A/N: So apparently there's a book/movie called Misery that bears a resemblance to this plotline. I've never read it or seen the movie, but I've been doing some research since a couple of people brought it up. Hopefully, where I'm headed is different enough from the plot of Misery to hold your interest. And for the people that have asked (LOL) no, my name isn't Renee ;)
"Look, Renee. I can't write without my coffee." He closed the lid of the laptop and stiffened as she came forward menacingly. "Ask Kate."
"It's true," Kate piped up from her chair. "He's very picky. Has to be from this little coffee shop by the precinct. Special-made custom order."
"I didn't say you could speak!" Renee snarled, lashing out at Kate with the gun barrel across her face and rendering her temporarily unconscious.
Rick clenched his fists and his jaw, his heart breaking, but forced his voice to stay light and unaffected. "Yes, if you could go there and tell them that you're picking up an order for Richard Castle – have them make my usual. Then, I'll be happy to write whatever you want me to write."
Renee hesitated, looking from Castle to Kate to the door and back again. Finally, she nodded and beckoned Rick with the gun. "Move your chair over here."
He obeyed, his eyes fixed on Kate, wondering if she was really unconscious or just lying in wait for her chance to kick Renee's … butt. As the psychotic captor in question unlocked the handcuffs (that weren't really locked to begin with) and threaded the chain through the slats in the chair's back, Rick decided that she must truly be out. This was the perfect opportunity, and she was missing it. She would not be happy about this when she woke up, and from the looks of things he was going to be cuffed to her when that moment occurred. The cool metal snapped in place around his wrist, and he sighed.
Yep.
He gave Renee the name and address of the coffee shop and watched carefully as she left, listening with dread as multiple locks clicked into place behind her. When he knew she was gone, he used his legs to swivel his chair around and with his free hand tenderly cupped Kate's battered face. "Kate?" he whispered, brushing her blood-matted hair away from her cheek, and nuzzled a particularly nasty bruise with his lips. "C'mon, sweetheart. Wake up."
She moaned in protest but she opened her eyes, and he watched as awareness gradually began to give them life. "Did she go get coffee?" she murmured groggily. Looking down at their cuffed hands, she grimaced in irritation.
Rick brought her lips to his and nodded into the comforting kiss. "Yeah – she believed us."
"She believed you," Kate corrected, ruefully lifting her hand to swipe at the blood running down her cheek. "She tried to kill me."
"About that." As he spoke, he gently massaged Kate's aching neck. "I don't think Kathy Bates is behind the brakes."
"Kathy Bates?"
"Haven't you ever seen Misery? The movie based on the Stephen King novel?"
Kate shook her head, and Castle looked positively horrified. "It's a classic! This deranged fan – played by Kathy Bates in the movie – kidnaps her favorite author and forces him to write a book that brings her favorite character back to life."
"Apparently, I don't have to see it – or read it," Kate joked weakly. "I'm living it."
"Yeah – except she doesn't want me to bring a character back to life," he amended, a sober tone of defeat coating his words. "She wants me to kill one."
"So why don't you think she's behind the car thing?"
"Well – she admitted to being the one that followed us on our date – took the pictures – put them up in your apartment – and conked you over the head with her gun."
"Yeah, she likes doing that."
He smiled sadly. "Yeah." Kissing her temple, he traced a gash on her cheek and winced when she winced.
"You still haven't told me – why don't you think she had anything to do with the brakes?"
"Because that would be too easy. We'd both be dead – and I may be uber-talented but even I can't write from the grave."
The wheels turned in Kate's mind, and she nodded. "So … maybe the brakes were tampered with by John Brennan's killer. The same one that left the note telling us to leave Edith alone and stop asking questions."
"And Renee was simply stalking us, waiting for the perfect chance to kidnap us, and what could be more perfect than our car going over a cliff and stranding us."
"Yes – and for all anyone knows, we died in that explosion." Groaning, she laid her head against Rick's shoulder, neither one caring about the transfer of blood. They quite simply just needed the contact.
"Do you remember how long it took us to get here from Queens?"
Kate thought, her eyes squinting with the effort, before she slowly nodded. "I think about 20 minutes?"
Rick agreed. "So, that means we're not quite in the city. Probably. Unless bat-poop crazy Renee got lucky with traffic."
"Which means it will take her a while to get the coffee and come back," Kate supplied, realizing where he was heading with this train of thought. She swiveled her head around to peer at the desk. "Did she leave the laptop?"
"Yeah – but there's no internet. I already checked. I'm pretty sure we're in a basement or a cellar – somewhere underground. I used the wireless card to search for any unsecured network, but couldn't find one."
"Well, we've got some time to come up with a plan before she gets back," Kate sighed, leaning into his chest for a precious moment before sitting up with resolve. "Let's look around."
Castle eyed their hands – cuffed to each other and secured by Kate's chair – then he looked at his desk chair on wheels and rolled his eyes heavenward. This was going to be interesting.
Lanie fidgeted anxiously as she waited for her coffee, checking her phone every couple of minutes in hopes of seeing a text from Javier to let her know Kate and Castle were okay. No such luck. After he had called to tell her what Gates had found out about the car explosion in Queens, she had been unable to concentrate on anything remotely resembling work. So, she'd come here – to the coffee shop near the precinct – in an attempt to take her mind off the waiting and calm her nerves. It wasn't working, but it was better than staring at dead bodies, knowing that Kate and Castle might be in someone else's morgue.
She glanced around at the other customers, her gaze landing on a plump brunette who seemed as nervous as Lanie herself was. "Doctor P?" Hearing her name called, the medical examiner gratefully accepted the hot cup from the barista, but her spine stiffened as she heard the order being placed next to her at the counter.
"I'm here to pick up an order for Richard Castle. He told me to get his usual."
"Do you want the usual order for Detective Beckett as well, miss?"
"No," came the instant, almost-growled reply. "Just for Rick."
Lanie surreptitiously examined the young woman under the guise of stirring her coffee and covertly typed out a text to Javier, letting him know what she had just heard. Within seconds, she felt the reply vibrate against her fingers.
Follow her. Not 2 close.
"Who does he think I am?" she muttered under her breath as she kept a close eye on the girl waiting for Castle's coffee. "Quincy?"
But follow her, she did.