Flu

Chapter 38

Mark Newhouse wasn't sure about the pumpkin patch Castle insisted would grace the short path to the entrance of his popup, but he's beginning to think it works. Almost every restaurant, food truck, and vendor is featuring everything pumpkin spice. Castle instructed Mark not to worry about the spice, and offer the real thing. With a week to go until Halloween, Rick's establishment is selling both the off-the-vine orange globes and personally carved and autographed jack o' lanterns. The Pumpkin Castle menu lists numerous pumpkin confections as well, including fresh pie, custard, cookies, muffins, and milkshakes.

Mark did have to veto Castle's more disturbing visions of a Halloween theme. The dining area features no skeletons, spider webs, fake blood, or Castle's favorite, severed heads. Whimsical renderings of costumed children holding out bags for treats, and photos of famous authors of spooky stories, festoon the walls.

Newhouse ruled that the budget didn't allow for licensing contemporary Halloween music, but an enterprising Holly came up with a better solution. She recorded several slightly eerie original compositions to flow from speakers and surround the patrons. A link to download and purchase them is posted behind the register and printed on the receipts. Any profits from her creations will go to supporting music classes for disadvantaged kids.

Castle put out a call to up-and-coming writers that he's providing the space, caffeine, and high-speed Wi-Fi hotspot to research and pen their stories. Several have staked out tables for their laptops and caffeinated inspiration. Spurred by curiosity, pedestrians drift in to purchase seasonal snacks and linger over upscale brews.

Grinning at almost fully occupied tables and a line at the to-go counter, Rick rubs his hands together and claps Mark on the back. "You did an incredible job. This is outstanding, stupendous, better than I'd hoped! So, given our stunning success, what's our next step?"

Mark defensively raises a hand in front of his face. "Castle, this operation is a Halloween-time phenomenon. To justify a next step, we have to determine the possibility of repeat sales."

Rick sweeps his hand at the tables occupied by authors bent over their laptops. These guys have been here for hours. They'll return."

"I'm sure they will, but they wouldn't be enough to support a business," Mark cautions.

Castle scowls. "You sound like Marty."

"I'll take that as a compliment. Rick, we need something to give us an indication as to whether your concept can succeed over time or is just a short-term phenomenon," Mark insists. "Look, I'd initially planned on closing down after Halloween, but we have an option on the space. If we alter the theme slightly and run through Thanksgiving, it will give us an idea if the writer's bar plus revenues from foot traffic model works. The city might be hit by a second wave of the flu, which could cut into our cash flow. But if we're not circling the drain by turkey time, we can see what happens through the rest of the holiday season. And in the next few days, we should give the customers surveys to fill out in exchange for a free coffee or slice of pie. That will give us some idea what kind of impression we're making and if there's something we should change."

"All right," Castle agrees. "Put together your questionnaire, but I'm optimistic that the results will predict continued success."

"To want to keep going, you'd have to be," Mark opines.

"Seems to me, the same could be said for trying to succeed as a professional musician," Rick points out, "but you have no trouble with Holly pursuing her dream."

"Holly is incredibly talented, one in a million," Mark declares. "And she's worked her butt off since she was three. She deserves to succeed."

Rick suppresses a smile. It looks to him that as a shipper, Alexis is right on point. He wonders how long it will be before Mark finds himself picking out a ring.

Glancing at his watch, Rick trots out of the elevator to join Kate at her desk in the bullpen. Sorry that it took me so long. I was checking out things at the Pumpkin Castle and got button-holed by one of the customers. But it might have been a bit of serendipity. She wanted to talk to me about a cold case, one that might be just down our alley."

"What case?"

"You remember the college professor beheading?"

"Vaguely. I think I was in seventh grade when it happened, and some of the boys made really sick jokes about it. I guess you would have sold "In a Hail of Bullets" by then," Kate figures.

"And two other novels," Rick confirms. "I thought about writing a book about the case, but at the time, there wasn't much to it. The police caught James Pierson, a student that the victim, Lisa Wernick, flunked. He'd threatened to kill her because her grade knocked him off the fencing team. The M.E. thought that the weapon used was consistent with a heavy sword, and Pierson had the strength and knowhow to commit the murder. The evidence was all circumstantial, but the jury convicted Pierson. If I'd been prescient back when it happened, I might have seen that the case wasn't as open and shut as it appeared to the jury."

"Why?"

D.N.A. testing was still pretty much in its infancy. It wasn't in routine use yet to establish suspects' guilt or innocence. There was blood found under the victim's fingernails and on her clothes that didn't match her type. It matched Pierson's but also a sizable percentage of the population. Lisa's clothes were preserved with the rest of the evidence in the case, and about five years ago, the Innocence Project tested the blood supposedly belonging to Pierson."

"And the D.N.A. didn't match?" Kate guesses.

"Not even close. Even the most preliminary phenotyping would have ruled him out. After the Project petitioned the court to revisit the case, Pierson's conviction was vacated. He was released, and the city paid him a settlement. But a match for the killer's D.N.A. has never popped up. He's still at large, and the woman who approached me today is the professor's younger sister, Madeline Wasserman. She's looking for real justice for Lisa."

"Then we'll look for justice for Lisa, too," Kate decides. "Phenotyping's come a long way in five years. We'll get the D.N.A. redone. At least we'll have some idea about the general characteristics of the killer we're hunting. Did the police ever find the weapon?"

"If they did, Madeline didn't say."

"Let's dig up the case box. We'll get Osnitz going on the blood and see what else was missed the first time around. Ooh, and you didn't tell me. How's business going at the Pumpkin Castle?"

"Booming, but fortunately not in the Leo DeNuncio sense. Any news about when he's going to go before a jury, or at least a judge?"

"I think Eli is still seeing if he can get any more out of him and comparing it with what he gets from Carlucci and any other coconspirators."

Castle shakes his head. "If this were T.V., Leo and the whole Scarpella family, except maybe Chris and Rita, would be put away for good by now. Whatever happened to a speedy trial?"

"The justice system doesn't have to worry about ratings, and defense lawyers can drag things out for years. In James Pierson's case, that might not have been a bad idea. So, are you ready for another trip to the archives?"

"In the quest for truth, I'm right behind you. I'll not only fight for the right; I'll get to admire your ass while I do it."

"You found the case," Kate points out, grabbing a handful of Rick's butt cheek. "Maybe you should be in the lead this time."

"In the interest of fairness," Rick proclaims, "we can take turns."