Taken: Day 15

Word Count: 90,018

Summary of Events:

Mitchell bought Dolly a new dress — as well as a new suit for himself — with a bonus he received for his efforts that saved the life of the crane operator, and took Dolly out to a special dinner to thank her for all she'd done for him since September. Hiding inside from a serious downpour of rain at work, Mitchell chatted with one of his coworkers and decided to bring up Perry's name to see what he could learn . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

“I really only know one,” Mitchell replied. “He’s actually from Los Angeles here, influenced me to join a union to work, and he also encouraged me to come here to Los Angeles too.”

“Hm,” Jokes said.

“Do you know him?” Mitchell asked. “His name’s Perry Gay.”

Jokes furrowed his brow. “Perry Gay.”

Mitchell waited patiently for more as Jokes contorted and stroked his face contemplatively for several minutes.

“I know that name, but I don’t know where from,” Jokes said.

“A party was held in his honour recently,” Mitchell said. “That’s where that young soldier roughed up Mr. Edgar’s daughter.”

“No, I know it from somewhere else,” Jokes said. “I know it from somewhere else.”

Mitchell nodded and waited patiently as Jokes seemed to be striving quite hard to recall where he knew Perry from. Mitchell had to admit that he felt encouraged to think that someone knew Perry from something aside from what he’d been in the papers for — much less knew him at all.

“He . . . he . . . was blonde,” Jokes said.

“Yes,” Mitchell replied.

“And his nose, I remember his nose,” Jokes said. “His nose was very straight and skinny and, looked like it could be painful to run into.”

“Yeah,” Mitchell agreed.

“High hairline too,” Jokes said.

“Yeah,” Mitchell replied.

“Eualia,” Jokes said.

“Isn’t that his wife’s name?” Mitchell asked.

“Yes,” Jokes said. “I think she’s the secretary of the CIO.”

“Oh,” Mitchell said.

“And Perry just came back from the war, didn’t he?” Jokes asked.

“That’s why they had the party for him,” Mitchell replied.

“He was the one who was teaching Russian lessons,” Jokes said.

“Russian lessons?” Mitchell asked. “As in the language?”

“Yes,” Jokes replied. “I don’t even know why Russian lessons were being offered, but before he enlisted he was teaching Russian.”

“That’s interesting,” Mitchell said.

“And I think everyone who completed the course got to go on a trip to the USSR,” Jokes said.

“Expenses paid?” Mitchell asked.

“Yes,” Jokes replied. “All expenses paid.”

“Who took those lessons?” Mitchell asked.

“I don’t think any of them work for the CIO anymore, or if they do they don’t work around here anymore,” Jokes replied.

“You think they might’ve moved to the Soviet Union?” Mitchell asked.

“Why?” Jokes asked.

“Because you haven’t seen them again,” Mitchell replied.

“I guess that is a possibility,” Jokes said. “But still, why would they move to the Soviet Union?”

“I don’t know,” Mitchell replied. “I’ve only been here about a month and a half.”

Jokes nodded. “It’s strange. But that’s where I remember someone by the name of Perry Gay from. He taught Russian lessons to interested members.”

Gazing out the window, Mitchell nodded, his mind racing with this new piece of information and the main thing that it yielded him: a solid connection between Mr. Edgar and Perry.

It wasn’t just that they both lived in Los Angeles and were both Communists, but they both worked — past or present — in the CIO, suggesting that they would’ve met and known each other to some extent.