CHAPTER 1
Martha Rogers wasted no time. From the moment she had hung up on her son, she was immediately dialing her granddaughter. "Come on," she urged her phone, "this is important. . ."
"Hello?" Martha smiled, and gave a slight "hallelujah" toward the heavens. The voice that answered her call was none other than her redheaded granddaughter, Alexis Castle, presently in residence at a summer extended study program for high school students held on the campus of Princeton.
"Alexis, Grams here. Are you sitting down?"
"No, I'm walking in between my class," she responded, noting that something must be up. Her grandmother was seldom home, let alone sober, at 3:00 - in the afternoon, no less. Not to mention that she was telephoning, knowing that Alexis was so diligent about turning off her phone during classes or while studying. Martha took a moment to acknowledge the fact that Alexis was the true rebel of the family: diligent, organized, and mature. Obviously, there was something way back in her Mother's DNA that was amiss from the genes shared by Martha and her son, famed mystery novelist and toddler-adolescent, Richard Castle. And, based on the usual behavior of Meredith, the reliability gene had skipped her generation and was firmly deposited in Alexis' chemical make-up.
Alexis' voice returned Martha to the conversation. "Okay, Gram, what's up?"
"You'd better sit down."
Alexis did not like how her grandmother was trying to prepare her for what could be bad news. Of course, with Martha, "bad news" could cover anything from a nuclear war to a shortage of ready chilled chablis in the ice box. Still, Alexis decided to play along with her fellow redhead. She put down her back pack under a large oak tree and sat down so her back was against the trunk. "Okay, I'm sitting. What is it?"
Martha paused for dramatic effect (of course, everything that Martha said contained a maximum of "dramatic effect", so Alexis was expecting no less). "I finally heard from your father about an hour ago."
Alexis smiled. "I've been leaving him voice messages for the better part of two weeks, ever since he dropped me off. I figured that he as, well, occupied with working on his book, not to mention with his, how did he put it, his "guest for possibly a very long weekend"? So, they finally came up for air?"
Martha looked at the phone like it had grown a second head and was spouting the wisdom of Proust. "'Came up for air'? Alexis, what are you talking about? You knew about your father's guest?"
Alexis smiled. "Well, not exactly, but he told me that he had invited someone "special", so I knew it had to be Detective Beckett. Not that Dad ever spoke her name out loud. Gosh, it certainly took them long enough to figure it out. I maybe should be a little jealous, but I did choose this program over spending Memorial Day in The Hamptons with him, so I guess that I'm really quite happy for them both. . ."
There was a sharp whistle from Martha's end of the telephone. It immediately stopped Alexis in her tracks.
"What did I say?"
"Alexis, you Dad didn't take Kate Beckett. He took Gina."
The next sharp noise was from the impact of the iPhone to the dirt as Alexis dropped it at the same moment she choose to scream. Her Dad hated Gina . . didn't he? Alexis knew that she hated Gina, ergo, her Dad must hate Gina also, since Castle and Little Castle agreed at least 98% of the time. Alexis quickly reached for the phone, picked it up, dusted it off, and tried to speak. Unfortunately, no sound was forthcoming from Alexis' vocal chords.
Martha seemed to understand. "Just let the energy surrounding you flow. Your senses will recover in a moment. I know, I thought he was taking Kate, also. I have no idea what happened, but your Dad called me to let me know that he had just tossed her out bodily from his downstairs office, was locking himself in to finish the book in order to get Gina out of his life as quickly as humanly possible, and, if Gina happened to call me with a tall tale of the cottage being on fire and to alert him, that I was NOT to convey any messages from Gina to him."
"Dad hates Gina." Alexis was very confused. She had previously joked that when she believed her father and Kate Beckett would be spending a romantic long weekend together that perhaps both Rick Castle and Alexis Castle might be getting lucky. Of course, her Dad was rather upset at the teenager's weak joke. If he had already been planning to spend it with Gina . . . Alexis tried to put that mental picture out of her head. Oh, so NOT a Kodak moment. Ewww. "Gram. Dad does hate Gina, doesn't he?"
"Oh, don't I know." Martha had tried to tell her son that he had no business marrying Gina, but Rick had refused to listen to her. He wanted a mother for his little girl; but he choose the one woman in all of New York City that lacked so much as a single maternal bone in her entire body. Gina was his publisher, a single minded career woman, and all that she had wanted was Richard Castle for arm candy and a steady income of royalties as he turned out a growing library of best selling novels. Not to mention almost eight years of monthly alimony payments: That marriage, which was Rick Castle's second and God knows what number for Gina, had lasted almost an entire four months. Alexis had been the first immediate discard. In a way, it had been his concern with his young daughter that carried Rick through those first difficult days.
Martha couldn't help but notice that she needed another drink whenever Gina's name was mentioned. "Alexis, why are you stating the obvious? Of course your Dad hates Gina. That is what unites all Castles - hatred of your father's second wife."
"Gram, I'm confused. What happened to Detective Beckett?"
"Ah, that I don't know. But someone needs to find out," suggested Martha.
Alexis suddenly realized the reason behind Martha's phone call. "You want me to telephone Detective Beckett and snoop?"
"Now, Alexis, that would be rude. However, you could inquire . . ."
Alexis shook her head and grinned. "So, in other words, Dad isn't picking up his cell phone or returning the calls you're leaving on the cottage home phone?"
"You're such a smart girl. We raised you well."
Alexis restrained from rolling her eyes. "Okay, Gram, what do you want me to do?"
"Well, I have an idea. . ."