Detailed Chapter-by-Chapter Writing Outline

1. Wednesday, November 1: She’s a Man-Eater


1. Brenda blows in
   
   Dag is in his office when Brenda addresses him and he automatically rises to the occasion. She begins with condescending remarks about his office.


2. Maizie to the rescue
   
   Maizie sticks her nose in the back of Brenda’s knee and she collapses into a chair. Small talk about what kind of dog is that?


3. Why are you here
   
   Brenda explains that Simon’s instructions were that if anything happened to him she should come to Dag. Why? Because Dag could take Simon’s computer apart and save him. When did he say this? Within the past year. Simon has become more and more distant and secretive.


4. Identity theft
   
   Dag explains the dangers of giving a person your computer. He will know everything there is to know about Simon, maybe about Brenda as well. Will Dag steal their identity? No, he likes who he is much better.
   
   
5. Riley rushes in
   
   Brenda is snide about Dag’s little squeeze. Brenda would assume they were having sex even if Riley were a nun. Require a down payment for the computer forensics of $5,000, if field work is needed, there is a daily fee of $1000 plus expenses. Riley is given the check and told to cash it quick.


6. Invitation to dinner
   
   Brenda tries to get Dag to take her out to dinner. That’s not included in the fees. Riley is surprised to find out Dag is taking her to Jazz Alley that night.


2. Thursday, November 2: I’ve got a secret


1. Good morning Maizie
   
   Dag gets up and walks to the office with Maizie. We learn that the walk is about the limit of what he can do. He stops for coffee and is given decaf. Mutters about Riley having gotten to them.


2. Dag and Riley plot the course
   
   A lesson in forensics. Dag sends Riley to get information in more conventional ways about Brenda and Simon. Riley makes a snide remark about Brenda’s “muffin-top.” They list what they know and what questions they are trying to answer.


3. The Vault
   
   With Riley off on her mission, Dag opens the vault and disassembles the computer. We get a tour of his secret chamber where he keeps his own server and valuable data. We find that he operates from a remote computer on a VPN. He begins to open the files on the computer.


4. Riley reports
   
   Dag is so wrapped up in what he is doing that he fails to see the sun go down. Riley arrives back with her report. She makes suggestive comments to Dag who plays them down. He took her to Jazz Alley the night before to be rid of Brenda. Tonight he needs to get home. Riley takes Maizie for a walk and then takes Dag home. They finish by talking about money moving and Simon being in the middle of it.


3. Friday, November 3: Stocks & Blondes


1. Waking up dreaming
   
   Dag wakes up with a start thinking about money moving. He has been dreaming a fantasy when it took a turn and the date kept turning off with the message to deposit fifty more cents. He can’t shake the feeling that there is more to Simon being missing than a runaway husband.


2. Dissecting the inanimate
   
   We find out that Dag names his computers and talks to them as though they are human, or in the same tones that he talks to Maizie. While he talks to a computer, Maizie covers her ears near the window. We emphasize again the big windows along the side of Dag’s office overlooking the water with a view of Rainier on a clear day. He starts looking for banking transactions and discovers frequent ATM withdrawals in the hundreds of dollars at a particular location.


3. An invitation
   
   Dag describes Stocks and Blondes as a private club where money hangs out. He makes some calls and gets an invitation to join a member that evening. He is told to wear a tie and jacket and bring money. How much? $500 should do for an intro.


4. Tipping for information
   
   Dag discovers that Stocks & Blondes is a private gentlemen’s club in which a number of young women work topless and for tips with less. While there are areas that cater to private dances, there are also areas where there is casual conversation between the men who have gathered and the women, or just among the men at bridge, poker, etc. Dag fishes for information and a girl suggests that he come back to talk to Angel tomorrow night.


5. Busted
   
   Dag is on his way home when a car pulls up and a voice encourages him to get in. He finds his old friend Silas Grant in the car and they talk about money movement from Seattle. Silas asks what Dag is looking for and he says, missing person. Silas suggests that if the person went missing with several million dollars, he might also be interested in finding him. Dag says he’ll let him know.


4. Saturday, November 4: Angel in the Rough


1. Maizie Day
   
   When Dag gets up on Saturday, it is to the sound of Mrs. Prior, his landlady, knocking on the door calling for Maizie. It is late (8:00) and today is Maizie Day: She is being groomed. Mrs. Prior (an animal psychic) talks about how Maizie loves to get pretty. Dag lets her take Maizie and asks her to keep Maizie overnight as Dag expects to be back quite late.


2. At the Swedish Center
   
   Dag goes to the Swedish American Center in Ballard to play cards in the afternoon and has dinner with old friends there. When the dancing starts at 9:00, Dag makes excuses and leaves to go back to Stocks & Bonds. He catches a cab.


3. At the Club
   
   Dag is admitted on his guest pass (good for a weekend) and begins chatting up various girls as well as the men at the card tables. The girls come by each offering to take him for a private dance. When Angel shows up, he accepts. There is some banter between them during which he brings up Simon. Angel is cautious but won over. She asks him how much money he has. She gives $300 to the bartender and leaves with Dag.


4. Midnight coffee
   
   Angel and Dag go to an all night café where they talk about Simon and where he might be. Angel is worried about him because he was her “special client” and he hasn’t been in for over a week. Dag finds out that Simon was taking the private jet to Singapore, but that he should have been back long before. When Dag leaves with Angel, someone yells, “not another one” and hits him over the head, knocking him out. He hears Angel scream as he loses consciousness.


5. I was fifty-five when I decided to become an acrobat


1. The nouveau circus
   
   Dag tells about how inspiring it is to see a cirque show. How he figures maybe it is not too late to get himself in super shape and fly like the acrobats fly. He goes off on a treatise about how he is not letting age get him down and that he will be the youngest old man at the health club.


2. Picking up a tail
   
   Dag talks about why he was in Vegas for the geek convention (spy show). He meets Riley and finds out she has been set upon him by his old friends Silas Grant and Lars Anderson. Lars is Riley’s teacher. Dag typically meets Lars and Silas at the show for dinner. This time they bow out and send him out with Riley.


3. In the casino
   
   Riley asks again if Dag wants to get lucky and when he expresses mock outrage she points at the roulette table and asks him to teach her to play. He tells her to bet her age and she puts a token on 28. After a look at her, she moves it to 27. He places his bet on 25. When it hits 25 they celebrate and as Dag turns from the table he has a heart attack and collapses. The last thing he remembers is having an aspirin stuffed in his mouth.