Life Goes On 2

Chapter 53

Cap Katzenberger stared at the letter from Kate Beckett, with a grunt. This was a lot worse than problems with a hotel kitchen. He had no mistress, but he had political contacts that were private. They all did. He could also think of several senators who could be disastrously compromised on a personal level. Perhaps they deserved to lose their jobs, or their wives for that matter, but the revelations could throw the whole legislative year into chaos, and the fallout would last a lot longer than that. He didn't understand how Kate Beckett had made the leap she had, but then he'd never been a cop. He trusted her instincts. An investigation was going to have to shift into high gear. He pulled out his cell phone, then thought better of it. He'd have to have his meaningful conversations over landlines for a while. What a pain in the ass! This whole affair would be a universe of pain.


Kate rolled over slowly. The bed beside her was cold. She grabbed her cell phone from the bedside table, to check the time. It was seven A.M.. Castle was obviously getting the kids ready for school. He had to be doing it while sleepwalking. After sending her letters out for emergency delivery, they'd made it to bed in the wee hours. Even then, they'd both been too wired to sleep, and had spent hours just snuggling and talking about nothing, until they could finally settle down. It had turned out to be a pretty great night, but that wouldn't make it a great morning. She sniffed the air for a whiff of coffee. A few molecules found her nose, drawing her from beneath the covers. She slipped into her robe and slippers and shuffled her way to the breakfast room.

Coffee was already on the table and Castle was filling juice cups. He looked down at her droopy eyes and poured a steaming mug for her. "You got a call from Katzenberger on the land line. Our messenger woke him at four A.M., but I don't think he was ticked off at you, just upset about the whole mess. He said he's going to launch a further investigation, the second the session starts. He wants you to call him back sometime this morning."

"You could have woken me up when he called, Castle."

"You just seemed so peaceful, sleeping there, I couldn't bear the thought. And from the look of things, you're not awake yet."

"True," Kate admitted. "I'm counting on your special brew to get me there."

"You get the caffeine coursing through your veins," Castle suggested. "I'm starting the eggs. Lily's already dressed and the twins were getting there when I checked. They'll be in any minute. There are millet muffins in the basket."

As if answering his call, the clomp of small but heavy feet approached. Jake and Reese bumped each other as they came through the door. Their hair was still uncombed, but their buttons were buttoned and zippers zipped. Jake reached for a golden pastry, receiving a dirty look from Lily, who herded him and Reese into their seats. Castle arrived with eggs, white and otherwise, and patties of turkey sausage. While Kate filled plates, he poured his second cup of coffee and appreciatively sniffed the vapors. Trying to spoon jelly onto his muffin, Jake managed to spoon it onto Reese's pants instead. Kate wiped most of the sticky glob off with a napkin and went to get a wet towel to sponge out the rest. She wasn't completely successful.

Reese looked down at the purple stain that had stubbornly resisted her efforts. "It's an Effluvian Grape Beast trying to take over the universe."

Lily rolled her eyes, but Castle made a show of studying the remnants of jelly as well. "Then you must resist its efforts," he counseled Reese. "Perhaps with a new pair of pants armored against Effluvian domination."

Reese started to get up to fetch new clothing. "You can defeat Effluvian domination after breakfast," Kate advised. "We don't need to fight two battles."

Reese sat back down and started on a muffin of his own. "So what battles will Mama be fighting today, besides Effluvian Grape Beasts?" Castle inquired.

"I thought I'd go see Topher and talk face to face about the possible hackings," Kate replied. "I also want to ask him what it would take for me to learn to fly a plane."

"You want to fly a plane?" Castle asked.

"Super cool!" Jake exclaimed.

"What brought this on?" Castle queried. "You didn't say anything last night."

"I didn't think of it last night, Castle, but time," Kate replied. "I'm already saving a lot of it hitching rides with Topher, but he has his own schedule and it won't always jibe with mine. And then later..."

"I get it," Castle acknowledged. "I can start checking out flight schools. Ooh, I'm gonna call Michael Dorn. I flew between cons with him once. He's a terrific pilot."

Kate smiled through her sigh. "You would pick someone from a star ship. But don't go overboard with this yet, okay? There are things much higher on the priority list, and I want to see what Topher says."

Castle saluted. "Roger that, Ma'am."


Franny Moskowitz met Vince Jervais in the back booth of a coffee shop, too far from the Capitol to be patronized by any staffers working between sessions. "Baby, with Truey still in the hospital, his wife got a letter addressed to him, like three A.M. this morning. She didn't want to upset him, so she passed it on to me. That bitch Kate Beckett figured out what happened to Truey was no accident. Somehow she figured out about the scanner too."

"Any hint she knows who was involved?" Vince pressed anxiously.

Franny shook her head. "There was nothing in the letter. Obviously Betty isn't suspicious of me, or she wouldn't have passed the letter on."

"And she didn't mention any connection to me?" Vince queried.

"Is that all you're worried about?" Franny responded angrily. "Truey almost died. I could have lost my job. The Senate already voted that there should be an investigation of the food at the hotel."

"That was just a resolution," Vince pointed out. Resolutions have no force of law. They're just posturing. It doesn't mean anything is going to happen."

"Well the word I'm hearing is that Cap is really pissed off and he's going to launch an investigation for real, into everything that happened. At the very least, the credit card info won't be worth shit."

"That stuff didn't matter anyway," Vince responded. "We still have what we need for our client. You'd be surprised who some of our 'honorable' senators have been talking to."

"I don't think I would," Franny returned. "I've been around long enough to hear gossip about all kinds of stuff, crooked and just kinky. Are you sure Cap isn't going to be able to track you down? The next step from you is me."

I was a temp at the hotel, working under a false identity. I didn't leave any evidence behind, but even if they did suspect me, they wouldn't have any way to track me down. You have nothing to worry about. Just hang in with Truesdale a little bit longer. Keep me in the loop on whatever you hear. In a couple of weeks I'll have my payoff. The money will be in in the Caymans and we can go lie in the sun while Albany is still freezing. Sound good?"

Franny squeezed his hand with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "Sure Baby, it sounds great."