Love on Ice

Chapter 36

Kate was sitting at her desk doing paperwork when her computer beeped at her. Looking she found an email from Rick. It was titled Wedding Venues. That certainly had her attention so she opened it and saw three website addresses.

The first was UBC FARM. Looking at it she could see that it was indeed a farm and it was outside. The farm is a 60 acre integrated production farm situated within a 90-year old coastal hemlock forest that comprises a mosaic of cultivated annual crop fields, perennial hedgerows and orchards, pasture, teaching gardens, and forest stands. We grow over 200 varieties of fruits, vegetables and herbs, and also feature honey bee hives and egg laying open pasture hens.

The second was Stanley Park Pavilion. The Pavilion was built in 1911 and became a hub of social activity as one of Vancouver's original dining, dancing, and refreshment venues. From its humble beginnings as a concession stand, the Pavilion has since become one of Vancouver's preeminent banquet facilities, hosting many weddings, VIP events and civic functions including hosting Queen Elizabeth II during her 1959 visit to Vancouver. It is the oldest building in Stanley Park and an important heritage site listed on the Vancouver Heritage Register as a Class A heritage building.

The third was Brix and Mortar. Itt was an indoor space with vines covering the walls, an ornamental chandelier hanging in the courtyard, and exposed brick enveloping the restaurant.

The first could hold 400 people, the second 240, and the third only 50.

Rick didn't list dates or prices. His email just said: *Rate them one through three and I'll call to find when they have space, at what cost, and what is included. Or you can do it yourself now or when you get home.*

She certainly wasn't going to do this on work time so that meant waiting until she got home. She would let Rick pay for it but she was going to pick where and then talk him into where she wanted to get married.

Problem was of these three she needed to pick her first choice, second, and then third.

*Is there more?* Kate sent back and waited.

*UBC Boathouse. It's a floating facility on the Fraser River. Inside with a wall of windows. It can handle 400 people.*

*Waterview Special Event Space. It's a penthouse looking out over the False Creek. It can handle 225 people. It also has a wall of windows.*

Kate was immediately sorry she had asked. All of them looked really nice and she had to pick her most favorite with just information and pictures. They had a year and that was after she filled out the forms. It was just that they might need a year to get married.

"Rodgers, we got a body," one of her team members informed her. She pulled her head out of her pending wedding and into doing her job.

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"What have we got?" Kate approached the body that was in her own home.

"Esther Castellani, married to Rene Castellani. They have a daughter, Jeannine; she's eleven. No gun shot wounds, no stabbing. In fact no blood can be seen at all."

"Poison then, perhaps. Where's the husband?" Kate question was answered by someone pointing him out. "Haven't I heard his name before?" Kate wasn't certain.

"Rene is well known in the city. He's a radio personality for CKNW radio. He's known for some of his crazy promotional stunts."

"That's where I've heard that name before." Kate had heard about some of the stuff he did to promote things. He seemed to try and make the next crazier than the last. The last one had been simply stupid. But as far as promotion was concerned she had no doubt that it hadn't done its job. All of them were meant to gain attention and he was certainly good at that.

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Kate got home really late. She had missed dinner and Alexis was long since in bed, fast asleep. Only Rick was still up waiting for her. "You caught a case, I'm guessing." Rick had noted that she only got home this late when she had a case that she was working hard on.

"Yeah, the wife of that crazy radio guy on CKNW." Kate stretched to pop a few joints.

Rick offered his first thought, "Let me guess, the gun didn't have blanks," then watched Kate shake her head. He tried again. "The tank of water she was dumped into had piranha in it and ate her to the bone." He saw her smile but she still shook her head.

"I'll save you your third guess. We don't know yet what killed her. No sign of a struggle. The husband wasn't at home at the time. The eleven-year-old daughter was, though."

"OH, SHIT!" To Rick that meant she had seen her dead mother lying on the floor if that was where she had been found.

"Yeah, she's going to need therapy, that's for sure. I promised her I would do my best to find out who killed her."

"Of course you did and you will. Maria left you dinner in the warmer." Rick watched her put away her weapon where Alexis couldn't get it along with everything else and escorted her to the kitchen so they could talk.

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"Any thoughts on a venue selection?" Rick inquired after she'd taken a couple of bites of her dinner. It was delicious as usual.

"I didn't really have time. My idea of shooting Meredith is at the top of my list." Kate took another bite.

"What do we do with the body?" Rick asked, knowing that she wasn't really serious. Or at least he hoped she wasn't serious.

"I don't know, you're the writer. Think of something." Kate went back to eating. Then she paused to drink. "Did you have a favorite?" She was willing to listen.

"Stanley Park," Rick replied and when Kate didn't say anything, he said, "What could be better than a heritage building that housed Queen Elizabeth II? Provided that it doesn't rain." It was mostly an outdoor venue.

"If we want to avoid that possibility then maybe the penthouse overlooking False Creek. Lots of glass. They both seat about the same number of people. Both provide catering and all you can drink bars. Stanley Park has more parking but I'm not sure if that's even an issue." He wasn't sure just how many people they were going to invite.

Kate hadn't looked for long but the idea of being married at a farm had a certain appeal. The unpretentiousness of the surroundings had its own particular beauty.

"Okay, look up these three and see when they have openings: The Farm, Stanley Park, and the Penthouse," Kate told him and watched him raise an eyebrow. "I like the farm. It's the exact opposite of being in a large city."

Rick hummed; she had a point. "Allergies?" There was going to be pollen everywhere.

"We can buy up all the Zantac we can find and offer it to our guests," Kate countered.

He nodded thoughtfully. "That might work. I'll contact all three and let you know. Just keep in mind they advertised that this is a working farm. Hope everyone likes the smell of animals." Kate was undeterred and kept eating.

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Rick and Alexis were in the kitchen watching Maria make dinner when Snow erupted and ran for the garage door, barking the entire way. "Sounds like Kate's home," Rick said. Snow stopped barking and a moment later Kate showed up but hadn't put all her stuff away yet. Meaning she still had her weapon on her hip.

"I solved my case." Kate was ready to celebrate. She had solved it quite early in the day then spent the rest of the day doing paperwork.

Rick smiled; he was so proud of her. "That's great! I have news on the venues if you want to wash up first."

Marie gave her a time limit. "Supper will be done in fifteen minutes, Mrs. Kate."

"I'll be right back." Kate kissed Alexis's head, then kissed her husband, and hurried to their bedroom.

She was soon back. Maria was ready and dishing it out for everyone.

Kate took it upon herself to cut up the bigger pieces for Alexis. "What did you learn?"

"Uh-uh, who did it?" Rick wanted to know who killed her.

"Her husband," she responded. "He'd been poisoning her over the last few months in the milkshakes he had been making just for her."

"Why?" Couldn't he just get a divorce?

"The wife and her family had all the money. He was having an affair with a 20-year-old. He wanted both her and his wife's money."

"Money?" Rick shook his head.

"Affair?" Alexis had been listening but not totally following.

"Nothing you need to worry about, pumpkin." Kate ran her fingers through her hair. The chance that she would cheat on Rick was zero and she trusted Rick. "Venues?"

"Well, Stanley Park isn't available until about two and a half years from now. Apparently getting married in a heritage house is highly sought after." Rick's number one place was now gone.

"Strike one," Kate added.

"The penthouse on the lake has a space four months from now and the next one is eighteen months from now." That one was now gone as well.

"Strike two." Kate was starting to get depressed.

"The UBC Boathouse has an opening in nine months and another six months later." Kate shook her head. That one was also gone.

"Basically the same as the penthouse. Strike three. What about my farm?" It was about all that was left of their initial review of places.

"Two years," Rick told her and hoped Kate wouldn't throw something at him.

"Strike four. Now what do we do?" Kate had left the initial search to Rick.

"Well on that idea, I found two more for you to think about. Don't shoot me. …Vancouver Art Gallery in downtown Vancouver. They have three locations to chose from. First floor, third floor, and the roof.

"Another is the Vancouver Aquarium. They can do really small and intimate weddings as well as larger ones." Both were thinking out of the box places.

"An art gallery or an aquarium." Rick wasn't sure she was on board with either of them. However… "And?" Meaning when did they have an opening?

"The Art Gallery has openings now, three months, six months, and a year for the first and third floors. For the roof, which is the most sought after, it's fourteen months.

"As for the Aquarium. If it's small they have opening almost every month this year and next. If it's larger they have an opening in nine months and eighteen months.

"In both locations we have to arrange everything. We only get to rent the space and nothing more. Or I can keep looking." Rick waited for her to reply.

"I haven't even filled out the form yet. Ten to twelve months later so we have time to plan." Kate sighed and tried to think. "Art work or fish?"

Alexis offered her choice, "Fishies!" though she wasn't totally following what they were talking about. Kate laughed and kissed her cheek. "A year and a half, though." That was the sticking point for her.

"Do we look outside of Vancouver but still in Canada?" Kate questioned.

That had Rick trying to think. "Victoria is the next closest city that is large enough to do a search in. It's on an island so everyone will need to fly."

"Most everyone will be flying anyway and need hotel rooms." Kate wasn't adverse to the location.

"I'll start looking tomorrow," Rick assured her. "You need to fill out that form or it really is going to be a year and a half from now," he warned her.

"Anything from the lawyer?" What was happening with Meredith?

"Nothing yet, I'll call him tomorrow as well." He still couldn't believe that Meredith had just shown up and wanted Alexis back. She was being such a pain in the ass.

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Kate didn't catch a new case the next day so she was home early. She was sitting in the kitchen with Rick drinking wine.

"I've got two in Victoria that are nice. The first is Hatley Castle." Rick put a picture on the table for her to see. "It's a real castle." That was what got his attention.

"The second is The Teahouse at Abkhazi has a heritage home and large garden. The Teahouse can only hold up to forty-five people, though." That was its drawback. He laid another picture on the table for her to see.

"Just the two?" Kate didn't understand. He had found five or more locally.

"There were others but I shot them all down. As for the castle…" This was were the news got bad. "Not for two years. Apparently it's very popular."

"The other has several openings. The restriction to forty-five people apparently is a factor." If they kept it personal with just a few friends it might work. "They provide food as either a champagne tea or a four course dinner plate."

"So we either wait a year and a half or longer or go to this teahouse." Kate was realizing that getting married was a pain.

"We can buy everyone a tour of the Gardens. Get the photographer to take pictures while we tour. Maybe hire a little three or four man orchestra for the wedding. This place would be small and personal. Unless you want a really large one. Invite everyone we know or have ever met." Rick was thinking every member of both hockey teams and their wives or girlfriends.

"Small would be nice. Can we hold it to forty-five people? Where's your mom?" She still hadn't met her.

"Mother's in London at the moment. She's afraid this might be the end of her play. They've been everywhere else up to now." He didn't understand her dedication to being an actor. However, she was willing to take literally anything she could find so she was at least dedicated.

"I filled out the form and sent it in from work today." Now they needed to wait. "Have you heard from the lawyer?" She wanted to get rid of Meredith. Alexis was her daughter now.

Rick shook his head. "Not today. The last we spoke, he said he's pushing for a hearing with a judge just as fast as he can. Meredith isn't a Canadian so she doesn't have much standing here. He wants to keep it that way."

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Kate was at work and thankfully didn't have a case. While that meant she was bored, it also meant that no one had killed anyone and that was a good thing. However her cell phone rang.

"Rodgers." Kate had gotten a call about a body from her cell phone before.

It was Rick. "I have news from my lawyer."

"What?" Kate sat up straighter.

"That form you filled out was about you sponsoring me and Alexis so that we could obtain Canadian Citizenship a little faster. We don't need it to get married. Meaning we can get married in Canada any time we please and yes, our marriage in Vegas is recognized in Canada."

"YES!" Kate shot a hand up in the air and noticed that she had gotten the attention of her team; she used that hand to wave them off. "Can we do the Teahouse? We need to figure out who to invite."

"Remember it only holds forty-five people. We need invitations, flowers, a photographer, music, preferably live music. They'll do the food for us. So the Teahouse and Garden from 9am to 11am without a reception, so pretty much just the wedding itself or 5pm to 11pm, the wedding with a reception?" Rick asked her.

"Is there someone that can do all this for us?" The sooner they got married in Canada the better. Kate was thinking it would be ammunition against Meredith.

"A wedding planner. …Probably. I can look but do you want to hire her or should I?" Rick didn't want to do everything for her.

"Just tell me who you find and when they want to meet us. As for when? …Early means the sun will be out and it's still March so it's going to be cool. June maybe, it should be warm by then. That or late May." Kate didn't know. It would still be daylight in late May.

"I'll find someone and make an appointment and let you know."

"Thanks, babe. I have to go." One of her team was waving a post-it-note meaning they had a body.

"Go catch your killer, Mrs. Rodgers."

Hearing that had Kate smiling wide. She still loved her new name. "'Bye, Mr. Rodgers." Kate hung up on him and gathered up her stuff so she could go find out who was dead now.

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Montgomery was with Kevin and Javi by the trunk of their cruiser. There were another fourteen officers involved. This was going to be a full on raid.

"You know the drill. We want Coonan alive. Just watch out where you fire," Roy cautioned. "You hit too many of those CDs and you'll have heroin in the air all over the place. I don't need you and everyone else strung out on heroin."

"You don't have to tell me that twice." Javi had no desire to be addicted to heroin if it only took once to be addicted to the damn stuff.

"As soon as you and the team clear the place CSU will enter along with the FBI to clear out all the heroin. Just be careful, drug dealers tend to be very violent," Roy warned them.

Javi checked his M-16 and made sure he had two extra clips. "He's ours."

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Roy watched as the entire squad entered the site and prayed. He didn't know for sure if Bracken was involved with this. If Bracken was then Roy knew he was going to get a phone call warning him off or his family would die.

Thankfully Kate was far, far away in Vancouver. He wasn't sure if Bracken was willing to get involved in a diplomatic dispute. Just how much power did Bracken really want was the question.

Then he heard automatic weapons fire and the raid was on. What they found was going to be obvious. What they learned was going to be another matter entirely.