Chapter 4
Kate kept her eyes trained forward as she tugged the zipper up the back of her black dress. It was a one-two punch. Not only was she burying her mentor- the man who had been so much like a father while her own was drowning at the bottom of a bottle, but she couldn't even wear her dress blues to do it. The uniform, in which Montgomery had taught her to stand tall, hung in the back of her closet, hidden from the shame of her badge locked in the Captain's desk drawer.
She caught a glimpse of the tattoo as she reached up to pin back her hair. It had changed overnight. The final three now a bold black two. For a few moments the night before, she had given in- allowed herself to believe the possibility that there was more. But her parents? Evelyn and Roy? No. Fate had a sick sense of humor. The damn tattoo always ended in heartbreak.
She forced her eyes forward as she brushed on a quick layer of make up and looped the long thin silver chain around her neck. The watch was the last step, and she buckled it in place, covering the numbers without a second thought.
"Sometimes even fate makes mistakes."
She was tossing back two aspirin when her phone chirped. She pulled it out of the pocket of her leather jacket on a sigh- expecting Esposito's or Ryan's name to flash across the screen- another attempt to comfort, something both her partners were painfully bad at. Instead her brow furrowed at the blocked number and she crossed the room for the back-up gun she kept in her side table as she brought the phone to her ear.
"Hello?"
"Kate Beckett. I'm a friend of Roy Montgomery's. I'm only going to say this once so listen carefully- don't go to the funeral. I slid a package under your door last night- do with it what you will, but I'd recommend you get out of town while you figure it out."
"Wait. Hello?" Kate called into the phone only to be answered by silence.
Gun in hand she rushed across the apartment and scooped the plain Manila envelope off the front mat. Pages fluttered as she dumped the contents of the package onto the kitchen island, spreading them apart with frantic fingers while her eyes skimmed the contents.
"Oh holy fucking hell."
She shoved the pages back into the envelope and stashed the entire package in a leather backpack and she hurried back through the apartment, stripping off the dress and heels and replacing them with black pants and boots. She threw her jacket back on over her plain shirt, and the few thing she needed in her pack as she hurried through the space. Her phone in her pocket and her gun hidden in her boot she was out the door in a matter of minutes, never bothering to look back.
The sun shone bright over the cemetery. It felt wrong. Mother nature wasn't supposed to be smiling. She should be shrouding them in darkness, letting them use the rain to hide their tears.
Kate swallowed, forcing back her own sadness as she watched them lower the body of her mentor into the ground. Handkerchiefs and tissues blotted at eyes and noses as the mass of people gathered around the grave failed to do the same. A silver haired man at the back of the congregation caught her eye and she pulled her phone out of her pocket, watching him walk away from the crowd as it rang.
"Katie?"
"Hey, Dad." Kate replied from her perch on her Harley across the road.
"Katie where are you? I figured you would be here."
"I know. I'm sorry, something came up and I need to leave town for a bit."
Kate watched as her father glanced around the cemetery.
"Kate, what's wrong?" He continued, voice low.
"I can't get into it now but I have it under control. I'm just heading up to the cabin to lay low for a couple of days while everything plays out. If anyone asks, you don't know where I am, got it?"
"Yeah, Katie, I hear you. Take care of yourself. I love you."
"I love you too. Dad?"
"Yeah, sweetie?"
"Do you think fate made a mistake? With mom? Her clock hadn't hit zero yet when…"
Jim Beckett's sigh filtered through the speaker and Kate watched as he scrubbed a hand through his short hair. "I don't think fate made a mistake. We were meant to spend many more years together, but I do think that when someone wants something enough they have the ability to change fate- for better or for worse."
"So you don't think it was an accident? A blip?"
"No, Katie. I never did. It takes a lot more than a blip to change fate. But for what it's worth, I'd rather have those years with your mother, even abridged, than no time at all."
"I gotta go. I love you. And Dad?"
"Yeah?"
"I like the hair cut."
She could see her father chuckle as she pulled on her helmet and cranked her Harley to life. With a deep breath she pressed the inside of her wrist to her chest. Just a couple more days and then she would face fate.
