"Gift from Beyond"
Chapter 25
I can't charge the boss.
Chapter Presented: Dec 23, 13; WC: ~3.1k
Chapter Notes:
As a reminder, the character Martin Fitch and his shop mentioned here is from "Seeds of Significance" by Bridlin and used with permission (Thank you!).
Kate sits there in her car still holding her phone in her hand resting on the seat as the information from this call sinks in. She blankly stares out the window at her city as if watching a movie go by while random snippets of thoughts pop up and fade in her mind like little fireworks going off. Her mother's proud face. An angry look from Alexis. A warm smile from the girl. Her badge when she was first handed it. Her gold detective's badge. Her old friend and T-O and that smart-ass grin he wore for her after he'd strung her along for a whole hour with a tall tale about the old days. The sight of that same friend, a good man forfeiting his life in penance, shot dead in an alley surrounded by trash not unlike her mother. The look of her dear friend and mentor Roy Montgomery, shot dead on a hangar floor after choosing the place to take his stand. The look of shock on Ann Hastings' face when they caught her in her costume.
The look of joy and love on her mother's face when they were ice-skating at Rockefeller center. The ridiculous case of the giggles she and her mother got when she fell on the ice and her mother fell trying to pick her up. The look of love her parents had for each other. The sight of her mom and dad dancing to and old tune on the radio across the kitchen, lost in their own world. The last time her father was happy and smiled at her before he began to willingly try to drown himself, his sorrows, his hurt and his memories in a bottle. The impact of those first words Detective Raglan said to her and her father. The look of relief on the face of the sister of the bike messenger when she was told that her brother's killer had been caught and was being brought to justice. The strange warm feeling deep in her soul when she talks to or about Alexis.
Quickly the memories begin to form their own montage of her life and flash quicker. The first time she saw Richard Castle's blue eyes all so long ago at that book signing. The first time she stood her ground as a cop and protected an innocent person by stepping between them and evil. The joyful laughs and prideful satisfaction she and her team shared after closing a particularly hard case. The spark she felt when they first kissed in that alley and how the sensation never left her. The ache she felt in her heart and soul when Will said he was going to Boston as if she was an afterthought. The look of love Castle reserves for her and her alone when he looks at her across a sea of women vying for his attention. The look of love on Castle's face anytime he looks at her.
With joyful memories crashing on a shore of tender scars she begins to see the more recent memories that give life to her being. The look on his face when they were at his house in the Hamptons and he told her how special her visit there was, "None of them were you." he said. The looks of pain she has caused on Castle's face. The look of pain on Martha's face when her son hurts because of her. The look of forgiveness Castle has given her more times than she's deserved. The look of love and friendship she receives from his mother and daughter. The memory of them dancing at Ryan's wedding and how truly right it felt to be in his arms and that there was no one else in the world but them. The feeling of an unfamiliar joy when she realized how lucky she was that she had found that one person who would stand with her. The first time since that cold January day so long ago that she realized she felt whole again. The searing white-hot pain in her chest that a bullet left. The inky blackness that poured into her world on that bright sunny day engulfing everything. The cold terrifying blackness of death. The blackness she walked up to, touched and was being consumed by. The blackness that was pierced by the light of his love. His love. His love for her. Their love. Her love. Yes, her love. The safe and warm feeling of waking up in his arms.
Suddenly startled by a knock on her window she returns from her emotional roller-coaster to face a homeless bum knocking on the window looking for change. Wiping her eyes, she reaches for her badge then changes her mind, pulls out a small handful of coins, opens her window and passes them to him. "Make sure you buy a meal with this." she says hoping that this little effort would help.
"Thank you and god bless you ma'am." he says scooting away into the sidewalk crowd.
"I think it's time to get going." she thinks to herself with a sigh.
She closes her window and starts the car. Pulling her car into the river of vehicles she weaves her way through traffic to Martin's bookshop. Arriving she pulls into a convenient space right out front. Looking at the old worn sign that says "The Book Store" she smiles at what this place means. Before she heads into the store, she goes into her trunk and opens her ditty bag, puts in the half burger to-go box and removes an old and comfortable wool scarf from the plastic bag she keeps it in to keep it clean. Smiling knowingly, she pockets the scarf and goes through the door causing the tinny bell to ring causing her to smile at the nostalgic sound.
"Look who's here!" A voice calls out from somewhere in the back of the store.
"Hello Mister Fitch!" She calls out into the store without knowing exactly where the little man is. "How are you?"
"My dear girl! How many times do I have to ask you to call me Martin?" he says coming forward from behind a stack of books. His walking stick makes a dull thud on the floor and his eyes crinkling over his half-moon glasses. Reaching out he takes her hand and gently plants a kiss on her knuckles. "To what do I owe this pleasure? Oh! Wait! The book! Yes yes..." the man says turning around and looking around the piles of books around the store. "Yes, I put a new one aside for you as soon as you called me." he says walking deeper into the store. "Right this way my dear, right this way." the funny old man says disappearing into the piles of books and mumbling "Now where did it get to?" he asks as if the books had a propensity to relocate themselves unannounced out of some sense of mischievous intent to mock him.
She hears the cane stop "Ah ha! Here it is my dear!" he says proudly "Let me put it in a bag for you. I have one right over here." and she hears the cane thumping again.
"That's alright Martin." she says "Please don't go to any trouble!" she calls after him to no avail as the little man scoots into the back room.
"No trouble my dear, no trouble at all." he says returning with the bag and slipping the book into it then holding it out to her.
Taking the book from him she thanks him and asks "Thank you Martin. How much do I owe you?"
"Don't be silly dear. You're essentially the owner. I can't charge the boss." he says dismissively with a gentle wave of his hand.
"See Martin, I suspected you'd say something like that." she says blushing bright red but smiling and giving him a gentle narrow-eyed stare and waggling her index finger at him. "However, I've caught on to you." she laughs with a little twinkle in her eye. "So, for payment, I brought you this." she says pulling the scarf from her pocket "I suspect that a cozy scarf would be nice on those cold damp mornings." as she wraps it around his neck.
"Oh my dear! This is wonderful!" He says his face lighting up. "This is absolutely wonderful, just the sort of thing my dear Julia would get me." he says happily as he wraps the scarf further around his neck. "Oh this is so nice and warm. Thank you dear! You're everything Ricky says you are. Thank you." he gushes patting her arm as her blush deepens. "Would you like to stay for some tea?" he asks.
Just then Kate's phone beeps to life. "I'm sorry Martin." she apologizes taking her phone out to read the text message from Ryan. "Thank you for the kind offer. I'm sorry but I can't. I have to get back to work."
"That's fine my dear! You'll have to stop by when you have more time, I'll tell you some more stories about our favorite little boy." he smiles crinkling his nose. Taking her elbow he walks with her to the door. "Thank you for coming, I hope you like the book."
"I'm sure we will Martin, thank you very much." she says to him as she leaves the store.
Quickly, she gets into the car and heads for the hotel address that Ryan had sent her. "Who in their right minds would name a hotel 'Lancelot'? Like that's not suggestive or something." she smirks to herself. After turning a sharp corner, without even noticing it, she reaches out and makes sure the book in the bag is still safe on the seat. She smiles at her actions enjoying the feeling of surprising him and how he's going to react to this book.
She pulls up at the hotel, grabs the bag with the book and goes into the lobby.
"May I help you ma'am?" the clerk at the desk asks with an air of cool formality.
"Do you have a gift shop?" Kate asks politely.
"Yes ma'am, right over there." he says pointing across the lobby.
She thanks him and goes into the shop and finding the clerk behind the counter. "Do you have either gift wrapping or gift bags?" Beckett asks the woman.
"Yes, we can gift wrap for you if you'd like."
"That's wonderful, could you wrap this book?" she asks holding it up.
"Yes. I can do that for you." the woman says taking the bag. While the clerk wraps it, Kate wanders through the store taking it in and looking at the little knick-knacks of New York and other chachkies. Looking at the collectable spoons she thinks back to an aunt who collected them, had a bunch hanging on a special rack in her house above the radio. Next she sees the thimble with little "I heart NY" icons on them. "I never understood thimble collecting." she thinks to herself with a little smile.
"There we go. Nice and simple." the woman says bringing her back to the here-and-now and handing the wrapped package to her.
"Thank you." she says grabbing a small bag of M&Ms and going to the register.
After paying, she heads back to the front desk.
"May I help you ma'am?" he asks again with the same detached formality and crispness.
Holding up her shield "Hi. Detective Beckett, NYPD. I need to speak to the manager." she says with authority, surprising the clerk behind the desk.
"Y...Yes ma'am... Detective, I'll call him." he says nervously picking up the phone. Speaking quickly and in a hushed tone "There's a cop here, she wants to talk to you." ... "I don't know." he whispers panicked while eying Kate hoping she doesn't hear him while she looks around the place distractedly examining the decorations but using her training to listen closely to the clerk and the tone of his voice. Hanging up the phone he clears his throat and tries to mask the nervousness in his voice by using that 'detached formality' attitude and tells her "Detective, Mister Winslow will be right with you."
"Thank you." She responds still absently looking around hoping to not put them on edge.
A portly man with stubby fingers comes around the desk "Hello, I'm Douglas Winslow the manager, you asked to see me?" he says but she can see the fear in his eyes. He's up to something and her presence is scaring the hell out of him.
"Yes Mister Winslow, I'm Detective Beckett" she says holding up her shield. "You were supposed to give us the surveillance video for the previous four weeks." she snaps knowing that they didn't ask for that much but she wants to rattle this guy to see what happens.
"I... we... we sent that over to the other cops... um... detectives, I think they said they were from homicide." he stammers.
"I don't think so. I'm from homicide and we don't have it." she snaps glowering at him.
"Then..." he starts, the panic he's feeling palpable.
"Don't!" she snaps holding up her hand. Stepping forward into his personal space, she sticks her finger in his face "Don't you dare say you've sent it to the robbery detectives because they don't have it either. You have two choices." she says pulling her phone out of her pocket. "You either give me those recordings NOW" she says emphatically "or I make a call and get a warrant and we'll bring in an army of cops in here and go through this place like termites. We'll disrupt everything. You're impeding a murder investigation which is also a crime that the D-A just loves to prosecute. So what's it going to be?" she says giving him the patented Beckett withering glare and tapping her foot at a careful tempo to make him feel like she's counting down.
"I'm sorry! I'll give it to you now!" he stammers sweating "I don't know what happened. I thought we'd done as you asked. Please, give me a moment and I'll get you the disks." he says panicked like he's wearing bacon underwear in a dog pound.
She smiles to herself as he almost runs behind the counter to his office to retrieve the disks.
Only a couple of moments later he comes hurrying back with a small box of disks. "Here detective, here's all the video we have, this is as far back as we go." he says pushing the box at her.
"Thank you Mister Winslow." she says pleasantly taking the box from him slowly and gently. "I'll have these logged into evidence and a receipt sent to you promptly. Thank you for your cooperation."
Sweating profusely, he wipes his forehead with a handkerchief. "Any time Detective, we're always happy to cooperate. I'm very sorry that there was a mix-up." He says as she turns to head for the door with the box of disks and her bag with the wrapped book.
Putting the box in the trunk, she puts the wrapped book in her open ditty bag with a smile. As she gets into the driver's seat, she pulls out her phone, hits speed dial, puts it on speaker and sticks it on the no-slip pad on the dash so she can talk while driving.
"Ryan" comes the voice.
"Hey Ryan. I'm leaving Lancelot now." she says turning into traffic.
"Did you have any trouble?" he asks.
Laughing she tells him "I didn't but the manager, Douglas Winslow, did. I scared the guy so bad that instead of giving me the week you asked for, he gave me all of the video disks at once."
"Sounds like a serious laundry problem." Ryan snickers on the phone.
"Oh without a doubt his pants are full." She laughs "Tell the guys in robbery that I've got them and they're going to have to log them in. We will then get the ones we want from them."
"That sounds like a good plan. I'll call them right away." he says. "Anything else?"
"No, how's it going there?" she asks maneuvering around the traffic.
"Nothing much going on here. Your writer is bored out of his mind, we had to ask him to run errands for us to keep him busy." he says, followed by Castle's voice in the background "These guys are boring Beckett, you need to get back here and save me."
"Yeah Beckett, Javi's getting ready to send him across town on a snipe hunt." Ryan laughs.
"Don't worry guys, I'm on my way back. I'll give him some work to do so he leaves you alone." she says smiling at her boys.
"Good, thanks." Ryan says, then after a thought "Hey Beckett, if this guy, what'd you say his name was, Winslow, was so wonky, should we be looking at him too?"
"Actually, I was going to suggest that robbery give him a serious look for the problems they've been working on. This guy was guilty of something. I don't think it has anything to do with our case, I think he's just got something else going on and this is overlapping with it." Kate says sounding far away. "When you talk to them, suggest they put eyes on him to see what other exciting things he might be up to."
"Okay, talk to you when you get back here then. I'll call robbery now." Ryan says closing the call.
Smiling at how happy her family is and how well they get along she continues to drive back to the precinct wearing that same goofy grin she usually teases Castle for having.
Author's Post Script:
I would appreciate any comments you can leave for me. They don't have to be positive, just not mean or nasty. I really would like feedback about how my work is received. Thank you for reading and thank you in advance for your comments.