God Said

Chapter 3

"Welcome to the Norwegian Bliss." The woman at check-in handed her all her paperwork including her key card that she would need to get onboard each time. She also needed it to exit the ship and to unlock her cabin door. She was supposed to use it to order drinks as well. At the end of the cruise she would find a bill at her door showing all her charges. They would automatically be paid using the credit card she had given them.

She walked toward the escalator following other passengers. They went down a walkway and then across to the ship itself. Just inside she had to show her picture ID and insert her card in this machine that binged at her. Then she was told welcome aboard.

Actually being on the ship didn't feel like anything special. She was on deck four and her room was on deck twelve. She didn't have any of her suitcases with her since they would be delivered to her room. So she decided to go exploring.

She found six restaurants and one buffet: Seafood, Mexican, Sushi, Japanese, American, and a steakhouse. There was something that really interested her, Coco's on deck eight. It specialized in all things chocolate. Chocolate shakes, fudge. If it used chocolate this was the place. She knew she would be back eventually.

Nine bars and a STARBUCKS! Except it wasn't open yet. "Don't go away. I'll be right back." She was still on deck eight.

"It has a mini Go Kart track!?" Intrigued, she looked for the entrance that turned out to be on deck eighteen. It was US$15 per trip. She would do that eventually. "Mini Golf."

"Laser Tag?" Kate was in love yet again. It was on deck twenty and cost US$10 each time. With her skills she would be back to do this too.

"Aqua Park." It was on deck sixteen and she saw that it had a slide that went out over the side of the ship before being dumped into the pool. "This is my kind of ship!" Maybe she really did need a vacation.

She found a casino and a spa that had prices way out of her price range. While that was interesting she was betting the odds were worse than Vegas so she would be skipping this space unless it was just to pass through it to get somewhere else.

She ended up back on deck eight and found shops that held a little of everything, including swim suits. She had two of them so didn't need one but there were other things as well.

oO{}O{}Oo

Kate finally got to her room on deck twelve and used her key card to unlock the door. Once inside she saw one large bed and a tiny desk with a chair. The room had one shower inside the room as well as the sink. The toilet was in its own room. There was a really narrow closet to hang clothes and had two drawers.

Except her suitcases weren't there yet. At least was a TV hanging on the wall and she found today's schedule and coupons on her bed. The first thing started in two hours and lasted till tomorrow or really late at night.

Tomorrow was a day at sea with their first stop being in Ketchikan, Alaska. Leave at 5:00 pm tonight, arrive in Ketchikan in two days at 7:00 am and leave at 3:00 pm.

"Excursion desk!" That had her up and down to deck six to find the excursion desk. She located it and the service desk was open but she had to get in line. First she picked up a brochure to see if there was anything that interested her or if she should get out of line and stay onboard.

"Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show & Crab Feast." At US$129 it was within her budget. It promised her a show and something to eat that was definitely Alaskan.

So with ticket in hand eventually, she was told to meet in the auditorium and sit where she'd been told. She was supposed to follow her guide off the ship to her ride. And no the ship would not leave without her so long as she bought her excursions on the ship through the Norwegian Cruise Line. Now if she left the ship on her own, yes, the ship would leave if she was late. It would be up to her to get to their next stop so she could rejoin the ship.

oO{}O{}Oo

Juneau Alaskan Brewery Tasting Experience. At only US$25 it was definitely within her budget and since it only lasted two hours she had time to just walk around and maybe do some souvenir shopping. Something small that would fit in her suitcase.

Kate found she had a lot of choices: Alaskan Amber Ale, Alaskan Icy Bay IPA, Alaskan Summer Ale, Alaskan White Ale, Alaskan Smoked Porter, Alaskan Freeride APA.

And there even a few more. They weren't full glasses for taste testing unless she bought one and when she found one she liked she did just that. She declined the ride back to the ship and would find her own way. They had arrived at 7:00 am and left at 11:00 pm. She just needed to be back on the ship by 9:00. That would give her time to be late.

oO{}O{}Oo

Kate walked out of a store after finding a handmade bracelet that to her screamed Alaska and that was the point. She was still feeling her beers a little and she needed have a snack and to walk it off. But maybe some coffee would work just as well.

She began walking around, looking for this home town place that wasn't Starbucks or Coffee People and was just starting to walk up the steps to reach the door. "Castle!?" He was walking out with a takeout cup and looked at her in shock.

"Detective Beckett? What are you doing in Juneau?" He didn't live in this city thankfully if somehow she had moved here, but seeing her here was still a shock.

"Cruise ship." Kate pointed at it since he couldn't miss it. She was even trying to keep it in sight so she didn't get herself lost. "What are you doing here? Do you live here?" Had she really driven him out of New York City all the way to Juneau, Alaska?

"No, I came here for a meeting. I just needed some coffee to keep me awake for the trip home. If you'll excuse me I would like to get home before it gets dark." He still wasn't that good a navigator and didn't want to run aground on some sandbar or worse, hit rocks that he didn't see.

Rick made it past Kate. "Castle, wait! Can we talk?" She had questions.

"Talk!?" Rick actually stopped and wheeled around to face her. "Talk? US? We kiss and we don't talk. We freeze to death and we don't talk. I watched you get shot and up and disappear and we don't talk. I really don't think we have anything to talk about." Rick was done with her and turned to walk away.

"I thought you loved me," Kate whispered. Then he turned to face her. She had never seen him furious with her before. Surprisingly he was starting to turn red. She even saw him make a fist like he was actually going to strike her. She had obviously hit a nerve.

His fist turned into a fore finger that he shook at her. "You don't get to use that word with me. You have no idea what love is. None at all. Love isn't someone that runs to her boyfriend after we nearly freeze to death. Then tell me that you thought you two had a chance. Love is not running away from the loft on the pretext of moving into your own apartment. Only to move in with Lanie for a few weeks. Just to get away from me, Mother, or Alexis or all three." Kate was shocked that he knew about that. The only person that knew was Lanie.

"Love is not getting shot and disappearing while you let your boyfriend, Doctor Motorcycle Boy, take care of you and don't tell anyone at all how you're doing.

"Did you know Lanie saved your live in the ambulance? They left us both standing in a hallway while you were wheeled into the operating room. You left both of us standing there with your blood on us, wondering if we were ever going to see you alive again.

"Instead you vanished. So no, you have no idea what love is. None at all. You can keep your walls. I'm done with you. I'm over you." He wasn't over her completely and feared he never would be, but he was going to try. "I don't ever want to see you again, Detective. In Alaska, New York, or even Paris. Now if you'll excuse me I really need to get moving." Rick turned away and walked quickly toward the water.

"But Castle…" Kate said to herself as she watched him walk away. He didn't understand why she had done what she'd done. Worse was if her crazy lady was right she had fallen in love with him and was making love to him. It even sounded like she was in love with him.

Where had she gone so wrong? The need to know had her jogging to keep him in sight while not letting him see her. He wasn't headed for her cruise ship so he wasn't on her ship so just where was he going?

Kate watched him enter a marina filled with boats of all sizes. None of them weren't overly big but a few looked nice. Most were simple sailing boats that looked totally closed up and not in use.

He walked down a boardwalk and just kept walking. It was exposed and there was really no place to hide so she had to hang back and then run before she lost where he turned. Even then she lost him.

Then a boat started up so she assumed it was him. She watched as this forty, maybe forty-five foot boat pulled away. It was mostly white and had a blue streak down the side. There was a railing around the front, a covered pilot area, and a couple of portholes in the side lower down that suggested there was room below the pilot house.

She had thought he would buy a yacht. One of those really big ones. Maybe this was just a commuter boat to get home with. Wherever home was.

"I'm sorry, Castle. I didn't mean… I mean I only wanted…" She was talking to herself and Castle wasn't interested in talking to her. Maybe she had finally gone too far.

The tears were rather cold against her cheek and she didn't bother wiping them away.

"Hey baby, you need something?" a voice called out and Kate saw him. He was no one she would be interested in.

"No." Kate began to walk back the way she had come.

"Aw, come on. It can't be that bad." He took hold of her upper arm.

Kate grabbed his arm and flipped him. She let him land flat on his back as he let out a huff when the air left his lungs. She still had his arm and started twisting it while putting a booted foot at his neck.

"I said no or would you prefer that I break this?" Kate gave his arm an extra twist that had him crying out. Then she released him and quickly walked away.

"Bitch!" he muttered as he slowly got up.

"I'm not your bitch and don't want to be. I pity any woman that comes your way," Kate yelled over her shoulder.

Now Kate was fuming. She had been told off and had run into some idiot that needed to be taught a lesson but likely hadn't learned anything.

"Katie!" It was that voice. That sickening happy and sweet voice of the crazy lady that kept hitting her.

Kate spun around to face her. "You knew, didn't you? You knew exactly where Castle was and didn't tell me," Kate accused her.

"He told you the truth, didn't he? He didn't lie like you do all the time. He loved you and you sent him here to get away from you. It hurts, doesn't it? He got your attention!" She proceeded to slap Kate on the cheek really hard.

"That's it!" Kate had been slapped once too often. She lunged at her and ended up going right through her. She stumbled and landed hard. She was face down on the wooden deck. "Damn it!" Kate got up slowly and turned to face her to give her a piece of her mind but she was gone.

"And stay gone!" Kate yelled at the empty space and stormed the rest of the way to the dock so she could walk to her ship and get this trip over with. It had started out so well. She had even paid the fifteen dollars to ride the Go Karts followed by another ten dollars to play Mini Golf. That was followed by a delicious chocolate shake while she sat there and watched people in swimsuits splashing into the pool.

Now maybe she would spend the rest of the trip in her cabin sulking.

oO{}O{}Oo

Kate washed her face in her room and looked at the woman in the mirror. "He hates me. Martha hates me. Alexis hates me." She saw new tears running down her face and wiped them away.

"The truth hurts, Katie." There was that voice again and she saw her behind her in the mirror. She always looked the same. It was then that she got a good look at her face. It had these sparkles in it. Actually everything about her seemed to sparkle.

Kate let more tears fall. "What did I do wrong?"

"You lied. He believes in truth no matter how much it hurts. You believe in lying to people. You even lie to yourself." Then just like that she was gone again.

At least she hadn't hit her this time. Kate sat on her bed to sulk and cry. She even knew why she had lied. It was all done to protect her from being hurt.

oO{}O{}Oo

For the rest of her cruise Kate ate at the buffet and walked around the ship in daze until she accidentally ran across the Starbucks and had a coffee. And totally by accident she ran across the chocolate place. Still neither place really helped.

She had ignored everyone. She didn't go back to the Go Karts or the Mini Golf or even put on a bikini and went down the chute and splashed into the pool. She was making sure she suffered. It was what she did and couldn't seem to stop it.

Still in a fog by the time she reached her apartment, she dropped her bag and went looking for something to drink. She needed something to kill the pain of this trip. She didn't even have any clue on how to fix her life. All she really had was work.

Except the second she thought of work the dressing down Gates had given her came back. Gates wanted to fire her. She might not even have a job when she went back to the precinct to pick up her cases where she had left off.

Her first thought was to just try and work it out. Her second thought was to apply for a job somewhere else and hand in her resignation after she was hired. But where did she want to go? She was born in this city. This city was the only city she knew. Though maybe any city would do.

She just needed to do it before Gates put something in her file that would keep her from even getting a job as a mall cop.

Kate walked onto the homicide floor and saw Espo and Ryan were already there as well as Gates. Kate dropped her bag at her desk.

"How was your vacation, Beckett?" Espo questioned her.

"Don't ask. How was it here?" Kate asked him.

"Paul resigned while you were gone and LT put in a transfer and then resigned as well. He's in Chicago now," Espo replied.

Kate stared at him. "Why?" She watched him give a nod toward Gates's office. It was all she really needed to know. Given how Gates was treating her she could guess that others were getting the same treatment.

"She's making friends fast, I see." Kate sat down and started emptying her bag. She needed to gather up her case files and get started. She also had a piece of paper that she had put together of cities that she might consider moving to to start her new job search.

Kate was under no illusion that Gates was still going to fire her even if she didn't understand why Gates hated her so much.

"Beckett, we got a live one." Ryan waved his post-it note for her and Espo to see.

"Coming." Kate might as well add another case to her list of cases she needed to solve.

oO{}O{}Oo

The three of them meet Lanie who had only just arrived as well. The officers had already taped off the area to keep the public out.

This site was a wide alley that could be used as a short cut by taxis, delivery trucks, or even personal cars if someone wanted to try it.

None of them had noticed that this alley was void of dumpsters. There were tall brick buildings on either side with no windows. Spotting the body on the concrete was easy. It was just lying there for everyone to see.

All four approached the body and began looking it over while Kate looked up. "Jumper?" Kate queried because she didn't see much blood.

Espo shook his head. "My money's on body dump."

"Female, late 30s I would say. If she's a jumper she landed on something. It almost looks like it broke her back or did. I won't know till I get her back to the lab." Lanie started looking a little closer.

"No windows." Kate kept looking up. If a jumper she was betting this building over that one. It was too far away. "Get the officers to start knocking on doors. Who called it in?" Kate inquired and looked at Ryan who had gotten the call.

"Anonymous. Typical New Yorker. They didn't want to get involved," Ryan answered.

Now it was Espo that leaned down to take a closer look. However, his mind went somewhere else. He had seen something like this before but it was in a different country what felt like a lifetime ago.

"RUN!" Espo bellowed and had everyone's attention. But it was already too late. Somebody had already typed in the number and just needed to press send.

The resulting explosion was tremendous. The explosive had some of the smallest, sharpest, most dense pieces of shrapnel that could be packed around it. The shrapnel shredded everything in its path.

Kate, Lanie, Ryan, Espo, and six other officers barely recognized the sound of the explosion. The flash had only just registered in their brains. Feelings of intense pain were sent to the brain but it was no longer functioning to tell the person about the pain.

Lanie was cut into bits and parts and her body was embedded in the brick wall behind her. Kate's body was mangled and thrown against the opposite brick building.

Espo had mostly been standing over the body. His body was blown up into the sky and fell to the ground in pieces.

Ryan's shredded body was blown over a parked cruiser and out into the street.

Six of eight officers did something similar. Their pulverized bodies were blown out into the street. The sound of the explosion traveled for several blocks. Windows in some other blocks shattered from the pressure waves.

It was going to take a lot of work to find enough to ever identify the dead body that had gotten all of them out there in the first place. All that was left where she'd been was a depression in the concrete where the bomb had been sitting. It too had a lot of shrapnel embedded into the concrete as did the brick walls and all the police cruisers in the area. Even the building across the street was peppered with shrapnel.

The man who had pressed SEND looked it over and left the building he was in. He took his phone apart and dropped various pieces as he walked. He had done his job. However, what he didn't know was that he would be found with a bullet in his brain. He had been in his apartment and two weeks later the police found his body after someone called in about the smell.