Flu

Chapter 29

With Kate putting the kibosh on using the box at the precinct to interview a potential manager for his pop up, Rick settles for an evening meeting at the loft. When Mark Newhouse appears precisely on time, Holly is giving Alexis her lesson, and lively strains of violin music drift down from the mezzanine.

Mark looks up for a moment, a smile spreading across his face. "Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E. Minor, the last movement. Whoever is playing is doing a good job."

Castle's chest swells. "My daughter, Alexis. She's having a lesson right now. I hope you don't mind."

Mark shakes his head. "Not at all. It takes me back to when I was growing up. I started working in restaurants to pay for my music lessons; that's how I learned the business."

"Then I suppose we should get down to it." Rick leads Mark the short distance to his office and plunks the pile of paper Marty gave him in front of the visitor. "Can you handle these?"

Mark scans through the pages. "It all seems pretty straightforward except for the flu element. That may delay inspections, make it more difficult to hire staff, and slow down traffic in general. From what I've heard on the news, there's supposed to be a lull coming for a couple of months with things getting worse again just in time to put a damper on the holiday season. I'd aim to be up and running for Halloween or put the whole thing off until February and feature a Valentine's theme."

"Halloween is my favorite holiday," Castle muses, and points to the stack of documents. "Could you get all of this done by then?"

"If you were going for a full-blown restaurant, I'd say absolutely not," Mark admits. "But something scaled-down and temporary is possible if we don't hit too many unanticipated roadblocks."

"What kind of roadblocks?" Castle queries.

"In the restaurant business, especially in New York: storms, power outages, food recalls, work slowdowns, almost anything. But I've always been pretty good at rolling with the punches," Mark claims. "I have a list of references you can check on that score."

"I will be doing that," Rick assures him. "And my wife is a police detective, so if there's anything in your background that might concern her, you might as well mention it now. I'm all for giving people a chance, but if she finds out you were hiding something, well, neither of us will want to cope with that."

"I understand, and there was a problem involving a restaurant where I worked. The owner was substituting cheaper cuts of beef for what was on the menu, but I had nothing to do with it."

"Wow! I would think astute patrons would pick up on that pretty quickly." Rick considers.

"Surprisingly few of them did. But a butcher who was taking his wife out for their 25th anniversary caught on and raised a stink," Mark explains. "He went to the papers, too. After that, a bunch of customers got into the act and demanded refunds. The place almost went out of business but just ended up changing its name and menu."

"What's it called now?"

"Going Fresh."

"I know that place. My publisher likes to eat there. Not my favorite and she gets spinach in her teeth," Castle recounts.

Mark stifles a laugh. "Do you tell her?"

"When I'm feeling magnanimous, and she's not leaning on me about deadlines. Anything else that might, in a manner of speaking, pop up?"

"Not that I can think of. Oh, it sounds like the lesson is over for the evening."

"Uh-hm. Alexis' teacher should be down any minute and coming in here. I owe her a check."

Holly's face lights up as she approaches Rick's desk. "Hey, Mark! Long time, no see."

"You two know each other?" Castle asks.

"Sure," Holly confirms, "one of the ways I worked myself through school was playing violin at tables in a restaurant. Mark was working as a server. We'd shared a couple of teachers, and we jammed together." She gazes at her old friend. "Last time we ran into each other was at the Joshua Bell concert, wasn't it? So what are you doing here?'

Mark glances at Rick, who nods. "Applying for a job to help Mr. Castle set up a restaurant."

"A coffee bar for writers," Castle clarifies. "But I think we're about done here if you two want to discuss old times."

Mark turns back to Holly. "Want to get a coffee or something?"

"As soon as Mr. Castle gives me my check."

Rick pulls his checkbook out of a drawer and picks up a pen. "Of course." He signs with a flourish. "You two have fun."

Eli pulls into the parking lot of the As-U-Go motel. He switched off with Roy after lunch to finish the rest of the day's driving. Unfortunately, construction slowed their progress, and a detour kept them from stopping to feed increasingly cranky kids. He's hungry again himself and looking forward to getting checked in so the group can find a place for dinner.

"Can I help you?" the clerk at the reception desk inquires.

"Montgomery party checking in," Roy announces.

The clerk taps the keys on the computer. "I don't see you. We had a lightning strike that wiped out a board on our computer, and we had to restore from an old backup. Your reservation must have been one of the ones we lost."

Evelyn reaches into her bag to pull out a computer printout and puts it on the desk in front of the clerk. "You've just found it again; four rooms, two doubles, two singles."

The clerk checks the printout and taps more keys. "I'm sorry. The rooms at that level have been filled. We do have deluxe rooms available at a higher price point."

Eli's eyes narrow as he checks the clerk's nametag. He draws a business card from his wallet and passes it across the desk. "As it happens, Mr. LaRosa, your local district attorney is an old friend of mine. We went to law school together. What you have just attempted to perform is a 'bait and switch' and is punishable by law under the Lanterman Act. So unless you would like to see the announcement of an investigation of your motel in tomorrow's paper, you'd better find us accommodations at the promised rate. I doubt that As-U-Go corporate would appreciate that kind of scandal or the clerk that brought it on the company."

A flush creeps up LaRosa's face. "I'll see what I can do. Um, I upgraded you to four deluxe suites, no extra charge."

"I would hope so," Eli returns, "and I will drop my friend a line to make sure that no one at this motel tries that maneuver again. Do you understand what I'm telling you, Mr. LaRosa?"

The clerk swallows. "I understand you. Here are your keys and the password to the Wi-Fi."

As soon as the elevator doors close on them, Montgomery claps Eli on the back. "Wouldn't want to come up against you in court. Glad we're on the same side."

Adjusting her backpack, Rebecca Montgomery looks up at her cousin. "Did you really go to law school with the district attorney here?"

"We had one class together, but it was about the kind of law Mr. La Rosa just tried to break."

The younger Montgomery offers her palm for a high-five. "All right!"