A Case of Espionage: A Novel

By Harry Katzan Jr.

A Case of Espionage is a work of fiction and should be interpreted as nothing more than entertainment. The characters, places, events, and incidents are a result of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual events and things is purely coincidental. The London City Airport actually exists, as does the Kimpton Fitzroy Hotel on Russell Square in London, that is used as a point of rendezvous and a safe house. The zum Storchen Hotel, the James Joyce pub, and the Zeughauskeller restaurant are exceptions. They are a grand representation of excellent Swiss culture.

There are too many character names to mention that each one does not represent an actual person. The most readily seen character names in the book are William Ashford, Dalton Small, John Walliser, Matt Miller, Les Miller, Pat McGinty, and Alton Fuller. There are others in the text. Coincidentally, persons with those names may exist somewhere in the world, but the author is not aware of them.

Finally, the name Ashford College does not exist nor does its characterization. It is possible that an element of espionage, such as described herein, actually did take place in the real world, but the author does not know about it.

The author would like to acknowledge the assistance of his wife Margaret in the preparation of the manuscript, and their daughter Kathy for her loyal support and some excellent ideas. You guys are the best!

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Feb 27, 2020
• ISBN: 9781532096358

Harry Katzan Jr.

Harry Katzan, Jr. is a professor who has written several books and many papers on computers and service, in addition to some novels. He has been a advisor to the executive board of a major bank and a general consultant on various disciplines. He and his wife have lived in Switzerland where he was a banking consultant and a visiting professor. He is an avid runner and has completed 94 marathons including Boston 13 times and New York 14 times. He holds bachelors, masters, and doctorate degrees.

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Copyright © 2020 Harry Katzan, Jr.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

A person-by-person record of character names is given at the beginning of the book.

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Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

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ISBN: 978-1-5320-9634-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5320-9633-4 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5320-9635-8 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020903935

iUniverse rev. date:  02/27/2020

CONTENTS

Foreword

Part I   Intrigue At Ashford College

A Person-By-Person Record Of Character Names

One   Ashford College

Two   The Murder

Three   The Fullers at Home

Four   Stockton P. Ashford, Jr.

Five   The Budget Office

Six   In the Engineering Building

Seven   The Dean’s Office

Eight   Fuller Arrives to the College

Nine   Student Jerry Chen

Ten   Angela Rodriguez

Eleven   In the President’s Office

Twelve   The Detective Interviews Professor Fuller

Thirteen   The Oasis

Fourteen   Director of Admissions

Fifteen   Colonel Wingate

Sixteen   Questioning Chen

Seventeen   Fuller Continues His Investigation

Eighteen   John Walliser

Nineteen   Meeting with Charles Mitchell

Twenty   Foreign Student Lawyer

Twenty-one   Wingate and Bellinski

Twenty-two   Joan Fuller Gets Questioned

Twenty-three   Fuller Becomes a Person of Interest

Twenty-four   Fuller Enlists Matt’s Help

Twenty-five   The Quantum Computer Project

Twenty-six   Fuller Prepares the Data

Twenty-seven   Preparing for the Data Analytics

Twenty-eight   Government Results

Twenty-nine   Travel to Brooklyn

Thirty   Meeting with the President

Thirty-one   The President Makes Some Decisions

Thirty-two   Matt Discusses the Results with the General

Thirty-three   The President and the General

Thirty-four   Ashley has the Last Word

Part II   The General, The Scholar, And The Royal Connection

Thirty-five   Matt and the General Start Another Episode

Thirty-six   Meeting in the Green Room

Thirty-seven   Problem in the Monarchy

Thirty-eight   The General

Thirty-nine   Problem in England

Forty   Travel Plan to London

Forty-one   The James Joyce Pub

Forty-two   Extraction Plan

Forty-three   Date with the Queen

Forty-four   Meeting with Michael

Forty-five   The Final Results

Forty-six   A Festive Cup at Starbucks

About the book

About the author

Once again for Margaret

FOREWORD

T he dynamic team of the General and the mathematician Matt are back for more episodes. You can look forward to a college adventure and an interesting puzzle with the royal family. In this volume, the General returns to the military, although briefly, as an O9, Lieutenant General, and it looks like Matt has finally found the woman of his dreams. But, you never know.

This is another one of those stories that could be classed as a new genre. If you go to your local bookstore, you will see about 180,000 novels, and this number is just made up for illustrative purposes. It could be much higher. The goodness of these books is probably normally distributed with some being really good and some are exceptionally bad. The average is good enough enabling the author to establish a brand for him or herself. People generally read anything written by particular authors like Silva, Brown, and so forth. So in the coffee room, you for sure would hear a conversation, such as Have you read the latest Silva book? "Do you mean the New Girl? Yes, what do you think of it? I like it, but it’s not as good as his other books. Of course, it is unlikely to hear something like, That is the greatest book. I’m going to read all of his books." No one ever says anything is really great because it morally requires the person to have read the entire book. And if they finally read the complete book, it might involve some fast reading at the end.

As an author gains popularity, the publisher advertises more, and the sales volume goes up, along with the number of pages, and the price. So the number of pages in a branded book ends up in the neighborhood of 450 pages, including quite a few pages of fluff inserted to get the page count up. The pages of the fluff are not a total waste, as they guide the reader through a series of events and characters without having to do a lot of thinking – only reading. As such, the fluff serves a good purpose. The main objective is to get to the end of the book and then on to another book. How often do you reread a page because the first reading of it gave you such pleasure that you wanted to enjoy reading it again? The context, characters, and the events are secondary to enjoyable thinking. Wouldn’t it be a pleasure to read a chapter and then sit back and think about it. You might call this process, absorbing the chapter. The slogan THINK once guided the actions of the world’s most famous and profitable company. Yes, it was and is IBM.

This book is intended to support the newest of genres, the think movement. A book should be written to encourage and support the precious art of thinking while you are reading.

This book follows three previous books with a similar orientation: The Mysterious Case of the Royal Baby, The Curious Case of the Royal Marriage, and The Auspicious Case of the General and the Royal Family. In this book, the enjoyment is organized into two parts. The major part is murder mystery in a college environment. Again, the General and his associate Matt are called in to render their assistance. The second part is an episode in which the General and Matt are active in a royal situation, and serves as a preview of coming attractions. Be prepared, the second part gives the solutions to the mysteries. Enjoy the stories.

The Author

PART I

INTRIGUE AT

ASHFORD COLLEGE

A PERSON-BY-PERSON RECORD

OF CHARACTER NAMES

Top Administration

August P. Ashford – Founder of the Ashford College

William J. Ashford – Grandson of the founder and President

of the Ashford College

Faculty

Alton Fuller – Professor of mathematics and chairperson of

the math department

Dalton B. Small – Dean of the College of Engineering

Stockton P. Ashford, Jr. – Director of the Library and nephew

of William Ashford

Vicki Goldberg – Professor of Psychology

John Walliser – Provost and Professor of History

Matt Miller – Professor of mathematics at another university

Kathy Richards – Professor of sociology at another university

Ben Jones – Professor of Physics and chairperson of the

physics department

Michelle Purgoine – Professor of English at another university

Administration

Grace Ludlow – Budget director

Colonel Harry Wingate – Assistant to Dean Small

Thomas J. Goodenough – Admissions director

Richard Ballinski – Assistant in the personnel office

Secretaries and Spouses

Joan Fuller – Wife of Professor Fuller

Mary Pellegrino – Secretary to Professor Fuller

Angela Rodriguez – Secretary to Dean Small

Ruth Martine – Secretary to the President of the college

Molly Mandel – Secretary to the Director of Admissions

Mrs. Small – Wife of Dean Small

Police

Pat McGinty – Police inspector

Janet Sharp – Police officer

Miscellaneous Persons

Jerry Chen – Asian student

Sam Givone – College lawyer

Jimmy Wong – Lawyer for Asian students

Charles Mitchell – President of the Black Students Union

Rosanne Green – Neighbor

Helen Dalton – Neighbor

Clayton Towers – Member of the board of directors

The General – Les Miller, former military general, and humanitarian

Shirley Richards – Friend of the General

Kathy Richards – Friend of Matt Miller

Ashley Nicole Wilson – College friend of Matt Miller

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ONE

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ASHFORD COLLEGE

T he A subway train from Manhattan stops briefly near Wall Street and then passes under the East River to Brooklyn. A few stations later, it brings a passenger within easy walking distance of a small private college.

Brownstone buildings dot the tree-lined side streets that surround the campus. The neighboring three-story row houses are run-down through neglect and the passage of time, but clearly reflect a noble and affluent past. The size of the campus is approximately 25 acres and stands in sharp contrast to its environment. The buildings are old but are easily overlooked due to the striking beauty of grass and trees. The college is a passive relief from the pressures and pace of life in New York. During suitable weather, students are everywhere – sunning, talking, jogging, and enjoying the short walk between buildings.

The faculty is seasoned and is supplemented by professionals from the New York area who are employed on an adjunct basis. The school is named after its founder – Alton P. Ashford – and it is no coincidence that a direct descendant serves as its president. As is frequently the case in the academic world, the college is a haven for the superior and the inferior in whatever form they may exist.

One of the primary concerns of the administration of Ashford College is the school’s reputation. No event is too small for close scrutiny. No decision is made without careful consideration of possible effects and side effects.

In a real sense, Ashford College stands as the pillar of the community, and everyday campus events are as much a happening to the neighborhood as they are to the students. To many people suffering through difficult times, Ashford College is something to believe in.

As with many small colleges, Ashford had also experienced difficult times – both financially and as a result of student unrest. Many thought the school would buckle under. With the family name at stake, a grandson of the founder – a William J. Ashford – assumed the post as temporary president to guide the college through this difficult period. The temporary position evolved into a permanent position and, through sound policies of financial management, Bill Ashford pulled the school through. While he wisely delegated many decisions – especially those of an academic nature – most actions were not executed without his tacit approval.

Ashford College was founded during a turbulent period in U.S. history. There was no guarantee that a new