Couples
Chapter 45
Dana picks up his cellphone on the first ring. "You told him."
"I told him," Alexis confirms. "But he didn't react the way I thought he would."
"What did he say?"
"It was Dad. He talked about dreams and fairytales. But what it came to is that he wants us to have a nice wedding and wants to pay for it. But we have less than three months. I helped put Mark and Holly's wedding together, but this is going to be a lot harder, with both of us working all day. I don't know where the time will come from."
"The schedule for my project isn't as heavy as yours at C.S.U.," Dana considers. "I could work on it. And I know my mom would want to be involved. She loves stuff like that. But she'd probably want to quilt the napkins or something."
"She can quilt anything she wants if she can get things organized," Alexis replies. "At least we won't have to worry about a venue. We can use Dad's house in the Hamptons. And we won't have to do much to arrange food, either. We can hire the caterer out there. Oh, and Holly can get her quartet to play music for the ceremony. And there's a local D.J. who does music for dancing. But that still leaves a lot – a theme, a guest list, invitations, flowers, the cake, the whole schedule. And a lot of the guests will need transportation and, oh, my dress!"
"Alexis, take a breath," Dana urges. "We can handle it. A lot of that can be done on the phone. I can make calls while I have analyses running. Most of the time, I'm staring at the screens waiting for peaks, but the instruments will record them whether I'm watching or not. If Kate or your grandmother can't help you with your dress, that's right in my mother's wheelhouse. And I saw a thing in the student union about a summer cake-decorating course. Maybe we can enlist some of the students to produce a masterpiece."
"Dana, you're a genius!" Alexis exclaims.
"Good thing I managed to convince the Lee Award committee of that," he replies. "But this genius hasn't done anything about getting you a ring."
"You could make me one out of flame test wire," Alexis half-jokes. "It's platinum. Nothing I use in the lab would bother it."
"That's a very creative idea, but I think I can do a little better. I put some of the Lee money aside for a ring," Dana confides. "But I didn't think I'd need it this soon. This weekend, do you want to go to the jeweler your dad's been using on his emerald in the elephant mystery? From your father's description, he sounded pretty sharp."
"He did," Alexis confirms. "OK, I guess we have a plan."
"I guess we do," Dana agrees.
Jack pages through the late Cecil Newbridge's case reports on Cambodia and Thailand. They aren't that interesting. He made a lot of observations concerning governmental graft, oppression, discrimination, and questionable business dealings. However, there's nothing Jack hasn't seen in other parts of the world, often to a much larger extent. What catches his eye is a particular character, a local official, Phreakdei Sok, with a great deal of influence on trade between Cambodia and Thailand. Cecil took note of Sok because, like the agent, he collected puzzles.
Sok also managed to get himself in a great deal of trouble. Jack studies the details of the story. Yeah, that should do it. The old tale won't affect U.S. relations one iota, but it will satisfy Richard. The director shouldn't have much trouble approving a read-in, quite literally, for the writer. Jack may even be lucky enough to get more time with his tiny granddaughter.
Rick had no idea when he'd hear from Jack, but he hadn't expected the man to cut through the bureaucracy that fast. He should have known better. Rick's own ability to blaze a path through desk riders didn't come out of nowhere. He's inherited more from Jack than he cares to acknowledge.
Jack also knows Rick's habits too well for comfort. He proposes a meeting at the library. That's not something Rick's about to turn down, and with Meryl temporarily unavailable writing another article, Lily should enjoy her return.
Lily's feet kick enthusiastically as Rick wheels her into the sanctum of the written word. Jack occupies an isolated table between stacks. The stroller vibrates with toddler excitement. "Ja!"
Jack nods a subtle greeting as Rick takes a seat and pushes a sheaf of papers across a wooden surface with the patina of years of use. "Read it here. No pictures. No notes. If you have questions, ask them now."
Rick's eyes are already scanning the text while Lily studies her grandfather. Jack pulls a set of brightly colored plastic keys from his pocket and offers them to Lily. "Guaranteed non-toxic and too big to swallow." Lily grabs the softly rattling toy.
"I didn't know you were into baby things," Rick comments without looking up.
"I told you I keep an eye on the family," Jack replies. "I'm not about to jeopardize my granddaughter's safety."
"Not intentionally, anyway. Cecil's assignments seem a lot less hazardous than yours," He notes.
"I can't tell you about my assignments, but generally, I'd agree," Jack responds. "However, what you're reading about now wasn't strictly speaking an assignment, just something Cecil took on as an auxiliary mission."
Rick nods, flipping a page. "So I see. He had a definite soft spot."
"Many of us do," Jack admits. "Cecil had more freedom to indulge his impulses than most of us." The agent checks his watch. "I know you're a speed reader and that you retain what you read, or this would never work. You have another twenty minutes to plow through Cecil's account."
"Just as well," Rick mutters. "That's about how long Lily's going to put up with being in one place."
"I'd love to walk her around for you," Jack confesses, "but those papers aren't supposed to leave my sight."
"That's all right," Rick allows. "I want to keep an eye on both of you."
Lily shakes the keys. "Ja!"
Jack smiles at the baby. "I think she trusts me more than you do."
Rick silently agrees.
"So you got the whole story?" Kate asks during a pre-supper couch snuggle.
"I doubt that I got all of it," Rick considers. "But I got enough of it. The elephant's owner, a Phreakdei Sok…"
"You're kidding," Kate interrupts.
"Stranger than fiction. That was his name. Anyway, he and Cecil Senior were kindred spirits of a sort because they both collected puzzles. Sok also fed him tidbits of information he picked up, some quite useful to the company.
"Unfortunately, Sok didn't make the wisest choices in business partners. Unbeknownst to him, he got involved with smugglers. Worse, they were bringing in goods from China which, at the time, was Cambodia's bogie man.
"Sok got himself thrown in jail and was in line for execution. Citing his pal as an intelligence asset, Cecil talked the U.S. into intervening and got the prisoner out. According to his case report, Sok gave Cecil a token of appreciation. He said he'd heard a legend that it was stolen from a messenger of the King of Siam, but he didn't believe it. He just thought the figure was cleverly made."
"The elephant?" Kate wonders.
"The report didn't say, just that it was a wooden animal. But Cecil couldn't have known about the emerald. Agents aren't allowed to accept valuable gifts. When he reported the puzzle, he pegged it as worth less than five bucks. Maybe Sok didn't know either. If he did, he might have been able to use the emerald to buy his freedom. So apparently, Cecil took the puzzle back to the U.S. to add to his collection. If Lily hadn't spotted it in the antique store, the emerald might still be in hiding."
Kate raises skeptical brows. "Lily spotted it?"
"She indicated that it should be for Ma. She was right. Which brings us to today. Have you decided what you want to do with the gem?"
"Green goes with red hair," Kate muses. "It could make one heck of an addition to Alexis's trousseau."
Rick draws Kate close for a deep kiss. "Which will never be as beautiful as you are."