Author AWOL
Paula had been fidgeting in her seat on the lawn of Castle's Hamptons beach house for an hour before Jim Beckett, voice trembling, made the announcement. Castle had been in an accident and there would be no wedding. It took a moment for the news to penetrate. Rick Castle, friend, meal ticket, and one time lover had been in an accident. She hurried to join the group anxiously barraging Jim Beckett with questions he couldn't answer. He couldn't tell anyone much. Castle's car had gone over the side of the road and caught fire, but his body wasn't in the car. How badly Rick had been hurt or where he was, no one seemed to know.
Paula pushed her way through the press of guests to find Gina Cowell, Rick's publisher and second ex-wife. "We need to control the situation," Gina said upon spotting the agent.
"Control the situation?" Paula exclaimed aghast. "What about Rick? He could be hurt. Hell, he could be dead."
"Either way, sales of Wild Storm will soar and we need to get Raging Heat out there," Gina responded. "He finished everything but the acknowledgments. I can get a junior editor to do them and rush it to press. We can put an e-book out immediately."
Paula stared at the icy blond hair surrounding the botox smoothed face. "You are a cold bitch, aren't you? You wanted the author and didn't give a damn about the man."
"And you're so different?" Gina asked. "As if you weren't living off his talent."
"At least when I slept with him, I actually enjoyed it," Paula retorted, "and so did he. Rick is a sweet man and I want to see him happy with Kate. He's been chasing after her for six years. I'm going to see if I can find some of Rick's cop friends. Maybe they know something."
To Paula, there was no doubt that her job had become a nightmare. Anticipating being out of touch on his honeymoon, Rick had given power of attorney to his business manager so that Martha and Alexis had access to funds. The family was all right financially in the short run but unable to function in any way that would promote Rick's books. An interview with frantic family members would have been a PR bonanza, but Alexis and Martha steadfastly refused and Kate was totally obsessed with finding her missing fiancé. "That's as it should be," Paula thought about Kate. "She should want to find him." But the silence from Kate and the family only made things harder.
Rumors had begun to surface on the blogs and on Twitter. The mean spirited little pissants were claiming that Rick had gotten cold feet and staged an elaborate hoax to get out of his impending marriage. An even more cynical group claimed that the whole disappearance was a stunt to boost book sales. While true that sales of Wild Storm had picked up when Rick's disappearance was announced, they had begun to plunge as the chatter on the web got ugly. Paula wasn't sure what she could do about the release of Raging Heat. If the talk about Rick got worse, it could hit the market like a lead balloon. That would be bad for her but even worse for his family and for him, if he ever made it back.
Paula decided to go see Kate. Perhaps an appeal from the distraught fiancée might not only help sales, but might actually turn up a lead to Rick's whereabouts. Paula found Kate at her desk in the 12th Precinct staring at a well worn chair. "Kate, can we talk a minute?" Paula asked.
Kate looked up, recognizing Castle's agent. "Paula, right? I don't really have any control over Castle's affairs. I don't know how I can help you."
"You can help by getting out there and expressing some faith in Rick," Paula exclaimed. "The talk is getting nastier every day. Some of the fans are convinced that he up and left you. It's as if Rook left Nikki. They're turning on him."
Kate put her face in her hands. "I don't know, Paula. Maybe he did. There are some details that haven't been released to the public. It's possible that Castle may not want to be found."
Anger rose, exploding out of Paula's mouth. "Kate Beckett, that is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. I've known Rick a lot longer than you have and I've never, ever, seen him look at anyone the way he looks at you. You have no idea of the tours he's turned down, the opportunities he's given up to hang around here following you like a puppy. Running away has never been his style. He took care of Alexis by himself. He deals with both those bitches of ex-wives more kindly than I could ever do, especially after the way Meredith cheated on him, and didn't he stay with you after he found out you were married? I don't know what details you're talking about but I do know that Rick Castle would never willingly leave you, so pull it together."
"What do you want me to do?" Kate asked.
"I want you to release a statement saying that you love Castle, you believe in him and you're searching for any lead to bring him home," Paula told her. "And I hope to God that you'll mean it."
Kate nodded slowly. "I can, and I will."
Cursing as she read through the latest tabloid story purporting to show that Richard Castle had run off to South America with a porn star, Paula picked up her buzzing phone. "Paula," came the shaky voice of Alexis on the other end. "Dad's been found. He's been adrift in some little boat on the ocean. He's in the hospital."
"How is he?" Paula asked.
"We don't know yet," Alexis replied. "Gram and I are with him, but he's still unconscious."
"I'm coming," Paula told her.
Paula was not surprised that the first person Castle asked for when he finally woke up was Kate. Martha explained that Kate had been there, but was investigating Castle's accident. "Rick, we need to talk," Paula told him.
"Tired," Castle mumbled drifting off again. Paula took pictures of the painfully sunburned face, even redder against the background of hospital linens.
"What are you doing?" Martha asked. "This is hardly the time for publicity shots."
"Actually," Paula argued, "it's the perfect time. These pictures will show that wherever Rick's been, he's been through hell. That's what we need to show the media right now. They need to know that he didn't skip out on his wedding to live it up somewhere. No one gets scorched drifting for days in a boat like that willingly."
Paula hurried away to put a press release on the wires.
Paula leaned on the doorbell of the loft until the door was thrown open by Alexis. "Paula, Dad's sleeping," Alexis chastened her.
"Not any more," Castle grumbled, pulling on a robe as he approached the door.
"Look Rick," Paula said, "I know you haven't been back long, but we've got to get you out there."
"I agree," Castle said.
"You do?" Paula asked in surprise.
"Not just to sell books," Castle clarified. "Paula I still don't know what happened to me and I need to know. Kate needs to know so that we can get our lives back on track. Right now there are zero leads. I need help from the public and not just my fans. I'll pay for it, if that's what it will take. So set up the interviews and I'll take them. Find some interviewer who'll pretend to be friendly and then try to go after me like a tabloid shark. Then I can drop the news that I'm putting up a reward."
"That's actually a great idea, Rick. Maybe you'll get your answers and some sympathy in the bargain," Paula told him. "And I know just the underhanded bitch to do the job."
Castle kissed her on the cheek. "Paula, you're the best."
"Rick," she rejoined, "to take care of you, I'd better be. Now let me get out of here and get something going."
Paula closed the door of the loft behind her. "Brooke, you bleached bitch," she murmured under her breath, "you'll never know what hit you."