Another Chance
Chapter 53
"They certainly do make these cabins compact," Castle notes in a whisper as he places a finally sleeping Aletha gently into the portable crib taking up almost all the floor space.
"It's a family cruise not a luxury liner, Castle," Kate reminds him. "I think if we had an older child, we might have been assigned a bigger one."
Castle snorts. "The price is the same. At least we get to use the child care facilities during the day, that's something."
"It should be, considering you ran a background check on every member of the staff who'd be with Aletha and they all came out spotless."
"Spotless is not the same thing as talented or even competent. Aletha was wet when we picked her up before dinner."
"When isn't she wet? She seems to like water and being on a boat. I was a little afraid she might get sick or something."
"I was too," Castle confesses. "A honeymoon soaked in baby barf would not be the most romantic of trips. At least while she's in other hands, we can get in some afternoon delight, Definitely, a superior activity to shuffleboard, and we can grab a cuddle or too now, as long as we keep our volume down.
"Difficult as that may be for you."
"I wasn't the one who made the bed creak so loud that we got the smirks from our next door neighbors. But I did enjoy it."
"Yeah, me too. So what do you want to do in our quiet time?"
"I was wondering if you might send an email to your maid of honor to see if by any chance she is tripping the light fantastic."
"Babe, what did you do?"
"I just gave her an opportunity. It's up to her whether she takes it or not."
Kate rolls her eyes. "Fine. One email, but what else did you want to do?"
Castle flops down on the bed and pats the space beside him. "I imagine we can think of something."
Lanie doesn't think she's ever seen a man as physically beautiful as the dance teacher performing her initial assessment. Everyone at the studio is either Mr., Mrs., Ms., or Miss, or in her case, Doctor. Since no one uses first names, she knows her instructor only as Mr. Taylor. There is a picture of him up in the office where she signed her paperwork. He was a principal dancer for The American Ballet Theater. He still looks the part. She can see him playing an enchanted prince or leaping about the stage as a faun.
He appears equally talented in the ballroom. He moves smoothly, guiding her through every step. She absently wonders if he's gay. Men that gorgeous, especially ballet dancers, frequently are. By the time he's finished demonstrating a body lead, she's sure he's straight.
Esposito knows he's in trouble. When Lanie emailed that his test results were ready, she sent the report as an attachment instead of calling him to the morgue to discuss it. She's mad at him for putting down the dance studio, and he needs to make it up to her. He wishes Castle was around. When it comes to thinking up apologetic gestures to pissed off females, the man is a master. But it will be almost two weeks before the newlyweds return, and he needs help now. Ryan is so pussy whipped, he hardly ever does anything he needs to apologize to Jenny for, but his advice will be better than nothing.
"Is that another offer from an equity firm?" Alexis asks as Micah pores over the contents of a thick envelope.
He shakes his head. "No, this is from a company that deals in aids and educational materials for the disabled. They sent their catalog along with their letter. There is all kinds of stuff in here - communication boards, synthesized speech programs, educational programs, even video games designed to build hand-eye coordination. According to their proposal, they believe a fully developed Thera would fit right into their product line."
Alexis begins paging through the catalog. "Looks like it would. That would give us an entrée into the marketplace, the only problem is we're still a long way from full development. We need to do tests with consumers before the final prototyping, and we'll have to find a manufacturer we can enlist to do production runs. We'd still have to fund that."
"Maybe not. These people are offering to pick up the development and manufacturing costs in exchange for five years of exclusive rights to sell Thera."
"That's a long time."
"It is," Micah agrees. "In electronics, everything can change in five years. But they'd be paying us royalties all that time. We could finish school, get married, do grad school if we want, and work on other products. By the time the five years is up, we'll have a better shot of making it on our own."
Alexis scans through the proposal. "This looks good, Micah. But I think we should show it to Kate's father before we try to make any decisions."
"Sure. I like the guy, and I guess he is your step-grandfather now. Call him."
Alexis already has her phone halfway out of her pocket.
Kate is not surprised that she and Castle were invited to the captain's table. Castle is famous enough to qualify for a seat, particularly since he's agreed to do a book signing for the Derrick Storm graphic novels put out by the cruise line's parent company. With Aletha still being way too young for a high chair, Castle has her in a front carrier. The baby is wide awake and seems to be enjoying the hustle and bustle of food service and conversation.
The captain is skilled at drawing people out and keeping the party going. He asks about what the guests do when they're not on the ship, as well as what activities engage them the most while they're aboard. Kate is surprised that on a family-themed voyage, so many passengers would be enjoying the casino. She can understand why the ship would have one. The house cut on the machines is easily set, and in international waters, it's almost an assured stream of income. She's just amazed that on a cruise like this, it would appear to be such a relatively large one.
Unlike the casinos in Vegas, where over 21 rules apply even to babies no matter how incapable they might be of actually making a wager, regulations on the ship are a bit more relaxed. If she and Castle decide to test their luck, they can always take Aletha with them.
Castle has hinted that he'd love to try the poker machines. Fixed as the rake may be overall, by carefully playing the odds, passengers can score now and then. There's no bluffing involved, just straight calculation with some decent luck thrown in. If Castle is lucky at anything, it's cards, or at least a reasonable facsimile thereof.
Castle finds a machine he likes and sticks his ship's credit card into it. The image of an evil fairy tale queen lights up and winks at him, a sultry recorded voice inviting him to enjoy himself. At the machine next to him, Kate laughs and shakes her head. Her choice features Prince Charmings as jacks. After they've played for a while, it's apparent that the house isn't too greedy. Both she and Castle are winning enough hands to avoid discouragement. Castle is even a few dollars ahead.
Kate's eyes stray to a player in the next row of machines, who can't seem to lose. That's strange. People have runs of luck like that at tables, but rarely against preprogrammed odds.
She nudges Castle, who after watching for a few moments, signals that they should talk outside. "Kate, I think that machine and maybe others could be used to pay people off for something. The insertion of their cards could override the regular programming."
"Castle, pay them off for what?"
"I don't know. Maybe blackmail, drugs, bootlegged bobbleheads. Whatever it is, wouldn't it be fun to find out? More engrossing than most of the "family activities" the cruise director is offering. Besides, I think we've both been itching for another interesting case ever since that grifter Johnson tried to swindle Alexis and Micah. I can see that detective gleam in your eyes. You want to do this."
Kate strokes his cheek. "All right Babe. I'm not sure where we should start, but we can look into it."