CHAPTER FIVE
KATALYNA was standing at his door in less than 40 minutes. She knocked, using the "shave and a hair cut, two bits" rhythm, and let herself in with her key.
"Richard Edgar?"
"I'm in my office," he called out, and she draped her coat over the back of the sofa as she made her way across the great room to the hallway leading to his study.
"I brought everything with me," she started, only to discover that he had already fanned out his original copies of his legal documents, and had been attaching a rainbow of sticky notes with hand written questions and additions to the papers as they were presently written. She glanced at his bold handwriting, and how it barely fit on the small stickey notes.
"You know how much I hate it when you write with Sharpies," she dryly observed, unconsciously reminding him that he usually used Sharpies to autograph the cleavage of his admirers.
"Shush. Just finishing up a thought. . ." He dotted an "i" and crossed two adjoining "t"s on the small square of paper. "This needs to be made absolute and unable to be changed or challenged in court. I'm adding a new guardian for Alexis. Just in case."
Katalyna looked at him with mild alarm. "Is there something I should know about your mother?"
"No, she's fine. Still crazy, but fine. I just wanted another guardian for Alexis. If something should happen to me . . ."
"Nothing is going to . . ."
He held up his hand. "IF something happens to me, I don't want my mother uprooting Alexis and dragging her over the country while she performs in some second-rate, 99-seat theatre touring production, like she did to me." The bitterness in his tone left no room for doubt of the sincerity of this particular wish on his part.
"I like to think that those experiences gave you your character, Richard Edgar."
She placed her shoulder bag on the floor near his keyboard and walked over to where the author was seated. She stood between his chair and the documents, and placing her hands on his shoulders, Katalyna tilted her body towards him in order to give him a gentle kiss on his forehead. He looked up and attempted to smile at her as she smoothed back his hair.
"I'm not in the best of moods."
"Understood. Let's get the paperwork out of the way, and then we can explore your depth of character."
His second attempt at a smile was only slightly more successful than his previous effort. "Promise?"
However, she did note that he was trying to look down the front of her blouse. It would be a tense evening, but Katalyna knew that Richard Edgar Castle couldn't be in better hands than hers. Literally and figuratively.
"We will play later. School work first, and then recess. And, we have a lot to catch up on. Is this a plan?" The woman discovered that she was thinking of several sexual positions she wanted to try on Castle, but at this moment, she needed to be all business. Pleasure could be easily postponed for the next three hours.
He nodded. "We might really scare the delivery service."
She playfully slapped his bicep. "Time to get to work. Tell me, who you are thinking of to watch over your Alexis."
"Kate Beckett."
"Nikki Heat?" Katalyna looked at Castle. "Are you sure?"
"They know each other, and Kate is what I want Alexis to become: A strong, independent, intelligent woman." He smiled. "Just like you, Katalyna."
She thought about what he had said, including the backhanded compliment.
"Did I tell you that I've already arranged for Alexis to be accepted into Yale?"
"She's thinking about Oxford."
"The one in England? Where they drive on the wrong side of the road?"
He nodded without much enthusiasm.
Katalyna shook her head. "A two-hour limousine ride verses a nine-hour international plane trip, Castle." The New Englander in her was coming out: the Revolutionary War was still alive in parts of Massachusetts and Connecticut. Her eight-times great uncle had been a patriot, and Castle had heard all of the stories. One he had included in a Derrick Storm novel. She had told him that she had not been pleased, but he knew that she was actually delighted that the Otis Family had been included in a book that had made it on to the Best Selling List of the New York Times.
She was reading several of his sticky notes while she continued her conversation. "And, I can probably promise you a slot for Alexis in either Yale Law School or Yale Medical."
He thought about that. "I have no idea what Alexis might want to be. A lawyer or a doctor? Recently she told me that she wanted to be a Mississippi River boat gambler."
"Thatched roof cottages versus New Haven ivy-covered bricks? Not much of a choice for a sixteen year old, Richard Edgar."
"Hmm. You went to Yale, didn't you?"
"I still have connections. And at Harvard, too. My nephew is on the faculty. But Yale has already agreed to take her. I told them that she was my daughter. Hey, it worked for the Bush family. . ."
Despite his somber mood, the twinkle was returning to Castle's blue eyes.
"Okay, I know when I am defeated. You may retain your position of "Education Tzarina". And, if Alexis agrees, start preparing those tuition checks to Yale. One more thin, add Kate as guardian until Alexis reaches the age of twenty-five."
"Twenty-five? Alexis is NOT you, Richard Edgar. I'm to hold everything in trust for, what, another nine years? I think not." Her lime green eyes stared directly into his deep blue eyes. "I think twenty-one is called for. You know that I will watch over her like she is my own. You have nothing to worry about considering Alexis."
"I know. And, thank you." He paused. "Now, on the other hand, my mother."
"Martha. Yes, what do we do about Martha? She's only eighteen years older than you, isn't she?"
"Yes. Stop doing the math. I was quite the surprise."
Katalyna smiled. "Why don't you let Detective Beckett oversee her, too? We can set up separate accounts for Beckett to manage, and she can doll out allowances to both Martha and Alexis."
There was a small silence, and then Castle had his first good laugh in a week as he imagined Nikki Heat handing out money to Martha Rodgers. "Let's do it."
"Any particular set up you want for this?"
"I'll trust you with the details." He paused. "Kat, what am I worth now? Just out of curiosity?"
She reached for her shoulder bag and pulled out a handful of bank statements that were secured by a large metal clip. Castle saw that there was an excel summary sheet on the top of the statements. "As of about 4 PM on Friday, roughly this," and she pointed to a figure on the bottom of the right-hand column.
Castle looked at it and whistled. "Shit, I'm really rich, ain't I?"
"I've taken very good care of you, Richard Edgar."
"Give yourself a raise. And, put $5,000,000 of that figure," he said, pointing to the number on the bottom of the right-hand column, "into a separate account for Katherine Beckett."
Katalyna nodded. "You want to use that as the seed money for Alexis' guardianship, or should I split it equally between Martha and Alexis?"
He shook his head. "No. The five million is for Kate. Just in case," he added, thinking that if he did die, he would be denied the pleasure of seeing Beckett's expression when she learned that Castle, her jilted lover, had left her a small fortune.
"Richard, are you sure?"
"Isolate the real estate, the invested business interests, and the royalties from my books. Present and future. And add my signing bonus for the Nikki Heat movie rights. That will be the seed money."
"And, what about the rest of your assets? We're talking mid-eight figures here, Richard Edgar."
Castle had made his decision. "That all goes to Alexis. Kate can be trusted to work with you to manage it for my daughter. Set up an account for yourself to draw your fee from. Make sure that I am generous. This is a lot to ask of you, and all at once. . ." His voice faded away, but Katalyna understood what he wasn't saying.
She reached over and put her hand over his. "I'll start on this immediately. Why don't you order dinner while I type this up for your signature?"
He stood up, and it was now his turn to give her a kiss on her forehead. Of course, being Richard Castle, he also managed to cup one of her double-D breasts in his hand. "I think we're gonna need some energy."
He started to walk out of the room, but he turned to face her when he was at the doorway of the study.
"Thank you, Katalyna. I'm almost feeling better already."
"One less thing to worry about, Richard Edgar."
"Yeah. One less thing to worry about."
And, with that observation, he left the room. Katalyna turned her attention to his computer and inserted a CD containing his existing Last Will and Testament for her revisions.