Couples

Chapter 1

"That's the last of the child-guard latches. And the higher corners are padded too." Rick swipes his forearm across his eyes. "Alexis didn't walk until ten months, and Mother says I waited until I was a year old. Who walks at nine months?"

"My father claims that I did," Kate replies. "He said he could barely keep up with me."

"Your father is less than 2 inches shorter than me. He should have had enough leg to keep ahead of a toddling Katie, for the first couple of months anyway. Well, if your mother ever descends to Earth again, I'll have to ask her. They must have some code up there about telling the truth. But," Rick draws his hand down his face," since she only makes an appearance when you're in mortal danger, perhaps it's best she stays among the clouds. Did you finish going through the file Montgomery sent you?"

"Yeah, just this minute. It's an interesting case, but I don't understand why he wants me to take it. Homicides have been spiking, and he's been limiting me to the fresh ones, lately."

"I've noticed," Rick acknowledges, "not much cold case historical research for me to stick my nose into. Even with the new Derrick Storm series, I'm ahead with Black Pawn again. Tell me that you have a juicy longstanding mystery."

"I don't know how juicy it's going to be, more like sad. But it is longstanding. It dates back to when Montgomery was a detective. Two children went missing, and three days later, their bodies turned up in a video arcade. They'd been propped up to look like they were playing, so it took a while for anyone to notice. Apparently, another kid came in and realized that the driver's seat in his favorite video racing car game was occupied, but the screen was frozen in a request for more tokens. He tried to get the kid sitting there to move and screamed the house down when he realized it was a dead body. The cops found the other child in front of the camera of one of those mechanized draw-you things. None of the regulars used it much. Both machines were in a pretty dark corner without much traffic.

"For a short time, Montgomery liked the arcade owner for the murders, but he had a solid alibi for what the M.E. established as the time of death. Also, the back door of the arcade had been jimmied. From what evidence Montgomery had, the killer broke in when the arcade was closed and hid out in the bathroom until opening time. Then he placed the kids where it would take long enough for them to be found that he could get away."

"Why the time lag?" Rick wonders. "The killer could have dumped them while the arcade was still closed and made an easy exit."

"Apparently, the owner made rounds checking that all the machines were operational before unlocking the gate at the entrance. He would have found them right away. Perhaps the murderer wanted the bodies discovered by other children."

"That would be twisted, but then the whole thing sounds twisted." Rick reaches out to finger the newly installed latch. "Child-killers are a special kind of monster, but if this one retreated to his lair, why did Montgomery put you on the hunt now?"

"He took his kids out to a pizza joint that has a vintage machine like one of the dead children was found in. The case all came back to him. They couldn't match any prints at the time, and DNA wasn't that much of a thing yet. He thinks we might have a shot at solving it now."

Rick pushes up from the floor in front of the cabinet he just Lily-proofed. "I hope so."

"How are you doing on your speech?" Dana asks as Alexis hunches over her laptop in his tiny sitting room.

"I can't figure out anything to say that doesn't make me sound like a self-absorbed jerk," she moans. "I started with telling about how any work in the lab could lead to vital discoveries, but it seemed like I was patting myself on the back. And then I thought about the adventure of leaving high school and going to college, but what do I know? I'm not struggling with the kind of choices a lot of other kids have to make. I've been hanging around Hudson and CSU working on the career I've already mapped out."

"But you know about keeping your eyes open and being alert to possibilities. What happened with Stop the Poison doesn't have to sound like a brag. You stumbled into something and ran with it. We both did. There's magic in that. How about talking about the potential in the unexpected?" Dana suggests.

"You want to write the speech?" Alexis challenges.

"Been there. Done that. I was also a valedictorian, and I had as hard a time as you're having. Maybe harder. All the kids I was preaching to were older than me. But in the end, I just talked about what we all wanted, to survive the transition from high school to whatever came next. I let them know I was as scared as they were. I guess that resonated. Maybe you're not scared, but you're hopeful. That should resonate too."

"I am hopeful – and scared," Alexis admits. "Dad's always thrown a protective blanket around me. As much as I've complained about it, I could get pretty cold without it."

Dana wraps his arms around her. "Even with the break-down-boiler in this place, I think we can figure out how to keep you warm."

"How are you feeling?" Mark asks, pulling Holly's feet into his lap.

"Huge," she admits. "When I sit down, I'm not always sure I'll be able to get up again. And at my last concert, I had to bring my students on stage to play a number so I could get a potty break."

"But the audience loved it," Mark points out. "So did your students. Alexis had a blast, and her boyfriend looked even prouder of her than Rick did."

Holly giggles. "I wouldn't have thought that was possible. So, did you and Rick work out who's going to cover for you at Imagination Patch when the baby is born?"

"We're going to work it kind of like we did when you and I went on our honeymoon, except we won't be able to plan it as well. But I found a guy who's been knocking around the hospitality business for years doing emergency fill-ins. We got him well enough acquainted with the routine that he can step in on short notice."

"How does Chef Auchincloss feel about that?" Holly wonders.

"He's fine with it, or at least he tolerates the idea. He hates to admit it, but he's gotten a real charge out of having Lily around. I think he's looking forward to another little one on the premises. I know some of the writer regulars are. A couple of them have given their protagonists families. Rick says it adds extra depth to their characters. I'm more interested in adding extra depth to their tabs. That avian flu increased the cost of eggs, turkey, and chicken, and Auchincloss uses all three. We either have to sell more or raise prices. And I hate to raise prices. Some of our most faithful customers are stretched pretty thin now."

"Auchincloss could add some vegan-friendly stuff," Holly proposes. "Some of my students are into that. No eggs, turkey, or chicken, and it usually sells for more."

Mark shakes his head. "That doesn't sound like Chef's style, but he can't resist a challenge."

Holly wiggles her toes. "Then pose it as one. That's what I do when my students think a piece is too difficult. They work twice as hard and do twice as well."

Mark presses a kiss to the high curve of her tummy. "As soon as I figure out a way to phrase it without getting a wooden spoon thrown at me, I will."

A/N To Dorothy: "Food to Die For" was episode 22, season 2, of Castle. To guest reviewers in general: I can't answer your questions directly if you don't register. I can't PM a guest.