Couples

Chapter 32

When Kate's rhythmic breathing assures Rick that she's asleep, he slips out of bed and tiptoes to his office. The mysterious elephant is waiting in the drawer where he left it, offering no more clues to the secrets it holds. He brings up Google on his large screen.

Using "elephant" and "puzzle" as keywords, he scans through images. After a few frustrating minutes, he designates "jigsaw" as a word to be omitted from any searches. That cuts down a lot on the number of hits. Finally, he locates a picture of a puzzle remarkably similar to the one in front of him. He clicks on the link to the source.

The photograph comes from illustrations in an article written for a hobbyist's magazine by a puzzle-collecting tourist. The author included a diagram for disassembling the figure and another photo of a tiny elephant hidden inside. "The animal-lovers' version of a nesting doll," Rick muses. He toys with the idea of peeking at the pachyderm within but decides to deliver the instructions to Kate along with his gift. They can experience the revelation – if there is one – together. And if not, Kate can still add to her collection of trunksters.

Cradling it in jade green tissue paper, Rick places the puzzle and disassembly diagram into a small but shiny gift bag. Padding back into their bedroom, he puts it on Kate's bedside table for her to find in the morning. Spooning with his wife after climbing back into bed, dreams of Kate smiling from atop an elephant whirl through his head – until her alarm goes off too soon.


Swiping at the annoying blast, Kate almost knocks her gift to the floor. "What? Rick, what is this?"

"Just a little souvenir Lily and I picked up for you when we went to get my space cowboy. I figured I shouldn't be the only one to get some fun out of chasing down Bennie. It took me a while to find out how to work it, but go ahead and have a look."

"It was sweet of you to get me something, but I don't have much time," Kate protests. "I'm due in the precinct to keep digging into the Garces murder this morning."

"I know, but it shouldn't take long, and you can start your investigatory day with a find. Give it a try," Rick urges.

Kate lays the instructions on top of the lightweight seasonal bedspread and manipulates the wooden figure's components. When it springs open, the inner treasure she and Rick see isn't an elephant. It's green but with a glimmer and facets, nothing like jade. "Babe, is that an emerald? It can't be real, can it? Did you know that was there?"

Rick raises his right hand. "I swear, I had no idea anything like that was inside. I thought you should be the one to unveil the elephant's secret. It's probably fake, like a ring in a Crackerjack box, but Lily and I can take it to a jeweler to check. There's a shop that just opened up a block over from here. It's right next to the butcher that carries the cool meats like elk and bison. I was going to check it out the next time I decided to make buffalo chili."

"All right," Kate agrees. "Let me know what you find out. And Fiona Garces thought that sometime this morning, she'd be able to come up with the names of the banker-types who met with her husband. Maybe something will ring a bell with you."

"I attempt to avoid bankers as much as possible," Rick admits. "Being able to get away with that is one advantage of having a business manager. But if Garces' visitors were from the food universe, the names might strike a chord. Ooh, I can get Mark involved. He knows all about the financing of restaurants. And answering questions like that is something he can do from home. Chef Auchincloss might know too. I can ask him."

Kate heads toward the en suite bathroom. "Great! I'm going to grab a quick – better make that very quick – shower. Tell me you'll start the coffee."

Rick winks. "I'll start the coffee."


Eli knew the deluge was coming, but he hadn't expected it quite so soon. The explosion of publicity from Burrell's political team claiming that he was set up is all over the mainstream and social media. Eli and his boss are both trending on Twitter. He knows Burrell has no evidence to back up what he says, but that won't keep the pol from saying it.

Victor Barron's P.R. machine has also joined the fray, claiming law enforcement overreach, a frame job, and assorted other fictions. The mogul, however, has a problem besides the charge of restraining and raping Indigo Green. His wife filed for divorce, claiming a gross violation of his prenup. She is also petitioning the court to freeze her husband's assets to keep him from hiding them or transferring his funds offshore. Kayla's a smart woman, a lot more intelligent than she came off when she won his beauty pageant.

But Eli's not worried about Barron. Burrell is the real threat. He's already whipped his followers up into staging a protest outside the court during his arraignment. The press will faithfully cover it, bogus as the protestors' claims may be. And the video of the demonstration will play in an almost endless loop on the cable station devoted to Burrell's party. Repetition is a dangerously effective device for convincing people of nearly anything, and the city doesn't have close to as powerful a tool to fight the onslaught. Eli has the truth on his side, but the same can be said of dictators' political opponents. Somehow their challengers still fall off roofs or out of windows."

The A.D.A. isn't expecting Burrell's operatives to launch physical attacks, although he wouldn't put it past Gaetz's minions. But words can be the deadliest weapons of all. Every one of his will need to count one thousand-fold.


"It's not a synthetic stone, Mr. Castle," Harold Sternbach reports as he studies the green gem through a jeweler's loupe. "It has too many inclusions to be artificial. It also shows none of the wear on the edges that I'd expect to see on a phony gem. But that doesn't necessarily make it an emerald. There's one more thing I need to check, but I'll need more magnification."

Harold drags an ancient microscope from beneath the counter. "My grandfather gave this to me. These days I could get an electronic one to hook to my laptop, but this relic has served our family through four generations. Right. I see gas bubbles near inclusions of different shapes. If a swarm of bubbles appeared by itself, your gem would be a fake. But with a formation like this, I'd say it came from Mother Earth.

"As to its actual composition: you may have heard that emeralds flash rainbow sparks. That's not true. Emeralds shine but have no fire. That's consistent with what you've brought me. The color is also correct to be defined as emerald as opposed to green beryl. Are you looking to sell it?"

Rick raises both hands while shaking his head. "No! I've already gifted it to my wife. But I'm more than happy to pay for your appraisal. What do I owe you?"

"Nothing," Harold claims – "if you tell me how you came by the stone. I love gemological mysteries."

"Ees!" Lily babbles.

Rick grins. "I'm getting to like them myself."