Kate Beckett, Investigator Chapter 23

Star Wars cantina music tinkles and Castle smiles as Kate walks into his office where he's working next to Eleanor's bassinet. His smile broadens at his wife's obvious satisfaction. "Something exciting happen at school today? An arcane lawyerly technique brought to light?"

"Nothing arcane about what I found out today," Kate says. "One of my classmates is an experienced babysitter. She likes to get in as many hours as she can and studies while the children are sleeping."

"Does she have references?" Castle asks. "You know how shady these lawyer or future lawyer types can be."

"Shady? Babe, in case it's suddenly slipped your mind, I'm studying to be a lawyer."

"Sleep deprivation hasn't hit me quite that hard yet. I remember. But I also remember all the remarks you made about underhanded attorneys getting suspects turned loose on technicalities."

"Yeah, I did say a few things about that."

"More than a few. But back to the original question. Does this miraculous fellow student have references we can check out?"

"Hey, I haven't been away from being a cop that long. And I am still Dad's investigator. I asked questions. She's emailing me her resume and her references tonight."

Castle smacks his hands together. "Excellent! I have news as well."

"Not another tour."

"God, no. But it is about work. Sales on the Adley Rains book were solid enough for Black Pawn to want more. I can continue bouncing off the Nesgadol story as it makes it through the various legal processes, but I also need a new environmental case. That is one of Alexis' passions, so I've asked her to work with me on it. She's only taking AP Physics this semester and she can really use something to fill her time."

"Yeah, with Ashley 3,000 miles away, it's not like she can do anything on the dating scene. NYU has an environmental law journal. We could all look at it together. It will give me a chance to pick up on any terminology I haven't encountered yet."

"And explain it to us – or at least to me. Alexis practically inhales stuff like that. Ooh! Look at us! A family project and a lead on a new babysitter all in one day. A reason to celebrate if I've ever heard one."

"Castle, to you almost anything is a reason to celebrate."

"And so life should be. I would suggest Mexican except for the unfortunate effects of beans the special Beckett blend passed on to Eleanor last time around. How about Thai? She hasn't had a problem with that, has she?"

"No, she hasn't."

"And Alexis loves it."

Castle eyes the stains growing on the bag containing the food containers. "Wow! I hope our dinner hasn't sprung a leak. Usually the sauce doesn't even come close to soaking through."

"The soaking through could be a good sign, Dad," Alexis offers.

"A good sign of what?" Castle grouches.

"A lack of PFAS."

"Pufas? If that's a vegetable used to bulk out an order, I haven't heard of it. And I usually hear about culinary insults of that sort."

"Not pufas, PFAS, polyfluoroalkyl substances. They're used in food containers, ink, pesticides, non-stick cookware, medical devices, almost everywhere. They make things slippery and block water and grease, among other things. But the problem is there is evidence that they cause cancers and other illness. So the environmental community is trying to get rid of them. But unfortunately, they're already in most people's blood. Still, some restaurants and other companies are trying to avoid them. Bangkok Boogie must be one of them."

"Nice to know we're ordering from one of the good guys," Castle says. "But about the PFAS, are there any big cases going on, something Adley Rains could get involved with?"

"Oh, yeah," Alexis says, "there might even be one in the journal Kate's supposed to show us after dinner."

"That's right," Kate confirms. "I already took a quick look and there's a huge PFAS case involving water purification systems."

Castle makes a choking sound. "That crap is getting into water that's supposed to be purified?"

"Right. And my father said something about contaminants other than the ones we had been going after Nesgadol about, turning up in some stuff we got from Marley in discovery," Kate adds. "I think PFAS might have been part of that."

"Then I've certainly got plenty for Adley to do in my next book and maybe a few more. Something to be thankful for when eating our leaky but uncontaminated dinner. But um, Alexis, is this PFAS stuff in anything for babies?"

"Not food. And Kate is nursing Eleanor anyway. But probably strollers, baby furniture, maybe even bibs – anything that's supposed to resist baby mess."

Castle's fist comes down on the table. "Damn! And I thought we were pretty good at covering our bases. I'll have to check out everything again. Hmm, and so will Adley for all the babies in her family. And from now on we chuck out anything with PFAS and don't bring in anything else that has them."

"Dad, PFAS are used in most pizza boxes," Alexis points out.

Castle groans. "This could be even harder for us – and Adley – than I thought."

"Alexis, that makes no sense," Ashley declares on his nightly Facetime with Alexis. "PFAS are huge business. Do you know how many resources 4M has, or DePove? And those are just two of the giants. They may have to pay fines and settlements, but otherwise, it will be business as usual. And I remember a couple of years ago, McDon-Dons put out a statement that they were going natural in their packaging. All they did was use more roughly finished cardboard in their burger boxes. Remember the brown ones? My parents had a bet at how long those would last. My mother won at six months. The customers wanted what they were used to and they didn't care what it took for them to get it. And if we've all got the chemicals in our blood already, what good is it going to do to try to get rid of them?"

"That maybe my sister won't have them in her blood – or any children we might have some day wouldn't have them in theirs."

"It's an impossible fight, Alexis."

"Right, and getting the tobacco companies to admit the scam they'd been pulling off was supposed to be impossible too. But it happened. People devoted to the cause made it happen. I need to work toward making this a better world, not just making money, Ashley. And if you can't understand that, maybe you can't understand me."

"Alexis, come on, I do love your view of the world. I just think it's …."

"Naïve, immature?"

Alexis can hear Ashley's sigh. "I didn't say that."

"Goodbye, Ashley." Alexis terminates the call. Swiping her forearm across her eyes and muttering to herself, she googles university environmental science programs. "Damn! Stanford would be number one. But Columbia is number 2. And if I go to Columbia, I can still work with Kate and her father to push environmental issues. And I can stay close to Dad and Eleanor. Columbia, get ready for Alexis Castle!"