Life Goes On
Chapter 38
At the dinner table in the loft, Castle's eyes watered as he reached for the rice. He was hoping to ameliorate the effects of the scrap of a black pepper he'd consumed in his serving of Szechuan chicken. Normally the level of heat in the dish didn't bother him, but Kate had found a new source of take out that significantly turned up the fire and left him longing to move on to a dessert of ice cream. However, Kate's cravings were being well met. His burning mouth would be cooled eventually and he had to admit that the hot and sour soup the restaurant had provided for some of his lunches was an excellent remedy for the stuffiness accompanying the winter's unusually changeable weather, especially after hours spent hunched over his laptop. At that moment there were more important things to think about than a seared tongue.
Seemingly as undisturbed by the blazing nature of the meal as Kate was, Alexis put her head together with her new boss to discuss the leak she'd discovered on Kate's staff. "We need to find out more about Charisma Clarridge," Alexis declared.
"I called Leticia Jones to talk about childcare and managed to bring Charisma up in conversation," Kate reported."Leticia didn't know much about her. She was recommended by another member of the council, Benny Patero. She thinks Patero is a bit of an asshole, but Charisma has a decent background. She went to Holyoke, changed majors a couple of times and ended up working for Briggs and Bunch in New York."
"Isn't Briggs and Bunch kind of an engulf and devour for holding companies?" Castle asked.
"It is," Kate acknowledged, "apparently that's what caused Charisma to have a come to Jesus moment and go to work in public service, or at least that was the story Leticia was told. Sounds like Charisma might have kept up her business connections."
"I can run a complete credit background on her, as if I were doing a skip trace," Alexis suggested. "Something still tying her to B & B might show up. But it would be better if I did it from the RCI office. We're all set up for it there. I could do it tonight. Hayley and I were going to check out a new club, but she has an old colleague she's getting together with, so I might as well."
Kate and Castle looked at each other and simultaneously nodded. "Sounds good," Kate responded. "You can come in late tomorrow. I'll tell Nettie you're running some official errands for me."
Alexis pushed away from the table. "I'll go now."
"Alexis spends an awful lot of time with Hayley. You don't think...?" Kate wondered after the front door had closed behind her step daughter.
"No I don't," Castle replied definitively. "After getting her through her first date, first love, mono, and oh God, Pi, I have no doubts about which side of the street she likes to walk. I think Hayley is more like the big sister or the cousin she never had. But I am curious about Hayley's old colleague. Last time something like that came up, MI-5 was trying to recruit her back into the fold. That business is a lot better to write about than to experience. I've had enough of trade craft to last a lifetime. It almost lasted both our lifetimes. Right now just give me plain old graft and corruption with the sizzle of an occasional sordid affair thrown in."
Kate reached across the table to lightly tweak his nose. "Just so long as you aren't the one having the sordid affair."
Castle grabbed her fingers and kissed them. "Why would I do that when I have the love of my life right here? Hey, but listen. Sarah Needham is drawing up the plans for the nursery. I thought that maybe it's time to start thinking about furniture, something worthy of a Caskett baby."
Kate shook her head doubtfully. "Castle I know you had to start with Sarah now, but wouldn't furniture be jumping the gun a little? I mean I don't want to jinx things."
Castle twisted a lock of her hair around his finger. "You know for someone who is supposed to be a total skeptic about the supernatural, you are remarkably superstitious. But in this case we wouldn't really be jumping the gun. You remember Bill Garrett, cyber cop turned wood worker?"
"Sure. He helped us solve a couple of murders and prevent a couple more," Kate recalled. "What about him?"
"He makes custom furniture, including cribs and rocking chairs. It's all very slow and very painstaking and unlikely to be ready much before BG make her entrance. I thought we might visit his workshop and look at some samples. He's using all green finishes these days. No evil fumes to menace mother or child."
"I take it you've been talking to him," Kate assumed.
"Uh huh," Castle admitted. "Not a big fan of babies getting killed when the slats of their cribs break. I did some research. You know there are about 10K crib injuries every year and about a hundred of those kids die? I just want to make sure BG is safe. And if her furniture is super cool too, well that's just the Castle way."
Kate reached around the remnants of their meal to squeeze his hand. "Castle, you've hardly made your concern for BG's safety a secret. If you were any more concerned you would have tried to encase me in armor."
"I've thought about it," Castle admitted, "but armor doesn't allow much room for expansion. So you want to go see Bill Garrett or not? He'll be there now. He's a night owl. He likes working in the evening."
"Something the two of you have in common," Kate noted. "Sure Castle, we can go take a look at what he can do."
From the outside, Garrett's shop looked unimpressive, one of many old industrial buildings in the far reaches of the outer boroughs. The inside was more of an industrious elf's abode. The air was scented with fresh cut wood. Hand tools were neatly organized and outlined on a pegboard. Power tools were few, but scrupulously maintained. Samples of complicated turnings and patterns were displayed, as were smaller pieces of furniture. Kate was immediately drawn to a cradle in a corner. Unlike the displays, it was completely devoid of complicated designs, just lovingly shaped, sanded to perfect smoothness and finished with a varnish emanating warmth.
"I made that for my grand niece," Garrett explained. "She's due in about two weeks, although right now my niece would prefer about two seconds. I can make something like that, or a similar pattern in a crib, for you. I have some software we can use to sketch it out."
"You can take the boy out of the cyber but you can't take the cyber out of the boy," Castle teased.
Bill Garrett laughed. "I use accounting software too. I didn't turn into a complete Luddite. I just like the feel of the wood under my hands a lot better than the feel of a keyboard under my fingers. And I don't need to see any more cyber bullying victims turn into murderers. So if you're ready, just tell me what you want for your daughter and I'll see about making it happen."
Kate was seated in an unpadded wooden rocking chair that was nevertheless completely comfortable. Castle stood behind her, his hands on her shoulders, and using stylus on a tablet, Bill Garrett began to draw a worthy sleeping place for precious Caskett cargo.