Yes, Beckett was requesting a long weekend vacation starting on the last Friday of the month. "I going off to California to get a change of pace. Following procedure doesn't come naturally to me. I need a break from the bleakness of it all if I am to remain true to the path you demanded. Too long dealing with the dregs of humanity is not good for me."
Gate's immediate suspicions evaporated with that last comment. It was exactly the attitude Gates wanted. Little did she realize that a best selling author wrote it. The Captain would see it as vindication that Beckett was changing. When a new case came their way, Kate again opted for the unconventional again and let Lara take point. Lara was so blinded by the vote of confidence that Beckett's trip never really registered as a blip one way or the other.
Both actions came about because Castle found the odd thread she missed. With Gates, it was the call on the weekend from the Senator. That seemed a bit over the top, if they were just professional acquaintances. For Lara, it was the lack of bitching about babysitting the Senator after the pressers. Lara was all about gaining recognition, and her enthusiastic embrace of babysitting the Senator offered none of that.
Castle speculated both were willing partners in a covert spying game orchestrated by the Senator. Obviously he wanted Beckett monitored, and who better to insure that than her Captain and a member of her team. The quid-pro-quo was easy to imagine. Both were blatantly ambitious, and his support down at 1PP could certainly help when the right opportunity came along. His plan to escape their scrutiny was quite simple. Couch the whole trip in a facade that played to their prejudices. Hide the not-normal in the trappings of their normal, and nothing would seem amiss.
The flight that Friday to the oceanside resort just south of LA left around mid-morning, and Rick made sure she was both pleasantly sated and well fed before heading to the airport. Her first class ticket made the check-in relatively painless, and the flight attendant was just attentive enough to make the flight enjoyable. At the arrivals gate, she was met by Larry who was a security professional masquerading as a car service driver. Castle had gotten his name from his studio contacts who used him when secrecy was paramount. Larry was a pro, and the brief he provided on the way over to her hotel made her guess he had atleast some past experience in law enforcement.
Castle's fancy credit card allowed them to book a specific room, and the manager had done an advance check of the room on the second floor to make sure everything was as it should be. Upon arrival, Kate played nice until they mentioned the location of the room. Per Larry's instructions, she was now to play the part of a pissed-off dilettante and push for a room on the fourth floor. Her choice would seem spontaneous, but it wasn't. Larry knew from his studio contacts that the resort intentionally chose to never hookup any of the security cameras in the elevators or on that floor. It was a deliberate attempt to market it to the droves of fixers in this town who make their money making sure their clients can evade scrutiny. "I came here for the ocean view, and I really want to be higher up. At these prices, I don't think that's too much to ask. Do you? How about the fourth floor instead? That seems about right to me?" Larry was impressed by her petulant performance, and keystrokes ensued to make it all official.
Before Larry returned to his SUV, a surreptitious exchange was made where Larry got her spare key card, and Kate got a very reliable bug scanner. Upon entering the room, Kate let the scanner run, while she admired the view. It was all Castle said it was and then some. After the scanner went green, she unpacked and headed to the pool for some relaxing and people watching. After spreading out on a comfortable partially shaded lounger, she was pleasantly surprised by the attendant who brought her a large coffee with two pumps of sugar free vanilla already added. The waitress claimed it was on her preference card that she had completed when making the reservation. Kate had done no such thing, but she was also sure who did.
Saturday morning, she went for a long walk on the beach and came back to find the room serviced and a rather large lunch laid out with a bottle of her favorite red wine open and ready for consumption. Showtime was 1:00PM, and the door opened not a minute later. To a passerby, the floppy hat and large sunglasses would make it very hard to guess who or what was underneath all that. "Welcome, Jordan. Glad you could make it. I'll get to the reason for all the secrecy in a bit."
"Kate, I love a chance to dress up on weekends. At home I am hardly ever out of sweatpants unless hubby is feeling frisky. My daughter is a hand-full you can't escape from. By the way, glad you saw the light about Castle. His use of Larry was genius. He was one of us once and still very well regarded."
Kate blushed at the memory of Jordan's much earlier surmise about Rick. He was her one-and-done, and she regretted all the time she had kept him waiting. "He is a keeper Jordan - no doubt about that. If this goes as I suspect, I hope to ask him to marry me. I know that's a bit unorthodox, but it fits us to a tee. Something small, quick, and subdued would suit me fine."
Jordan was surprised by her frank admission and matrimonial fantasy. The coy Kate from before was no longer there. For the next hour plus, Kate began telling her sordid tale of everything that had happened since Officer Raglan had met them on that fateful night. For Jordan the tale got much more intriguing when Smith and the file got involved. The bank name and account number were the keys that might well unlock so much more. The icing on the cake was Wilburn's first hand knowledge that the Feds tried to arrange a mercy merger that required a mammoth due diligence effort by a select few. That data was crucial, and from past experience, she was sure the forensic guys would find it.
When it was over, Jordan said, "You sure have a story to tell. I have enough to approach the right people. They get these all the time either from disgruntled constituents or lobbyists who have an axe to grind. Most go nowhere, but a few do have legs. When they do, the group in charge is tenacious, methodical, and covert. If this has merit, no one will hear about it, including me, until it's on the evening news."
"Jordan as you know, he has renewed his threats against me and all those I hold dear just recently. It is imperative that Castle and I are in no way connected with this. He has a lot of friends who probably owe him, and we have no idea who they are. I need to know how you explain all this coming to your attention."
"Kate, we get anonymous tips all the time, and they come from all sorts of odd sources. In this case just mentioning Larry's name in the same sentence will suffice. We know that he is a fixer for all the money people out here, and no wants to out him on our end."
After Jordan left, Kate poured the remainder of the wine in her glass and headed for the small balcony adjoining her room. Lounging in the very comfortable chair provided, she went over and over the spiel she had just given Jordan. It was not her idea to be the solo presenter. She wanted Rick to accompany her and do most of the talking. He was the guy who made his living with words. She was concerned about misspeaking or leaving something out. He begged to differ. Jordan needed to hear this from the point of view of a victim - not a biased observer. That added provenance his words could never convey. His point won the day, and she hoped her much rehearsed retelling would meet with his approval.