After the Vows
Jim Beckett's Journal
Chapter 10
Dear Johanna,
I made a serious error in judgment and it almost cost our daughter her life. I've been writing to you about my associate J.J. Gillan. Other than his obsession with Rick and Katie, I've never seen anything about him that would have raised red flags. Well the red flag was looking me in the face. He wanted to use me, that was why he kept nagging me to set up a meeting. J.J. and I had our coffee with the kids yesterday morning. It was a pretty low tension situation, or at least it seemed to be. Rick ordered for Katie while she was in the ladies room. Of course he knew exactly what she wanted. From what she's told me, he has, practically since the day they started working together, and has always done his best to see that she got it. I had my usual black, drawing my usual strange look from the server. Doesn't anyone but me drink black coffee anymore? J.J. ordered exactly what Rick did, acting as if it was some form of hero worship.
We were sitting at a table and J.J. and the kids were discussing some obscure details in Rick's books. J.J. had a big smile on his face and was gesturing wildly when Rick grabbed J.J.'s wrist. J.J. had been trying to slip something into Katie's coffee and Rick caught him. Thank God! Katie got J.J. on the ground and cuffed him but he was already in pain. Rick hadn't just grabbed his wrist. He broke it. I hadn't realized just how much muscle is hidden under those custom made shirts. I say good for Rick. He could have broken a lot more without disturbing me a bit.
Katie delivered the coffee to the lab for analysis. The last time I checked with her, there weren't any results back yet. I don't know if that scum was trying to kill Katie or drug her, but circumstances have led me to suspect the former. Rick remembered seeing a call to a Gillan in the phone records of Donovan's killer. It didn't strike a chord at the time, because he hadn't met J.J., but now it has taken on sinister significance. If those two are connected, then Katie is the common element ant the path may very well lead to Bracken. Our little girl may still be in danger from his organization.
Rick is beside himself. He wants to hire commandos to watch over Katie, not a bad idea in my book. Of course our daughter will have none of that. She refuses to have any of this interfere with her life. Captain Gates refuses to let her work on the case, since she has a personal involvement. Katie doesn't accept that either. She is making sure that Ryan and Esposito keep her fully apprised of anything they find and she has been spending time at the precinct. She feels safe at the 12th and she feels safe with Rick. She also refuses to let any of this interfere with our family plans.
Katie will still be on call Thanksgiving morning for any other case, I'm hoping there won't be one. In any event, she's still supposed to be off duty later in the day. One thing that's a relief, Declan has told Alexis that his presence at his own family table is non-negotiable. He did invite her, but she is not about to be away from Rick on the Thanksgiving after his return. She and Declan will have the parade and have made plans to spend the next day together, so all is well on that front.
Though it is obvious now that J.J. Gillan was using me to get close to Katie and the whole Castle fan persona was a front, he is a very good lawyer. He was carrying much of the weight of our suit and doing it well. I'm not sure how I'll regroup without him. I've been too taken up worrying about Katie to think about it much, but I'll have to. I may have to look for a new associate. There is another possibility. One of my paralegals has been going to law school at night. Her name is Dana Blouser. She is close to graduation. She can't appear in court for me or do any of the other things that would require her to pass the bar, but she can supervise the other paralegals. If she does well with that, when she graduates and passes the bar, I can take her on as an associate. I have a feeling that you'd like her. She has a real passion for the work and is very bright.
I'll also be using as much of Ryan's time as he can give me. He has mentioned bringing Esposito on board as well. I'm not sure about that. Esposito has had an on-again, off-again, relationship with Lanie. Since Rick went missing, it has been very strongly on. Katie's assessment is that Rick's disappearance made them realize that life is too short to let chances for happiness go by. I certainly understand that, my love. The growth of that relationship does mean that the two of them have been spending every spare minute together and I have no wish to throw a monkey wrench into that.
Strangely enough, Ryan seems oblivious to the problem. Perhaps that isn't so strange. Both Rick and Esposito have made jokes, that were actually more like gripes, about Ryan interrupting romantic moments. Esposito referred to it as cop blocking which I believe is a variation on a more explicit term. This may be another case where I don't want to know.
Katie has suggested another cop at the 12th. Her name is Roselyn Karpowski and Katie thinks she is very good. In fact Katie has enough confidence in Karpowski that she has had her cover for her. Katie will be feeling Roselyn out to see if she is interested and will make introductions if that turns out to be the case.
I've been away from writing for a few minutes. I just got a call from Rick. Ryan gave him the lab results on Katie's coffee. It was a slow acting biological toxin. Katie would have seemed fine for a couple of days and then had all the symptoms of fatal food poisoning. If Rick hadn't stopped J.J., he would have murdered her, with everyone believing the whole thing to be a tragic accident. It is fortunate for J.J. that he is locked away from both Rick and me, otherwise he might have a death that would be neither tragic nor accidental.
Forever love,
JB