I pulled open the lecture hall door and strode over the desk. My colleague looked confused but nodded when I asked to speak with a student.
"Clarity? A minute, please?" I asked the crowded hall.
She stood up, her eyes wide. Then she scrambled to gather her things and join me on the main floor. Every student watched with interest, even as the professor continued with his lecture.
"Are you crazy?" Clarity hissed as she led the way to the door. "Your department head is standing right there."
"Notice she has nothing to say," I pointed out.
Clarity waited until we were in the stairwell heading up to my office, then she spun around and pinned me with her wide-eyed look. "I can tell you've already started on the whole exposé."
"What tipped you off?" I grinned.
She frowned at my obvious joy. "I just hope you aren't making a huge mistake. I don't want it to be a bad decision."
"What decision?" I said. It was as simple as that. When it came to Clarity, there was no decision for me to make. She was it. She was everything. As she stood two steps above me, we were eye to eye, and I took a breath to tell her.
Her rosy smile stole my breath. "Well, if that's how you feel, then you should probably take a look at this." Clarity handed me a folded piece of paper.
She turned and started up the stairs again. I couldn't wait and opened the paper as we walked, then I stumbled on the first landing. "Wait, how did you get this?" I asked.
Clarity caught my arm to steady me and laughed. "That's not the important part," she said. "The important part is that the plagiarized essay is part of an official file that many other witnesses have seen. This exact paper cannot be switched out or faked at this point."
I took her hand from my arm and gripped it tight. "You mean you found a connection between this essay and Michael Tailor? How is that even possible?"
"Ego," Clarity smiled. "Michael Tailor never for second thought that anyone would investigate a case the Dean of Students bungled, so he took whole sections of the essay directly from the nearest source."
I looked at the paper again, though it faded when she leaned close to point at it.
"It's an article written by Michael Tailor's lawyer. I used the online search engines to match it, then looked up the name in connection with Tailor. He cut and pasted from his own lawyer's article," Clarity beamed.
Before I could process anything past the press of her warm body, Clarity ran up the next flight of stairs. We were out of breath when we finally made it to my office, and she collapsed on the narrow sofa. I sat down next to her and handed her back the key piece of evidence.
"So I guess this is it," she said.
"No," I said. I reached for a folder on my desk and handed it to Clarity. "This is it. I want you to read it and make your additions."
Her eyes flew over the first few lines. "This is the exposé? You started it before we knew anything for sure?"
"I know a few things for certain, and one is that that's a good-looking byline," I tapped the draft of the article where Clarity's name shared the byline with me.
Chapter Sixteen
Clarity
"You realize that once we publish this, everyone is going to be looking for us," Ford said.
I smiled as my stomach skittered with excitement. "Isn't your apartment the first place they are going to look for you?"
Ford nodded as he turned his key in the lock. "Yes, but there's no rule that says I have to open the door. You sure you want to come in?"
I stepped inside his apartment. "I'm not sure how many people would look for me here," I said. Besides my father, and Lexi, and... I tried not to think about what Lexi would say. "I don't mind laying low for a while if you don't mind the company."
"Company?" Ford snorted. "I didn't cleanup for company. You're my co-author."
A pleasant chill raced over my body. "I don't think you actually have enough stuff in here to make a mess." I wandered from the short entryway hallway into his living room.
"I've got the essentials," Ford said. "Sofa, chair, lamps, television, stereo, and, most importantly, my computer." He sat down and pulled up our exposé article.