After the Woods
Chapter 8
Castle's room was a comforting refuge in a small inn accustomed to putting up Brian's clients. No questions were asked as Castle was provided with whatever amenities he needed and bid good night. Castle wished with all his heart that Kate could be in his arms beneath the warmth of the comforter, but he had only a bolster to grasp. Despite his exhaustion, sleep came slowly. Questions whirled in his head. Would he ever see Kate or his family again? Could he make sure they were safe? He fervently hoped the answers were yes.
Morning came too soon for the night's rest to counteract weeks of exhaustion, worry, and pain, but Castle got up to make his meeting with Brian. They met outside a bank not far from the inn. Brian introduced Castle to the bank manager who rented them a safety deposit box under the aegis of Brian's firm and conducted them into a private room where they could fill it. Brian handed Castle memory cards for the videos he had made the day before, along with envelopes to address. One envelope each for Kate, Alexis, and Martha were placed within the box.
"Rick, I'll keep one key," Brian explained. "When we're finished with the process, we'll secure another one on your body somewhere. One way or another, if the worst should happen, the messages will get where they need to go."
Returning with Brian to the building on Rue Sebastien, Castle was reacquainted with a somber Dr. Milman. "Rick," he explained solemnly, "to achieve the type of memory suppression you're seeking, it's going to be a multistage process which may be much harder on your body than your previous course of treatment. There may be unforeseen complications and there is a non-zero chance of fatality, as I believe Brian has already told you."
"How high is non-zero?" Castle asked.
"Up to five percent," Milman replied.
Castle swallowed and cleared his throat. "I can accept that."
"Also," Milman continued, "you may become disoriented during the course of treatment, act unpredictably. We'll be keeping a very close watch on you, especially during the last stage."
"How long will all of it take?" Castle asked. "I've already been gone for weeks. Kate, my family, I can't imagine what they're going through."
"One way or another, we'll be done by late September," Milman told him. "I'm sorry, that's the best I can do."
Castle ran a hand through his now overlong hair and closed his eyes. It tore at his heart to picture what must be going on in New York. With a sigh of resignation he told Milman that he was ready to go ahead.
Advised by Milman to work his plans out completely with Brian before subjecting his brain to any of the drugs, Castle worked out a proposal that would make it look as if he had never left the country, and in fact had been camping. If he couldn't return, or couldn't make Kate understand that he loved her, he much preferred that she think he was not worth her time, hoping that it would minimize her grief and keep her from investigating further. He and Brian agreed to set up a campsite salted with Castle's possessions, including his precious tuxedo, which could be discovered by the detecting skills of Kate and her compatriots at the 12th Precinct. The story would be hard on Alexis and Martha as well, but Castle knew that in the end Brian would be able to make them understand that his love for them never ceased. Castle also arranged for an anonymous story on working conditions in the Marianas Islands to be delivered to an aggressive advocacy organization, hoping to start a cascade that would help the women Joshua had trapped.
Dr. Milman began treatment with a series of injections. At first, Castle was able to stay at the inn, but as things progressed, and his mind became fuzzier, he stayed at the Rue Sebastien building. Finally, he and Brian flew to Massachusetts, where Brian used the trailer of a friend, Henry Jenkins to set the stage. Castle's hair was cut and his beard shaved to lend authenticity to the camping story. Having obtained two months of newspaper articles covering Castle's disappearance, Brian had Castle touch them as well as food and extra clothing in Castle's size. Brian set up a tent close to the water with those items as well as Castle's tux, the shoes that went with it, which had been in the satchel, along with Castle's watch. Other than lending his DNA, Castle was too disoriented to help.
The plan was that once the stage had been set, Brian would give Castle the final injection and a suggestion which would finish erasing the prior two months and keep Castle from remembering Brian and his organization. The key to the safety deposit box in Montreal was sewn into Castle's pants. The injection should have knocked Castle out immediately at which point Brian could leave him unconscious on a road near a ranger station where he could be easily found. Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned. Castle didn't lose consciousness right away, but became unable to recognize Brian. Confused he ran desperately from the trailer to a dinghy a fisherman had moored at a nearby dock. Brian was unable to catch up before Castle jumped in the boat and started the engine. The boat's owner yelled for Castle to stop, but when Castle cast off, fired three round from his hunting rifle into the hull of the boat. Brian was able to calm the fisherman by offering recompense for the boat taken by his mentally disturbed cousin, and called in help from his partners, even as the dinghy ran out of fuel and was dragged southward by the current.
"Could Brock see him Dick?" Brian asked a partner in communication with the small plane they had searching the open water for Castle's dinghy.
"I'm sorry," Dick responded, "there wasn't a sign of him. Brock's going to refuel and keep looking further south, but there's a pretty big window for where he could have drifted."
Brian thanked him and asked him to keep in touch. He wasn't sure what more he could do. If he alerted the authorities, Rick's story could be blown and he had promised Rick that no matter what, he wouldn't let that happen. He sat in the trailer with his face in his hands. Rick had been prepared to die if that was what it took to keep Kate and his family safe. Sadly, it looked like that might be the ending that would come. He fingered the key in his pocket. While he was waiting for news, Brian had his hacker, Chad, plant Brian's picture as Henry Jenkins with the DMV, just in case his planted site was found and someone came asking questions.
For more than three days there was no sign of Castle's dinghy and Brian questioned whether he should return to Montreal to send out videos. Finally the call came from Dick. Brock had spotted the dinghy off Delaware not far from a Coast Guard ship. It was very likely he would be picked up, and if not, an anonymous tip could be called in. "Dick, go to New York," Brian instructed. "Watch the family and especially Kate when they get the news. I need to know what's going on."
Kate came to the hospital on a dead run, greeting Ryan and Esposito, who told her that Martha and Alexis were on their way in a cruiser. The doctors wouldn't release information to him and Esposito, but they would to next of kin. She stopped short at the sight of Castle, his skin aflame against the white of the hospital linens. He was there, he was really there. Coming into his room she called to him, as she had in Washington D.C. when he had almost been taken from her. She stroked his sun-reddened arm, but there was no response. Martha and Alexis had arrived and Kate was able to overhear the doctors reassure them. As Alexis and Martha waited at Castle's bedside, Kate had other ideas. She would find out where that dinghy came from and what had happened to Castle.