After the Vows

Jim Beckett's Journal

Chapter 6

Dear Johanna,

The kids are home, actually a few days later than they thought. Ryan and Esposito each gave up a couple of vacation days so that after Katie and Rick solved the case, they could have some some semblance of a honeymoon. Rick and Katie keep making jokes about snakes and six shooters and giving each other meaningful looks. I don't think I want to know.

Katie is back at work now and of course Rick is with her. There has been another murder that may or may not be related to Pulgatti's death and the Bracken empire. The victim is a police officer, a Captain Donovan, who took over as head of Internal Affairs after Captain Gates replaced Roy Montgomery at the 12th. Rick expressed a concern to me that Donovan's death might be related to the Bracken affair. When Katie was framed for Vulcan Simmons' murder, Donovan shifted the hunt for her into high gear, including extremely fast television coverage. Rick is convinced that Donovan had it in for Katie and that it was quite likely at the behest of Bracken. Rick didn't offer any real evidence on that score, but his instincts have often been good.

With the death of a police officer, every cop in the city will be involved in one way or another until a perpetrator is brought in. The head of Internal Affairs was hardly the most beloved person in the department, but he is a member of the blue fraternity nonetheless. With her history with Internal Affairs, Gates has put all her available resources on the case. That includes Katie. If Gates had any suspicions about Donovan, as Rick did, they have not been reflected in her present actions.

Outwardly, this bears no resemblance to the Pulgatti case. Donovan was not the victim of some exotic poison, he was shot. Katie has described the gun as a cheap throwaway. The shooting was at very close range, so Donovan may have known his killer. There was no registered owner of the gun and no record of a matching bullet. The gun was left at the scene and there were no fingerprints. There was some DNA found on the body, apparently as a result of the killer sneezing, but it doesn't match anything in the system and there wasn't enough of it to determine genetic attributes with a usable degree of certainty.

The detectives are left with slogging through anyone Donovan knew who might have been able to get close enough to shoot him. That is an extremely long list of suspects and everyone, including Katie and Rick, is working overtime. The upside of that is that Katie will be earning comp time which she and Rick may eventually use to take a real honeymoon on an exotic island. The wild west was definitely not Katie's first choice and Rick can certainly afford to give her what she wants, if she ever gets the time.

I am hoping that Donovan's shooting has absolutely nothing to do with Bracken. That would be healthier for Katie although not necessarily for the NYPD as a whole. There may have been cops, or people close to cops who had a grudge against Donovan. If the killer turns out to be one of those, the whole department could be tarred by the media.

I found a PTSD support group for Alexis and to my surprise, she agreed to go. She was growing increasingly agitated as Rick and Katie were gone for the few extra days they got to spend together. From what little she told me, it was starting to show up in the way she was playing her violin. Declan was concerned that she seemed a little shaky. That was the impetus she needed to get some help. Truth may conquer all but in this case it may have been love, or at least infatuation. Whatever her relationship with Declan may be, it seems to be good for her. She invited me to something her quartet did. I can't really call it a concert. I'm not sure what to call it. They took the music from some sort of internet production, some sort of sing-a-long, and played it in the quad. Other students showed up in costume as characters. They acted out scenes and sang songs and had a great time. Alexis is certainly her father's daughter. She really got into the whole fantasy aspect. She wore a shirt that had a picture of one of the characters on it. A lot of the students had shirts like it. She also sang some back up oohs and aahs behind that same character, who reminded me a little bit of Rick for some reason. There were a bunch of students running around in gloves and goggles. There were also some women in red wigs. I have no idea why, but everyone else seemed to understand. Declan was there and beaming at Alexis the entire time. The attraction is obviously mutual.

My class action case is coming a long. Obviously with all the overtime on the Donovan case, Ryan hasn't had any time to work with me. As might be apparent, Alexis is pursuing her other interests, but I and my new associate, as well as my paralegals are working through documents at a good rate. I haven't told you about my new associate. I met him at a meeting. That is not a worry. He's got a five year chip and seems to be on pretty solid ground. His name is also James, which might be a little confusing except that he goes by J.J.. His full name is James Jacob Gillan. He has five sisters and is extremely passionate about the work. He's also not afraid to wear down a little shoe leather, so he does much of whatever chasing around town is required. He has something in common with you. He is a longtime fan of Rick's books. When he found out that Katie is "The Kate Beckett," the model for Nikki Heat, he was beside himself. It was very reminiscent of the fan behavior of some of the friends Katie had growing up. He would like very much to meet both Rick and Katie. I will try to arrange a dinner sometime, but they are both too busy with the Donovan case right now to even think about a social outing.

I haven't seen or talked to Martha at all. I assume that she is still thoroughly involved in preparations for her play. That's probably a very good thing for the kids. Between Alexis' new fascination and Martha's preoccupation, if they get any time away from the case, they won't have to worry about family interruptions.

Forever love,

JB