The game has some code for you trying to call Coates on the phone:
(<VERB? PHONE>
<TELL D ,PRSO>
<COND (<G? ,PRESENT-TIME 710>
<TELL
"'s office phone rings. His secretary answers and informs you that
he will be out for the rest of the day." CR>)
(<G? ,PRESENT-TIME 650>
<TELL
"'s secretary answers and informs you that Mr. Coates is on his way
to the Robner estate." CR>)
(T
<TELL
"'s secretary informs you that Mr. Coates is in a very important
meeting and can't be disturbed. She reminds you that he
will be at the Robner estate before noon." CR>)>)
There are two problems here: The game doesn't check that there is actually a phone nearby (it should only work in the Library, the Living Room and the Master Bedroom), and the codes is in COATES-F, so as far as I can tell it only runs if Coates is in the same room as you, so there is no reason to call him.
It should presumably be in an action routine for GLOBAL-COATES. That routine should then call GLOBAL-PERSON as a fallback.
The game has some code for you trying to call Coates on the phone:
There are two problems here: The game doesn't check that there is actually a phone nearby (it should only work in the Library, the Living Room and the Master Bedroom), and the codes is in
COATES-F
, so as far as I can tell it only runs if Coates is in the same room as you, so there is no reason to call him.It should presumably be in an action routine for
GLOBAL-COATES
. That routine should then callGLOBAL-PERSON
as a fallback.