Becks Takes A Vacation
CHAPTER SIX
Previously: Becks looked over at Sue. "The truth is… I'm bored."
Sue pursed her lips as she studied the expression on Becks face. She could see the honesty in her statement. Becks was a Kate Beckett, and she just wasn't built for rest and relaxation like most people.
Sure a break now and then for a day or two, was about all the woman could handle before her need to be doing something important, or worthwhile would come to the fore and she'd be chomping on the bit to get back into the action.
Sue smiled in her mind when she remembered that Kate, the older version of Becks that she'd watched and worked with five years ago, was just the same. The only times she was distracted away from her work and that drive for justice was when she was romantically engaged with Richard Castle.
Becks didn't have her Richard Castle. She was forced to leave him behind when she'd abruptly been thrust into this similar, but different, dimension. Without any means to return to her home universe she had made the best of the life given to her. And that was a life without a significant other, so her work became her driving force. The woman really needed to find some fun in her life.
But now Sue found herself deep in another investigation where another person, and more importantly, another sharp brain, had asked if she could help.
It wasn't Becks' fight, but she had been a cop for many years and the illegal aspect of this story called to that need in her to right a wrong.
Sue didn't want to put Becks in any danger for her story, but she knew that the woman wouldn't see it that way. In her mind she wouldn't be doing a favor in helping Sue with a story. She be helping in bringing criminals to justice. Something that she had been doing most of her adult life. Something that was her life.
Sue nodded. "Okay, but you will have to follow my lead. This isn't going to be an official legal investigation. We have no jurisdiction, nor are we part of any law enforcement entity. Especially if we have to cross the border. We are merely the fact finders. If we are able to uncover and document proof of what we think might be happening, we take that to the proper authorities and our part of it all is done. I can write up the story and expose the crimes, but it's up to legal law enforcement to do the rest. Do you understand that?"
Becks met Sue's gaze. "Of course. I'm not a cop anymore. My actions as a private investigator aren't that different. It's my job to find the evidence, but once I do I also have to hand over that evidence to proper authorities to finish the job." Becks shrugs. "Not that much different than what you do."
Sue glanced at a clock on the wall. "Okay, it's getting late. Why don't you go back to the Antler Inn, and get a good night's sleep. Then in the morning pack up your stuff and check out. Have a good, filling, breakfast and then come back here. We'll make up a plan of attack, so to speak." Sue peaked through the door of the second bedroom. "I'll have this bedroom ready for you."
Becks was going to protest. She didn't want to put Guy out of his room. Unless he normally slept with Sue? She wasn't really sure about the kind of relationship those two had. She called him a friend. Someone she has known for a long time. Becks supposed Sue could be having sex with Guy. It's not like he wasn't a good looking man.
"Are you sure you want me to stay here?" Becks wanted to make sure she wasn't intruding. "It's not a problem for me to commute back and forth."
She shook her head. "No, once we get into this we won't be able to take the extra time for you to travel back and forth. It won't be a problem."
Sue paced a bit more. "Also, there are a few other things you'll have to know about me and Guy before we formulate our plan." Sue could see the questions on Becks' face.
Sue held up her hand. "Save your questions until the morning. You should get going. We'll have a lot to go over tomorrow."
Becks just nodded, then walked over and gave Sue a hug. "Thanks, I'll be back by mid-morning."
With that, Sue and Guy escorted Becks out to her car and watched as the young woman drove away.
Guy looked over at Sue with one brow raised. "Are you really going to confide in her… completely?"
Sue nodded. "I think we should. It would be too hard to work together if I was always worried about what she might see me do." Sue placed her hand on Guy's chest. "Her counterpart that I met five years ago seemed to accept me okay."
Sue chuckled. "Her boyfriend, now husband, Rick had not only accepted me as who I was, but had actually guessed that I had some sort of powers. He was thrilled by them."
Guy laughed. "He sounds almost like a little boy."
Sue joined in the laughter. "Oh, you have no idea."
Becks entered her room at the Antler Inn and began to pack away all the clothes she wasn't going to wear the next day. She set out a pair of jeans and a pull over sweat shirt. Clean underwear was laid out beside them.
She glanced at the watch she wore on her wrist. It was her father's watch. It had miraculously survived the hit and run accident that he hadn't. She kept it as a reminder of him, even though their last months together weren't all that pleasant, he was her father and she had loved him.
Becks wanted to call Kate and Rick. She wanted to let them know what she was planning to do and if they could give her any insight on Sue Thomas they might have gained when she had been at the precinct to write that story about them.
Becks liked Sue. She had been friendly and was obviously an intelligent woman. But a little voice in the back of her mind kept telling her that Sue wasn't telling her everything. It could just be that Sue wasn't all that sure about Becks yet, but if they were going to work together on this story. A story that could involve some danger. They had to be able to fully trust each other.
It was too late to call the only two people she could call family now. Given the extra hour time differential, they would be in bed by now. Especially since Kate was getting ever closer to the birth of their child and would need to stay rested. Becks decided she'd call them in the morning as she readied herself to leave.
Becks glanced around the room and was satisfied that she was ready for bed. After stripping down to her underwear, she crawled under the sheets and turned off the light.
Becks woke up early and wasted no time cleaning up and getting ready. She made a quick walk through just to make sure she hadn't left anything behind. Once she was satisfied that she hadn't left a pair of socks, or a bra behind, she went to the front desk and checked herself out.
The woman behind the desk expressed disappointment that she was leaving so soon and asked if there was any problems. Becks assured her that it had been a sudden change of plans that necessitated her departure and had nothing to do with the accommodations.
After tossing her luggage into the back seat of the car, she walked over to the restaurant side of the establishment. She seated herself in the sparsely occupied diner and looked over the single sheet breakfast menu that was already lying on the table.
It was Ruby again who soon came by. "Nice seeing you again, dear. Do you know what you want?"
Becks smiled. "Yes, I'll have the waffle combo. I want the eggs scrambled, orange juice and coffee."
Ruby gave Becks a smile. "I'll get right on it."
Becks pulled out her phone and punched the contact for Rick. She hoped the extra hour on the east coast would mean that they were up by now. It only rang twice before it was answered.
It was Castle. "Hey Becks how's the vacation so far?"
"It's beautiful out here, but it just got a little more interesting. Is Kate up yet?"
"Yeah, she just walked out into the kitchen, I'll put you on speaker."
She suddenly heard Kate's voice. "Hey Becks, how's the Minnesota wilds been?"
"It's been good. The scenery has been really beautiful. How is the mom to be doing?
"I've been good. I'm tired a lot, but all I do is sit around and Rick waits on me hand a foot." There was a giggle. "I could get used to this."
Becks snorted. "You'll be bored out of your mind soon. But back to your question, as I just mentioned to your husband there's been an interesting development."
"Oh, what's that?"
"After I checked into my motel I went over to the attached diner and who do you think I ran into having lunch with a friend of hers?"
"I hope you don't think we would really be able to guess, do you?" Kate shot back.
Becks chuckled. "No I don't. But I was approached by Sue Thomas. She had thought I was you."
"That's amazing."
"Yeah, but she is from Minnesota." Rick added.
Becks continued. "Apparently she has a cabin up here not too far from Isabella, which is where I've been staying. She had come in for lunch with a friend of hers."
"Well that's pretty interesting." Kate said. "Was she on a vacation also or just taking a break between assignments?"
Becks shook her head and immediately felt stupid since Rick and Kate couldn't see her.
"Not exactly. She's looking into some unusual excessive sports ATV activity up in northern Minnesota. Activity far above what would be considered normal."
"And she thinks this is worthy of investigating?" Rick was confused.
Kate jumped in. "She's thinking they might be transporting something illegally, or something illegal."
Becks answered. "That's pretty much it."
"Why assume that?" Rick asks, then turns to Kate. "And why was that the first thing you thought of?"
Becks laughed. "It's because she's a cop."
"Sue's not a cop." Rick pointed out.
"No, but she is an investigative journalist. She's trained herself to look for things that are out of the ordinary."
"And aside from what some friends who live up in northern Minnesota have told her, something I saw pretty much cemented the deal for her." Becks added.
"What would that have been?" Kate asked.
Becks took a moment to gather her thoughts. "I was out sightseeing when I came across a couple of guys driving a couple of powerful ATVs." Becks decided to leave out the reason she had stopped. "I managed to overhear them talking. Apparently they had gotten lost and had to check a map to get themselves back on track. They talked about a delivery. About being late to a meet that would anger 'the boss'. And add to all their bitching, was the fact that were both pulling rather large storage trailers behind each ATV."
"That even sounds suspicious to me." Castle quips.
"So I guess we'll be seeing another headline story from Ms. Thomas in the near future." Kate adds.
"Maybe sooner than you think?" Becks interjects.
"What do you mean? Came the question in stereo.
"It means that I'm going to help her."
There was a sudden silence on the other end of her line. Becks knew that they had pulled away from the phone because she heard the shuffle of their feet as they moved back from the phone.
Back in the loft, Kate and Rick had stepped away from the phone. "Do you think we should tell her what we know about Sue?" Kate whispered to Rick.
Rick shook his head. "I don't think that should be up to us. Sue is a smart woman. She'll be able to determine just how much about her 'abilities' that Becks will need to know in order to help her out. We don't even know if they will be working in tandem, or be following separate lines of investigation."
Kate nodded. "Yeah, I'll agree for now, but I want us to encourage Becks to keep us informed so we can decide if she needs to know what we know about Ms. Thomas."
"Hey, are you guys still there?" Becks spoke up over the phone.
"Sorry, the baby was kicking and it distracted us for a few minutes." Kate quickly covered for their disappearance. "Becks, I thought you were on vacation?"
"Yeah, well it is beautiful up here, and I saw some incredible sights the last few days while I've been here, but I can only stare at nature's beauty so long. I'm getting bored and the idea of investigating some large criminal undertaking is just the thing to assuage that boredom."
"Becks, if you do this, make sure that Sue officially hires you as private investigator." Castle breaks in. "It doesn't matter if it's only a dollar a day. Make sure you have a legal agreement."
"Why would I need that? Why can't I just be helping a friend?"
"You need it to be able to claim client confidentiality." Rick explained. "That way if any law enforcement agency becomes involved they can't compel you to give up any confidential interaction between you and a client."
Again Becks nodded to no one. "That makes sense. I'll bring that up with Sue when I see her and Guy later."
"Who's Guy?" Both spoke in harmony again.
"He's the tall, dark and handsome that is Sue's friend, Guy Otay."
There was silence from New York again as Kate and Rick turned and looked at each other. Both had a strange expression on their faces.
"Hey, you guys still there? I'm going to have to go, my breakfast is here. I'll talk to you later." Becks disconnected the call.
"Did she say Guy Otay?" Asked Rick. Kate just nodded."
Having not heard what they said to each other Becks smiled as Ruby place her breakfast down in front of her on the table.
"Bon Appetite, dear. That's a lot of food for a slip of a gal like you."
"Oh, I think I'll be able to handle it." Becks gave Ruby a wink.
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Sue was up with the sun. Guy was nowhere to be found. He'd obviously gone to stretch himself out a bit, and maybe come across something more interesting this early in the morning than what Sue was having for breakfast. It would be eggs and toast, which was all Sue ever had available.
The first thing she did was put on a pot of coffee, then pulled out a couple slices of bread for the toaster. She wasn't all that hungry since she'd been snacking all day yesterday while Becks was here.
Not being a cop, Sue wasn't in the habit of calling people by their last names, but she found it amusing that 'Becks' was a Beckett, and would answer to that as readily or more readily than she would to Rebecca. She couldn't exactly answer to 'Kate' since this world already had a Kate Beckett. One who had seniority.
If Becks was half the detective that the Kate Beckett she followed five years ago was, she would be a definite asset. Which brought her thoughts to her planned revelation when she arrived later this morning.
It was obvious to Sue that neither Rick nor Kate had revealed Sue's secret to her. She knew she could trust them back when her true nature had come out, when Castle had deduced that she wasn't exactly as advertised.
But, like then, if she was going to be working closely with Becks, she'd have to know whom she was dealing with. Sue held no fear that Becks wouldn't safe guard her secret as well as Kate and Rick had. That wasn't her worry. Though Guy might freak her out at first.
Sue's main concern was the effect of carrying around the heavy load that such a huge secret would put on her. Would it be something that she would find hard to accept? Or could she tuck it to the back of her memory stores and not let herself dwell on it.
While Sue was munching on her toast she decided to scramble up a couple of eggs also. She opened her refrigerator and plucked the eggs from their container. A quick scan of the fridge triggered a note to self in her mind. If Becks was going to be staying here, she would have to plan for more groceries."
It was a little past mid-morning when Becks pulled her rental car into Sue's parking spot. For the first time she noticed tire tracks worn through the grass leading to a somewhat ramshackle out building that Becks assumed held whatever vehicle that Sue had.
She got out of her cart and walked toward Sue's cabin. As had happened yesterday, Sue came out the front door to meet with Becks.
Sue came right up and hugged the young woman, stepped back and smiled. "I'm glad you are coming along on this. Three sets of eyes will be better than two."
As they did yesterday, they swung around the cabin passing the front door and entering through the porch. The day was comfortable, and there was a noticeable breeze blowing from the southwest.
Sue indicated that Becks should sit. "Is there anything I can get you? Coffee perhaps?"
Becks smiled. "I certainly wouldn't turn down a cup of coffee."
Sue had kept a pot brewing all morning so all she had to do was pour Becks a cup. She grabbed a couple store bought cinnamon rolls too. She brought them out and handed Becks the cup and one of the rolls."
Becks glanced back toward the inside of the cabin. "Guy sleep late?"
Sue shook her head. "No, he was up early and is out and about somewhere. I likes to take walks in the morning. It helps wake him up."
Becks took a sip of the coffee, and a bit of her roll. She chewed for a while then faced Sue.
"I talked to Kate and Rick this morning."
Sue raised a brow. "Oh, any news on the mommy front?" Becks shook her head. "Anything else interesting they have to say?"
Becks swallowed another hunk of cinnamon roll. "Castle did advise me to have you officially hire me to help with your story. He reminded me that as a licensed private investigator I'd be in a stronger position of client confidentiality if we were ever to become involved with local law enforcement."
Sue nodded. "That's a good idea. I was going to broach that subject with you this morning." Sue grinned. "What does RCI's top investigator cost a day?"
Becks drew in a big sigh. "We're pretty exclusive. Rick okayed… one dollar a day, plus you have to feed me occasionally." Sue laughed. "Actually, I threw in the feeding me part."
Sue smirked. "Well, you drive a hard bargain, but I think we can do business here." Sue stood up. "Come on in. I'll pull up the paperwork from my computer."
They two ladies went into the cabin and Sue led Becks into her bedroom. Over in the corner of the room was a tiny desk with a laptop on it. Sue popped it open and woke it up.
Once the computer was up and running, Sue brought up a form where she typed in the conditions of their agreement. Becks looked over her shoulder and saw that the agreed fee was one dollar a day, defined as a full twenty four hour calendar day. All meals will be provided, and a variable bonus dependent on sales.
There were spaces where both Sue and Becks could electronically sign the contract. Which they did. Sue asked for the email of Richard Castle Investigations and sent them a copy. Another copy went to Sue's personal account number at her editor's office.
"So what was that 'bonus' addition to the contract?" Becks asked.
"That's put in all my contracts." Sue began to explain. "My standing contract with my editor, is he pays my expenses which include outside hires such as yourself. And a sliding scale bonus based on how the sales of the various printed publications he was able to sell the story to. I just included you in on that bonus since your fee is so small."
Becks gave Sue a half-lidded stare. "I'm going to go out on a limb here and say, if this story is as big as we think it might be. I stand to make RCI a lot more money this way, then by just being on retainer for services rendered."
Sue grinned. "Who knows?"
Becks stared down at her computer. "I'm amazed you have a connection way out here."
"Oh believe me, I pay for it." Sue looked a bit sheepish. "Because of my so-called reputation, I was able to finagle a satellite modem."
Becks eyes grew wide. "Wow, you must know some important people."
Sue shrugged. "Well I did uncover a plot to attack the White House." She chuckled. "A grateful president was more than happy to help me with my communication problems."
Sue got up and led Becks back out to the porch where the day was warming up nicely even if the breeze had picked. Sue led her out to the steps where they had sat yesterday.
"So, what sort of plan do you have in mind?" Becks broke the silence first.
Sue turned her head toward Becks. "We'll get to that shortly. First we have to talk about some other things." Sue clasped her hands. "What did Rick and Kate tell you about the time I followed them on that story."
Becks shrugged. "Nothing much. Just that you followed them on a murder investigation and you got caught up with Castle and Kate when you were snatched during a surveillance."
"Nothing else?" Sue asked.
Becks looked confused. "Just that you had been thrown overboard with them and were lucky that fisherman came upon all of you. Truthfully, it never came up again after they told me the story after I found and read the magazine article among Castle's stash."
"So they gave you the 'official' version."
Becks just stared. "There's an unofficial version?"
Sue smiled. "Yep." She grabbed Becks hand and gave it a squeeze. "Do you believe that there are other things in this world besides what you can see, smell, hear and feel?"
Becks rolled her eyes. "You're talking to someone who was thrust into this world from another parallel dimension. So yeah, I think my wiliness to accept possibilities that I haven't yet experienced could be true." Becks chewed her bottom lip. "But I'm still a pragmatic person. I need to see to believe."
Sue nodded. "Fair enough."
Becks watched as Sue seemed to draw a brownish symbol, or a sigil of some sort that briefly flashed in the air right by her finger before it disappeared. Her attention was quickly drawn to the grassy space in front of them.
Suddenly there was a disturbance in the ground, like someone was pushing up from underneath. The dirt came up in a large clump, with the grass still hanging on. While she watched Becks saw the mound of dirt and grass mold itself into the shape of a crude house where the main structure was a square of dirt with a peaked roof line over which the grass lay over it like a thatched roof.
Becks' jaw dropped. Her eyes went to Sue's hand again as she seemed to draw a sigil in the air again, only this time it was white. Suddenly the breeze seemed to gain a concentrated strength. Dust and dead leaves were being tossed around. Gradually the wind seemed to coalesce in a spiral. She could see the leaves and sand particles forming a spinning vortex of wind. It was like a tiny tornado maybe fou r feet high.
The tiny tornado swept into the little dirt house and scattered the dirt and grass everywhere. But surprisingly, none of the debris hit them. Sue turned and smiled at her.
"I can also manipulate fire and water. Some would call me an elemental witch, because I can manipulate the four ancient elements of earth, wind, fire, and water. But I prefer the term 'gifted'. I've been gifted with the ability to do things that other people can't. Just like a gifted athlete can do things that most people can't. Or a gifted singer whose voice is a marvel. Or the Einstein's of this world who are gifted with a mind very few could begin to understand."
Becks had felt all along that Sue had been keeping something from her, but she never would have expected something on the level that she'd just revealed. Becks was squeezing her fists tightly, but overall she was handling it fairly well. At least she thought so.
Becks managed to find her voice. "So, there are others like you?"
Sue nodded. "I've met a few with similar gifts." Sue patted her knee. "You of all people shouldn't be too surprised to find out that something exists that you hadn't known about before."
Becks laugh was weak. "Yeah, but I've had just about all the surprises I can handle."
Just then Guy appeared around the corner of the cabin just like the other day.
"Good morning ladies, how are you two this find morning."
Sue started laughing. "I'm sorry Becks, but you aren't quite through with your surprises just yet." Sue turned and looked at Guy. "You're up."
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A/N: More revelations to come?
All Readers are Appreciated, Review if you wish.