Glad to see I've kept a few readers with me on this trip. Only a few, maybe 2 but probably 3, chapters to go including this one. Rick adapts to his new life, Beckett wraps up the Quest and she and Alexis begin another Quest in true Castle style.

ROAD TRIP!

Read and enjoy. I recommend going to you-tube and searching for Promontory. 8 minutes of classic Clannad and the video is interesting.

OM

No Matter Where You Go by Oldest Man

Chapter 7

Pawleys Island, South Carolina
6:30 am on a Tuesday in May

Alexander Richards rolled over in his bed and stared out the open double doors towards the Atlantic Ocean. He'd been in the Program 6 months although most of the first 2 months had been spent on the 'mainland' in a rehab hospital. He gingerly rolled out of bed favoring his knee. He'd been jogging along the beach in the early morning two days before and had snagged on a half-buried piece of driftwood and had taken a tumble, twisting his knee.

"Crap." He'd slept in (for him) and started to stand when his knee reminded him that he hadn't used his elastic bandage. It was slightly swollen but he didn't feel any 'gravel' under the kneecap that would have meant another cortisone shot after a long drive to the doctor on the mainland.

He took a quick shower and then did his stretching exercises to loosen his knee as well as strengthen it. Alex took great care and didn't push past 'the burning point'. He'd been pleasantly surprised with his full recovery from the gunshot wound. Two puckered scars, one dime-sized high on his chest and one quarter-sized on his back, were the only souvenirs of being shot. The knee was a different story altogether.

The government had gleefully purchased a large late 19th century summer home and converted it into a bed & breakfast. They'd used a large chunk of his money to do so with his permission, thus the glee. He still had a hefty bank balance in his accounts he'd set up early in his career under his real name, Richard Rogers. He also had money in two offshore accounts in the Caymans but only he and his lawyer knew about them. That's where he'd taken money from to fund Kate's Quest.

He only had guests 'off season' on the weekends. After Memorial Day weekend, he'd have all 3 rooms reserved through the end of the season. He made a mental note to hire a cook and a maid to cook and clean. There were less than 150 full-time residents on Pawleys Island so he'd have to go through an agency to get them.

By the time he'd showered, (and pulled on the elastic brace for his knee), made coffee, and fussed with his newly grayed hair, it was time to go check the mail. Using his alias, he'd subscribed to a clipping service and any and all references to the 12th precinct or its personnel that appeared in the press were sent to his post office box sometimes as often as once a week but he hadn't gotten any in the last two weeks.

He slipped on his shorts, a sweatshirt and sandals and strolled up the beach to the cluster of homes and businesses that although 'arrogantly shabby', constituted the bustling metropolis of Pawleys Island, one of the oldest resort areas on the East Coast.

"Morning, ladies." He waved to his only neighbors, a gay couple that moved in a few weeks before he had. They were nice people although the older one, Faye, looked like Arnold the Terminator with boobs, while her partner, Gayle, looked more like a gracefully aging Paris Hilton.

They were good neighbors. They minded their own business.

He walked into the post office/hardware store/pharmacy and asked for his mail as he did every morning since arriving here. He had a post office box but the post office didn't have any 'boxes' since Hugo visited. The USPS had never gotten around to sending them any more after Hurricane Hugo took out the old Post Office.

"Morning, Alex. How's the knee?" Mollie Spencer was the postmistress and pharmacist and her husband ran the hardware store. The entire place could have fit easily into the living room of his old loft in the city.

"Not bad. How's business?" It was their usual banter in the mornings. She was trying to convince him to let her give him his occasional cortisone shot when his knee acted up but so far he'd ducked her offers. Mollie with a needle in one hand and his knee in the other didn't work. He'd never seen glasses as thick as hers. For all important reasons, she was blind as a bat.

"Mrs. Jennings ran out of her heart pills and called me at 3am to refill her prescription. I just got back from the mainland with her stuff. We can't carry it out here so I drive over the north causeway and hit the Rite Aid. One of these days we'll buy a damned safe so we can refill prescriptions here. You got a ton of mail." She grinned and handed him one bulky envelope that he knew was from the clipping service and he chatted briefly and then walked back to the B&B.

He walked up to the house from the beach and dumped the mail on the table on the deck and went in to get coffee. He sat down at the table and opened the envelope and started sorting through the clippings which were in no order at all.

NYPD Homicide Detective Critically Injured

Dawn Raid Sweeps Up City Council Members, Judges

Financier Shot & Killed by Police Resisting Arrest

The headlines screamed out at him from the two week-old New York Post and kept bouncing through his mind as he read the rest of the article. He finished reading all the clippings and then walked up to his bedroom and unlocked a metal box that was in the bottom of his closet. He pulled out a prepaid cell phone he'd had Mrs. Spencer pick up for him on one of her prescription runs onto the mainland.

He had been told that he could only use the land line for the B&B because they recorded the conversations and numbers to ensure the identity of the caller. He didn't care. He knew who he was calling. Stupid rule.

He dialed a number he hoped he'd never have to use and waited impatiently while it rang in New York.

"This is Agent Shaw – " He interrupted her.

"Jordan, it's me. How – how is she? How bad is it? Should I come back?"

"Cas – Castle?" He heard the surprise in her voice and then the professional was back in her tone. "She's doing fine. She and Ryan were ambushed after the raid that swooped up all those fat cats. Ryan's back at work already but Beckett – Kate resigned from the Department."

"But why? Was she that badly injured? Is she under pressure? Is she in danger?"

"The corruption that cost her mother her life hit a little too close to home and she quit. We've got her covered 24/7 while the investigators sift through the mass of evidence she accumulated. She'll need to testify before the Grand Jury and that will take some time. She got the bastard that killed her mom so she's satisfied with the outcome. She seems relieved somehow, like she's put down a huge burden she'd been carrying."

"If you see her – tell her – never mind. I'm happy for her. At least something good came out of all this. How's the search for the missing cell members coming along?" He hoped to be able to go home soon. He missed Kate and his girls.

"No progress but we're still investigating. I'm sorry, Richard. I really am."

He didn't acknowledge her comment. He just disconnected the call and put the go-phone on the charger. He'd put it back and forget he had it unless something major occurred.

He went back downstairs and settled down on the deck and re-read the newspaper clippings. Maybe he'd send her another video and congratulate her on bringing down her mom's killer and asking her, no, telling her to move on and to forget about him. He didn't think this nightmare would ever end.

In his younger days he'd read about people being exiled but it had never had any impact on him until now.

New York City
Castle's Loft
A Tuesday in September

Kate was looking at herself in the bathroom mirror, holding a pair of scissors in her hand and a long lock of chestnut hair in the other. Martha and Alexis had both insisted that she move into the loft with them during her convalescence and she'd stayed well past that. They'd become a family sharing their losses and gaining support and comfort from each other in the process.

'I need a change. This is getting me down. The Grand Jury has finally heard my testimony and now I'm 'free' except for the death threats and the fact that there are still elements of the financial conspiracy out there that want me dead. The FBI won't hang around forever since I've given them what they want. I can't put these people in danger. They're my family now.'

"Kate, are you in there? Can we talk?" Alexis was worried about Kate's depression. After the mess with her Dad and then the shooting and then the loss of her father to a heart attack and the stress of the Grand Jury, Beckett wasn't bouncing back like her Dad thought she would. Alexis had developed a serious case of hero worship for her father and his – what? – girlfriend?

"Yeah, Lex, I'm in here. Just thinking about shaving my head."

"What? Oh, Kate, no! My Dad loves your hair. He always told me about all your hairstyle changes over the years."

"Just kidding. Maybe I'll trim some of it. It's getting to be a pain in the ass to manage."

"Let me put it up in a French Braid and it'll be out of your way for as long as you want it. And I want to talk to you about some things."

Kate had broken down and told Alexis about the Witness Protection Program one night when she'd been in a lot of pain from the gunshot wounds and Alexis had been at her wits' end and finally broke down in tears because she'd lost her father and was afraid Kate was next.

While Alexis brushed out Kate's hair in preparation for the braid, she blurted out her thoughts and fears and then she made her suggestion.

"Kate, you're going stir crazy and so am I. Gram's going to California to do some theater thing and I think - Kate, I think you and I need a road trip!"

"Lex, honey, wait here. I've got something to show you. Please don't be angry with me because I kept this from you. I told you your dad's alive and well but I never told you that I had a pretty good idea where. I wasn't being selfish I just didn't know what good it would do to know and not be able to go to him."

They watched the video he'd sent almost 6 months ago and they both cried. Alexis understood why she'd kept it. It was incredibly personal and her father had spilled his heart out after giving her his 'hints'.

They left the next morning but not before Kate traded her car in on a big RV and headed south telling Alexis 'we won't have to worry about motels, meals or the bathroom'. She let Alexis drive the big motor home as much as she wanted since her shoulder still ached and the angle of the grip on the steering wheel aggravated it.

The further south they drove, the warmer it seemed to get. They stopped at a small town in North Carolina and hit their equivalent of a department store for more summery clothes. She laughed out loud when Alexis told her quietly 'I've never been in a Walmart – it's kinda creepy, y'know?'

Kate bought a road atlas and they plotted their trip to the South Carolina coast. Alexis had brought her laptop and between Google and AT&T online Yellow Pages they had a fairly good list of B&Bs but Kate was adamant that they investigate all those on or near islands.

"Kate, the entire northern half of South Carolina is one long series of barrier islands. It might take us weeks – "

"We're on vacation, Lex. Time doesn't mean anything. I told him I would find him and by God I will. Now, find the northernmost island and let's plot a course. This beast is equipped with a Tom-Tom GPS and we'll do this all scientifically and thoroughly, Okay?"

She'd never seen Beckett in her 'cop mode' and she found it very intimidating. She could see why her father had to love this woman. She'd probably kill him if he didn't. This was going to be so interesting.