The next week had gone by pretty quickly and both teams had their share of cases. Kate's team was in the second rotation and Rosalyn Karpowski's team was now idle, so any case that was to come in would be for Kate and her team.
She knew that Karpowski had been a detective for over a year. When she was first assigned to the 12th Precinct she hit the ground running. Her first case out was a high-profile case involving a city councilwoman which might have been a disaster depending on how the case was solved. But Rosalyn came through with flying colors. Not only did she and her team solve the case, but she was able to credit her team for being the ones who found out who the killer was. Needless to say, it was a team effort and that's what Kate was now striving for between her Ryan and Esposito.
As she sat at her desk she looked over to the conference room. In the room, she noticed that Richard Castle was typing away furiously on his laptop. He was nothing she had expected. In the last week, he had basically kept to himself except for their question-and-answer routine right before and her shift ended. Sometimes the questions were long and drawn-out and needed an explanation of the procedure as to why she did what she did. But then there were times when the questions were quick and their Q & A session only lasted about 15 minutes. But as she learned during the last week there is something off with his manner. He just seemed to be withdrawing from them even after he went to all the trouble to follow them around.
She watches as he stops typing, looks up to the ceiling to think about something he must trying to recall in his mind, and then he looks back down and starts typing once again.
"So Beckett how is your new shadow?" Roz asks.
"You know, he's not quite what I pictured. He mostly keeps to himself." Kate answers as she points to the conference room.
"Yeah well that all might be changing. I have a source that tells me that he was in a meeting with the Mayor, Commissioner, and Captain Montogomery on Wednesday, it was quite long. My source told me that he was fed up with sitting in the conference room being treated like a child. He said that Castle's lawyers along with the legal team from the NYPD were in talks all day. I have a feeling that he wants to go with you when you go out in the field."
The look on her co-worker's face was priceless. Roz could tell that Kate was going to explode at any second so she decided to take a step back to avoid being hit by any swinging body parts. But after thirty seconds it never happened. Instead, she calmly got up from her desk and walked slowly to the conference room thinking about what to say when she was in front of her shadow.
Roy had known what was said by Roz just by the way Beckett was (most likely) formulating a plan on how she was going to kill the writer. He had to give her credit though because she was actually reserved if anything. He just needed to see if he would be needed to be in there to explain what had transpired in the meeting he was at during the week.
It seemed that Mr. Castle was a very generous man. Roy actually might think he had a beating heart in his chest after he pitched his ideas at the meeting. But no matter what he'd still keep a close eye on the man. As he watched Beckett approach Castle he had a thought. He needed to keep her from investigating her mother's case and he thinks that he has found the way to go about it. He will hate himself for what he will be doing to her because she'll never advance past detective second grade. But he needs to keep her mind off the past and direct it towards a different kind of past. One that he knows she'll hate.
Kate simply stood there watching him type. He never looked up at her, that is until she slammed her hand on the conference room table open-palmed. She quickly realized how painful that was but it got him to stop typing.
"Detective?" Rick asked.
"Don't detective me Mr. Castle! What is this I hear that you had a meeting with my boss, his boss, and the mayor?"
"Hearing about this just now are we? And you call yourself a detective." Rick gave her a smirk.
"Don't push your luck, Mr. Castle. You're walking a very thin line here. What was this meeting about?" Kate asked, demanding an answer just by her tone alone.
"Well if you must know it was a meeting where I have asked to accompany you in every facet of your investigations. And I mean everything. From the initial call-out, then to the crime scene, next to inform the family of the loss of their loved ones, to hunting down the clues that will result in an arrest of the person who committed the murder. I need authenticity and I'm not getting it here by asking questions at the end of your shift. I'm sorry but there is not enough to go on by simply sitting here thinking stuff up that's usually not how you do it in the field."
Kate can only stare at him hoping what she just heard was not true.
"So tell me, Mr. Castle, how much did this cost you? I know for a fact that my captain would never let you into the field unless there was something that the department received as a payment."
"If you must know detective Beckett, I had to make a sizable donation to the PBA's widow and orphan's fund to be able to assist you in the field."
"How much? And you are not going to be assisting me in doing anything in the field!"
"Detective, while this is my own personal matter it's not something you need to know. I will however tell you that there will be no widows or orphans suffering in the near future."
"Castle, if you don't tell me you're not going anywhere in the field with me. So either tell me or don't either way I will find out and if I find out my way you're never coming out in the field with me. My rules."
Rick mumbled something that she could not hear clearly.
"I'm sorry Castle what was that? I heard something that sounded a lot like a quarter of a million dollars, but I couldn't be sure."
"No, you heard correctly. That was the amount we agreed on for me to get to tag along with you…. in the field"
Kate just stood there trying to come to grips with what he just said. That quarter of a million to her was equivalent to four years of her salary without overtime. She never knew how much money he had, but with what she was just told it seems that he was loaded.
"Detective?" Rick says to her.
Kate having not said a word to him turns and leaves the conference room. Her path leads her right to her captain's door where she knocks on the door frame.
"Enter."
Kate does and comes to stand right in front of her boss.
"What do you need Beckett?" Roy asks.
"Sir, I want him gone. I will not be responsible for someone else's well-being especially a civilian without any training while I'm in the field."
"So I guess you heard the good news then didn't you. But detective you're forgetting one thing, since Mr. Castle has decided to grace us with his presence, he has also made a very large donation to the PBA's widow and orphans fund."
Roy pauses for a second before continuing on.
"That put him on the good side of the commissioner and the mayor and they seem to have forgotten that he was not allowed to be accompanying you in the field. Money has a strange way to change people's minds."
"Captain, why did you agree to this? There was a time when you said something you meant it. Now it seems that you are going back on your word just because he throws his money around."
"Detective you're skating on very thin ice. I'd watch the tone if I were you or you'll be issuing parking tickets at the Jacob Javits Center for the rest of your career. Dismissed!"
She was livid! There was no way that he should be able to go anywhere with her. If her captain could make her take him along, there were ways that she could use to beat Castle at his own game. She would see to it that he would be misinformed, misled with the facts of the call out and never be able to be at an actual crime scene. Two can play this game she thought. She left the captain's office and returned to her own desk. She finished writing the report she had started before she got the news of Castle's donation. Every once and a while she'd glance over at the man. He was still typing away on his laptop furiously. There was one instance where he caught her looking his way and gave her one of his book signing smiles. She could tell that it was a fake one because she had seen many of his interviews on TV.
Kate looked at the clock hanging over the elevator. It was 5 pm, time to go home. Since she had no open case and all her paperwork was complete from the last case she withdrew her gun from her desk drawer, picked up her purse, shut down her computer, stood up and walked out of the 12th not caring who noticed.
Rick watches her get up after shutting down her computer, grabbing her purse and gun, and making a beeline for the elevator. He definitely knows that he got under her skin today and to be honest he didn't do it to piss her off. He did it so he could get some background on the character that he's writing for his new book. He already has about half of the book written but he needs help with the procedural part of her job. He's not telling her exactly what or who he is writing about because that would send her over the deep end.
He will not tell her he is writing a book about her alter ego. No he'll let her stew in her own juices before he actually tells her. The only problem is that just doesn't know how long he can last before he tells her. On the one hand, she has a right to know who he is writing about, and on the other hand, he would like to keep this a secret for a little bit longer just to see how this will play out. But now that he has the okay to follow her to crime scenes things should move along rather quickly with the rest of the book.
He knows that she'll try to keep him in the dark when she and the boys are called out to a crime scene. In the agreement with the NYPD, Rick will get his own call from dispatch for her latest crime scenes. He wants to see if she will be truthful and give him the right address. He thinks that she'll give him a bogus one and laugh all the way to her crime scene. He can't wait to see the look on her face when she shows up and he is already there.
Roy was able to get home in one piece. In the back of his mind he wondered how long they would wait before mounting a preemptive strike against him or his family. He knows that what has happened is going to come around and bite him in the ass eventually. He now realizes that the only location he feels really safe at is in his own precinct.
He walks over to his bar, pulls out a bottle of whiskey and pours a generous amount into a glass. He feels the burn the second he takes the first sip. He knew long ago that he was in too deep even before he had McCallaster and Raglan cover up what happened. Now he needed to regroup and redirect a certain detective from digging deeper into his past. The writer was going to be a problem. He was tenacious and that was going to be an issue but his hands were tied. Damn he should have shipped him off to another precinct before he got comfortable here. But now he had to play the cards he was dealt. This was not going to be easy.