Castle's Chords
Chapter 1
To Castle the book party seemed to go on forever. He had signed books until his shoulder ached and even the chilled champagne didn't make the room seem any cooler. Now it was time to take the podium to read to the expectant crowd. His head pounded and his throat was scratchy. "Alexis, do you have a cough drop or something?" he asked his daughter.
"Dad, are you sick?" Alexis asked in alarm.
"Hey, calm down," Castle soothed, regretting he'd asked. "My throat is a little dry, that's all."
"I have an Altoid," Alexis offered.
"That would be great," Castle told her. "Thank you."
Castle opened the book on the lectern and began to read. If anything, his voice seemed huskier than usual, which judging by the rapt attention of the women he could see in the first few rows, added a sexy edge to his performance. The mint had helped a little and he hoped he could finish without coughing his brains out. Managing to get through Rook's stunning words to Nikki, Castle left the stage as gracefully as he could to the tears and sniffles of his fans. Making his way to the bar, he requested water.
"Dad, you didn't sound good," Alexis worried, coming up behind him.
"Thank you," Castle croaked sarcastically.
Alexis reached up to feel her father's forehead. "Dad, I'm serious. I think you have a fever. We should go home."
"Alexis," Castle confided, "right now I would love to do just that, but my contract with Black Pawn says I stay until midnight and you know that Gina will extract every second. If you want to help, maybe you can go down to that little store they have off the hotel lobby and get me a couple of aspirin."
"I can do that," Alexis agreed.
Castle leaned against the bar as Alexis hurried off. Lately her attentions could best be described as smothering, but at that moment he was glad of them. He hoped that by the time he got home, Kate would be finished with the assignment that had kept her at the precinct and they could curl up together.
When Castle finally crawled into bed, Kate was already asleep and he didn't want to wake her, but appreciating the warm presence beside him, he sank wearily into the pillow.
Kate heard the buzz of the alarm in the morning. Turning it off she turned to Castle. "Hey," she called brushing his hair back from a sweaty forehead, "good morning."
Groaning awake, he tried to answer her, but his voice came in the feeblest of whispers. "Talked to too many worshiping fans, Castle?" she teased.
Castle shook his head and coughed. Kate tentatively stroked his cheek. "Castle, I think you're actually sick."
Kate could barely hear Castle's reply of, "Don't tell Alexis. She'll go nuts."
"Okay," Kate agreed. "I know how obsessive she's been, but I'm gonna get the thermometer."
Kate regarded the readout. "Not too bad, Castle, a hundred and one - not emergency room, but a trip to the doctor might not be a bad idea. Alexis is leaving early for school. She won't know. You have his number?" Castle silently reached for his phone, scrolled through his contacts and showed her the number. "It's early," Kate said. "Why don't you see if a shower makes you feel better and I'll make coffee. By then someone might actually answer the phone."
Castle nodded and Kate headed for the kitchen. He sat on the edge of the bed for a couple of minutes getting up the energy to head for the bathroom.
Kate saw the door close behind Alexis and found that a pot of coffee, minus a cup, was already sitting on the counter. She scrounged in the refrigerator for orange juice and warmed up a couple of croissant that had been stowed in the freezer. She had gotten through the front page of the paper when Castle emerged, robe wrapped securely around him. "Better?" she asked.
"A little," he answered, sounding like a rusty hinge.
"Right," she said, rolling her eyes. "I'll make the call."
"Mr. Castle," Dr. Klein announced, with Kate in attendance, "your vocal chords are infected. Now I'm going to give you some antibiotics that should have you feeling better in a few days, but I don't want you to talk. So text, use your tablet, whatever you like, but I don't want you to utter a word for at least forty-eight hours, or more than that if you're still running a fever. Just nod if I make myself clear."
Castle nodded grudgingly while Kate did her best not to smile. "You don't laugh! You don't dare laugh!" Castle typed on his phone, putting it in front of her face.
"Castle, I am not laughing," Kate insisted, her eyes still mirthful. "You can probably download an app to talk for you anyway. You'll be fine."
"Alexis is going to find out," Castle typed.
"We'll keep her busy chasing potato chip fudge ice cream for you," Kate comforted.
"Won't work. Mother just got some." Castle typed.
"We'll think of something else - or we could tell her you're doing research for a book. Something happened to Rook's throat," Kate suggested.
Castle looked doubtful but tried to smile. "That might work. I've done stranger things."
This time Kate did laugh. "I know."
Castle perused the contents of the files Kate brought home from the precinct. Someone had opened fire in front of a big box store. A manager who had just come out for a smoke had been killed and the shooter had escaped before police arrived. Witness accounts had varied, agreeing only that the shooter wore a hoodie and was black or hispanic. "Let me guess," he wrote on a yellow pad, "disgruntled employee?"
"I don't know, Castle," Kate replied, "No one knew who it was. There was some security video of the parking lot. Ryan is scrubbing it to see if he can find anything. One witness saw someone take off in what he described as a high end SUV, maybe a Lexis. Maybe we'll get lucky and find a plate number."
"Unlikely to be a disgruntled employee then," Castle speculated. "No one who works at a big box store can afford a Lexis. Did the manager have any enemies?"
"We don't know yet, Castle," Kate reported. "His wife is listed as his next of kin and she was visiting relatives in L.A.. She's flying in and I can talk to her tomorrow. Ryan and Espo talked to the other employees, but they couldn't think of anyone. It was the old 'He kept to himself,' line."
"Ah," Castle wrote, "the description widely used for serial killers and computer hackers."
"Except that this guy was killed, not a killer," Kate responded, "and he didn't work with computers as far as anyone knew. He supervised toilet paper and all the other paper goods people buy by the year's worth. So what did you do today?"
"Besides suffering in my sick bed?" Castle penned.
Kate rolled her eyes. "Besides that."
"I was looking for sound apps for my phone," Castle explained, using his pad. "I tried to get it to talk for me, but it was too slow. Good old pencil and paper work better. I did find some really cool sound effects though. Want to hear?"
"Maybe later," Kate replied. "I promised Alexis I'd pick up dinner and it's probably gotten cold sitting on the counter."
"Unlikely," Castle wrote with a flourish. "She probably has it set up as a feast with the good silver by now."
"The good chopsticks, anyway," Kate corrected,"we're having Thai."
Castle grinned.
"I think you're feeling better," Kate opined, jumping at the sudden emanation of a roar, until she realized it came from Castle's phone. "That better not mean Linus has returned," she warned.
A look of mock hurt covered Castle's face. "I promised he's gone and he's gone," he wrote. "That was just the master of the den being hungry."
"All right denmaster, I'm going to feed you, but if you do that again I'm going to spill your whole scheme to Alexis," Kate warned again. "Come on."
Kate had accumulated several days of Temptation Lane while engaged in casework and stretched out with Castle after dinner to watch. She was used to him heckling the dialogue and impossible situations and found the silence a bit unnerving - until he pulled out his phone again, producing sound effects at inappropriate places. A loud farting noise in the middle of a tender love scene was the final straw.
"Castle I swear, if you don't stop that I'm going to take it away. Castle slid the phone beneath his body, but her questing fingers pulled it free, tickling him in the process. Kate was a little taken aback by the feeble sounds that substituted for the raucous laughter to which she'd become accustomed. Catching the look in her eyes, Castle grabbed back the phone and produced a hearty belly laugh. Kate couldn't help laughing along, falling against him and curling up against his chest.
Castle shook his head vociferously. "I don't want you to get sick too," he typed into his phone.
Kate snuggled down further. "I'll risk it," she smiled.