Hunting Grounds

Chapter 35

Gates stopped at Kate's desk on the way to her office. "Beckett, where's your shadow?"

"If you mean Captain Rodgers of the United States Navy, he told us he was going to be at the 101st today. Did you ask him what his schedule was?" Kate knew she was bordering on getting Gates angry with her, but that woman was really getting on her nerves.

"Maybe he'll stay there." Gates offered herself some hope. "Where are we on the mayor?"

"Mayor Weldon is only a possible suspect. So far, he's been seen wearing a type of coat that we found similar fibers from on her body. The car wasn't checked out to him nor any of his staff. And he had an alibi with over fifty witnesses for the time of death.

"Somehow, she did get herself involved in something; we're just having trouble figuring out what that was. Somehow a sex call got her into trouble. They, in turn, had their hard drive with all the call logs on it stolen recently. We think she might have heard something. Ryan is going over a hard copy of the phone numbers that the place got and is trying to weed out the calls she was given."

"Keep at it," Gates ordered and went to her office.

"Naturally, sir." Kate rolled her eyes. Like she was going to just drop this case.

[_] /\ [_]

Kate was erasing her murder board because Gates told her to. The mayor got to survive, but her victim didn't get justice. Kate wasn't okay with that. "Politics!" She hated it. She knew Rick was off talking to the mayor. He wanted to get his side of what the hell was going on.

[_] /\ [_]

"Why would you abandon your plan?" Rick asked him. "You've been cleared of all charges. Someone was playing you for some game."

"I can't run for governor in two years, and I can't run for president in six. That dream is over and done," Bob told him.

"But you're innocent." In his book, that was really important.

Bob shook his head. "Too innocent. There are people out there that control what goes on in this city and beyond. I wouldn't play ball, so they took me out of the game. It was decided and it's out of my hands. Where I am now is as far as I get."

"So what do you do now?" It sounded like Rick couldn't talk him out of it.

"I get to continue to be the greatest mayor I can be for the greatest city on Earth." That was at least until his term was up. After that, he would decide.

"I wouldn't give up just yet. I know something you don't, but we both get to wait. Whoever the invisible 'they' are, they may have control now, but that might be changing soon," Rick said.

Bob sat up a little straighter. "You know something?"

Rick gave him a clue. "Ask yourself what happened to Captain Roy Montgomery."

"Montgomery? The last I heard the FBI…had…him." Bob looked at Rick. He could tell Rick either couldn't tell him or didn't really know, but that did give him an idea. "I believe I will keep that in mind."

"Good, because the people that tossed you out of the game might not be playing it themselves for much longer. If we're both lucky. I hope you have a pleasant night, Mr. Mayor." Rick excused himself, and Bob watched him leave with every step.

[_] /\ [_]

Kate was sitting alone at a bar waiting for Rick and had already noticed that an alpha male was watching her. She held up her left hand, and he turned away. "I thought that might stop you," she said to herself.

"BABE!" She spotted Rick and was up to hug him and kiss him. "How did it go?"

"He doesn't know who any more than we do. But those people have decided that Mayor Robert Weldon is too innocent, too good. So he has to be stopped. And instead of just killing him, they tried destroying him.

"But if Roy talks enough and they can catch him, Weldon might still make governor. And maybe if we're really lucky, he'll make president." Rick truly hoped he would. "Because he's one of those few people that isn't dirty."

"Good. But they stopped me from getting justice for my victim, and I don't like that. I want those people, Rick." Kate's eyes flashed in anger. "They're playing with people's lives and getting them killed."

"Which is why you should never stop being who you are. I love you mostly because you're strong and fearless. But you know what else I love you for? You and Robert Weldon are a lot alike. Truthful, honest, and courageous, but you're much prettier than he is." Rick grinned at her and that had Kate smiling.

"Thanks. Rick, what do we do about the bugs?" Kate asked. She desperately wanted them gone for good.

"That's a good question. If I fix my device, they'll know that we know we're bugged instead of just suspecting that we know. If we search the place and find them, that will also tell them that we know," Rick told her.

Kate pointed out a flaw in what he was telling her. "So far you're not helping."

Rick began to explain. "I said if WE find them. You are offered the job and take the job, and go see that house. That means we have to sell your place, and hopefully, we'll get enough money to do more of what we want to do. Weddings don't come cheap, or so my married buddies tell me."

Kate was back to smiling. She liked talking about them getting married. She was becoming aware that she badly wanted to be married to him.

"To sell your place that means it needs to be really clean for showings," Rick mentioned and saw a light go on over Kate's head.

"We clean it now or hire someone to clean it and throw out all the bugs and fix your device at the same time. Just don't turn it on yet." Kate followed where her future husband was taking her. She was also up and kissing him. He was a genius.

"When do we do that?" Kate asked him. "So far, the only ones that know about this job search are us and trusted friends that wouldn't talk."

"Too soon, and it gives them a plan on how to follow you all the way there. I'm sorry to say, but we have to wait until the day you leave. I'll stay behind and help clean and help throw out the trash." He meant throw out the bugs.

"That's a week from now. I don't think I can wait that long besides being gone for another two or three days." Kate had no illusions that she needed to make love to him. Just going to New Orleans and sleeping in an empty bed was going to be a challenge. Hell, his being at the 101st all day had been tough on her.

OH, GOD. She was needy! He had ruined her.

"Lanie can sleep out for a night. My old room at Dad's place only has a twin mattress. Can we get an air mattress and use that?" Kate looked at him with pleading eyes.

"I'll leave the planning to you since Lanie is your friend, and he's your dad. I'll go shopping for an air mattress and we can bring sheets for it with us in our overnight bags," Rick offered.

"Deal." Kate would make plans and leaned in to kiss him again. "OH, NO!" She saw that idiot alpha male headed their way. "Go away," Kate said nicely. "Can't you see I'm with my husband?"

"He's not wearing a ring," the idiot countered. It was true, Rick wasn't wearing a ring.

Rick gave him a warning. "I'm a Navy SEAL. Go away, little man."

"Yeah, right." He didn't believe that lying asshole any farther than he could throw him.

Kate pulled out her badge. "Police and he is. So unless you want to be arrested and spend the night in lock-up, and that's after an emergency room visit, then Go. Away." Kate warned him one last time.

"Yeah, right, you a cop." She was far too pretty to be a stinking cop.

Kate moved her lightweight coat to one side and started tapping the Glock she still had on her. "Last chance," Kate warned him again, and to her satisfaction, watched him walk away.

"Does that happen often? I thought you said something regarding worrying about having to keep women off me. Now I have to beat up guys that hit on you?" Rick asked her.

"You're sweet. He's an alpha male with far too much alcohol in him. In fact," Kate took out her cell phone and made a call. Rick got to listen and smiled.

"You are an evil woman, future wife."

"It'll keep a few drunken idiots off the street for tonight. And if I'm lucky, he'll be one of them sitting in lock-up." This time Rick leaned across and kissed her.

"You know, working with you is so much fun. I'm going to miss it when you get your new job." Rick was going to miss it something fierce.

"Maybe I can talk my new boss into letting you follow me around. It'll be good PR for the station. New Orleans Police Department, working closely with the United States Navy." Kate wiggled her eyebrows a couple of times.

"Knock yourself out. You good with our plan?" Rick asked her.

"I'm good," she said. "You just need to find us an apartment close to work, furnished, and monthly."

"I'm sure Rosie will be up for the challenge. Knowing her, it'll only take a minute if that." Rick smiled back at her.

"We owe Rosie a lot. She saved both of our lives. We'd still be there if not for her. Dead, most likely." Kate didn't see that they could have survived there this long.

"Speak for yourself," Rick countered, thinking he might have managed. "But you know, you might be right. Team after team hunting us down." He and Kate would run out of bullets eventually.

[_] /\ [_]

Getting Lanie to move out for one night had been deceptively easy. However, Kate was sure questions were coming about why their place wasn't good enough.

Her dad had put up even less of a fight. "You know where your old room is, Katie." Then Jim told them what the cost of this favor was. "I hope Rick likes the floor, and I expect one of you to make breakfast in the morning for this."

"With pleasure, Dad, and thanks." Kate wasn't sure he even had anything to make breakfast with but they would find out in the morning.

[_] /\ [_]

It was time to head for the airport. Kate's flight out was at 7:20 am. Getting out of bed and leaving Rick was the hardest part of this trip.

At least she felt better after a shower. She picked up her already packed bag and found a clothed Rick with a day's growth on his face. She realized she kind of liked it. He was standing at the door holding a take-out mug of coffee for her.

"Thanks, babe." Kate kissed him and could tell he had been drinking coffee already, so no morning breath. "I kind of like the look." Kate ran her fingers across his stubble to feel it.

"I'll have to remember that." Then he moved his lips to her ear. "Call me every step of the way."

Kate put her lips to his ear. "I will, and I love you." Kate gave him a quick kiss, picked up the bag she had dropped, and left.

Rick locked up and headed for the shower. He had a long day planned for himself. A cleaning team was coming today, and they were going to scrub this place until it was spotless. Then all they had to do was keep it clean. And throw out any bugs he found.

[_] /\ [_]

Kate was sitting pretty much on the wing and had a boring plane trip. Thankfully, her little Ford Fiesta was waiting for her along with her GPS. And she was at her hotel before lunch. Then she called her contact at the police station, told him she had arrived, and would be there first thing in the morning. Yes, she knew where to go.

Next came a call to the real estate agent, and he would meet her at the house she and Rick were both interested in. The house looked just like the pictures. It was two shades of off-white with a greenish roof. What she hadn't noticed in the photos, partly because they didn't think to both look at it on Google, was that the house on the right side was close, but the house on the left was damn near touching. A person would be lucky to walk between them.

Also directly across the street were nothing but trees. So it looked like they were going to get to know the neighbors.

"Ms. Beckett." The real estate agent was waiting for her. "Did you have any trouble?"

"No, my GPS took me straight here. I'm taking more pictures for my fiancé," Kate explained as she took out her phone to take more pictures than what they had already seen.

"Take all you wish. He couldn't make it?" Phil inquired.

"He's home getting our place for showings," Kate told him.

"So, what brings you to New Orleans?" He knew a rental car when he saw one.

"Work. I'm a homicide detective with the New York City Police Department. We're looking to move, and I have an interview tomorrow." Kate thought that if he wanted to be trouble that might dissuade him from doing something stupid.

"Interesting. Let me unlock the door and let you inside. We can go around the house after." He worked on unlocking the lockbox to get to the house key.

"Four bedrooms, three bathrooms, 3,143 square feet. This neighborhood was one of the areas not affected by Hurricane Katrina. That storm did a lot of damage to our city. Some places are still trying to recover.

"The house will come unfurnished, but what you see can give you an idea of that you can do. Go anywhere you wish; you will find me out back. I'll be happy to answer any questions you have." Phil left her and went downstairs to get to the backyard.

Kate immediately began taking pictures. This place had a baby grand piano they didn't have. A lovely china cabinet they didn't have. A huge dining room table they didn't have.

"We're going to need new furniture." Her place was full of thrift store items. Everything in this house was fancy. Her place was New York City, and this place wasn't.

Then Kate found the kitchen and took pictures of the range. It had two ovens, four gas burners on the left side, a griddle in the middle, and two more burners on the right side. She took a lot of pictures in this room.

What she didn't find was a wine cooler, but there was a lot of wine storage. Not that it was a deal-breaker. It just went into the refrigerator that she opened up.

The bathroom was much bigger than hers. There was a separate walk-in shower, a tub, and two sinks. Then Kate found the closet. "Holy crap." She didn't see anyplace for her shoes, but there was more hanging space than maybe even she knew what to do with. It had a mini-chandelier and a window and that gated cage. That wasn't locked but maybe, it could be. It did have a rod to hang clothes on, and there were a few. Still, she didn't understand this thing, and she was standing right in front of it.

She found Rick's theater room. It was in the basement but had a window and exposed wood beams that they saw in the pictures. It did indeed have baby blue walls with a green carpet. The TV wasn't even really all that big. She just knew Rick wasn't kidding about getting a projection TV. The owners had a sound system that wouldn't be staying either. For a TV room, it really needed to be darker. She saw some painting in their future.

The bathroom down there was…interesting. A little chopped up but functional.

Then she found the storage area. The owners appeared to like paint because they had a shit load of it. And she found a surprise that wasn't listed and didn't remember seeing. "It's a sauna!" Kate took a whole lot of pictures of it.

The garage was next. It was a lot bigger than the pictures suggested. It spanned the entire length of the house. There was a workbench with a lot of tools. And everything was able to be washed in the two-bowl standing sink. Bins, ladders, garden tools, even an air compressor, and stuff she was willing to call junk until she noticed week killer and fertilizer. These people kept everything.

She found Phil sitting at a covered dining area. Half of the backyard was brick, and that side had a patio set made from concrete that looked nearly impossible to move; it was complete with an umbrella. There was a water feature and a garden that had plants in it. That helped explain all the stuff she saw in the garage. The other half was all grass. Where Phil was sitting even had a pair of two-door storage cabinets.

Kate liked this place a whole lot. She gave Rosie credit for putting it at the top of the list. Kate was done looking and taking pictures, so she sat with him.

"Did you see everything?" Phil queried.

"Yes, and our furniture doesn't do this place justice. We will have two cars, so I guess one will have to sit in the driveway. Musical chairs with cars," Kate said with a shrug.

"I believe the owner does that now. The husband's work had offered him a transfer, so they're taking it. Anchorage, of all places." He didn't understand them, but to each his own.

Kate shuddered. "Alaska. Little cold for my taste."

"New York City can get rather cool as well," he pointed out.

He had her there. "Too true."

"So what does your fiancé do, if I may ask?" He was just curious.

"He's a Navy SEAL," Kate said with pride. "He's attempting to get assigned to the local Naval Air Base so I can accept this job if they offer it to me."

That certainly put cold water on anything Phil was thinking. A Navy SEAL could rip him apart in seconds. "Our airport has three concourses. One of them is dedicated to international flights only. The other two each have either fourteen or fifteen gates and cover fifteen hundred acres of ground. The two main runways. My girlfriend works at one of the food courts there." It was why he knew so much about it.

"I'm sure your fiancé can get in and out of here with no problem at all. We may not be Chicago, but we don't get shut down due to a snow storm, either," Phil noted.

"Good to know." Kate didn't think his inability to be deployed was an issue.

"Questions?" Phil was hoping he had answers.

"How old is it?" Kate didn't remember.

"It was built in 1910 and has had several renovations since then. That includes copper wiring now, copper piping, and PVC waste piping. Central air and heating are, I believe, five years old. We can make having it maintained as part of the contract. It's listed at $395k, and that hasn't changed much over the last few years.

"It has been on the market for just about a month. So far, the owners have rejected all the lowball offers they have received. If you really like it, I would suggest coming in at asking price or just a touch below that," Phil advised her.

"I will contemplate their full asking price with a few conditions. The exercise equipment stays, that concrete patio set over there stays." Kate pointed at it since it was right there. "The washer and dryer stay. The garden tools can stay if they're willing, but if not, no big deal. But can you explain that gate in the laundry room? I can't even figure out the one in the closet." Kate just didn't understand it.

Phil started smiling. "I believe those areas are left over from the 1910 period. The present owner's wife is into antique and vintage clothing. Some of what is in that laundry room are worth thousands. And believe it or not that area is a really old elevator. Electric I believe."

"OH!" Kate hadn't really bothered to look at the clothing itself. She was looking at the house and the furnishings. The house was what was for sale, not the clothes.

"You don't want the piano?" Phil thought sure she would ask for that.

Kate shrugged a shoulder. "They can leave it if they want, but I have no use for it."

"Then meet me at my office, and we can write all this up, including those stipulations." Phil pointed at the concrete patio set. "I'm pretty sure that thing is staying no matter what. Might need a crane to get it out of here."

Kate grinned at that since she thought he was right. But she still asked for it anyway.