My Grandmother was a Witch
Chapter 21
Rick had gotten a call telling him that he was 15 minutes out so he was outside and watched as one of his work trucks pulled up and parked right in front of him.
"Castle!" Andre got out, shook his hand, and then hugged him and patted him on the back as did Rick. "You're looking good. Do you have a tan?" He could swear he had the start of one.
"In places that haven't seen the sun since I don't know when," Rick admitted.
"Now I know I'm jealous. Let me get my laptop. You provide the food and the drink and I'll show you what I've got," Andre told him.
"Deal." Rick took him inside.
"One of us makes far too much money, Castle." He liked what he was seeing. He liked it on the outside and now the inside.
"I thought you might say that so I've got homemade burritos and margaritas." Rick handed over a glass with salt around the edge already and poured.
"I talk better with alcohol in me." Andre took a sip. "All right, have a seat." He moved his laptop across the breakfast bar for both of them to see.
"You have a real challenge there. Didn't hear anything about a ghost though. That's the cutest little cottage I've seen in a while. Twelve inch stone walls, thatch roof, very nice. Let's start with the main house." He took another sip.
"Stone walls are terrible for insulation. A mere 0.114 rating per foot so those walls aren't worth much. I love the look of them and you said not to touch them so we work around those walls.
"Now that thatch roof has an excellent insulation rating so it can stay. However, I have a plan for you to consider. It's a hot roof, meaning there's no attic with open beams and you can literally see the thatch on the inside. Having said that, I have a plan. I want to put up thin straps between the beams and then attach tongue and groove wood siding on the ceiling. Stain it and those existing beams nice and dark.
"Right now everything's mostly all the same color. This will change that." Andre showed him a picture he'd created to show him what he was thinking. "I want to use spray foam under the wood to help with the insulation."
"Very nice, I approve. Anything to give that place some color." Rick liked what he was seeing.
"Good. Now the kitchen. Love the stove. You said it stays and I agree. That basement freezer was just different so it stays. You suggested losing the fireplace but I'm thinking it stays. The refrigerator can be replaced with a more efficient model. Now for the pantry that's massive. It's nice but it's wasting space. So I have this idea for you. I have a movie to show you how it works."
Andre found it and played it. "HOLY SHIT! You can make something like that?" Rick was stunned.
"The only trick is preventing those thin packets like taco seasoning and such from falling to the floor inside this thing. Getting those out after that happens is a real challenge. But there's room for two of these, side by side. That will even leave us space for a narrow apartment refrigerator between these two. Don't want it next to the fireplace. Which takes me back to the current refrigerator.
"I want to move it over just enough to install a pullout spice rack. It'll be really narrow but this place needs something for those. Now those exposed shelves. One of them isn't secured properly so I'm thinking of replacing all of them and secure them to studs," Andre explained.
"All good so far. Why didn't I know about that pantry thing when I did this place?" Rick was in love.
"Now comes the hard part. Heating and A/C. I've got two things for you to think about. First is the worst one overall and I'll explain why. You know about those Mitsubishi split systems? They do heating and cooling but we have two strikes working against us. First is power. This place has almost no power and the panel is tiny with no spare space to install this system. To route new power lines out here will cost hundreds of thousands."
Rick made a disgusted face and shook his head.
"To start to solve that problem we install a solar power tower full of solar panels with an outbuilding for the controls and batteries. It will also mean a whole new panel and a complete rewire of the house. The current wiring is aluminum. While that isn't bad it's not a good idea to mix aluminum and copper. Plus the existing panel has fuses. That panel needs to go anyway," Andre told him and took another sip of his drink.
"We talked about a solar panel system anyway for power. Does that include hot water?" Rick asked him.
"It can. Presently the hot water is an electric hot water tank. All 40 gallons." It was too small in his way of thinking.
"That will need to be changed as well. What else?" Rick waited patiently.
"To reduce the size of the solar panel tower I'm thinking putting hot water pipes in the ground floor. That will mean breaking up the entire floor and routing the piping out to a wood fired boiler. Even with the split system that floor will be freezing during winter.
"The boiler will have a pump to push all this hot water so we really need the solar panel tower. Not enough power at present for us to add even that. Plus that split system will have piping attached to the outside wall for each unit to reach between the interior unit and the condenser outside. I can't do anything about that I'm afraid," Andre said and took another sip.
"One for each room including the two bedrooms?" Rick inquired and watched Andre nod.
"Four of them in total," Andre confirmed.
"So far it's all good. I'm thinking split system and boiler. Frozen bare feet sounds bad." Rick was thinking of Kate loving to be barefoot and naked.
"Got it. Now out to the barn. Rip up the entire floor, all of it. I want to put down a rubber floor. They come in mats that are too thick for the present floor and I want to raise the floor up to keep the rain from finding its way in.
"Now the barn or stable has the same problem the main house does. Seriously thick stone walls and a thatch roof, very poor insulation. So the same thing in the stable as in the house for the ceiling. Also we need to patch some of the thatch on the stable. Not replace it. You don't replace thatch, you patch it.
"The present water heater is a simple electric unit meant for residential use. That needs to be replaced. I'm thinking a seriously insulated plastic model meant for stables. As for hay storage there's presently plenty of that so you can keep all four stalls.
"What you decide will tell us just how big a solar tower and battery storage we'll need along with how big a new panel we'll need. No natural gas and propane's out so electric for everything. Hot water is only the kitchen sink, bathroom, and laundry for the main house. The laundry units are also old and need to be replaced.
"Once we're done it'll look the same on the outside and for most of the interior, yet it will be in the 21st century. Expansion off one side is possible but it won't be 12 inch stone.
"Oh and we need to replace all of the wood windows. Triple panes with fiberglass frames that look like wood. We can paint them to match the existing. Save for those stone walls this place will be nice and warm and cool when you want it to be." Andre was done.
"Is there a wood splitter out at that wood shed?" Rick asked. "I'm not chopping wood. And what about the chicken coop?" He suddenly remembered it.
Andre shook his head. "We can add one somehow. And I don't have any plans for the chicken coop. It's a two bedroom house." He made a note using his laptop. "Questions besides cost?" Andre asked him.
"It will have a lot more power than it has now, heat that it doesn't have, and A/C that it never had. The kitchen's improved and the stalls for horses will be improved. You just won't know what the solar system will look like until engineers solve that problem." Rick tried to summarize the changes.
"Pretty much. It's worth saving. It's really cute." Andre liked it.
"Show me your estimate for the total cost, add 10% for cost overruns, and send me your bill and the engineer's as you get them," Rick told him.
Andre showed him his estimate and while Rick was raising an eyebrow at the cost, Andre handed over his bill from his pocket. "Routing and account numbers," Andre told him and had Rick chuckling since he didn't waste time.
Andre watched him do a wire transfer online using his laptop. "It's a pleasure doing business with you, Castle. Now where's the food? And since I'm driving one drink's enough." Andre listened to him laugh.
Rick eventually handed over his first burrito. "How long will construction last?" He needed to keep Kate away from the place. Thankfully she was pregnant and would end up on maternity leave eventually so staying home would happen.
"All spring and almost all summer. Taking into account getting rain and turning that dirt road into an impassable mud hole. Did you know there's a creek nearby? That thing swells and things could get interesting," Andre commented.
"I think I remember a small wood bridge somewhere," Rick mentioned and took a bite of his burrito.
"There is. Another reason why a hard rain could make things interesting. Not to mention it's unlikely to be rated for heavy trucks, requiring some imagination," Andre said.
Rick clapped him on the shoulder. "You'll solve it. I have faith."
"Wish I did," Andre replied and laughed at himself. "This a birthday present or something?"
"BIRTHDAY!" Rick was dead. Kate would kill him for sure if he missed her birthday.
"You forgot her birthday? You, my friend, are a dead man. And I really liked this project," Andre teased him.
"I need to go shopping tomorrow," Rick said to himself mostly.
"You think?" Andre asked him.
_/\_
Kate was staring at her murder board trying to get it to talk to her while taking a bite of her Popsicle. However, instead of her board talking to her, her stomach did. She emptied her stomach into her blue trash can. Once she was done she threw in her Popsicle and went to the restroom to clean it out and flush it away.
It was getting so that she didn't even notice any longer. Still she went to the breakroom, took out a Jell-o cup and grabbed a plastic spoon, and sat down. She rolled across to stare at her board again.
"Beckett, our guy's alibi just collapsed," Espo called out.
"Really? Get him in here and suit up. I don't like this guy," Kate warned them and kept looking at her board. "ESPO! Take two cruisers with you. If he's our guy he's not going to like seeing you two again."
"You got it, boss," Espo answered and stepped into the elevator.
Kate rolled back to her desk, threw her empty Jell-o cup into the correct trash can, and opened up her drawer to see what she had. "I need more snacks, better snacks." Kate picked up the pretzel bag and removed the clip holding it closed. She put it on her desk, opened it and began munching on them.
Kate looked at his phone records again and his financials. What had they missed about this guy?
_/\_
Kate took her head out of her computer and saw lots of activity. "What's going on? Someone talk to me!" she all but yelled.
"Hostage stand-off," someone said.
"Where?" Kate asked and got an address.
"That's where Kevin and Javi went to pick up our suspect!" Kate was worried and scared. It also had her out of her chair and knocking on Montgomery's door.
"Denied," Roy told her since he wasn't stupid.
"Sir! Kevin and Javi are there picking up our suspect," Kate pleaded with him.
"Desk duty. Now go sit. I find you out there and you're suspended without pay. Sit, Beckett." Roy stared at her.
"Yes, sir," Kate growled. She stormed to her desk and sat down. "Somebody talk to me!" Kate yelled at everyone on the floor.
_/\_
Kate was supposed to go home on schedule because she was pregnant. That was the deal she'd made but she was still sitting at her desk looking for updates to the stand-off.
Suddenly Lanie was standing right there looking at her. "Hey, girlfriend."
"Let me guess. Montgomery called you to come take me home." Kate took a look at his office and could see him sitting at his desk.
"A deal's a deal, Kate. Now pack up and let's go. You can watch it on TV. You can bet they're all there covering it. You know these things can take hours," Lanie reminded her.
"Yeah." Lanie had her there. "Fine." This sucked big time. Sitting at home watching TV wasn't going to tell her what she needed to know. She gathered up her things and followed Lanie out.
"Lanie, you don't live this direction," Kate said. "Did Montgomery put you up to this?"
"You have friends, Kate. Good ones and good ones don't let other friends do something like going down to the stand-off when she's pregnant and manages to take a stray shot to her stomach. So yes, tonight I live in this direction. Or do you want to explain it to Castle?" Lanie decided to play dirty to get her to listen.
"No," Kate barely whispered. If she got their baby killed Castle would dump her in a heartbeat. She would be broken and beyond repair by anyone.
"Good, I'm glad you can see the light. Now we do have to stop and get you something to eat that has vegetables in it. So what do you suggest?" Lanie was glad she had won this round.
"There's a Lebanese place that sells out of a house not far away. They make a great Kafta plate," Kate said.
"Sold. Does it come in a sandwich?" Lanie didn't need a big dinner.
"Yes." Kate finally smiled at her and directed her to the house so they could order their dinner.
_/\_
"I'm going to go home now and you, Kate, are going to call him. You're hurting and you need to at least hear his voice. He would be where I am but not going home if he was here, so call him." Lanie hugged her and let herself out.
Kate stared at her phone. She wasn't hurting; she was afraid. What if she lost either of them because this guy had shot and killed one of them?
She managed to scroll to his name and willed herself to press send.
"KATE!" Rick was happy she had called. She called him every day and they talked for at least an hour.
"Rick?" Kate wiped away the tears that she was suddenly noticing.
"What's wrong, Kate?" Her voice was broken and even over the phone he could hear her crying.
_/\_
"I can drive out, Kate. You're far more important than any book," Rick said yet again even if she did keep saying no.
"Please Rick, I'll be fine. They'll be fine. They're both well trained and I had them go with two cruisers. It's also still on TV." Kate was watching it all play out.
"As you wish. Try and get some sleep." Rick hung up and Kate put the phone down and went back to watching TV. Thankfully her stomach was behaving itself.
_/\_
The news was still following the stand-off and of course they were focused on the place and not reporting anything about a police officer being shot. Mostly because they couldn't until the next of kin could be notified. She was just hoping to spot either of them but the camera refused to look that way.
Then there was a knock on her door. "Lanie?" Kate guessed as she got up to answer it. Since she knew who it was she didn't use the peep hole.
"RICK!" She had told him not to come.
"I think you know by now that I don't listen well," Rick told her and found himself being hugged tightly. Suddenly she was sniffling.
_/\_
Rick was back after getting a glass of juice for her and a Popsicle for himself.
"What did he say?" Kate asked him. "I may be pregnant but I'm not deaf."
"Bob said he would call and get back to me." Rick sat down and handed her drink to her.
"Good. You really didn't have to come, but I'm so glad you're here. You're sweet." Kate kissed his cheek, drank her drink, and leaned up against him. She realized that she was glad he was here. She felt so much better when he was around.
They were both still watching the TV coverage when his cell phone rang.
"Castle." He listened. "Thanks, Bob." Rick hung up. "Javi and Kevin are fine as are the officers they arrived with. His hostages, plural, are a mother and daughter that lived across the hall. It's believed he saw them coming and broke down their door.
"They're still in negotiations to get him to come out or at the very least to send out the little girl. They also have sharp shooters setting up for a shot. He doesn't know when it will end. Javi and Kevin are still on site."
Kate relaxed against him. "Thank God."
"We should get you to bed. You work tomorrow and knowing you, you'll get up really early to go into the precinct to find out what's going on," Rick guessed. "Unless I can wear you out enough to sleep in." He grinned at her.
Kate smiled. "You can try." She was more than willing to let him try and wear her out with lots of sex.