Togo (Goes) on Assignment (Recentered)
Chapter 3: Regrouping, Scene 8
Togo Goes on Assignment is published weekly as a series. If you came in late, you might want to go back to the beginning. Or, if you’re cut from the same adventuresome cloth as Togo, feel free to read on and figure things out as you go. If you’ve been reading along and just forgot what happened in the last episode, you can click here.
“Fasten your seatbelt, Top Dog,” Margot said brusquely.
Togo was temporarily distracted. Margot had done something with her hair and he suddenly had a vision of the two of them walking through a forest glade together.
Margot cleared her throat, bringing Togo back to the moment.
“Listen, Boss. I think that we were on to something in Athens,” Togo began.
Margot peered at him over her reading glasses. “I know,” she said. “And I think that we need to take a new approach on this case.”
As she motioned Togo into his seat across the small working table in the Gulfstream jet, the captain’s voice boomed from the overhead speaker. “Wheels up in five.”
“Where are we headed?” Togo asked.
“We’re going on a short tour that I hope will give you a new perspective on this case,” Margot replied. “I’m not going to go into detail but I’m hoping that you will catch the drift. We’ve picked up on a new psychological profile for our perp.”
“Oh,” Togo said softly. “And by ‘our perp,’ you mean this person who has become a threat to the world because he is going around doing good things quietly and for no apparent personal gain?”
“Or she,” Margot stressed. “And yes, that is who we’re after. We’re headed back to the States and a new location for you to focus on. But first, we’ll make a couple of stops along the way to realign your thinking. Get some sleep.”
Togo never needed to be told twice to take a nap. He curled up in his seat and was soon snoring blissfully. The captain’s voice disturbed a wonderful dream about a nice walk in a park. Lots of squirrels . . .
“Ms. Lance,” the pilot spoke. “We’re landing at Heathrow. There will be a car waiting.”
Togo sat up abruptly, shook his coat back to its natural fluffiness, and opened his mouth to speak. Margot smiled and said, “I have an errand to run. Your job is to look around and learn.”
The jet rolled into a private hangar and a limousine pulled up. Togo and Margot were escorted into the back seat where Togo was pleased to find breakfast waiting — the “Full English.”
Back bacon, eggs, British sausage, baked beans, bubble and squeak, fried tomato, black pudding, with fried and toasted bread on the side. Togo helped himself to everything, except the vegetables. He was intrigued by the bubble and squeak. But when Margot explained that it was leftover cabbage and mashed potatoes baked into a pie, he pushed it away with his paw. He was a firm believer that leftover cabbage should be left in its natural state — leftover.
The limo sped them away to Westminster. Togo wanted to ask questions. However, always the gentleman, he knew better than to talk with his mouth full.
As they drove through Trafalgar Square, Margot looked up from the report she was reading and directed Togo’s gaze to a sculpture of an ice cream cone with a cherry on top — and a drone sitting on the cherry, fly-like. Togo swallowed hard and started to speak, but Margot shook her head and returned to her reading.
In a few minutes, the car double-parked in front of a small pub. Margot gathered her papers into a briefcase and prepared to exit. Togo jumped up and Margot said, “No, you stay here. I’ll only be a minute. Look over there.”
She pointed at a large church. Togo recognized it. St. Martin in the Fields Church. People were walking in and out. And as he watched and listened, he could hear the bells tolling.
Margot was only gone about 15 minutes. Togo used the time to think. Fake ice cream cone, fake fly. Real church, real people. There had to be a connection. But what was it?
“I’m on to something,” Togo announced as Margot settled back in her seat.
“And what is that, pray tell?” Margot said, almost sweetly.
“I’m hungry,” Togo said. “How about I treat you to an ice cream cone on the way back to the plane?”