Couples
Chapter 9
Feeling unusually rested, Kate opens her eyes. Lily slept a full eight hours. Rick said the toddler was bouncing most of the time he was working. Maybe he managed to tire her out. Kate may have to send the carpenter Rick had come in to build the sturdy frame, a thank you note, or maybe a fruit basket. Better yet, a coffee basket with Rick's best picks. If she has an easier time staying awake through her day, the woodworker might as well too.
She rolls over, propping herself on her elbow to look down at Rick. She can tell he's dreaming. Even with his eyes closed, he looks fascinated, as if watching a movie. From the smile on his lips, it must be a good story. She half wishes she could climb inside his head to share it. But even if that were possible, she needs to get going. Lily will be up any time, probably just as Kate gets the shower adjusted to the perfect temperature.
If nothing shows up from C.S.U. this morning, Kate will still have investigating to do. She promised Lanie that she'd look into Matteo Brunner's case. Lanie sent her some materials on biologics. Rick can go through them a lot faster than she can and give her the CliffsNotes version to start off. With any luck, he'll be up and making coffee by the time she's out of the shower. He'll probably have breakfast going when Kate makes it to the kitchen, if Lily wakes up. Kate crosses her fingers that the toddler won't demand her presence until she has her hair dried or at least toweled off. She pads into the master bath, hoping for the best.
Rick always comes to awareness with a feeling of unease when Kate isn't beside him. This morning isn't any different, even if he can hear the shower running. Kate rarely takes long in there on a work morning, but she won't be coming back to bed.
It's Alexis's last day before graduation. Rick doesn't smell coffee brewing, and he's a little surprised his older daughter hasn't put it on for an early start. But she may not have much to do at Marlowe today. Having been tossed from high school for a prank just before graduation, he wouldn't really know, but he imagines most senior brains are in countdown mode.
Much as Rick loves his Darth Vader robe, the May morning is too warm for it. He approaches the kitchen in bare feet, T-shirt, and shorts. The light on the dishwasher is still on, meaning no one's been doing much in the kitchen since he ran it. He'll be making breakfast for a full house, or almost a full house, depending on whether Mother will be doing the walk of shame.
She's been spending a lot of nights with Craig lately. Rick's beginning to wonder if he should demand to know the man's intentions, but Mother would probably kill him if he tried – or at least make him wish he was dead. She's happier than Rick's seen her in a long time. Craig's voice coach friend even kept her from screaming her throat out. Rick whispered in a few investor ears to help pay back that favor. The talented Ms. Dettwiller should see a rise in her clientele.
Rich Kona-blend coffee has finished its journey through the filter, and Rick has the waffle iron up to temperature when Kate arrives in the kitchen and Alexis descends from above. Pouring the first waffle now," he announces. "Who is laying claim?"
"Kate can have it," Alexis decides. "I'm just going to have juice and bacon. Seniors only have a half-day today, and I hear the teachers always bring a lot of cookies. I don't know if the students are supposed to be partying or the teachers are celebrating getting rid of us."
Rick's large hand cups his daughter's face. "Who wouldn't miss seeing this? But the staff may need some respite from the dazzling glow of your Castle brilliance."
Alexis rolls her eyes. "Dad!"
"After breakfast, I could use a little of your Castle brilliance, Babe," Kate interjects, reaching for the butter.
Rick nuzzles the bare skin of his wife's neck, inhaling the fresh scent of her body wash. "As always, my brilliance and any of my other attributes are at your service."
Shaking her head, Alexis fills a tumbler with orange juice and gulps half of the sweet liquid. "I'm meeting Gram this afternoon. We'll be coming home together. I have the fitting for my dress for the class gala, and she said she wants to make sure it's perfect."
"Just so long as it's as perfect to you as it is to her," Castle warns.
"It will be," Alexis insists. "I think Gram's mellowing since she's been seeing Mr. Daniels. "The dress I chose is emerald, but when the saleswoman showed me a pastel green, Gram was calm when she said no. If I'd actually liked it, I think she might have even gone along with letting me buy it."
"You did have control of my credit card," Rick notes. "It was always your choice."
Alexis nods. "But this time, I was sure that I was the one who made it. That felt a little scary but good."
"You OK, Babe?" Kate asks Rick after Alexis departs for school.
"Yeah, I guess. But my little girl just took another step at growing up before my eyes." He slaps his palms against his thighs and pops from his seat. "I need a distraction. Where are those notes Lanie sent?"
Kate smiles. "I have them on a USB drive. I'll get it."
"Good thing Dana suggested I bone up on all the sciency stuff for Recollection." Rick declares, scanning through the information Lanie transmitted to Kate. "If I hadn't, I'd have to keep a window open to the tech terms site. I can see why this kind of professorial prose could give anyone brain strain."
He pages through to the end of the text. "No one can mix up a bunch of chemicals to make the type of drug that killed Matteo," Rick recounts. "It has to come from a living cell and then be carefully purified. The critters that make it come from a cloned line that's genetically altered to make the same stuff. That's different than what we see with Stop the Poison. The products the foundation deals with, have problems with purity. The right stuff is in them, but so is the wrong stuff. Wow! I sound like an '80s movie! Matteo's drug was different. It was only the wrong stuff. Whoever modified the organism to produce it did it wrong, or there was some mutation that made it come out that way. In either case, the aberrant version should have either been consigned to a lab for study or destroyed."
"Obviously, it wasn't," Kate notes.
"Lanie said the biologics sell for a fortune, right? Maybe someone tried to steal some and took a bad batch by mistake," Rick suggests.
"Or knew they were taking a bad batch and didn't care," Kate replies grimly. "Either way, the thief is also a killer. I need to get him, and I need to get him fast. I want to interview anyone who worked with Matteo Brunner. If someone at Wholesome Sustenance offered him the drug, they might have approached others as well."
"That sounds like a lot of work, and you're still investigating your cold case."
"I can juggle them both," Kate asserts.
"I've been wanting to check out Wholesome Sustenance. It's supposed to have the organic, all-natural foods we'll be starting Lily on in a few months. The store's in Riverdale, isn't it?" Rick queries. "Nice neighborhood. I could go up there too and take her along. I'll see if anything grabs her interest. At least I'd be an extra set of eyes and ears. I can always take Lily home if she gets cranky."
"That's not a bad idea," Kate allows. "Lily could be great cover while you pick up on chatter in the aisles. Let's play doubles."