Kate Beckett, Investigator Chapter 24
"Is that the info from our potential sitter?" Castle asks as Kate's phone chimes an alert.
"Looks like it. There are attachments labeled resume and references."
"You should bring them up on the computer so we can print out copies," Castle suggests. "Easier to make notations as we check out the entries."
Kate glances at the time displayed on her phone. "Fine, Babe, but it's almost ten o'clock – not the best time to start calling references."
"But with all the skip trace skills you've developed and my proficiency with mining social media, we can save the calls for the morning – if we still need to make them. Less than truthfulness is likely to reveal itself tonight. And her name, Dierdre Laughing Bull, shouldn't pull too many namesakes."
Kate chuckles. "No, I wouldn't think so. I'll send these to print, and you can get started. I want to check on Eleanor. Sometimes, she still gets hungry about now."
"You go ahead, and I'll start digging."
"Got anything?" Kate asks, returning from her rocking chair.
"Booyah!" Castle replies softly, suppressing his usual exuberant shout in favor of letting sleeping babies lie. "I figured with a name like Laughing Bull, Dierdre might have Native American ancestry. So, I started checking out Native American sites. Look at this, Kate. She's part of the movement that pushed for tribal certification for the group that built the casino in Connecticut. She could have pushed for better odds. The return on the slots up there is terrible compared to Vegas."
"But you don't have to spend money on plane fare to get there. You can just drive." Kate points out.
"True. And they also booked that cool astronomer for talks. Not exactly Vegas-style entertainment. But I digress. Ms. Laughing Bull is definitely an activist for Native American rights."
"That's probably why she decided to go to law school," Kate interjects.
"Indeed. But it doesn't reveal much about her skills as a babysitter. Hmm. Let's try…."
"What is that?" Kate asks.
"It's a sitter review forum for parents. By the time it started up, Alexis was almost old enough to be a sitter herself. But I had a little taste of it. And the software has improved. Looks like we can search sitters by name. Aha! Dierdre Laughing Bull. Mostly positive, except for the complaint that Dierdre allowed a little one to try a tom-tom. After that, the toddler wouldn't give up asking for a drum set until her parents made sure that Santa brought her one for Christmas."
"The neighbors must have loved that," Kate guesses.
"Apparently, the parents had to put in a soundproofed area in a corner of the girl's room to avoid fines from the condo association. You know, that's not a bad idea. The budding musician gets to bang out her dream, and everyone else gets peace and quiet. I wish I'd thought of it the first year Alexis started playing the violin."
"The Russians don't call a violin a skripka for nothing. But she sounds lovely now."
"Yes, she does," Castle agrees, "which makes the hours of cacophony worth it. But I still wish I'd been as ingenious as the little drummer's parents. Eleanor likes music already. Wow! If the music from the mobile sinks into her unconscious, will she want to play an alien instrument?"
"I think we have time before we have to worry about that. So, have you seen enough on Dierdre for tonight, or do you still want me to run a background search?"
"Admirable activist or not, we are talking about the safety of our little girl. Please run the search as deep as you can. And I can call the references tomorrow while you're at school."
"OK, then shove over."
"Yes, Ma'am."
Castle hangs up from his last phone call. Dierdre's references confirmed what he and Kate discovered the night before. Tom-tom aside, the woman is an excellent sitter. In Castle's experience, those tend to be worth their weight in gold. And since Deirdre is not a member of the tribe actually drawing income from the Connecticut casino, he imagines that as a law student, she can use every dime she earns. Her employment should work out all around.
With the Dierdre question settled, he's lost his excuse for any procrastination in researching for his next Adley Rains book. If the story is going to turn on PFAS contamination, he has to get up to speed. And that's even more important if he wants to keep that crap away from Eleanor. Fortunately, for years, he's used professional cookware that doesn't feature non-stick coatings. But cookware's only the tip of the iceberg. After filling his largest mug with coffee, Castle settles himself in front of his computer and starts getting into PFAS's legal history.
The first suit, about illness in cattle, was filed against DePove in 1999. DePove had a plant upstream from a rancher's property, and the chemicals getting into the water were sickening and killing his stock. A case like that will be a great place for Adley to start. The defense of children with indoor exposure shouldn't be far behind. He can already picture her getting things tested and banging on corporate doors. The pity is that he's never been able to describe her as looking like Kate. Adley and Nikki have to be two separate characters. But in her own way, Adley will be just as kickass – and she won't even need a gun.
Kate is almost falling asleep in her legal research course. She's heard a lot of it before – as instructions from her father. And that doesn't even begin to approach her practical experience as an investigator. Despite her feeding at ten, Eleanor roused at twelve and again at three, before her morning wake-up at six. To be fair to Castle, he handled everything except the nursing, but that didn't mean that Kate got anything approaching a full night's sleep.
Aunt Theresa swears that Eleanor should be sleeping through the night soon. But then Aunt Theresa isn't the one who has to get up with her. Castle thinks that Alexis might have started sleeping through at three months, But that's only if he defined sleeping through the night as from midnight to five a.m. That's better than Eleanor is doing right now, but hardly enough to catch up. "Ms. Beckett," her professor calls.
"What? Oh yes, Professor Naysmith?"
"I asked you why a law library might favor Westlaw over other search engines."
Kate straightens in her seat. "Two reasons. One is that it may offer more detailed information on particular states. The other is that it is easier to use as a layperson. Non-lawyers often use law libraries."
Naysmith arches an eyebrow. "I take it you have experience with that, Ms. Beckett."
"Yes, Sir, I do, as an investigator and in some instances as a cop."
"Either of which would make a topic for your first paper," Naysmith responds. "All right, people, I want all of you to think about how your prior experience, whether academic or professional, factors into your legal research. And I want you to concentrate not only on any advantages you've gained but any drawbacks in approaching a topic from outside legal protocols. As indicated in the syllabus, your papers will be due next week. That's all."
"And Ms. Beckett," Naysmith whispers as the students file out, "judges don't like having to ask questions twice. No matter how rough the night, lawyers have to stay awake on the job."
Heat floods Kate's face. "Yes, Sir. I understand."