Blue with Black Dots (The Caprice Trilogy Book 2)

by Cole Reid

  “Hello,” said Mark.

  “It’s me Dad,” said Georgia.

  “How are you Sweetheart?” asked Mark.

  “Good,” said Georgia.

  “Any news?” said Mark.

  “Class is going well,” said Georgia.

  “Are you making an impression?” asked Mark.

  “That’s what I wanted to talk about,” said Georgia.

  “Tell me,” said Mark.

  “Do we have any family here in Glasgow?” asked Georgia.

  “We do,” said Mark, “But I thought you wanted to be left alone while you study.”

  “I do,” said Georgia, “But if I needed a small favor, would it be too much to ask.”

  “Course not,” said Mark, “What do you need?”

  “I need someone to help with a report,” said Georgia, “It’s for one of my professors.”

  “Ok,” said Mark, “What kind of report are you working on?”

  “Geography,” said Georgia, “I would like to know some locations within the city.”

  “What types of locations?” asked Mark.

  “Ones that professors enjoy,” said Georgia, “I’m planning a visit.”

  “I see,” said Mark, “I think I can find someone in the family who knows the city quite well.”

  “If they could find the best place to meet with my professor that would great,” said Georgia.

  “Understood,” said Mark, “Is there anything else you want to talk to me about?”

  “I want to leave school next semester,” said Georgia.

  “You’re joking,” said Mark.

  “No,” said Georgia, “I’m not.”

  “Can you furnish your Dad with an explanation?” said Mark.

  “We talked before about going to Leeds,” said Georgia.

  “Right,” said Mark, “We did.”

  “Well I’m thinking about coming back to London to work,” said Georgia.

  “Why?” asked Mark.

  “Think about the geography then think about the landscape,” said Georgia, “If I make friends here in Glasgow, but move back to London, where is the halfway point between London and Glasgow?” There was a short pause.

  “Leeds,” said Mark.

  “If I want to meet my friends from Glasgow and they want to meet me,” said Georgia, “I think Leeds would be the best destination. And relatives told me to check out Leeds. Do you remember?”

  “I do remember,” said Mark, “It seems you’ve been doing a lot of thinking.”

  “I’m supposed to,” said Georgia, “I’m a post-graduate.”

  “Indeed,” said Mark, “Call me back on Monday. I should have something for you.”

  “Thanks, Dad,” said Georgia.

  “You’re welcome, Dear,” said Mark.

  On Monday, Georgia made sure to say a few sentences in her lecture with Owen. She thought her progress was suffering from lack of interaction, so she waited after class to talk over a Pall Mall. The professor didn’t show but Russell did. She said hi to him. He said hi but kept going. Georgia didn’t show it but she was disheartened. Maybe she was playing too hard-to-get. She had no interest in Russell or his study group. But his early attention gave her the idea that she was off to a good start. She was a late register, which meant a lot of early emotions had thawed, while she was still in London. She expected to have to overcome a cold reaction. Russell was an annoyance, but his awkward flirting was a boost to Georgia’s morale. She smoked her cigarette alone at the entrance. It was the only time she found herself smoking alone at the entrance, when she really didn’t want to be. She smoked out her cigarette and threw it down. She walked around the city center looking for a phone box that had gone unused during the prior weeks. She walked further away this time and found an empty phone box on St Mungo Avenue. Her mood changed as she looked at the empty phone box. She realized she didn’t know how she would shake a tick if it were attached to her. If Russell or Owen wanted to walk with her on her way to find a phone box, she didn’t think she would be able to get rid of them without dinting the relationship. Being alone made it easy. She called Mark and he told her that a member of the family had information for her. He gave her the date, time and location.

  The date was the following day, Tuesday. The time was 1:30pm and the location was the Necropolis. It took Georgia less than ten minutes to walk to the Necropolis. It was a few minutes after 1pm, when she arrived at the cemetery. The sky was overcast which gave the series of gothic gravestones a very dreary quality. If the sun was shining, the Necropolis would have taken on the atmosphere of a resting place. But with gray clouds above, it was a graveyard, nothing more romantic. Georgia found the right plot in the cemetery where she was supposed to meet her contact. The cemetery was mostly empty and she felt agitated by it. It echoed her currently lifestyle. Aside from two nights bar-hopping with Evie and Deirdre, she didn’t have much of a life. But she wasn’t meant to. She went up to stand over a grave with no stone, pretending to pay respects to an unnamed person. She stood alone for a good seven minutes before she heard feet disturbing the grass behind her, coming uphill. She didn’t look in the direction of the footsteps. That was unprofessional. A man in a long navy-colored coat moved toward the unmarked grave and stood for two, maybe three, seconds. He reached in his coat for an envelope. He knelt down and left the envelope atop the grave. Then he left. Georgia waited for the man to retreat from earshot, before she touched her right hand to her mouth and knelt down to leave a kiss on the unmarked grave. She scooped up the envelope with her left hand and stuffed it in her purse as she left the graveyard.

  Georgia didn’t open the envelope until she got home. She didn’t see Evie or Deirdre but she heard music playing in Deirdre’s room. The music was soft and low but audible. She must have been sleeping. Deirdre slept a lot, a side effect of staying out late. She wasn’t a party animal. She just wasn’t a shut-in. Georgia went to her room locked the door and drew the shades. She opened the envelope. It had been typed on a typewriter. There wasn’t much written. At the top was written 1976 October 26 – October 31. What followed was a list of three locations. One had the number three typed next to it and three times listed under it. The other two locations had only one number next to them and one time listed underneath. There was nothing cryptic about the note. Mark Miller had put a shadow on Professor Owen Spice, from the past Tuesday to Sunday. The shadow had recorded all public places the professor visited during that window and at what time. The number three was next to one place because Owen had gone there three times in the six days he was shadowed. It was called Duster Salute, a classic sitdown bar and restaurant inside the Alt Clut Argyle Hotel.

  Georgia went down to the first floor of her building and knocked on the door of the building’s management office. The door opened and a woman showed her face. Georgia identified herself, saying she lived on the third floor. She then asked to use the phonebook and the office phone. She called the Duster Salute Bar and asked for the menu. The bar had a set menu of sandwiches, soups and cuts of meat. The prices were a bit higher than surrounding restaurants but only because the restaurant was in the hotel. Georgia made a reservation for three, without asking Evie or Deirdre if they would join her. She thanked the woman in the office and went upstairs. Georgia knocked on Deirdre’s door. The music stopped and Deirdre came to the door.

  “Hey,” said Deirdre, “What’s going on?”

  “Nothing much,” said Georgia, “I wanted to invite you and Evie out this weekend.”

  “Where do you want to go?” asked Deirdre.

  “There’s this bar and restaurant that my dad told me to checkout,” said Georgia, “He knows the owner or something like that and we can eat on the house. Besides, next Friday is my birthday but it’s too close to exams to try and do something so I thought we could check it out. It’s just over from Buchanan Street so we can go shopping then eat for free. What do you think?”

  “Oh cool, how old will you be?” asked Deirdre.


  “Twenty-four,” said Georgia.

  “Happy early birthday,” said Deirdre.

  “Thanks,” said Georgia.

  “Sounds like a plan,” said Deirdre.

  “I mean exams are coming up so I figured we could get in a bit of fun before we’ve got to hanker down,” said Georgia.

  “Makes sense,” said Deirdre.

  “Please tell Evie if you see her,” said Georgia.

  “I will,” said Deirdre.

  “See ya,” said Georgia. Georgia went to her room and found her reserve money. She had £2,000 as an operating budget from Mark Miller. £1,800 was left, aside from what was in her purse. Georgia took £200 from the envelope and walked casually downstairs. She walked three blocks and started hunting for a taxi. She took a taxi to Argyle Street and went to the Alt Clut Argyle Hotel. She found the Duster Salute Bar & Restaurant on the first floor. She went inside and found the manager. She told the manager that she had a reservation for Saturday and she wanted to book £200 pounds on her reservation because she was going to be celebrating with girlfriends and didn’t want to have to worry about the tab. She also said she didn’t want any mention of it to anyone but to be sure that it was taken care of. She knew there was a risk. Owen frequented the bar and she told Deirdre that her father had a connection to the restaurant. She didn’t want that mentioned to Owen because he could ask her father’s name and also ask management. She wanted to have Evie and Deirdre be her alibi but she didn’t want them to blow her cover.

  The reservation was on Saturday, November 6th, at 6:30pm. According to the fact sheet delivered to her at the Necropolis, the average time of day that Owen visited the restaurant was 7:11pm. Georgia made the reservation for 6:30pm because she wanted the girls to be knee-deep by the time Owen showed, if he showed. The girls were dressed casually. And none of them had eaten at the restaurant before. They took drink menus first. The bar boasted a selection of modern cocktails as well as classic beers and wines. The restaurant had a slight maritime theme owing to its name but it didn’t go overboard. The floor, bar and booths were all wooden and the lighting was contained. Georgia and the girls were given a booth in the middle of the restaurant near the entrance. Georgia requested it because it was a nice day and she wanted some of the natural light that came through from the hotel. The girls toasted with cocktails before ordering Baked Scotch Eggs as an appetizer. They ordered a second round of cocktails and water, to wash down the Scotch Eggs. The conversation started with what they purchased on Buchanan Street before they started in on student life but quickly turned from that to music. Georgia didn’t have a view of a clock and took the risk of not bringing her watch. She did it to protect herself from constantly checking the time or worrying about it. It was something the Agency had taught her. She knew much of her plan was out of her control. It was the nature of fieldwork. There were always variables. It was one reason not to wear a watch, if she didn’t have to. The watch could give a false sense of control. The time wasn’t up to her. She had put herself in place. She could do no more. The program would proceed forward or it wouldn’t. By 7:30pm, food was already on the table. Even though they were sitting near the entrance of the restaurant, Georgia hadn’t laid eyes on Owen. She didn’t let on. She divided the logic from the emotion. She was having a good time with Evie and Deirdre. She divorced herself from her ulterior motive and decided she would enjoy her time with two people whose company she relished, in a real sense. They sat and talked for another hour before Georgia got up to go to the ladies’ room. The restrooms were back toward the bar and around the corner. As she rounded the corner she noticed a booth that was larger than all the others in the restaurant. It was back in the far corner just passed the restrooms. Being round, the booth could more efficiently hold a greater amount of customers. Ironically, there was only one. It was Owen. He sat with a glass of ale sitting in a brown bottle on the table. An empty plate with crumbs of some pastry was next to the bottle. The professor had a laid-back demeanor. He was slouching with a thick book in front of him. He looked somewhat tired, not from having lost sleep but from having hiked up the mountain of his book for several hours.

  “Professor,” said Georgia. Owen looked up from his book.

  “Miss Standing,” said Owen, “What are you doing here?”

  “I’m having supper with my flat mates,” said Georgia, “We’re just around the corner there.”

  “Really?” said Owen, “Is this your first time here?”

  “It is,” said Georgia.

  “How did you find out about this place?” asked Owen.

  “It’s been here some years,” said Georgia, “I had some family members suggest it. And we wanted to go shopping on Buchanan so we came here afterward.”

  “What did you buy?” asked Owen.

  “What do you think?” said Georgia, “Shoes, what else would three girls shop for?”

  “Indeed,” said Owen.

  “Just a sec,” said Georgia disappearing into the restroom area. She came back within five minutes and sat down at the booth with Owen.

  “What is that you’re reading there?” asked Georgia.

  “It’s a compilation of political essays,” said Owen, “You can see, I know how to party.”

  “I would say so,” said Georgia.

  “The campus library orders it for me every year,” said Owen, “It sits on the shelf after I’m finished with it. No one ever checks it out.”

  “I might. Now that I know it exists,” said Georgia, “What’s it about?”

  “They collect political, social, economic and intellectual articles written in the past year about the idiosyncrasies of the government,” said Owen, “Then they divide them into sections based on topic andwithin a topic range, they’re ordered by date. So you get a sort of evolution of the chatter of how people interested in the mechanics of government are engaging in discourse. I try to keep abreast of it because I’m a consultant, still, in the political arena.”

  “That makes sense,” said Georgia.

  “I’m boring you no doubt,” said Owen.

  “Not really,” said Georgia.

  “You can be honest,” said Owen, “It won’t hurt my feelings, well maybe a little.”

  “Being honest,” said Georgia, “I must say we’re having a slightly different conversation on the other side so it’s nice to have that change of pace.”

  “Ok,” said Owen, “I can accept that.”

  “Why don’t you come over?” said Georgia, “You look like you could use a change of pace yourself.”

  “No,” said Owen, “I’m not one to spoil your fun.”

  “Nonsense,” said Georgia, “Just be as charming as you are in class.”

  “That’s the second time I’ve heard that,” said Owen.

  “What’s that?” said Georgia.

  “That I’m charming in class,” said Owen.

  “Really?” said Georgia, “Who was the other one?”

  “Another student of mine,” said Owen, “A few years back.”

  “Well,” said Georgia, “Your other student and I are in agreement. C’mon now.” Georgia stood at the edge of the booth and put out her hand. Owen took her hand politely as she helped him out of the booth. His tall frame was clumsy, trying to maneuver out of the booth.

  “We’re just around the corner here,” said Georgia. As she came into view, Evie gave her a surprised look.

  “We thought you fell in,” said Evie.

  “It’s happened before,” said Georgia, “This time I bumped into my corporate finance professor. Help me earn a good mark in his course won’t you?”

  “We’re here for you,” said Evie.

  “You’re making me blush,” said Owen.

  “This is Professor Spice,” said Georgia.

  “No one knows me by Professor Spice here,” said Owen, “Please call me Owen.”

  “Owen Spice,” said Deirdre, “Has anyone ever told you that’s a really nice name?”

  “I’ve been tol
d it’s good for politics,” said Owen.

  “It does have a nice ring to it,” said Evie.

  “Wait,” said Deirdre, “Were you in politics?”