Poison Pen

Chapter 44

"Good news?" Castle asks, noting the upturn of Kate's lips as she reads a text on her phone.

"I hope so. Mackenzie says that according to his C.I., Springer had an ancient day runner that he kept stowed somewhere in his Manhattan house. That thing might date back to when, well, when people used day runners. It could have numbers, names, places, anything in it."

"We didn't find it when we searched," Castle points out.

"It's supposed to be in a secret hiding place, but the C.I. didn't know where. We weren't tearing up floors or knocking holes in walls."

"If we do that now, wouldn't Springer's legal eagles claim anything we find is the product of an illegal search?" Castle worries.

"Mackenzie is putting together another affidavit now. We'll go strictly by the book and not give them any openings." Kate assures him.

Castle bounces out of his chair. "This could be fun. If we need to open a hidden compartment, can I use the crowbar?"

"Knock yourself out, Babe."

Castle shuffles over the hardwood floor in Springer's bedroom, tapping his foot every few inches. "This always looks so easy when they find the killer's stash on T.V.," he complains.

"That's because they compress hours or more of searching into the 30 seconds before the commercial. Actual police work has a lot of drudgery; you know that by now, Castle."

"Uh-huh, but most of the time, you pawn the worst of it off on Ryan and Esposito."

"Advantages of seniority. But I don't know if Ryan's feet are even touching the floor these days. He has that new girlfriend, Jenny. Javi swears that Kevin can't go half an hour without talking to her and that what he hears of the conversation is nauseating."

"I don't know about the nauseating part. Espo might just be jealous. But I understand how Ryan feels. If I couldn't work with you, I'd probably be calling just to hear your voice."

"Oh God, if Esposito heard that, he'd be gagging. Maybe we should go to a pub or something with Ryan and Jenny, so we could all be sickening together. Do you throw darts?"

"Only verbal ones. Ooh! Wait! I think I hear something!" Castle gleefully grabs a crowbar from the canvas bag of tools Kate brought in from the trunk of her unit. "Damn!" he hisses, trying to insert the tip of the bar between the boards, "this looks easier — and more fun — on T.V., too. Hold on. I'm getting it. There's a catch or something." Castle tugs a length of wood out of the way. "Kate, I see dead cow."

"Castle, did you put the wrong kind of mushrooms in your eggs this morning? I think you're hallucinating." Kate strides over to stare in the hole. "What dead cow?"

"Leather, Kate, the leather cover of an upscale day runner. I think I can pull it out."

"Gloves, Castle," Kate warns, "We don't want Springer's lawyer's claiming I had my fiancé plant evidence. And I need to take pictures of it in place before we touch it."

"Of course. The book by the book. But hurry up. I can't wait to see what's in there."

"We'll have to have CSU open it and go over it for DNA and fingerprints from Springer, first. They'll photograph all the pages too. Then we can go through the entries."

Castle sticks out his lower lip. "How long is that going to take?"

"If we bring two dozen of Roxie's best doughnuts for the lab techs, we could luck out and be able to get started sometime tomorrow."

"And here I thought we were going by the book. Isn't bribery illegal?"

"Not unless we attempt to alter the tech's behavior. And if we wanted to do that, we'd have to take away their doughnuts, not bring them more."

Castle shakes his head. "Sometimes, I forget that you're the daughter of two lawyers. Well argued, Detective. Roxie's it is."

From beside the grand piano, Kate watches while Martha plays silent movie music as Rick and Alexis duel with epées. "Do you all do this often?" Kate asks as the diva pounds the keys.

"Not as often as we did, but it's an excellent way for Richard to get in some exercise, other than whatever the two of you enjoy."

Heat flows to Kate's face. Adjusting to the prospect of Martha as her mother-in-law will take some doing. The older women in her family never talked about sex that casually — when they talked about it at all. After their initial talk when Kate was approaching puberty, Johanna always answered any questions she had on the subject, but rarely started a conversation on the matter, other than reminding Kate to be careful. Jim Beckett never brought it up at all.

Martha finishes her accompaniment with a flourish as Rick and Alexis exchange salutes and remove their masks. Rick is no Errol Flynn. Who is? But Kate can't help thinking that he's dashing yet sweet, spending the time engaging with his daughter. She absently rubs her fingertips over her ring. Flamboyant future mother-in-law or not, accepting Rick's proposal was the right decision.

With a swashbuckling sweep of his arm, Rick pulls Kate to him. "Did the fair lady enjoy the match?"

"It was fun, although I somehow picture you more as swinging a lightsaber."

"Alexis and I do that too. We have a matched set, top of the line. Their only failing is that they aren't powered by the force. They need batteries. The sound effects are great, though. I'll have to get you one. You know, now that I think about it, Star Wars wouldn't be a bad theme for a wedding. That white dress Leah wore in Episode 4 would be lovely as a wedding gown. I could dress up as Han Solo."

"Or we could go for the pageantry at the end," Kate suggests, "and have you march down the aisle to me. But I'd have to give you a medal instead of a ring. And who would be Luke Skywalker?"

"You have a point," Castle acknowledges. "And anyway, whenever Alexis and I went to cons, I was Darth Vader and she was a tiny if fierce Princess Leah. Best to start a new chapter. Before Mother brings it up again, have you given any thought to when you want to tie the knot?"

Kate nods. "Everyone always wants to get married either in June or at Christmas. I've been a bridesmaid four times, and it was two and two. But I've always thought spring would be the best season. The flowers are just starting to poke up, and the trees are budding. It's a time for new beginnings."

Castle nods, planting a quick kiss on the top of Kate's head. "I like that. How about the end of April or the beginning of May? That will put it after Easter and before graduations. We won't have to cope with competing celebrations."

Kate wraps her arms around Rick's waist. "Sounds perfect."

Rick sniffs the aroma floating from the oven in the kitchen. "Unless my nose deceives me, the roasting of our chicken should be perfect too. Want to set the table?"

Visions of family dinners flit through Kate's head. As busy as her parents were, having time to sit down and eat with them was always special. And sitting down with the Castles will be pretty special too, like coming home. "Sure. I'd love to."