After the Vows

Jim Beckett's Journal

Chapter 17

Dear Johanna,

Katie interviewed Artemiz's husband Tony this morning. I say interviewed rather than interrogated because there were absolutely no physical signs that he had beaten anyone. Katie reported that he was quite distraught. I empathize with him and I told Katie to give him my private number if he wanted to talk. He told Katie that he and Artemiz had been getting nasty phone calls and letters. No actual threats were made, but there were nutcases upset about their marriage. As I mentioned before, many people thought Artemiz was a muslim. Actually she was Christian, as if that should matter. Tony is Jewish, Tony Goldman. Artemiz kept her maiden name. It is discouraging that in this day and age, in New York City, people would still be disturbed by a mixed marriage. Unfortunately according to Tony, some were. In fact, neither of their families was too keen on their union. That is something that Katie will be looking into. She isn't thinking of the religious differences as a motive so much as she is looking at the couple's finances. Both Tony and Artemiz were in the peculiar situation of coming into trust funds if they had children and Lanie's autopsy showed that Artemiz was pregnant. Any funds she would have received will be directed to other family members. Tony's will as well, unless he remarries and has a child by his second wife. Katie, Ryan, and Esposito will be interviewing any possible beneficiaries.

Rick is in Chicago but he didn't want to be. O'Hare Airport got closed down due to a power failure, when he was trying to catch a connecting flight. That sent both Black Pawn and Paula scurrying to see what they could do about his schedule. Rick being Rick, did manage to score a hotel suite for his wait, but he hasn't spent much time there. Paula got him some radio interviews and Black Pawn got him a morning show in Chicago. That may actually work out at least as well as his original schedule. He even did an impromptu book signing in front of one of the booksellers that carried Raging Heat, in the airport. A couple of his fans filmed it on their cell phones and put it on the internet. Katie told me that Rick quipped that a power failure would have been better publicity for Heat Wave than for Raging Heat. I confess it's been long enough since I read Heat Wave, that I don't remember the plot. At the time I was much more concerned with how Rick portrayed Katie. The sex scene was, as you might imagine, a bit unsettling for me. I suppose a father is always a father. Back then I never imagined they'd end up married to each other. As soon as the planes are flying again Rick's going to try to come back to spend a few hours with Katie before he has to return to his tour. I hope that works out.

Creason is back in the United States. He should be at the 12th tomorrow. As with J.J., Captain Gates is not going to let Katie participate in the interrogation, but she will get to watch. Because of the larger implications of Donovan's murder and the connection to J.J., Gates' sister will be joining her again. Creason may be offered some sort of a deal for telling everything he knows. It will be interesting to find out how closely Creason's story matches the one J.J. told, if it matches at all. I think by now everyone realizes that J.J. would say anything that suits his purposes. I wish I'd realized it much sooner.

Martha did her stint with Morrison Collier on his cooking show. My love, I wish you could have seen it. I feel sorry for Martha, but it was funny. I suppose that's much the way Katie felt about Rick's video. Collier didn't give Martha anything difficult to do. She was peeling an orange and it squirted in her face. Then she turned on a mixer a fraction of a second before immersing it in a batter and the batter flew everywhere. I don't think I've ever described the sorts of outfits Martha wears to you. Even for the kitchen they are very colorful and very grand. She especially loves what looks to me like silk. She was wearing an apron, but it didn't help much. She was covered in a batter that was too sticky to just sponge off. It was even on her eyebrows and in her hair. She was mortified, but the producers of the show were ecstatic. They immediately put the segment into promotions for the show. Of course, as such things happen these days, it also immediately made it to the web. From what Alexis tells me, the loft is full of flowers Collier sent to try to make it up to Martha. As yet, his efforts are to no avail. Alexis has been coming back to the loft between classes to try to comfort her grandmother, also so far with little success. Rick calls his mother whenever he has the chance as well. Martha has been talking about having her understudy fill in for her for a couple of days while she gets herself together. I hope she doesn't do that. If there's anything that I've learned about Martha, it's that if she has a stage to perform on, she can handle just about anything.

As the news has come out about Artemiz's murder, things have become more difficult for my suit. The paperwork continues but Roselyn reports that the women she's interviewed have been less than forthcoming. A couple of them even closed the door in her face. Artemiz's participation in the suit has not been publicized, but there is a company grapevine. Present and former employees email each other and also communicate on social media, something you never had to deal with. Not only does news travel quickly, but fears and rumors do as well. Dana is using social media to respond, trying to calm fears as best she can. I'm sure that Katie can solve the murder and I'm hoping that the solution will prove to have nothing to do with the suit. I'm just hoping that it happens soon. Rick often has off-the-wall insights that help Katie with cases. It would be great if he can make it back from Chicago and work his magic. If nothing else, Katie may get a fresh spurt of energy just from his presence. I always got one from yours.

Forever love,

JB