Chapter 8: King’s Head Pub

September 15, 1994, London, England

“Did she say what she wanted?” I asked.

“No, Mr. Adams; she simply asked to be connected to your room. Do you wish to speak to her?”

Refusing would be the simplest course of action, but would also be rude in the extreme. And I’d likely have to see her in the morning when I ran and did kata, unless I ran a totally different route through the streets and skipped my karate practice. In the end, I decided it was easier to simply speak to her and see what she wanted.

“Yes, please,” I replied.

I heard a click, and then the desk clerk said, “Go ahead, Mr. Adams.”

Another click signaled that he’d disconnected.

“Hi, this is Steve Adams.”

“Hi! This is Pippa! You met me in Hyde Park while you were practicing your karate.”

“I remember,” I said.

“I was wondering if you wanted to get a drink.”

Perhaps I could put her off. I needed to call and speak to Elyse and Kimmy, and possibly Jamie. I’d agreed with my wives I’d call on Saturday from the Netherlands because the timing was inconvenient during the week with school and work.

“I was actually just about to call my office in Chicago,” I said, trying madly to remember the drinking age in England. “It could take a while.”

“I’m in no hurry. I can wait! I’ll be in the lobby!”

“I’m not sure,” I said warily.

“Come on; have a drink with me. Please?”

It sounded as if I wasn’t going to be able to avoid seeing her, unless I wanted to lock myself in my room and eat room service. That wasn’t a particularly attractive idea, but I also wasn’t going to promise to have drinks with her.

“Let me make my phone calls and I’ll come down and see you.”

“Great!” she said.

I hung up and took off my suit and put on casual clothes, then pulled my Fodor’s guide that covered England from my bag. I looked up alcohol in the index and when I flipped to the correct page I saw that at sixteen you could buy beer, wine, or cider when accompanied by a meal and with an adult present, so long as you sat in a separate room from the actual bar. That question answered, I took out my AT&T calling card and placed a call to the office in Chicago. After a quick conversation with Lucas who asked how things were going, I asked him to connect me with Kimmy.

“Hi!” she said brightly. “How are things going?”

“Everything went well. I talked to Sam for a few minutes on the video call, but mostly it was about testing. How are things at the office?”

“Quiet. It’s still a bit subdued because of Rob.”

“I can imagine. Any word yet?”

“No. Michelle said she spoke to Janet, but they haven’t identified Rob’s body as yet. They did find his carry-on bag, which was, curiously, completely intact. I guess weird stuff happens in plane crashes.”

“How is Janet doing?”

“Michelle said she thinks Janet is in shock. Supposedly the airline arranged for counseling, but that can only help so much.”

“I know about that from tough experience. Do you know if we heard from Jamie?”

“He spoke to Elyse earlier. Shall I transfer you to her?”

“Before you do, is there anything in my email or ‘In’ box that needs attention?”

“Just a call from Melissa Mascioli from DP Engineering wanting to set up a lunch meeting. She said she’d forgotten you’d be away and asked you to please call her when you return.”

“Thanks. Go ahead and transfer me to Elyse.”

“I will. Have a safe trip and I’ll talk to you when you’re in Amsterdam!”

Elyse was on the line a few seconds later.

“We didn’t receive the signed release from Mikela,” Elyse said. “Technically, she only had to sign it by yesterday at 5:00pm. In theory she could have mailed it or had it couriered. Jamie suggested we wait until Monday to see if it arrives.”

“Or if we get served with papers,” I sighed.

“Jamie thinks that’s the most likely outcome, and so do I.”

“That makes three of us. Remember what I said - get the information to our liability insurance company and let them handle it. And we agree to any reasonable settlement.”

“What do you consider reasonable?”

“I’ll leave that to you and Jamie,” I said. “I put you in charge of finances. I will have to sign off on it and so will the Board if it’s over our agreed spending limits. But let’s wait and see what happens. Did you receive any material from Katya?”

“About a hundred pages by FedEx this morning. It’s a mix of things from all the stuff you asked her to look into. I don’t know if any of it is key, because I don’t know enough to judge.”

“It can wait,” I said. “I can’t really do much until I have a chance to sit down and read it. Even if Mikela shows up with Littleton as her lawyer, we have plenty of time.”

“Are you worried about that?”

“Not really. I don’t know how she’d know him, and even if she stumbles upon him or he somehow found out, we have plenty of time and I honestly think I’ll have enough information to get him to back off, permanently.”

“Speaking of lawyers, Janet Zlinka retained Corboy & Demetrio.”

“I would NOT want to be US Air,” I said. “Those guys are so good according to Jamie and Melanie that they never solicit clients. I met them when Cindi pitched our software to them, and I’d be afraid if those guys were on the other side of the courtroom from me. Janet hiring them means she’s going to get a huge payout from US Air. It won’t make up for Rob’s death, but at least it will make sure she and their son are cared for. We won’t know the amount because it’ll be accompanied by a non-disclosure agreement and a sealed settlement.”

“They haven’t identified his remains yet, but they did find his bag.”

“That’s what Kimmy told me. Anything else going on?”

“They canceled the rest of the baseball season and the World Series.”

“Fuck ‘em! I’m done with baseball at this point. But what I meant was, is anything going on at home or with NIKA?”

“All quiet on the Western Front!” Elyse laughed.

“What about Penny and Terry?” I asked.

“They’ve been at work all week and nobody has said anything to me about them. If they had called in sick on Monday, or there appeared to be a problem, I’d have called you right away.”

“OK. I’m sure things are OK because if they weren’t, one of them would likely have called me.”

“How are things in England?”

“Business-wise, very successful. I made a couple of new friends, too.”

Elyse laughed, “I’m sure you did!”

“One of them is a guy, Elyse, and you know me well enough to know THAT isn’t going to happen! The guy is the SPSS Director for Computing Services in Europe and he was in their UK office today. He’s a great guy and we’re going to hang out together on Saturday in the Netherlands.”

“And the other one?” Elyse asked, her voice implying a sexual relationship.

“A Swedish girl,” I said. “A lawyer who is handling a child custody case. Her firm represents a Swedish woman in a case against an Indian man who lives in England. The father is represented by our client, Moore, Martin & Walker.”

“And?”

“Get this, she works for Dahlman-Svensson, the same firm for which Kristian Kjellson works.”

“Karin’s husband? No way!”

“Yes, way!” I laughed. “She knows Karin socially, but she’s worked with Kristian. Magdalena, that’s the lawyer, is from Luleå, but works with their Stockholm office regularly.”

“Aaaannnnndddd?” Elyse laughed.

“We’re just good friends.”

“Not your type?”

“Very much my type, but I wasn’t looking for that kind of thing.”

“No; but it always finds you!”

I laughed ruefully, “TELL me about it!”

“That says it HAS!” Elyse laughed. “Tell me!”

“I went running in Hyde Park, you know, the real one, and then practiced my kata on the grass. I drew a small audience. One of the guys watching talked to me, then showed up the next morning to watch again, but had his girlfriend and his little sister along. The little sister showed up, unannounced and uninvited at the hotel about ten minutes ago.”

“You know Doctor Elyse’s prescription!” she teased.

“Yes, to occasionally get my brains fucked out by young, beautiful women. But I’m not sure that’s a good idea at this point.”

“Bullshit, Steve! That’s what keeps you sane. I’m not kidding about that, either. We all know it. If she’s had her test recently, then go for it!”

“I’ll take it under advisement. The whole thing with Michelle is really bugging me. I didn’t get a chance to talk to you before I left.”

“Kara talked to me about it. Don’t let it bother you. I’ll bet you anything you care to wager she’s not going to end things with you. And she knew you were going to see other girls from time to time.”

“And how do you know all of that?”

“Observation. Well, and your journals! Remember, I see her working here during the day, and at home. It’s obvious she misses you. If you can see her as she sees herself, she’ll be happy and everything will be just fine. It’s really that simple.”

“I’m not so sure, but I’ll deal with that when I come home. She said she didn’t want to talk about it before then.”

“Because she wants you to think it through and internalize it. She knows you really well, Steve. She knows how you think. Probably better than anyone except Kara, Bethany, and me. All those talks with her you wrote about in your journal gave her special insight into your thinking. Only reading your journals would be more revealing.”

“I suppose you’re right,” I allowed.

“Of course I am! Now, go find out if your new English friend had her test, and if she did, fuck her so well she’ll never forget you!”

“Is that what happened with you, Ms. Clarke?”

“You’re damned right!” she laughed.

“Anything else?”

“Not really. If I hear from Jamie, how can I reach you?”

“In the morning, at the SPSS office in Woking. Sam has the number. After that, leave a message at the Tulip Inn in Amsterdam. Kimmy has the number.”

“Talk to you soon, Steve. Remember, I love you.”

“That’s one thing I could never, ever forget. I love you too, Elyse.”

We hung up and I contemplated calling Jamie, but based on what Elyse had said, he wasn’t going to have anything to say. I also considered calling Melissa Mascioli, but she’d said it was OK to wait until I returned to Chicago. I laughed because I was looking for ways to delay going down to the lobby. I grabbed my fedora, left the room, and rode the lift down. I saw Pippa, wearing a short, tight blue dress and walked over to her.

“Hi,” I said. “Sorry about the delay. I had to speak to my office in Chicago.”

“It’s OK. What kind of work do you do?”

“I own a company that writes software for lawyers and doctors, and does other computer work.”

“And you do business here in the UK?”

“The two clients are based in the US, but have offices here in the UK, as well as Amsterdam, where I’m going tomorrow, and Munich, where I’m going the following week.”

“Do you come here often?”

“This is my first time in London; well, if you don’t count changing planes on a flight to Sweden.”

“So can we get a drink?” she asked.

“I thought you had to be eighteen to drink,” I said, knowing she’d have an easy response.

“Not if we order food and sit at a table in a restaurant,” she said. “Did you have dinner?”

“No.”

“So come on, then.”

“Why?” I asked.

She frowned, “You’re a strange one, Yank. Is there something wrong with me?”

She had a point. And as I’d discussed with Magdalena, I had the willpower to say ‘no’, assuming that’s what Pippa was looking for. It could be she was just intrigued by the karate and an older guy who paid attention to her, and that she had no ulterior motives.

I shook my head, “No, there isn’t. I’m sorry. Please forget my bad attitude for the last few minutes if you can, and let’s go have that drink and some food.”

“Brill!” she exclaimed. “Come on!”

I followed her out of the hotel and onto the sidewalk.

“Where to?” I asked.

“King’s Head, I think,” she said. “It’s less than five minutes away.”

“You live in London, I assume?” I asked.

“Just off Regent’s Park. My dad is the senior aide to a Minister. My mom is a maths teacher.”

“I assume you’re in school? What we would call High School and I guess you call College or Sixth Form?”

“Yes. Year 12. I plan to teach English when I eventually leave university. Did you study computers?”

“I did. I received my degree in 1985.”

“Are you trying to imply you’re old?” she laughed.

“I AM old compared to you. I’d guess you’re sixteen?”

“Legal to drink and do anything else I want and that’s all that matters!”

She couldn’t drive, but the permission to do that at sixteen seemed to be a uniquely American thing based on our dependance on cars to get around.

“That’s one way to look at it,” I replied.

“You think I’m too young?”

“I think age and maturity don’t necessarily correlate, and there can be some significant cultural differences in how mature people are at a given age.”

“I don’t think that answers my question!”

“I don’t know the answer to that question. Ask me again after we eat.”

We walked up to the pub, went inside, and were shown to an empty table in the dining room. I asked what she wanted to drink.

“Hawkes Urban Orchard Cider,” she said.

“And to eat, so we don’t get in trouble?”

“The Rib-Eye sandwich here is really good.”

“OK; that sounds good to me, too.”

I went to the bar and had a quick chat with the barman, who ran down the whisky selection and asked a few questions. He suggested Laphroaig 10-year-old, which I accepted and then asked about Pippa’s drink.

“That cider, what’s the alcohol content?”

“4.5% by volume.”

One, or even two, glasses of that with a meal wasn’t going to get her drunk. I ordered our meal then paid for our drinks and carried them back to the table.

“What are you drinking?”

“Whisky. I don’t drink too much other alcohol besides whisky, though I do drink wine with meals and I’ve been known to drink vodka with my Russian friends.”

“Russian friends? In the States?”

“In Russia. Well, I have a few in the US, but most of them are actually in Russia.”

“Cool. You travel a lot, but you’ve never been to London?”

“Mostly to Sweden and Russia,” I said. “Plus I travel a lot in the US. I’ve visited Japan, East and West Germany, Austria, Denmark, and Norway, plus Mexico and Canada. I’ve been to Heathrow before to change planes, but that’s it for England.”

“Japan? That must have been fun!”

“I’m not sure that ‘fun’ is the right word. I was there studying with the most senior instructor of our karate school and his place was in a rural, mountainous area. But I loved being there. That was for five weeks earlier this summer.”

“You’ve been doing karate a long time?”

“About thirteen years now.”

“How difficult was it to earn a black belt?”

“It depends on how dedicated you are. We have a thirteen-year-old black belt in our school. He’s been there about six years. It took me about five years to get mine, and then eight more years to achieve full instructor status.”