Unexpected Appearance Chapter 7
Rick fidgets as he and Kate wait for Talbot's nurse to get off the phone. "Yes, I'll hold." She looks up at Kate. "You were asking about Thursday afternoon?"
"That's right," Kate confirms.
"That was a long day," the nurse recalls. "We were booked solid from mid-morning on and then stayed late for monthly inventory."
"Dr. Talbot too?" Rick asks as the nurse continues her phone conversation.
"Um, hi, yes. It's Dr. Talbot's office calling." She glances up again. "Him too. We wrapped up a little after nine."
As he and Kate leave Talbot's office, Rick consults his watch. "Talk about late. I need to get ready for my launch party tonight. Ryan and Esposito were in, the minute I said the magic words, 'open bar.' Are you coming?"
Kate shrugs. "I don't know. We just lost our best suspect. I'm hoping something else will pop on this case."
"Montgomery's going to be there. He'll expect you to show the NYPD PR flag," Rick reminds her.
"If the captain wants me there, then I guess I'd better show up."
Rick enters the ballroom with Alexis on one arm and Martha on the other. Taylor trails behind Alexis only until she spots a group of young men clustered around a book display and then joins them. As Martha makes a beeline for the bar, Alexis looks for a quiet corner to finish writing an essay.
When Kate arrives, Paula gooses a young man who dutifully shouts, "Hey, Man! It's Nikki Heat!" A gaggle of photographers surround the detective.
The crowd around Kate thins as Montgomery strides over. "You clean up nice, Detective."
Kate unconsciously runs her hands over the cocktail dress enhancing her willowy figure. "Thank you, Sir. You don't look so bad yourself."
"But no one's taking pictures of me," Montgomery points out. "1PP will bask in the media attention tomorrow when yours come out."
"Where's Castle?" Kate asks.
Montgomery gestures toward a side table. "He's over there talking to that guy. I think he's another author."
"That's not like Castle," Kate muses. "He usually revels in being the center of attention."
"He can do that when he does his reading,' Montgomery assumes. "But right now, most of the attention seems riveted on you.'
"I can do without that," Kate says. "Looks like the boys are here. I can hang with them for a while."
"Pick up one of the books and read the dedication," Montgomery urges. "It will put you in a better mood."
"Yes, Sir," Kate agrees.
Rick leans his elbow on the table as he regards the gray-haired man sitting across from him. "Tom, you've been picking up series for deceased authors ever since I can remember. Do you enjoy it?"
"I don't know if enjoy is the right word, Rick," Tom muses. "I've wanted to be a writer since I was a boy. You know as well as I do that most people don't get to live out that dream, or at least not without a day job. I have steady streams of work and income. No complaints there. But I would love to be recognized for writing my own characters someday instead of those someone else dreamed up. It's much more satisfying to create from the ground up instead of enlarging on an established canon."
"What if that canon was about one of the most famous characters in the world?" Rick probes.
"That would mean more money, but if anything, less satisfaction. The readers would expect what they've always gotten."
"Then, no surprises?" Rick queries.
"Plot twists, yes, but straying too much from the established character would be my death knell as the series writer."
Rick taps his fingers against the tabletop. "But I love surprises."
"Then you'd better stick to writing original characters, Rick," Tom counsels. "I got a chance to flip through Heat Wave. Nikki Heat is very intriguing."
Rick's eyes fix on Kate, who's looking at a copy of the book. "She is to me. I hope the book-buying public feels the same."
Kate can't help smiling as she reads the dedication. "To the extraordinary KB and all my friends at the 12th." Closing the book, her jaw clenches as she takes in the art on the book jacket. She stalks across the room. "Castle! I just saw the cover of Heat Wave. I'm naked!"
"Beckett, that's Nikki Heat, not you. For one thing, as perfect as your dimensions are, for the benefit of the silhouette, Nikki's are enhanced by at least a cup size. And she's lying on the typewriter keys. Except for the fact that she's clearly holding a gun, whatever is going on is in the reader's imagination."
"I want it changed, Castle," Kate demands.
"I can't. The books have already shipped." Rick's eyes sweep up and down Kate's well-defined curves. "But your extraordinary attributes will be accurately portrayed as soon as the paparazzi can upload their images. Those fascinate the eye more than anything on a book, even, unfortunately, my photograph on the back. And Black Pawn had someone in the NYPD brass sign a release for me to use my research with you and the other cops in my books, as long as I don't use actual names, images, or other confidential material. I haven't. Right now, you're the darling of the big cheeses on the force, Beckett. Take the win."
Kate scowls. "I need a drink."
"What was that all about?" Tom asks as Kate threads her way through the crowd to the bar.
"She's pissed off because we just lost our best suspect in a murder case." Rick grins. "But she does her best work when we hit a bump or two. Something will pop. It always does."
"Beckett!" Ryan calls as Kate steps off the elevator at the 12th. "Something else came in from the Central Blotter – an incident report."
"What kind of incident report?"
"Apparently, Eliska was seen on multiple occasions hanging around some local park. And at some point, she walked up to someone's kid and spoke to him," Esposito explains.
Rick trots off the elevator and into the bullpen. "What did I miss?"
Esposito smirks. "Just a break in the case."
"Kid's mom thought it was a little odd because Eliska wasn't there with a kid of her own," Ryan picks up, "so she mentioned it to a patrolman."
"Any charges filed?" Kate asks.
"No. Eliska was cooperative and left quietly."
"Sounds a lot like the incident with the Talbot boy," Rick points out.
"Guys," Karpowski yells from her desk. "I hate to interrupt, but the super from Eliska's building is on the phone. He wants to know if he can rent out her place. He says she paid all the way until Friday, but he has someone who wants it now."
Castle snaps his fingers. "Wait a minute! Before, the super told us that she paid on time every week on Fridays. But she died on Thursday. So who paid the rent?"
"Karpowski, tell the super not to rent it out yet," Kate instructs, "and that I'll be right over."
"So far, the only person involved with this case besides Eliska, who was at the SRO, was Cameron Talbot," Rick recalls as Kate drives toward the Czech enclave. "If he was breaking it off with her, why would he pay the rent?"
"He has an alibi, Castle. There must be someone else involved. Maybe the killer thought if the rent was paid, it would be a while before Eliska was missed. Anyway, let's see if the super can tell us anything else."