In Limbo

Chapter 14

Lee was reading the first letter for the advice column that Sandy gave him that Monday morning, and he was so rapt in it, that when Sandy, upon returning to his office, placed the coffee down on the desk away from his immediate area, and asked, "What is it? Is it that bad? Do you need me to look at it?"

Lee, finishing it and placing it back in the envelope, stated hesitantly, "I-No, it's not bad at all, no red alert stuff, but what's with the D/K on the back of it?"

Sandy answered slowly, "Divorced/Kids...One of the categories we discussed? Um, anyway, I forgot to mention this, but when the Tribune mail room first gets the letter, all they do is check the envelope, open it, read only the first paragraph, and if it looks okay, like no block letters, then they put it with the Ask Penny pile. You look kind of shook up, so I'll look at it, and help you figure out what to say-"

But Lee put up a hand replying, "N-No, I'm okay, but there's something that seems familiar about this...What's the policy for taking a letter home, and-"

But Sandy, shaking her head, stated, "No, no...Remember what I said about not taking these letters seriously? I mean, sure, you have empathy for these people, but then you just have to use your best judgement, and go from there-"

Lee answered carefully, "I-I understand, but what I'm saying is that I think I know these people-"

Sandy blinked and queried, "What? That's weird...Um, mind if I take a look?"

Lee shrugged answering, "Sure, but like I said-"

Sandy, taking the envelope from Lee, put up her index finger to silence him, and then opening the envelope, took out the letter and began reading the letter.

As Lee waited for Sandy to read the letter, his mind raced as he thought, Okay, divorced daughter with kids, works too hard to have fun, needs an outlet of some sort...

Then Sandy finished, and sighed as she went to sit in the chair near Lee at his desk, and stated, "Okay...So here's what I'm thinking..."

Lee slowly replied, "Go ahead."

Sandy, putting the letter back in the envelope, and handing it back to Lee, commented, "Assuming it's a woman who wrote this, she is trying to find her daughter a date because she feels the daughter is lonely? First of all, the writer should let her daughter find her own dates in her own time...They just moved there, apparently, and I get that it's hard to meet new people, but c'mon! She's working at a new job, and trying to raise her kids in a new area...I say, leave her be, and eventually she will find someone, or maybe not at all...But it will be up to the daughter in any case...That's what you should answer. But, about what you said about knowing these people? How can that be? Do you have a sixth sense or something?"

Lee waved it away, asking with a chuckle, "No, of course not, but do you ever have a nagging thought about something or someone, and it just won't leave your mind until you look at it from every angle?"

Sandy giggling, responding, "No, unless I was a cop or something...Why? Were you one before you got here?"

Lee, remembering his former occupation, covered quickly answering, "N-No! Just curious to see if you felt differently about this, that's all."

His desk phone rang then, and picking it up, stated, "Castle...Uh, yeah, Mark, she's right here, hold on..."

Handing the phone to Sandy, Lee replied worriedly, "He's not happy at the moment."

Sandy shrugged answering, "Hey, Mark. What's up?"

Lee saw a stressed look cross Sandy's face then as she listened, and gulping, commented slowly, " Wh-What? Th-That much, huh? No, no! It's my fault for trying to do a good deed, ha-ha...We'll have to thank Pete for leaving this place to rot, though...Yeah, yeah...Okay, I'm on it, and again, I'm sorry, Mark."

Hanging up the phone, she sighed deeply, and putting her head down, she put both hands against both sides of her head, and said, "Oh, boy..."

Lee carefully reached a hand over to put on her shoulder and asked gently, "What happened?"

Sandy slowly brought her head up, and removing her hands from the sides of her head, replied carefully, "I used some money we didn't have in Payroll for this room makeover, and it was a bit too much!"

Lee, lifting his hand from her shoulder, looking around, queried, "What? For a few measly file boxes and a new file cabinet?"

Sandy gulped, answering, "N-New carpeting, also-"

Lee commented, shaking his head, " Whew...I guess I didn't notice because it looked like it had only been cleaned."

Sandy shrugged defensively responding, "I-I was trying to get up the coffee stains, and when I couldn't, I went to one of the office supply stores to get a duplicate carpet, and once I cleared out the left corner on Saturday, I found an ant colony...So I also got someone to exterminate..."

Lee, shaking his head, went to the couch, and grabbing his jacket, reached into a pocket, retrieving his checkbook, answering with a sigh, "L-Look, I really appreciate what you did here, but at least let me help you out-"

But Sandy jumped up from the chair, replying, "No, Chuck! This was my doing, so I have to-"

But Lee argued back firmly, "No! I'm splitting this with you-"

-SMK-

Then, Mark appeared at the doorway, stating to Lee, "Castle! Put your money away! I already told Sandy "Nuisance" here that she foots the bill for this grand gesture of hers."

And looking at Sandy, Mark commented, "By the way, I still have Simpson's address, so I sent him a copy of the bill to repay you for his mess he left here in the first place."

Sandy, looking at Lee with a faint smile, replied, "What do you know? There is a silver lining to this whole thing! If he pays me back, though."

Mark, shaking his head, stated firmly to Sandy, "Yeah, alright, but this is the end of it! Any other big ideas you have from now on, have to go through me first, got it? I don't need the Tribune's accountants breathing down my neck, you hear me?!"

Sandy, putting up her hands, answered nodding, as she left the room, "Got it, Chief, got it! Again, I'm sorry."

Mark nodded, and responded gruffly, "Yeah, yeah...So, Castle...How are you coming with the column? Making any headway?"

Lee, clearing his throat, quickly put the envelope in his jacket pocket, and turning back towards Mark, answered carefully, "It's slow going, but Sandy told me about the red alerts I have to watch out for...The block letter stuff-"

Mark nodded replying, "Oh, yeah! This one time I remember, a lady wrote in, swearing that her parrot was talking to her in her late husband's voice, and she wanted us to come over and do a seance to get the parrot to just do normal bird talk...She even wanted to come to the Tribune to do it...That's when we had the police take care of it...So, just be careful, alright? And maybe next week, we can start on your new stuff?"

Lee nodded remarking, "Sounds good, Mark...Thanks."

And after Mark left, Lee once more, took the letter out of his jacket pocket to examine it, and murmured, "There's something here...I just know it..."

-SMK-

A week later in Trenton, NJ, Dotty was checking the paper after Amanda had gone to work, and the boys had gone to school, and finding the Ask Penny column, brightened as she recognized the letter she wrote, titled Troubled In Trenton, and reading the response, queried bewilderedly, "Leave her be? It's up to her to find someone? "

Shaking her head, she went to the phone, and pulling out the Trentonian Newspaper number, commented, "That sounds like they think I'm interfering...That's ridiculous...I think I'll give these people a call and try to straighten this out..."

TBC