Life Goes On 2
Chapter 38
On New Year's Day the city was just putting itself back together. Though they'd had power throughout the outage, the Castle family was doing the same. Kate was due take office in a week, on a Wednesday, and school would start again two days before that. The blackout had put preparations for everything behind. The house in Albany needed to be ready only for Kate, who would be there for the one day opening session, then return the following week for legislative activity, but the beds had yet to be delivered and the general paralysis had prevented some minor repairs from being done. Despite all that, Castle was determined to celebrate the day as the start of a new chapter in their lives. Lily was still disappointed at the cancellation of her concert, and the twins had begun to suffer the letdown that comes after the cornucopia of gifts is exhausted, but Castle was not about to let the spirit fade.
Ignoring the slight queasiness that accompanied the morning after splitting a bottle of champagne with Kate, he was determined to produce a mega brunch. Noting that it was time for a report from his favorite weatherman, he brought the broadcast up on his tablet while he worked in the kitchen, as Kate savored a double latte. Radar Savvy did not appear. Missy Lanahan was in his place. Her face was pale and she shifted nervously in front of the screen displaying the local temperatures. With a catch in her voice, Missy explained that Radar had disappeared on a trip to report on flooding caused by pump failures during the blackouts. She assured the audience that the police were making every attempt to find the missing forecaster and that the hopes and prayers of everyone at the station were for Radar's safe return.
Castle stopped whisking the waffle batter. "Kate, why would a weatherman disappear?" Castle wondered. "Do you think he's been kidnapped?"
Kate's forehead creased skeptically. "Castle who would want to kidnap a weatherman? What would be their motive?"
"I don't know," Castle replied. "I don't know much about the guy except that he has great hair, great teeth, wears corny costumes, and tells jokes with obscure pop culture references. After breakfast I'm going to see what else I can find out."
"Castle, I thought we were going to be celebrating today."
"We will," Castle assured her. "We'll have our New Year's morning feast. I'll bring my laptop into the living room. The kids can play or watch videos and you can get in a bubble bath, while I run a search. Then later we can all watch the Rose Parade on the big screen. There are supposed to be celebrities appearing on the floats by holographic projection this year. Very cool."
"Okay Babe, you had me at bubble bath."
Castle tried to find a comfortable position as he balanced his laptop across his thighs. The device wasn't heavy. Even with a screen large enough to accommodate the bigger fonts he'd lately preferred to use, it weighed less than two pounds. In some ways he longed for an older bulkier one. It would have felt more secure, but the resolution on the newer model was incredible, the battery life long enough that he didn't have to worry about plugging in, and there was enough RAM to support even more multitasking than he would attempt. He surveyed the Wikipedia page on Radar Savvy. There was a hefty paragraph of caveats at the beginning of the article, more than he often saw on entries about minor celebrities. That was curious. While the page listed Radar's vital statistics, education, and job history, there was little about his private life, other than the notation that he was divorced and had one daughter. It reminded Castle of his early years with Alexis. "I feel you Buddy," Castle muttered.
Castle scanned Radar's IMDB listing, which provided even less information, then started looking for postings concerning Radar, from his alma mater UCLA, the country's top school for meteorology, where he had been known as Thomas Jayne. Castle was surprised to find out that Radar had been a serious and highly awarded student, then had completely dropped from sight after graduation. He had resurfaced after a few years at a small television station in the Midwest, where he was reported to have been married to Marnie Roselle. At the time, the couple had a two year old daughter, Ruby. When Ruby was four, the couple divorced. Marnie moved to Alaska and Radar was awarded full custody of Ruby. Over the years, he'd steadily moved up in the broadcasting world, snagging jobs at larger and larger markets until securing a position in New York, where Ruby enrolled at Columbia. In each of his jobs, he projected the image of the vain buffoon who could deliver the most alarming news in the least upsetting way. His persona was far from the student his professors had honored. There would be no reason for anyone to want to kidnap the jocular clown who wore costumes he referred to as weather fronts, but the brilliant student who was nowhere to be found after graduation, was a completely different story. If Castle had been writing it, Radar might have been working at a military laboratory determining how exact predictions of weather conditions could support black ops. And then there was Marnie. Who abandons a husband and child to move to Alaska? Meredith had done it for the climate and opportunity of L.A., but Alaska? If Marnie had been involved in covert operations as well, maybe she was monitoring the Russians. Then again, maybe she liked shooting moose out of helicopters, like Sarah Palin. The two ideas were equally improbable."
Kate slipped onto the couch beside him, warm, glowing, with the scent of cherries wafting from her skin. "You called it, Babe, those bubbles were more of a celebration than the ones we drank last night. Satisfy your curiosity about Radar Savvy?"
Castle sighed. "If anything, just the reverse. The man makes no sense, Kate. His disappearance makes no sense either, except that I'm convinced the circumstances are anything but mundane. If I could be dragged off for some secret government mission, so could he."
"Castle, you're kidding right? The guy who comes out in a sun costume, like a preschooler? Where would the mission be, in kindergarten?" Kate regarded the deepening creases that bracketed her husband's mouth. "You're not kidding, are you? You really think the weatherman is in the middle of some dark conspiracy."
Castle shrugged. "Honestly I don't know, Kate. But my Spidey sense is tingling. I'm going to make a couple of calls. Spooks don't pay much attention to holidays."
"But you do," Kate reminded him. "Remember? Family celebration? Rose Parade? Maybe you could use a long soak in a hot tub too." She massaged his shoulders. "I can feel your muscles knotting under my fingers. Even if Radar has been the victim of foul play or a government plot, it's not your problem. You've never even met the man, you just watch him on TV."
"Somehow I feel I know him, or at least I sympathize with him. I am going to make those calls," Castle decided. "Then I'll take a nice long muscle unfurling shower, make my seven layer dip, and join you and our brilliant offspring to look at all the pretty flowers. With any luck, the horses will poop on the parade route like they did last year and Jake and Reese will have a couple of hours laughing at horse potty jokes."
"Good Castle, but can you cancel the dip in favor of those great little barbecue skewers?" Kate requested. "There are fewer consequences."
Castle unconsciously brushed back a lock of hair that had fallen across his forehead, as he'd bent over the keyboard. "Barbecue skewers it is. I'm all for minimizing consequences."