The Children's Corner

Chapter 10

After checking on the twins, Cindy joins the Castle family around the Saturday night dinner table. Rick rubs his hands together. "Perfect! Everyone is assembled to try my newest creation." Alexis throws a glance at Kate, who gives her a reassuring nod. "I've observed that all of us, including Lily. love pu pu platters."

Lily giggles. "Daddy said poo!"

"Allow me to rephrase," Rick continues, "We all enjoy assortments of savory bites. But unlike the Chinese appellation that I will henceforth refrain from mentioning, I have created a panoply of flavors originating from all over the globe." Rick lifts cloches from two oversized serving plates. "Introducing Castle's around the world in 80 bites. Actually, to feed everyone, I made two, so there are 160. But you get the idea. And for the health-conscious and those nourishing the next generation, I provided the appropriate nutritional supports in the form of a salad and fresh fruit. So please, enjoy."

"Dad, the enchiladas are incredible!" Alexis exclaims.

"They are," Cindy agrees. "Where did you get the recipe, Mr. Castle?"

Rick and Kate's eyes meet in silent understanding. "Um, after some of my Derrick Storm books were translated into Spanish, I made a tour through Central America with a quick stop in Honduras. Black Pawn wasn't distributing there yet, because of, um, local um, politics. But I made a little side trip to um, check things out. I had a meeting with an old acquaintance at a small restaurant. The place was only a hole in the wall, but the food was unbelievable. My dining partner helped translate me through the process of bribing the recipe out of the owner, who was also the cook and the waiter. I had to modify it a little to make the enchiladas fit as small plates, but the flavors are still all there."

Alexis surveys a platter to consider her next choice. "I don't remember you mentioning being in Honduras before, Dad."

Rick clears his throat. "It was a very short visit. I didn't even pick up any souvenirs except for the recipe – and a case of Dengue fever. That last part I wanted to forget."

As Dana's phone trumpets an alert, he hastily mutes the sound. "I'm sorry. That's from my forensics mailing list. I should have turned it off before dinner."

"If they sent an alert, it must be something timely," Rick notes. "What's new in the world of scientific crime-busters?"

Dana shakes his head. "Not enough. Several labs are trying to figure out the structure of a new designer street drug from its metabolites, but no one's got it yet."

"Can't they just analyze samples?" Kate asks.

"They haven't got any to analyze yet," Dana explains. "Dogs aren't trained to detect it. The police don't even know what it looks like, and by the time they find someone who's taken it, it's too late. It's been – Dana glances sideways at Lily – doing bad things."

"When I saw Miss Bambi this afternoon," Rick recalls, "she said Esposito mentioned something about a case like that when he called her at lunchtime."

Kate gazes unseeing at the tidbits on her plate. "I'm going to call the 12th tomorrow. Maybe I can find out what's happening."

"Ryan checked with his pals in Narcotics, and the captain called the D.E.A. I don't know what to tell you, Kate. No one's got much of anything on that drug except that the bodies are piling up," Esposito explains. "And Ryan and I talked to the family of our vic, Jebediah MacIver. They said he didn't take drugs. He hated them. And his personal assistant told us the same thing. I'm going to talk to more of his employees today, and Ryan is scrubbing the video around the crime scene. Unfortunately, the closest cameras are in a parking lot over 100 yards away. And Ryan doesn't even know what he's looking for. Perlmutter said MacIver's liver disease messed with the body temperature, so he couldn't get a reliable T.O. The best he could do was a four-hour window. And that's a lot of cars coming and going."

"Sounds like you and Ryan could use a little luck on this one," Kate observes.

"Yeah, well, if you can figure out how to make us some, let me know."

Rick brings in Reese and Jake as Kate's call is ending. He settles the twins in a swing he had modified to accommodate the double load. "What did Esposito say?"

"He confirmed they have a G.S.W. death involving the new drug. And so far, no clues to the killer. The video's probably going to be a wash, and the victim's family didn't even know he was into drugs."

"Maybe he wasn't," Rick suggests. "It wouldn't be your first case when someone tried something new or had someone make them try it. Did I catch something about Jebediah MacIver? I've heard of him before. He's a high-end clothing importer. So maybe someone was using him to transport drugs. And when he found out, the purveyors of poison got rid of him. But they didn't have to shoot him. If they gave him enough of the drug, he would have died anyway. So someone must have wanted to shut him up fast."

"You have a point. And so far, no one has anything solid on the new drug. They can't even detect it in a shipment. So how would Jebediah MacIver have known it was there?"

"Maybe a closer look into the universe of MacIver would help," Rick suggests. "Don't you have some contacts in the fashion world?"

"Not since I was 17 and thought modeling would be easier than waiting tables. It wasn't. Do you know how hard it is to hold a pose and pretend you're not dying of the heat when you're shooting a winter layout in August? And I had to stop eating those dark chocolate cookies."

"You had to give up on dark chocolate? I can see how that would dissuade you from cashing in on your incomparable beauty as a career. Hmm. As a buyer, Jenny would know people. I imagine Ryan can follow up on that. But how about Mother and Craig? Between the two of them, they've probably mixed with the glitterati at hundreds of red carpets. And Mother knows the stage and movie costumers as well. She's probably driven enough of them crazy. But if MacIver's garments have made it near a stage or screen, she and/or Craig could point us to someone who would know about him."

"You want to invite them to dinner too?" Kate inquires.

Rick groans. "It took me every spare moment in the kitchen for days to come up with the one I served last night. But, on the upside, the leftovers will feed us for days. And Mother's immersed in her new production. Even the prospect of playing with her grandsons won't get her away from it for long. She hasn't dropped by in over a week. And we'll want to talk to Craig too. He's in rehearsals for a Eugene O'Neil revival. If Cindy can hold the fort for a couple of hours, maybe we can do a supper in the theater district. How about the Hayes Haven? Fewer sharp-eared tourists and Mother can drink in the vibrations of the grand dame of the theater. The food's not bad either."

"Sounds good. You want to call her?"

Rick shakes his head. "It's better if you do it. Then it will make more sense when we bring up police business. And anyway, she won't have any slings and arrows ready for you. I think before she was here last time, she dug up every less than sterling review for my most recent four books. Then she gave me her soliloquy about one always working to perfect one's craft."

Kate's fingertips block the chuckle threatening to emerge from her lips. "She's just trying to keep you grounded."

"If she grounded me anymore," Rick grumbles, "I'd be standing in a hole."

Kate stretches up for a quick peck. "I'll call her."