TALES FROM THE CITADEL

by Swordwriter

First in a series of one shots. Beckett and Castle join with a team from the 14th. precinct to investigate a serial rapist-murderer. The female detective shows an interest in Castle and Beckett's green-eyed monster comes out to play.

44. Chapter 44

TALES FROM THE CITADEL

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

RIVERBOAT

PART SIX

ON THE RIVER

New Orleans to Natchez, spring 1884 to summer 1886.

With so much of Kate's time taken up with motherly duties Rick found it necessary to hire another dealer. Rick scouted very carefully and after a couple of weeks found a young man who had the reputation of both skillful and honest. He hired the man at about ten percent more than he had been previously. Making. Kate knew that her beauty had been one of the initial draws when operations on the Mississippi Queen. She suggested to Rick that they try to find a young unmarried woman with looks similar to Kate's initially hiring her as a hostess and if she was dexterous enough, train her as a dealer. The search took them nearly a month to find a woman to meet their requires, one of which was a reputation for honesty. With Father Mitchell's help they found a young Irish woman, recently widowed who fit the bill. She looked enough like Kate to be a younger sister, although no relation. Her name was Orla Murray. With Father Mitchell' approval, she was more than happy to have the position so that she didn't have to take a menial labor job or rely on charity.

Kate gave her a week, to see how well she fit in with the other young women, she fit in quite well as she had a light lilting voice and an easy manner. After that week, Kate took her aside and said;

"What do you know about playing cards?'

"Oh, aye I do know the cards. It was one if the few entertainments poor Sean and I could afford. We played together many a night."

"Show me.".

Orla took the cards and deftly shuffled them and then dealt out two hands. They played a few hands then Kate said;

"You do very well, Orla but there is much more to being a dealer than just dealing the cards. I shall begin teaching you, tomorrow. I will also advance you enough money to buy five new dresses and I will go with you to pick them out."

Kate went with Orla to a good dress shop and helped Orla pick out dresses that while alluring, were still modest. There was one in emerald green, one in burgundy, one in yellow one in blue and one in black, she also got three pair of shoes, all black.

She began teaching Orla, the following day, at first, she had her sit and observe a number of games and with Kate talking to her learned various tells and mannerisms. Then she had her sit in as a player in a number of smaller games limiting her on how much could lose. After that she had Orla act as dealer in again in smaller games, but as dealer only, not playing for the house.

Kate still dealt in high stakes games, but limiting the house's loss at two thousand dollars. If that occurred, Kate would drop out as an active player and simply deal. She limited her dealing to four hours daily. Never all in one stretch.

Orla learned fairly quickly and in six months, she was a full-fledged dealer and drawing many gamblers to her table following Kate's game plan. Smiling and attentive to each player but never let any of them lure her into a drink or two, nor spend any of her time away from the table.

She had one incident similar to Kate's.

A cattleman, fresh home from a drive had a little too much to drink and got loud and aggressive with Orla when she refused his drink offer. Rick saw it, as did Francois. Rick said;

"Take Bill with you and get that son of a bitch away from Orla and off the boat. Don't be gentle about it."

The idiot was drunk enough to have a lot of "Dutch courage" and resisted his removal, which was incredibly stupid

l was a large man, taller and broader than Rick. The gambler ended up with a broken nose and a black eye for his trouble was tied up until they reached a spot to approach a dock.

Rick's first "riverboat" story sold very well and his publishers wanted more of that series. The second one was ready four months later and a third was in the works. Rick was a very busy man with his writing, captain's lessons, checking the salon from time to time and his fatherly duties. Of most important to him was time spent with his beautiful wife.

With telegraph lines connecting the parish* sheriff's offices the days of scooting from one county to the next to avoid the law were just about over. Major crime along the river had rapidly declined. Unfortunately, not completely over.

Rick was in the pilot house with the captain. He never knew what made him step outside and look aft. There was a rather overcrowded steam launch approaching. He could see that there didn't appear to be any women aboard. He stepped back into the pilot house and said;

"Full speed ahead Captain. I think that the launch approaching from aft is hostile."

Unfortunately, for the hostiles, the launch they stole was an old one and its' top speed was only a knot faster than the sternwheeler and a stern chase is a long one. Rick had enough time to call his security team together and arm them. Since the revenues had increased and there were often large sums of money on the boat Rick had decided to buy some more firearms to arm some of the crew if necessary. He bought three more M1873 Winchester carbines and two more greener shotguns. After distributing the rifles and shotguns to his crew, Rick went to his cabin got the Winchester M1876 out, loaded it but a handful of the big .45-70 rounds an put them in his pocket, put his second S&W .44 into a holster, got his binoculars and rejoined his crew.

Rick went on deck and looked aft. The launch was a little closer and it appeared to have twenty-five to thirty men crowded aboard. Rick but his binoculars to his eyes and focused them. He could make out two men the bow and recognized both of them. One was Big Jake Hollister a local tough and purported gang leader, The second was that damned Josh Davidson. What was he doing with a gang of thieves and possibly murderers?

"Damn, I should have killed that whoreson when I had the chance."

Josh Davidson had never, despite his initial fear after the duel, had never stopped wanting Kate. He didn't understand why she had such a hold on him. After all, there were plenty of women in New Orleans as pretty as she was. Perhaps it was because she had ignored all his attempts to spend any time with him. He was a tall good- looking man that never had any trouble getting a woman. He also had a grudge against Rick. Rick had made a total fool of him at the duel.

He said to Jake;

"When we take the boat you and your men can take the money and other valuables. I just want the woman and to kill the bastard who owns the boat."

Jake just grinned he was going to take whatever he wanted, eve3n the woman too, if he felt like it and Davidson couldn't do a damn thing about it. Not with a bullet in his back.

In the salon Rick gathered the passengers and the deck crew together. He said;

"There is a launch trying to overtake us. It appears to have a gang of thieves and reavers on board. I want all the women and children to go to the staterooms and lock the doors. You men who have guns, get them and join my crew."

About a dozen of the men had revolvers of various sorts.

"The launch appear to be headed for our starboard quarter. I everyone take cover behind the cotton bales and other deck cargo. Gentlemen check your loads. I am going aft to check on the launch. Rick went aft and up to the second deck where he could look down on the enemy. He turned. Kate was right behind him with his carbine in her hands.

"Kate what are you doing here?"

"I am here because you are here. If you fight, I fight beside you. If they take the boat, neither you, nor I nor James will survive it."

The launch had either a punt gun or small swivel gun mounted in the bow. The thieves fired it and the large shot

splashed harmlessly in the river, about a foot shy of the riverboat's hull.

Big Jake had a megaphone and yelled;

"That was a warning shot. Heave to and let us board. We just want the money." Rick knew a damn lie when he heard it.

He fired his rifle and yelled back;

"And that was my warning shot. The next one will be into one of you!"

Rick saw that two men had swung the muzzle loading punt gun back on its' swivel and were trying to reload it. Two shots from the M1876 put a stop to that as one man fell overboard into the river and the other fell back into the launch. Dead or wounded, Rick didn't know or care. Even if only wounded by the .45-70 bullet the wounded man or men would probably die without prompt medical care.

A heavy burst of firing came from the launch but did no damage than a few holes in the superstructure and gunwales. Rick and his men were under cover but returned fire killing or wounding several of the outlaws.

Nonetheless, the launch came on, ground against the hull and some of the outlaws swarmed onto the riverboat. Others were cut down as they tried to board.

The fight now came to close quarters. Rick laid the Winchester aside as its' heavy round as likely to go right through one man and hit someone else. He drew both of his revolvers. The fight was short and viscous. With several of the crew and passengers killed or wounded. Big Jake had been shot in the right arm and dropped his revolver. He drew a knife with his left hand, screamed and lunged at Rick. Rick calmly shot him in the face.

Josh Davidson had managed to get behind Rick and raised his pistol to shoot him in the back. He never made it. Kate was right behind Davidson. She screamed his name and as he turned away from Rick, to face her, she shot him, the .44 caliber bullet hitting him in the chest. He stared at her for a second, dropped his gun, fell to the deck gasped a few times and died.

Their two leaders down, the few surviving outlaws threw down their guns and raised their hands. It only brought them a couple of months reprieve as they were all tried, convicted and hung.

The notoriety in the aftermath of the attack had several repercussions. Two very wealthy and prominent men had been wounded. One of them the owner of a major New Orleans newspaper. He let his anger out in editorials asking why there was no proper patrolling of the river. He did, however praise Rick's foresight in heightened security. The editorials spurred the authorities to action. The state of Louisiana created a river police force, operating a squadron of eight fast steam launches that carried ten- man crews and armed with a Gatling gun on the foredeck. New Orleans created its' own force of four launches set up like the state force. Since the Mississippi was such an important transportation artery the federal government got involved in two ways. First legislation was passed that applied the same penalties for river pirates as applied on the high seas. Any acts of piracy or attempted piracy would result in the perpetrators being hung. Second it authorized the Revenue Cutter Service to acquire a fleet of "River Patrol" cutters and crew them. The cutters were of two classes. A forty-foot-long steam launch with a fifteen-man crew, armed with two gatling guns, one forward and one aft and the Alexander Hamilton class. One-hundred-foot steam sloop with a forty-man crew armed with four Gatling guns and three, four-inch cannon on pivot mounts.

As James grew, Kate was able to increase her dealing and supervision times to six or seven hours. Kate had hired another one of the women recommended by Father Mitchell as a nanny for James, although Kate was always close by. Niamh Doyle was a matronly widow with a warm personality. She had lost her fisherman husband when his boat sank in a storm. She had a two-year old son who made an ideal playmate for James.

It seemed like no time had passed, but James was now fourteen months old, a precocious child he was already steadily walking and talking.

New Orleans to Natchez, 1885-1886.

James had just turned a year and a half when Kate became pregnant again. Both Kate and Rick were excited about it. But a little worried too as Kate was now thirty-one. Most women had their children in their mid-teens to late twenties. However, Doctor Phelps, one of the most progressive doctors in the nation, examined Kate and pronounced her in excellent health. With a new baby on the way Rick and Kate realized that their cabin would no longer be adequate and Rick began thinking about a house in New Orleans again. But that would mean having to Either sell the riverboat and live in town or retain ownership and manage he business from an office with the daily affairs run by the boat's crew and a salon manager. Neither Rick nor Kate liked either option as they both enjoyed life on the river. As it turned out, dame fortune took a hand.

The Delta Queen, was a large four deck side wheeler three hundred feet long and seventy feet wide, although still called a riverboat, she was large enough to be considered a ship. She had a very spacious owner's cabin, captain's cabin, forty -eight staterooms and twenty- two second class cabins and a huge salon. She had been built in 1880. The owner, Samuel Folkstone, had invested heavily in the stock market and got wiped out in a market crash. The crash hadn't affected Rick's fortune as his holdings were in real estate, gold silver and cash.

Folkstone was forced to sell the Delta Queen to cover his debts. Rick was one of the few who had ready cash and was able to acquire the ship for seventy thousand dollars. (It had cost two hundred fifty thousand to build.)

Rick didn't want to sell the Mississippi Queen so, in discussions with Mister Sanders, and the approval of Kate, Jim and Francois, they incorporated the River Queens Steamboat Company, a privately owned corporation.

While the company was being set up, the salon was redecorated in the trademark green and gold. The ship had been overhauled just a year ago so her hull and machinery were in top shape. Rick had the walls between the owner's cabin and two of the staterooms torn down, creating one large cabin for his family/ They would now be able to continue with the lifestyle they were accustomed to. Rick transferred the entire crew from the Mississippi Queen to the Delta Queen hiring what additional crew as necessary. The only crewman he kept on was the captain. Allowing the

Mississippi Queen's captain to retire. It was then necessary to hire a whole new crew for the Mississippi Queen. That only took a couple of weeks to complete. Rick had flyers printed and passed out advertising the Delta Queen under the same ownership and with the same standards as the Mississippi Queen. Business was brisk and with two boats running, the company recouped the investment in the Delta Queen within a year.

June 6, 1886 was a momentous day for the Rodgers family. Johanna Irene came into the world with both Doctor Phelps and Lanie Parish, the midwife, in attendance. Johanna had her father's blue eyes and her mother's chestnut colored hair and it was obvious that she would have her mother's classic features. As soon as she was presented, she became the darling of the crew but James' sunny disposition kept him popular as well. James would always be protective of his younger sibling, although that didn't mean there weren't the usual sibling squabbles.

Kate could never quite understand how Rick managed to juggle his duties as a father, the head of the company, actual duties on the boat and still manage to write his novels, the series was selling very well.

With the greater speed and comfort of the larger boat, the company extended their route to Vicksburg which could be reached in eighteen hours on an express run although they usually laid over in Natchez overnight.

After a couple of incidents o, the river, Kate persuaded the board to hire a full-time doctor. Doctor Phelps recommended a young colleague who was just trying to establish a practice with his twin sister as his nurse. They were hired as was Lanie. One of the second-class cabins was set up as a surgery/dispensary

On the river Spring 1887-winter 1889

The railroads were creating some competition with river traffic, mostly in freight as the railcars were less comfortable and nosier than the riverboats. Also, the riverboats were able to stop at points along the river where all they needed was a small dock or landing stage. The railroads had to build a depot and for the most part didn't parallel the river, rather taking the most direct route across country. In the spring of 1887, Rick convinced the board that they needed a faster ship that focused on passenger service and cargo rather than the floating gambling halls.

They had a new ship built, the river Queen. she was a screw driven steam sloop some two hundred fifty long by thirty-five wide and capable twenty-five knots top speed but could cruise at twenty Ona windy day, she could raise her sails and pick up a few knots of speed. She was a luxurious vessel holding twenty -five first class cabins and fifteen second class cabins and ten third class cabins. Security was tight on the sloop as it is on the river boats, The sloop mounted two gatling guns concealed under tarpaulins. Rick had the riverboat retrofitted with the same armament. The sloops forte was basically an express run to Memphis and there on to Cairo Illinois at the confluence of the Ohio River. Sometimes if there were no passengers for Memphis, they made the eight hundred fifty-nine miles in just under two days.

Neither Rick nor Kate had ever been to Illinois, so they took their children on a two -week long holiday, traveling to Memphis and then Cairo aboard the River Queen.

Memphis was familiar to them as they had been there a few times but had stayed aboard the boat. After three days in Memphis, they traveled on to Cairo. Although the company owned the ship. Rick chartered it For four days, at the start of the trip arranging it so that they would return to New Orleans on the ship's regular run at the end of the two weeks.

In Cairo, they stayed in the Rose Hotel, overlooking the Ohio river, took some time seeing the city and indulging in dinners out at the best restaurant in the city and Kate did some shopping. The time off with no duties or responsibilities was a much needed time for just relaxing.

Winter 1889- winter 1890.

Business was still good with the three vessels operating on the river but, Rick was thinking about selling the company if they could get up a good group of investors. He and Kate had been discussing what they wanted to do if they did sell. They didn't need to keep working, their personal fortune now stood at three million dollars. The riverboat gambler series had pretty much run its' course and Rick was looking for inspiration for something new to write. Whether they decided to sell, or not, they

needed to get off the river. It had been a good life for them, but James would turn six and Johanna four in the spring. They needed to have a circle of friends and playmates their own ages. That would mean a house and schools. They weren't sure if they wanted to stay in New Orleans or move elsewhere. They did know that if they moved, it wouldn't be back to New York. There were too many bad memories for both of them and the children were used to a milder climate. Two events occurred within two months of each other that had a profound effect on their lives. In August of 1890, Jim's years of alcoholism caught up with him and he died of liver failure. He was sixty-seven years old and considering the life expectancy in those years it wasn't such a short life at all.

In late October an influenza outbreak took Martha.

After several long discussions with Francois, they decided that Francois would sell his interest and retire comfortably here in New Orleans.

Rick and Kate, with the help of their attorney, assembled a group of investors and sold the company. They, however did not want to remain in New Orleans, with its' constant threat of storms that could cause the river to overflow its' banks and levees. They didn't want to move anywhere else in the south as there was still too much lingering bitterness from the war. They had finally decided that California was the ideal place for them to live.

TBC

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Swordwriter