor.”

“Oh. Can you get passed all of our stuff? We’re almost done, but we’ll move it if you can’t.”

“I think I can make it.”

I stepped over some of the tools that were laying on the floor and walked into Dr. Joe’s office. Dr. Joe had been watching and listening to my conversation with Charlie. And as I walked in, he said, “So, are your exams over?”

“No.”, I said. “I have one to take on Friday.”

“Was there anything on your exam thing?”

“Yes.”, I said. Then I glanced at Charlie and the other guy, and mouthed, “Later.”

“When are you and Amy heading home?”

“Not till next week. We’re going to the resort and see my aunt and uncle for a few days first.”

“That should be fun.”

“It always is.”

Just then the guy that was working with Charlie said, “Excuse me, Dr. Oshie.”

Dr. Joe looked at him, and said, “Yes.”

“We’re finished. And, here are two new keys.” And, the guy handed Dr. Joe the keys. “And, if we need replacements, we have to go through the manufacturer.”

Then the guy and Charlie cleaned up, picked up there tools, and as they closed the door, Charlie said, “See you later, Kai.”

“See ya, Charlie.”, I replied.

As the door closed, Dr. Joe asked, “Who was that.”

“A friend.”, I replied. “He and his wife live next door to us.”

“Oh. I think you told me about them.”

“I probably did.”

As he handed me the new key to the door, Dr. Joe said, “Here’s your key to the door. Now, what’s the story with the exam thing?”

“During the last exam, one of the students when he was turning his exam in brought me something else.”

“What was it?”

I picked up my purse, opened it, and took out the folded piece of paper. And, as I handed it to Dr. Joe, I said, “This.”

Dr. Joe took the folded paper from me, unfolded it, and read it. Then he looked up at me, and said, “Interesting.”

What was written on the paper was, 'I heard about the exam being stolen. Look at Thomas Huffman for stealing it. He tried to sell me a copy.’

“Know this Thomas Huffman?”, I asked.

“Unfortunately, yes.”, Dr. Joe said. “He’s a junior in the mechanical engineering program and an honor student. I sure hope this is wrong.”

“I wish the whole thing was a bad dream.”

“Me too. Who gave this to you?”

“I’d like to keep him out of this if we can.”

“We can try.”

“What do we do now?”

“I’ll get this to the Dean and let him handle it.”

“Good. I want to wash my hands of this whole mess.”

“I know. But, don’t be surprised if we end up involved in some way.”

“I hope not.”

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

The door opened, the Dean walked in, and said, “I always find you two together.”

“Dr. Oshie is my preceptor.”, I said.

“That’s true. I wanted to come up and check on the door.”

“It’s all done.”, Dr. Joe said.

As the Dean looked at it, he said, “Good.”

“Any word from the University Police on Kai’s exam being taken?”

“No, nothing.”

“We may have something.”

“Oh. What might that be?”, the Dean asked.

Dr. Joe handed the Dean the folded piece of paper, and said, “Kai was given this today by one of her students.”

The Dean took the paper and read it. He then shook his head, and said, “Can’t be. Miss Nez, who gave this to you?”

“I don’t want to say right now.”

“Miss Nez, you may have to. I want more information before I pursue this, and I know the University Police will want to talk to him.”

“Dean.”, I said. “I trust the boy that gave me this. He’s one of my better students. And I have no reason to believe that he’d lie about it. And, I didn’t feel anything that would point to him not telling me the truth.”

“Dean.”, Dr. Joe said. “Knowing Kai, I would take her word for it.”

“I don’t know.”, the Dean said. “He’s an honor student. Why would he do this?”

“Why would anyone do this? For the money. Selling final exams can bring in a lot of cash.”

“Dean.”, I said. “If you talk with this Huffman kid, and I’m there I might be able to tell if he’s lying or not.”

The Dean shook his head, and said, “I need to talk to the University Police about this first.”

“You’d better hurry up. He’s probably going home for the break.”

“I know. It could be too late now.”

As the dean left, he said, “I’ll let you know what I find out.”

“Okay, sir.”, Dr. Joe said. “I hope we get to the bottom of this soon.”

“Me too, Dr. Oshie. Me too.”

The Dean left, Dr. Joe looked at me, and asked, “What are you going to do now?”

As I stood up, I said, “I’m going back to the apartment, and grade tests. I want to try and get out of here so that Amy and I can have a little time with my aunt and uncle before we head to Ohio.”

“Sounds like a good idea, Kai. I’ll let you know if I hear anything.”

“Thanks, Dr. Joe. We’ll try to see you and Mary before we leave.”

“We’d like that.”

I walked back to the apartment, grabbed a quick lunch, and sat at the table and started grading the two sets of final exams. I’d only been at it about fifteen minutes when the phone rang. I answered the phone with a, “Hello.”

“Hi Kai.”, the voice on the other end said. “It’s Dr. Joe.”

“Hi Dr. Joe, what’s up?”

“The Dean wants to see us as soon as possible.”

“Why?”

“He didn’t say other than it was important.”

“Okay, I’ll meet you there.”

“See you in a few. Bye.”

“So long, Dr. Joe.”

I cleaned up a little, put all the finals in a safe place, then headed to the Dean’s office. As I walked in the door, I first saw Sara, and she said, “Hi, Kai.”

“Hi, Sara.”, I replied.

“I’ll call the Dean and tell him that you’re all here.”

“All?”

Sara pointed to the seats, and I saw Dr. Joe and the detective from the University Police Department sitting there. I walked over to them, and Dr. Joe, said, “Kai, this is Detective Edwards from the University Police Department. Detective Edwards, this is Kai Nez one of the members of the faculty.”

Detective Edwards stood, offered me his hand, and said, “It’s nice to see you again Miss Nez.”

I took his hand, and said, “It’s good seeing you again, Detective Edwards.”

I didn’t get a chance to ask what was going on, as Sara said, “You can go on back. He’s in his office.”

We walked back to the Dean’s office, Dr. Joe knocked on the door, and we heard a, “Come in.”

The three of us walked into the Dean’s office, and the Dean was sitting at the small table in his office along with a young man. The Dean asked us to sit at the table. We took the seats across from the young man, and the Dean was sitting at the head of the table.

Then the Dean introduced everyone, and we found out that the young man was Thomas Huffman. The young man who had supposedly stolen the exam.

The Dean then said, “The reason that I called this meeting is that Mr. Huffman came to me with a problem. It seems that people are spreading a rumor that he’s stealing exams and trying to sell copies.

“Mr. Huffman tell them what you told me.”

I could feel his nervousness as he said, “I’ve … I’ve found out that some people are spreading rumors about me stealing and selling exams. And, it’s just not true.

“My parents worked very hard so that I could go to college, and so did I. And, I wouldn’t hurt my parents by doing something like this. I study hard to earn the grades I do. And, I didn't steal exams. Why would I?”

We sat there and looked at him for a second, then the detective asked, “Mr. Huffman if you didn’t do this. Who did?”

“Sir.”, Mr. Huffman. “I don’t have many friends here. And, some people don’t like me, and a couple of those really don’t like me.”

“Mr. Hoffman.”, I asked. “Why don’t these people like you?”

“I don’t know. Maybe because I’m smart, quiet, and a nerd.”

“You’re a mechanical engineering major. Aren’t you?”

“Yes, Miss Nez, I am.”

“And, your grades are like what?”

“Almost straight A’s.”

“He has a 3.9 GPA.”, the Dean said.

“So, you’re on the Dean’s list almost every quarter?”, I asked.

“Yes, Miss Nez.”

“Are you having any money problems?”, Dr. Joe asked.

“No, sir.”, Mr. Hoffman replied. “The university gave me a partial scholarship. And, with what my parents have given me and what I earn I have no problems. But, I don’t have much of a social life.”

“So,
you have no idea of who might be doing the thefts and trying to blame you?”, the detective asked.

“Not really.”

I could sense some hesitation in him, so I said, “Son, these people have no respect for you. So, if you have any idea, you need to tell us. If we can find them and prove they're doing it, we can end this.”

“There may be one or two who might do this.”

Mr. Hoffman took a note tablet and wrote two names on it, and gave the piece of paper to the dean.

“Mr. Hoffman, would you please go out into the outer office, so that we can talk.”, the Dean asked.

“Yes, sir.”

Mr. Hoffman got up and left the room. Then Dr. Joe looked at me and asked, “Well, Kai?”

Without hesitation, I said, “He’s telling the truth. I felt the sincerity in his comments. And, he’s very worried about not being able to finish his degree. And, he’s also worried about telling on someone.”

“How do you know that he’s telling the truth?”, Detective Edwards asked.

I looked at the detective, took a deep breath, and said, “Detective, I’m a Navajo. And I’m what the Navajo call a Nádleeh or a two spirit person. Because of this, I can feel things about certain people especially when it affects me directly. I’m not going into details right now, but both Dean Rutherford and especially Dr. Oshie know about this part of me.

“And, I could feel that what Mr. Hoffman was telling us was the truth. And that he’s very concerned about giving us those two names.

“And, detective I’d get that toothache looked at very soon.”

His hand went to his jaw, and he said, “How did you know?”

I just smiled at him. I saw Dr. Joe look at him, then say, “Believe what she told you about Mr. Hoffman. And, your tooth.”

The detective just sat there, and the Dean said, “So, what do we do.”

“First.”, I said. “I’d ask Mr. Hoffman to join us and tell him that so far we believe him. It might help raise his spirits a bit.” Then I looked at Dr. Joe, and said, “No, Dr. Joe, not those kinds of spirits.”

“Then what, Miss Nez.”, the Dean asked.

“I think we need to find the boy who gave me Mr. Hoffman’s name and see if he recognizes Mr. Hoffman as the boy who tried to sell him the exam.”

“Like a lineup?”, the detective asked.

“No, I don’t think that we need to go that far.”

“What was his name?”, the Dean asked.

“Joseph Miller.”

The Dean picked up the phone, pressed a button, and shortly said, “Sara, two things. First, would you have Mr. Hoffman come back and join us? And, then see if you can find if a Joseph Miller is still on campus and where he is if he is.” … “Thank you.” and, he hung up the phone.

A minute later there was a knock on the door, the Dean said, “Come in.”

The door opened and Mr, Hoffman walked in. We looked at him, and the Dean said, “Have a seat, Mr. Hoffman.”

After Mr. Hoffman sat, the Dean said, “First, we want you to know that we believe what you told us. And, realize that it was hard for you to give us those two names.”

I could feel him relax a little. Then I asked, “Does the name Joseph Miller mean anything to you, Mr. Hoffman?”

“No.”, he answered. “I’ve never heard the name before. Why?”

“He’s the one that said that you tried to sell him an exam.”

“Never.”

“Would you be willing to see if he recognizes you and you him.”, Detective Edwards asked.

“If it will help end his, yes.”

“Good. We’re trying to see if he’s still on campus. And, if he is, we’ll go to where he is, and we’ll see if he recognizes you. Is that okay?”

“Yes.”

We talked for another couple of minutes, then the Dean’s phone rang. He answered it, “Dean Rutherford.” … “Yes, Sarah.” … “Good.” … “Upstairs in room 263.” … “Thank you.”

As he hung up the phone, the Dean said, “Mr. Miller should be upstairs right now in room 263 taking an exam. The exam period has been going for a little over an hour.”

“Great.”, I said. “We’d better get up there. Mr. Miller is a good student and may finish early.”

“I’d better stay here.”, the Dean said. “Too many people know me.”

When the four of us got up to room 263, I said, “I’ll go stand by the door, and when Mr. Miller comes out, I’ll ask him if he recognizes Mr. Hoffman.”

“Okay.”, the detective said. “Mr. Hoffman, I want you to walk up and down the hall and mix with the other students. And, Dr. Oshie and I will wait by the stairway doors where we can see both of you.”

As Mr. Hoffman started walking the hall, I walked over to the door to room 263 and waited. A little over ten minutes later the door to the room opened, and Mr. Miller walked out. He saw me, and said, “Miss Nez, what are you doing here?”

“Looking for you.”, I replied.

“Looking for me. Why?”

“You gave me a piece of paper with a name on it.”

“Yes.”

“We think we may have him. He’s walking in this hall, do you think that you can pick him out?”

“No.”

“Why is that?”

“Because he’s in the room that I just came out of taking an exam.”

“Oh.”, I said. “Then who’s in this hallway.”

“I don’t know.

And, I motioned for Dr. Joe and Detective Edwards to join me. Then I did the same to Mr. Hoffman. When the three of them had joined us, I explained what Mr. Miller had told me. Then I pointed at Mr. Huffman and asked, “Mr. Miller, is this your Thomas Huffman?”

“No, Miss Nez.”, Mr. Miller said. “He’s a big guy, big like a football player. You can’t miss him.”

The detective had Mr. Hoffman go back to the Dean’s office, and asked Mr. Miller to stand with me where we could see the door to the classroom, and that when the guy came out of the classroom to signal him, and he’d take care of it. Dr. Oshie said that he’d stay with the detective.

Mr. Miller and I went over by the stairway doors, where we could see the classroom door. The detective and Dr. Joe stood close to the classroom door. We waited maybe fifteen minutes, and in that time some students came out of the classroom, but none were the guy we wanted.

Then, Mr. Miller said, “There he is.”

I looked at him, and he was big, he was taller than me, then who isn’t. He was taller than the detective, who was the tallest of the four of us.

Things happened quickly from then on but also appeared to be in slow motion. I waved at the detective, he saw me and walked towards the guy. I saw Detective Edwards take his badge out, show it to the guy, and say something to him. The guy said something back, and they got into an argument. All of a sudden the big guy gave the detective a hard shove that slammed him into the wall, and the detective crumbled to the floor. I was going to run to him, but the big guy headed in our direction, towards the stairway, at a fast walk.

I moved so that I was between the big guy and the stairway door. I heard Dr. Joe yell, “Kai, no. You’ll get … ”

At that point, the big guy yelled at me, “Girl, out of my way.”

As the big guy got to me, he went to shove me, and said, “I said move!”

I didn’t move, he grabbed my left arm, and I felt something pop. I was able to grab the big guy’s arm, and using his momentum I slammed him into the metal frame of the stairway door. And, he went down hard onto the floor. I then grabbed his right arm and twisted it behind him, and knelt on his back.

If he had wanted to, he could have easily gotten up even with me on his back. But he wasn’t moving. I glanced over my shoulder at the detective, he was still sitting on the floor but was talking on his portable radio. Dr. Joe had run over to me, and asked, Kai, are you okay?”

“I think so. Go and see if the detective has any handcuffs. If this guy wakes up, I won’t be able to hold him.”

Dr. Joe ran over to the detective, and I saw him ask him something. The detective reached behind his back and handed Dr. Joe a pair of handcuffs. Dr. Joe brought them over to me and helped me put them on the guy. Then he said, “The detective is hurt. I’m going to help him.”

I sat back a little and noticed everyone standing around looking at us. Someone, who appeared to be a professor walked up to me, and asked, “Just what is going on here?”

I looked up at him, pointed at the detective, and said, “The guy on the floor over there is Detective Edwards from the University Police. See if you can help him, he’s hurt.”

The professor looked in the direction of the detective and walked over that way. It seemed like a long time, but it was probably only a couple of minutes until I heard sirens outside, and shortly afterward I heard people running up the steps. The stairway door opened and two uniformed police officers walked through the door. One of them looked at me, and asked, “What the hell is going on here?”

I looked up at him and said, “First, get two ambulances on the way.” Then pointing to where the detective was, I added, “Your detective, over there, is hurt and needs to go to the hospital. Also, this guy also needs to go to the hospital.”

One of the officers was quickly on his radio requesting two ambulances and a supervisor. The other officer helped me up off of the big guy, and when he did, I felt how much my left shoulder hurt. I grabbed my left arm with my right hand and held it close to me so it wouldn’t move. Great Spirit this hurts.

Dr. Joe walked over, and asked, “Kai, are you all right?”

“I don’t know.”, I replied. “My left shoulder hurts like hell.”

“Do you need to go to the hospital?”

“Yeah. I think I do.”

It wasn’t long until I saw the Dean walking down the hall. He saw me and everything else, and asked, “Miss Nez, what happened? We saw the police arrive and run up the stairs.”

I gave him the condensed version of what had gone on from when Mr. Miller told us that our Mr. Hoffman wasn’t the guy we were looking for to why I was holding my arm. And, the police officer who was standing there heard everything.

Then, the officer asked, “Did the Dean say, Miss Nez?”

“Yes.”, I replied. “Kai Nez. Why?”

“I thought that you looked familiar. Didn’t
you have someone break into your apartment earlier this year.”

“Yes, just before school started.”

“Can I take her to the hospital?”, Dr. Joe asked the officer.

“I guess so.”, the officer said. “But, let me get her information first.”

“Officer.”, Dean Rutherford said. “I can give you the information. Let her go to the hospital.”

“Okay, Miss Nez. Go on to the hospital. And, sir.”, the officer said to Dr. Joe. “Can I have your name too. And please stay at the hospital. We’ll be over as soon as we can to take statements.”

“I’m Dr. Joe Oshie. I’m Miss Nez’s faculty advisor. The Dean knows both of us.”

“Okay, sir. Go on over to the hospital.”

“Come on Kai. My car’s parked out back.”

Dr. Joe and I walked towards the elevators, as we got there the first of the ambulance guys were getting off. And Dr. Joe pointed them in the right direction. We rode the elevator to the ground floor and walked to Dr. Joe’s car. Then he drove to the Emergency Room. As we pulled up to the ER, Dr. Joe got the guard to bring out a wheelchair. I didn’t want it, but Dr. Joe insisted.

The guard wheeled me into the triage nurse while Dr. Joe parked his car. The triage nurse asked me all the usual questions, name, rank, and serial number. Not really, but sometimes the questions they ask are silly.

Once she finished with her questions, I asked, “Do you know Amy Young?”

“Of course.”, the nurse replied.

“I know she’s not working, but could you call her at home and tell her that I’m here?”

“Why?”

“She’s my cousin, and we share an apartment. And, I think that she might like to know that I’m here.”

“Oh! You’re that cousin.”

“She has more than one?”

“I don’t know. Yes, I’ll call her as soon as we get you back into a room.”

I should have told her to expect two ambulances shortly. But, I didn’t.

She had someone come out from the back and take me to a room. Two other nurses helped me up onto a bed, and they wanted to undress me completely and put me into a gown — panic attack time. But, I insisted that it was only a shoulder injury. Then they relented to me just taking off my blouse. I was worried that they’d want to take my bra off next, but they helped me put on a gown.

It wasn’t long until a doctor came in, and looked at my shoulder. And whatever he did hurt. Hurt like hell. Then he sent me for x-rays. By the time I got back to my room, Amy was there waiting for me. She looked at me, and said, “Now what did you do?”

“We were just looking for the guy that stole the exam.”, I replied.

“It looks like you found him.”

“We did. And, he didn’t like it. He hurt the detective from the University Police Department, and me.”

“I guess he did. They brought in the detective and some big guy.”

“Is the detective okay?”

“He appears to have a broken arm and a mild concussion.”

“What about the other guy?”

“He’s still unconscious, handcuffed to a gurney, and a policeman is watching him. Who did that to him?”

“Me.”

“I should have figured.”

“Sorry. I saw him hurt the detective and start to run away. And, I had to do something.”

“So, what did you do to your arm?”

“I’m not sure what he did. But, my shoulder sure hurts like hell.”

Just then a doctor and two nurses walked in, and the doctor said to Amy, “Young lady would you please excuse us, so I can try and reduce this young ladies dislocated shoulder.”

Amy looked at the doctor, and said, “Dr. Grant!”

The doctor took a closer look at Amy, and said, “Oh! Miss Young. I didn’t recognize you.”

“That’s okay doctor. This young lady, who can’t stay out of trouble, is my cousin.”

“Well, you’re welcome to stay and help.”

“I’ll observe. If that’s all right, doctor?”

“Of course, Miss Young.”

The doctor looked at me, and asked, “Miss Nez, what’s your pain tolerance like?”

“I don’t know.”, I asked. “Why?”

“What I’m going to do may hurt a little bit. I’m going to gently move your arm around to try and get the bones back in the proper place.”

“Okay. Just give me a minute.”

“Sure thing.”

I closed my eyes and started to say a chant quietly.

I heard the doctor ask Amy, “What’s she doing?”

“She’s a Navajo.”, Amy replied. “She may be calling on her spirits to help with the pain.”

A few seconds later, I said, “Okay, doctor.”

The doctor took my arm and moved it around a bit. Yes, it hurt. But I felt something pop into place. And, the pain quickly became less. Then the doctor asked, “Miss Nez is that any better?”

“A lot better. Thank you!”

“You’re welcome. We’re going to put you in a sling for about a week, and then we’ll evaluate how well it’s started to mend. If it looks good, then you can start physical therapy.”

“We’re planning on going home for Christmas. Will that be a problem?”

“It shouldn’t be. Where’s home?”

“Ohio.”

“Flying?”

“Yes.”

“When?”

“Next week.”

The doctor looked at Amy, and asked, “Miss Young, are you going with her?”

“Yes. Our families are both there.”

“Okay.”, the doctor said. “I want you to see the orthopedic people here next Wednesday, and if they clear you, we’ll allow Miss Young to do your physical therapy. But, right after you’re back in town, you need to be seen again.”

“I can live with that.”, I said.

Then Amy added, “We have good medical center back home if we need it.”

“What’s that?”, the doctor asked.

“The Ohio State Medical Center.”

“Oh. Yes, now I remember, that’s where you trained. An outstanding medical center.”

After they fitted me with a sling, gave me a prescription for painkillers, and gave us instructions on how to take care of my arm, the hospital finally released me. Then I spent a little time talking with the police giving them my story of what happened. After that Amy and I walked over to where the detective was to check on him. He was awake and talking. Then Detective Edwards asked, “How did you get hurt, Miss Nez?”

“Oh. I got in the way of the guy that hurt you.”, I replied.

“Who put him on the floor?”

I just raised my hand.

“Oh. Yeah. I do remember seeing you sitting on him.”, Detective Edwards said. “How in the heck did you do that.”

“Some karate training.”

“You put it to good use. And, I’m glad that you didn’t get hurt any worse than you did.”

“Me too.”, I said. “How is the guy?”

“I think he’s awake. I heard him complaining about the handcuffs.”

“He’d better worry about the theft, and breaking and entering charges.”

“Not to mention the assault on a police officer and you. And, maybe a few other things that I’ll come up with.”

“Do we know who he is?”

“I guess his student ID gives his name as Kenneth Kowalski. One of the officers said that we’ve had some minor run-ins with him.”

“Now it’s a major run in.”

“Yes, it is.”

“You take care. I want to go home and relax.”

“See you, Miss Nez.”

“Detective, it’s Kai.”

Dr. Joe had just finished talking with the police, and he walked out of the ER with us. Once we were outside, he asked, “Kai, somethings bugging me. Did you really sense a bad tooth in the detective?”

I grinned and replied, “No. I just noticed that his jaw was a little swollen and he’d touch it every once in a while.”

“She pulled that on a friend a while back.”

“You sure had him believing that you could feel things about people.”, Dr. Joe said.

I just smiled.

After Dr. Joe headed for his office, Amy said, “You flirt.”

“What!”, I replied.

“You were flirting with the detective.”

“Was not.”

“Was. You were batting those big blue eyes of yours at him.”

“Wasn’t.”

“Was. And, he’s twice your age.”

“No, I wasn’t. I was being nice.”