Couples

Chapter 62

"Beckett, a word," Montgomery calls from his office. "Close the door," he instructs as he waves Kate inside. "I'm getting pressure from above regarding your case."

"Why?" Kate queries. "I just started working on it."

Montgomery presses his palm to his rapidly receding hairline. "That's just it. They don't want you working on it. From what I understand, they didn't want anyone working on it. That's why it got kicked from the 54th to a detective at the 12th due to retire to Belize. Someone is trying to send this thing to the coldest corner of the archives."

"Who?" Kate presses.

Slumping, Montgomery shakes his head. "I don't know. My call came from the Deputy Chief, and he didn't know either, just that the word came from very high up."

"Can't get much higher than the chief's office," Kate observes. "So are you ordering me to pull back, Sir?"

"Hell, no!" Montgomery exclaims. "If someone's trying this hard to cover up, it means you'll have to dig that much deeper. Just watch yourself. Keep Ryan and Esposito with you, and for God's sake, don't have Rick bring the baby around while you're working on it. If he's still going to be your consultant, he can do it at home or by Skype or something. When you start turning over rocks, be prepared for something ugly to crawl out."

"Yes, Sir," Kate agrees. "Whatever it is, we'll squash it."

The sketch artist beckons as Kate leaves Montgomery's office, "Detective Beckett, I think we've got it."

Kate regards the rendering before shifting her gaze to Jed. "That's him?"

"As close as we can get it. I never took that good a look at him, so the shape of the birthmark on his jaw may be off. Sela could probably get it exact."

"I left a message on Sela's voicemail at the number Celia Bulova gave me when I called her. I'm waiting for Sela to call me back."

"She told me she turns her phone off when she's designing," Jed explains. "I do the same thing when I'm trying to write a song."

"You're a songwriter?" Kate asks.

Jed shrugs. "My father wrote all the time. I'm trying to walk in his footsteps, but I haven't gotten very far. It will help to get his guitar back."

"I'll push as hard as I can," Kate assures him. "We have a public defender coming in for the guy who tried to steal it. He'll probably tell the suspect to take a plea. Ninety-five percent of our cases are resolved that way. If that's what happens, we won't need any evidence, and we'll return it as soon as the paperwork comes through. But if you like, I have one you can borrow that I don't play much anymore. It's no D'Angelico, but you won't lose your callouses while you wait."

"I appreciate the offer, Detective, but I have other guitars. They just don't…"

"Hold your father's spirit." Kate guesses. "I understand." Her phone buzzes. "That's Sela. Maybe we'll get to see how close you got."

Lana coils her red locks at the back of her head and secures them with a green enameled barrette that matches her dress. "I spoke with Kate Beckett today, twice," she informs Eli as he works his tie into a full Windsor. "She's investigating that murder I told you about, the body in the boutique on Broadway. Her second call was to tell me to watch my ass. According to Roy, someone very high upstairs wants to bury the case."

"I wonder how high," Eli muses. "We got rid of a lot of the corruption at 1PP when we cleaned out the links to the two crime families."

"It could be higher than 1PP," Lana suggests. "The way the bean counters there have to keep pinching pennies, I don't think the department has that much juice. I wonder if it's a politician, maybe someone in the mayor's office."

"Could be," Eli considers, "but it would have to be someone with a lot of clout, which usually means the control of purse strings. I'll see what I can find out. But take Kate's advice and watch that beautiful cop ass of yours."

"And you keep your guard up too, Eli," Lana urges. "There may still be Barron loonies running around who think Carlin sold out, and Barron told them the truth. It's too damn easy to get a weapon or build a bomb."

"I know," Eli acknowledges. "We have the explosives-sniffing dogs come through the D.A.'s office every day, and Rick has someone, I think a future in-law of his, come in to check my campaign headquarters."

Lana hands him a pendant to clasp around her neck. "That's good. So how long do we have to sit through speeches before you get your official pat on the back, and we get the prime rib you promised me?"

"The prime rib comes before the speeches, but the bar won't open until afterward. So I think people will keep them short. I certainly intend to." He nuzzles her neck. "We can have our dessert privately when we get back."

"Wow! A D'Angelico New Yorker!" Alexis exclaims over dinner. "I heard about those at a get-together with Holly's other students. Some of them play guitar as well as violin. Two of them play all the strings."

"Hopefully in their own sound-proofed practice rooms," Rick quips. "Hey, you worked on rescheduling Holly's performance when Itzhak was born. Maybe you could help get some gigs for the almost-victim Kate was telling us about."

"I didn't do much," Alexis protests. "I just stepped in for the emergency. But Holly might be able to help him. She knows a lot of bookers. And she's always trying to open doors for other musicians. You should ask her."

"That's a good idea," Kate considers. "I'll check with her about it." She rises from the table, grabbing a couple of scraped-clean dessert plates. She slides them into the dishwasher before turning to Rick. "So what about the story of how you learned to dance? You've been teasing it ever since we started dinner."

Rick flutters his lashes. "Well, if you insist. It all began when the Magnificent Martha Rodgers was playing Nancy in a road company of Oliver. She had no family she could leave me with, and she couldn't afford a nanny, so she cajoled the director into letting me play one of the orphans.

"It was supposed to be just a background thing, sitting on a bench and looking miserable. But one of the big shots objected. At that age, I didn't really understand who everyone hanging around the show was, but I knew money was involved. If I was going to travel with the troupe, I'd have to earn my keep, so to speak. That meant singing and dancing with the other orphans.

"I was fine singing. Mother started me on breathing exercises as soon as I learned to talk. I was as good as most of the other orphans. But the dancing was something else. Those boys started taking lessons at three, and I'd never had any. Luckily, Meena, the choreographer, took me under her wing and taught me enough that I could get away with dancing in the back row. But the back row wasn't where I wanted to be."

Alexis rolls her eyes. "What a surprise!"

Skewering her with a dark look, Rick clears his throat. "To continue, I convinced Meena to keep giving me lessons, and I started moving up. By the time the show finished its run, I was in the front row."

"But that wouldn't help much on a regular dance floor," Alexis objects.

"Very true," Rick acknowledges. "But the next couple of years, as boys often do, I started shooting up in height. The competition for roles in that age range was fierce, I mean from kids who had featured roles their entire lives. And I was closer to the size of an adult. This time it was an ingenue in Cinderella who jumped in."

"You were precocious!" Kate comments drily.

Rick frowns. "It wasn't like that. She had a boyfriend. In fact, he was her partner for the palace ball scene. But he also had a bad knee. He was a wonderful dancer, better than she was, but his knee could only handle so much. So I stepped in during some of the rehearsals. He directed, and I lifted, supported, etc. Then he did the actual dancing on stage. It all worked out."

"So was that how you learned dancing like we'd do at a wedding?" Dana wonders.

"No, that came later," Rick confesses. "I was dating a dance instructor. The relationship didn't last long, but I learned the basics."

"You could have led with that," Alexis points out.

Rick grins. "What fun would that have been?"

The conversation is far from dancing as Rick draws Kate against his side beneath a light blanket. "Kate, I really don't like the sound of the case you're investigating. Bad guys in power do a lot more than pull strings at 1PP. We've had enough lessons in that. If you go at it too hard, a killer could come after you."

Kate strokes his arm. "It wouldn't be the first time."

Rick pulls her more tightly against his body. "But it could be the last."