Outline: Part III

12. Sunday, November 12: All That Jazz
    
    1. Babysitting Maizie
       Dag considers taking her with him, but discards the notion all together and drops her off with Mrs. Prior. Mrs. Prior talks about how worried Maizie gets if Dag doesn’t call her and talk each day. She wants to be with him.
    
    
    2. Jet travel
       Dag boards the plane to Chicago and thinks he sees a familiar face, but it takes a while to realize it was the person with the laptop earlier that week. He settles into his seat and sleeps all the way to Chicago.
    
    
    3. Calling home
       After checking in at the Blackstone, Dag makes calls to Riley (waking her up and telling her where he is) and to Silas. Riley is furious that Dag left without telling her, but he tells her just to monitor him on his GPS. He’ll keep it active for her. Silas is concerned that Dag is going in without backup and tells him he could be there in 24 hours. Dag pooh-poohs the idea and insists that he’ll be fine. Then he calls Maizie and puts her mind at ease.
    
    
    4. Out on the Town
       Dag goes to the Palmer House for a steak (even though he knows it is bad for him). Then he finds the jazz club Bradley recommended and settles in. It happens to be the type of club that starts out slow, but as things pick up, people just start dancing. Then a young woman sits down at his table. She apologizes and talks about needing to sit for a while and there being no other tables. She comes alone because at this club you don’t need to be with someone to have a good time. They make arrangements to meet for dinner Monday night.
    
    
    5. Musing about Margaret
       After their conversation, Dag returns to the Blackstone and muses about sitting with the young woman and what it meant to him. He talks about enjoying the company of women and how it makes him feel. Etc.


13. Monday, November 13: Wet Welcome in the Windy City
    
    1. Dag elects the direct approach
       After looking up the information on the import/export company that he is going to visit, Dag cases the scene. He is a little disconcerted by the roughness of the Chicago waterfront along the river. Thinks again about calling Silas for backup, then goes in.
    
    
    2. Talking to Smiesen
       Dag thinks he’s seen the same person on the plane again, but dismisses the idea. His conversation with Smiesen is under the guise of being a representative for Simon and he pushes for information on the books. He is stonewalled, but when he gets out his computer, it seems to be of major interest.
    
    
    3. Putting clues together and tearing them apart again
       Nothing seems to be going right for Dag. He overhears Smiesen talk about a shipment coming in tonight. Dag figures that he’ll hang around and wait. He keeps coming around to the clues that he had and how they don’t add up as Simon’s kind of business deal. Dag spends the rest of the afternoon gathering data on Smiesen’s business.
    
    
    4. Dag goes for dinner
       Dag picks up Margaret in a taxi for dinner and they head out to another quiet jazz café that she recommends. They have a good time talking and listening to the music. Then Dag drives her home in a taxi and they go for a walk along the waterfront. Dag is surprised she lives so close to the river.
    
    
    5. In the drink
       As they are walking along, they are mugged. Two men grab Dag’s laptop case and then in the struggle, they push him into the river. He hears Margaret scream and another splash. He muses that the cold of the river should have given him a heart attack, but he’d probably drown first. The last thing he remembers is a hand catching his arm and pulling him upward.


14. Tuesday, November 14: My midlife crisis hit the day I realized 33 was half-way through my life expectancy.
    
    1. The Mustang and the Girl
       Dag talks about his party days. We discover that he was terribly afraid of his own mortality. He realizes that in his current condition, he may well have overestimated his life expectancy. He explains, also, his realization of how age plays a part in relationships and how there always seemed to be an ulterior motive when a young woman and an older man get together.
    
    
    2. The Girl in the Bed
       Dag has waking dreams of being snuggled next to a woman and believes that he is once again next to the girl in the Mustang. He allows himself to wallow in those dreams, eating what was fed to him and understanding that he is not fully conscious.