After the Vows

Jim Beckett's Journal

Chapter 18

Dear Johanna,

There are a couple of things I didn't mention about Artemiz and Tony. The first one will make the abusive phone calls I mentioned make more sense. Tony is a local politician. Right now he's only a councilman, but he's been organizing an exploratory committee for a run for Congress in 2016. That makes a lot of people interested in his business. The other thing, is that Tony claims he didn't know Artemiz was pregnant. She may have known, or at least suspected it. There is a phone record of her calling her doctor recently. She also had an appointment, set for after she was killed. Katie is tracking down anyone who might have known, especially a relative or someone in the doctor's office. If word got to either family, it might have provided a motive.

Rick made it back to New York in time to spend a few hours with Katie before he had to leave again. He joined her at the loft for a while and then they went to the precinct together. After perusing the white board they call a "murder board," his theory, for which Katie insists that he has absolutely no basis, is that the family and the suit are both red herrings. I heard that from Katie on the phone, but I could picture her rolling her eyes.

Rick is on his way to San Francisco. From there he'll be working his way back east. Katie immediately immersed herself in work as soon as he left. That has always been her coping mechanism. Even though she is not permitted direct involvement, she's keeping watch as best she can on all aspects of anything that might relate to Bracken, including the Donovan murder.

According to Katie, Captain Gates and her sister did an outstanding job with the interrogation of Creason. Considering in what high regard Katie's own skills in that area are held, that is quite an endorsement. Creason was strongly attached to Bracken's organization with, he claims, only limited communication with the drug operation. He claims that the order to kill Donovan came from one of Bracken's lieutenants, Kyle McGovern. McGovern worked for Bracken when Bracken was a D.A. He followed Bracken when he became a congressman and then was a Senate staffer to Bracken, until Bracken was arrested by Katie. Now he's joined a lobbying firm with ties to political action committees that were funding Bracken. Gates' sister is going to try to launch an investigation of that firm. As I understand it, that may be a difficult thing to do. There are some extremely powerful people involved. As far as I can make out, none of that represents any danger to Katie. Anything she knew about Bracken's political connections has already been disclosed and verified. I don't know if she's had a chance to communicate that to Rick, but I'm sure he'll be quite relieved.

With Artemiz's death still unsolved, things are not going any better with my suit. If anything, they are worse. Dana tells me that there are all sorts of crazy theories flying on a couple of media you never had to contend with, Facebook and Twitter. She tells me that Twitter is not as bad so far. Messages are limited to 140 characters which makes it harder, but not impossible, to speculate on dark conspiracies. Facebook, on the other hand, is alive with commentaries, none of which jibe in any way with the facts. So far there is absolutely no evidence that the company had anything to do with Artemiz's death. In fact the theories flying around are probably causing the company even more trouble than they are causing me. Perhaps in that respect I should hope that Katie takes her time, but I hate the thought of the agony Tony is enduring not knowing what happened. I understand it all too well. So does Katie.

Martha has returned to work, mostly due to Morrison Collier I think. Alexis told me that he invited her to his restaurant. She didn't really want to go, or be seen in public for that matter, but he went to the loft flowers in hand. She hid under a big hat. I only know as much as she described to Alexis, but apparently Collier went all out. The two of them had a private room where he had an intercom to call the staff only when he needed them. He had supervised the preparation of a special menu of his signature dishes. Martha is very vigilant about her weight and apparently he kept that in mind with a meal that was exceedingly healthy but as Martha described it to Alexis, "completely scrumptious." By the end of the night, Martha had thoroughly forgiven Collier and was ready to face the world again. To that I say bravo!

I'm going to stop writing for a little while now, an interview that Rick taped before he left is on.

I'm back. The interview was unintentionally funny, at least to me. It was on a cable channel that is largely devoted to fashion, something you know I wouldn't normally watch. When I've caught glimpses of it before while flipping through channels, it was mostly catty commentary on what some celebrities I never heard of were wearing. Rick's interviewer, Melina Messina, asked about the wedding and seemed largely interested in what Katie and Rick were wearing. Rick had a few pictures that Alexis took, on his phone, and he showed them to Melina and to the camera. She seemed very impressed with how Katie looked but deeply interested in why Rick had chosen to wear a flower, but not a tie. I'm not sure if Rick made up his explanation on the spot or was actually sharing his thoughts. He told her that the flower was a symbol of the joy Katie brought to his heart and that the lack of a tie was a sign that she made his soul was free to soar. Melina teared up a bit at that. Rick certainly does know how to turn a phrase. Melina also asked about Katie's earrings. They were barely visible in the photographs so I don't know how she noticed, but I suppose that's her business. Rick explained that they were an heirloom worn by Rodgers women and that Martha had wanted Katie to wear them. Melina found that touching as well. Actually, so do I. Rick was finally able to get in a few words about Raging Heat. He told Melina that there was a romantic surprise at the end. That was obviously the kind of thing she wanted to hear and urged her viewers to go out and buy the book by the "very romantic Richard Castle." I imagine that when, or if, Katie watches the interview she will roll her eyes but smile. As tough a front as she endeavors to put on, Rick's romantic gestures do get to her. I find that beautiful to see.

Forever love,

JB