This is the start of the special crossover chapters.
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Margot and I were back in our old apartment for the week.
Our house was unavailable because of some remodeling that would take about a month, so we had returned here.
It was strange being back. The apartment was smaller than I remembered, though that was probably because we had moved into a much larger house. Still, it felt comfortable.
"Danny?" Margot called from the other room. "What's the password for the safe again?"
"I'll be right there."
I started walking toward her, then stopped.
Right.
The money.
I turned around and went back to the sofa, where one of my bags had been left half-open. I reached inside and pulled out several thick bundles of cash.
Almost half a million dollars.
In notes.
A perfectly normal thing to carry around.
I had won it in a high-stakes poker game the night before. My old friend Richard Castle had invited me while I was in New York. I had been there to get additional shots of the city for The Usual Suspects, mostly transitions, street footage, and a few exterior shots I had decided we needed after seeing the latest cut.
Castle found out I was in town and called me.
We had not seen each other in nearly a year, so we met up for drinks. That somehow led to dinner, which somehow led to him inviting me to a private poker game involving several people who had far too much money and not enough fear of losing it.
I ended up winning most of the night.
A lot.
I was pretty sure I would not be invited again.
I carried the money into the bedroom.
Margot stood in front of a large safe hidden behind a bookshelf. She held the box containing the engagement ring in one hand.
The antique red diamond was far too valuable to leave lying around whenever she was not wearing it, especially after every entertainment site on the planet had reported how much it was supposedly worth.
I stepped forward and entered the combination.
The lock clicked.
Margot looked at me. "You could've just told me the numbers."
"I remember the last time I told you the combination."
She raised an eyebrow.
"I had to repeat it ten times."
"You said it too fast."
I opened the safe.
She placed the ring box inside, then noticed the bundles of cash in my hands.
"What's that?"
"I told you about the poker winnings, remember?"
She watched as I placed the money inside and closed the safe, securing it.
Margot pointed at me. "Three o'clock."
I looked at her.
"Cake tasting," she said. "Three o'clock sharp. Do not be late."
"Of all the things we've been doing for this wedding, that is the one I will not miss."
She smiled. "I thought so."
She leaned in and kissed me. Then she picked up her bag and headed for the door.
"Also," she said, "tell your mother she cannot invite random cousins from England to the wedding at the last minute."
"Last minute? The wedding is five months away."
Margot kept walking.
"What cousins from England?" I called after her.
The front door closed.
No answer.
I stood there for a moment.
"Damn it."
I really needed to talk to Mom. How many secret relatives did I have?
Every few months, someone new seemed to appear.
I left the apartment soon after and headed for Midas.
There was a lot to do today. There was always a lot to do.
I was halfway there when Dave called.
He wanted to discuss the recent casting for the Green Lantern sequel.
"I spoke to Nathan last week," he said. "He's interested."
"We just need to do the audition. Then we have our Guy Gardner."
Nathan had the charm, arrogance, humor, and ability to play someone deeply irritating without making the audience genuinely hate him.
Nathan could do that.
"I'll set up the test," Dave said.
"Good. And if, for some reason, he isn't available, we can cast Richard Castle," I joked.
There was a pause.
"What?"
"Richard Castle. If Nathan isn't available."
Dave sounded confused. "Why would we do that?"
"They look exactly alike."
"No, they don't."
I frowned.
"Yes, they do."
"Nathan Fillion and Richard Castle do not look alike."
"What do you mean they don't look alike?"
"They are completely different people."
"They have the same face."
"No, they don't."
This was happening again.
Castle and I had argued about the exact same thing before. He insisted that he looked nothing like Nathan Fillion. Even when I asked Margot, my mom, and all my friends, they told me the same thing.
I thought they were making fun of me or something.
They had to be.
Did no one else see what I saw?
"Dave," I said carefully, "if you put Nathan and Castle beside each other, most people would assume they were brothers."
"No, they wouldn't."
"Maybe even twins."
"Daniel, I don't have time for this."
"They could be."
"Danny, I'll arrange the audition with Nathan. What about the rest?"
"You can handle it. I wanted Nathan for Guy. The others are yours to choose."
We went over a few other names, production dates, and scheduling issues before ending the call.
By then, the car had reached Midas.
I stepped out and walked straight into the editing room.
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After spending most of the morning editing The Usual Suspects, reviewing the CGI work, and going through the additional footage I had shot in New York, I checked the time.
It was already past noon.
I had to meet Margot in two hours.
Before that, I had one more meeting, this time with the director of Event Horizon.
Fede Álvarez was directing the film, which had been in pre-production for a while. Principal photography was scheduled to begin in three months.
The cast was star-studded.
Idris Elba was playing Captain Miller. Cillian Murphy was Dr. Weir, which was one of the casting decisions I was most excited about. Rebecca Ferguson was playing Starck. She was also going to appear in Dune, meaning she would be working on two Midas productions across this year and the next.
The rest of the cast included Pedro Pascal, Riz Ahmed, Jeremy Allen White, and Toni Collette.
Fede was already in the conference room when I arrived, sitting beside Paul and several members of the production team.
On the screen was the interior of the Event Horizon, which he was showing to Paul as he explained the design.
I had seen the sets for myself last month. They were amazing. They looked exactly as I remembered them from the original movie, since I had helped with the concept art and design.
They stood as I entered, and I took my seat.
Fede continued his explanation as he brought up images of the ship interiors they had already constructed. The bridge, medical bay, corridors, airlocks, and sections of the gravity drive chamber were all being physically built.
"We can do more digitally," Fede said, "but the movie will be better if we have more practical sets."
"How much more?"
Paul slid a page toward me.
I looked at the figure.
It was not small.
It was also not unreasonable.
I looked at the photographs again.
"Do it," I said.
Fede nodded. "You agree?"
"If this makes the movie better, then yes."
"It will."
Paul looked at me. "I'll revise the budget."
We spent the rest of the meeting discussing the start of filming and how long production would take. I wanted the movie finished before 2019 so we could begin post-production in time for a Halloween 2019 release.
There was also some discussion about the ending, which I put off until later.
Once the meeting ended, I left the Midas offices and met Margot for the cake tasting.
Of all the wedding-planning activities I had attended so far, this was easily the best.
At least initially.
Several cakes were arranged in front of us, divided into small portions. Chocolate, vanilla, lemon, caramel, red velvet, strawberry, and combinations involving words like ganache, compote, and mousse.
Margot tried one of the chocolate samples, then another.
"That one's better," she said.
I tasted both again.
"They're the same."
"They're not."
"They are exactly the same."
"The first one is dark chocolate with espresso ganache."
"And the second?"
"Dark chocolate with salted chocolate mousse."
I looked between them.
"They taste the same."
Margot stared at me with genuine disappointment.
"Your palate is useless."
"My palate understands that chocolate tastes like chocolate."
"That's like saying every movie looks the same because they're all shown on a screen."
The larger problem was the strawberry cake.
Margot loved strawberries, while I hated them. It was not a mild dislike, either. Something about the smell made my stomach turn. Fresh strawberries were bad enough, but concentrated strawberry filling was worse. It had an overly sweet smell that immediately made me feel as though I was going to throw up.
Margot took a bite of the strawberry cake and closed her eyes.
"This one is perfect."
I was sitting as far away from it as the table allowed.
"This is great, but we can't have it," she said, looking at the cake with obvious longing.
In the end, we chose one of the chocolate cakes.
"I still don't understand how you and your mother both hate strawberries," Margot said as we drove back to the apartment.
"I can't help it."
She shook her head.
I watched her for a moment.
"Look, if you really want the strawberry cake, just pick it."
She turned toward me. "Really?"
"Yeah. I think I can force down a few bites."
Her expression softened.
"There is a chance I might throw up," I added.
Margot's face changed.
I could almost see the scenario forming in her head.
"No," she said immediately. "No, we're having chocolate."
We reached the apartment soon after. Margot walked toward the door first, then slowed as she drew closer.
The door was slightly open.
She looked back at me.
"Did you leave the door open?"
"What? No."
I stepped closer and pushed it wider.
"Stay behind me."
Margot did not argue.
We entered carefully.
The apartment was quiet.
Nothing appeared disturbed. The furniture was in place. The television was still there. My laptop sat on the dining table exactly where I had left it. No drawers had been pulled open. Nothing had been thrown around.
There was no obvious sign that anyone had been inside.
"Did I forget to close it?" I asked quietly.
I knew I had not.
At least, I thought I had not.
Margot moved toward the bedroom.
I checked the kitchen and living room, then heard her call my name.
"Danny."
Her voice was panicked.
I hurried toward the bedroom.
The false bookcase was open.
So was the safe.
Margot stood in front of it, staring inside. Tears had already gathered in her eyes.
"It's gone," she said.
I walked over.
"The ring. It's gone."
The safe was empty except for a single piece of paper.
A crude smiling face had been drawn on it.
Anger rose through me so quickly that it nearly became physical.
"Don't touch anything," I said.
Margot sat down on the bed.
"I'm calling the police."
She nodded, but she was barely listening. She kept staring at the empty safe.
I called immediately.
Margot was understandably devastated. The money did not matter much to me. Losing half a million dollars was annoying, but not a huge loss for Daniel Adler, the billionaire.
The ring was different. It was a damn heirloom.
I put my arms around her while we waited.
"We'll get it back."
"You can't know that."
"No," I admitted. "But we're going to do everything we can."
She wiped at her eyes.
"I should've kept it with me."
"This isn't your fault."
"I put it in the safe."
The police arrived while I was outside speaking with building security and talking on the phone with Graves, Lucy, and Raj. Lucy was dealing with the insurance company and the jeweler. Raj was preparing for the inevitable media problem once someone noticed police entering the building.
When I returned to the apartment, two officers were inside.
A woman stood with Margot, asking her questions. The second officer, a man, was looking around the apartment.
He turned and started walking toward the other officer as I entered.
The woman looked at me.
"Mr. Adler, I'm Officer Bishop."
I nodded.
"Are you certain nothing else was stolen?"
"Nothing that we've found. Just what was inside the safe."
"An engagement ring and..."
"Almost half a million dollars in cash."
Officer Bishop paused.
"Half a million?"
"Just some money I had withdrawn from the bank, you know."
The male officer moved closer. "There are no signs of forced entry or any other disturbance," he said. "They went directly to the bedroom and knew exactly where the safe was."
I looked at him properly for the first time.
My anger and frustration over the situation disappeared for a moment.
"Castle?"
The officer frowned.
"Excuse me?"
I stared at his face.
"I'm sorry. You look exactly like Richard Castle."
There was a brief silence.
"Never heard that before," he said.
He extended a hand.
"Officer John Nolan."
I shook it automatically, still staring.
He was Castle.
He had to be Castle.
Or Nathan Fillion. All three of them looked alike. Same face. Same build. Even the voice was the same.
Margot looked at me as though I had lost my mind.
She had met Castle before. How could she not see this?
Officer Bishop cleared her throat.
"Getting back to the safe, Mr. Adler. Who else knew it was here?"
"Margot and me. No one else. We only put the ring and money inside this morning."
"Who else has access to the room?"
"The cleaning staff don't have access to the bedroom unless one of us is home."
Nolan wrote that down.
I kept glancing at him.
He noticed.
"Is there a problem, sir?"
"No."
Officer Bishop continued.
"We'll follow the usual procedure. We'll review the building's security footage, speak with the staff, check entry records, and find out whether anyone unusual was seen near the apartment."
She looked between Margot and me.
"Given your public profiles, I assume you'll be asking for discretion."
"Of course."
"We'll do what we can."
"Do you have experience with cases involving celebrities?"
"Unfortunately," she said. "Enough."
She glanced toward the windows.
"I'm also sure at least one paparazzo has already noticed the patrol cars outside."
Raj was going to love that.
"For now, I need both of you to check the apartment carefully and make sure nothing else has gone missing."
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You can read up to chapter 333 here.
p.a.t.r.eon.com/Illusiveone (check the chapter summary i have it there as well)