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Professor Said Mathematicians Failed 50 Years — But Truant Freshman Girl Cracked It in Class

Professor Said Mathematicians Failed 50 Years — But Truant Freshman Girl Cracked It in Class

Chapter 22

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"Working hard?" he asked, sliding into the chair across from her.Ren closed the notebook instinctively. "Studying.""For what class? I don't recall assigning anything from a hundred-year-old notebook.""It's personal," she said. "It's not yours to worry about."Sterling smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. "Everything in this department is my business, Miss Hartman. I'm the one who grades your work.""You didn't grade what happened Tuesday," Ren said. "The professor did that himself."His jaw tightened just for a second, there and gone. He stood up. "Enjoy your studying," he said, and walked away.But he didn't go far. He waited until she left for her shift that evening, and then, quietly, he took a photograph of the open notebook page she had left, just for a moment, on the library table. It was enough.He stood there afterward a moment longer than he needed to, staring at the photo on his phone, some small, quiet part of him aware that he had just done something he couldn't easily undo. He put the phone in his pocket anyway and told himself it didn't matter, because it was in service of the truth. He almost believed it.That night, Sterling brought the photograph to Ridgeway's office. The professor sat behind his desk, the lamp casting long shadows across the wood, the Hartman folder still sitting closed beside his notes, untouched since the night before."I think we have a problem," Sterling said, setting his phone on the desk, the photo enlarged on the screen.Ridgeway studied it in silence: the handwriting, the symbols, the spiral drawn the exact same way it had been drawn on the chalkboard. "Where did you get this?""She had it open in the library. I recognized the notation immediately." Sterling leaned forward. "Professor, this isn't the kind of thing a freshman comes up with on her own."Ridgeway said nothing for a long moment, his eyes drifting briefly toward the drawer where the folder used to live before he'd carried it home. "No," he agreed quietly. "It isn't."
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Professor Said Mathematicians Failed 50 Years — But Truant Freshman Girl Cracked It in Class

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