CH48
It is now one week later: (June 11, 2001)
This chapter has a small amount of material that might be considered "M" rated though I doubt it. For this reason, reader discretion is advised.
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Jordan had given Rick and Kate the entire week off beginning the day Rick was discharged from the hospital. He was discharged later that same day that Jordan had met with Kate.
The FBI had finished their crime scene investigation in their home but they had left the bloody mess all over the floors. Jack had found a cleaning company that was willing to try and get the blood out of the tile. It turned out that getting blood out of the tile wasn't the problem, getting blood out of the grout, however, had been. They cleaned it up to the best of their ability but if you got down on the floor and looked you could still find sections that had a slight pink color to them.
Rick, who was good at cleaning, kept working on those locations each day after the company had left. Martha was gone by now, too. She had flown out to the city where her show would open.
"It's been good to see you Mother." Rick hadn't seen his own mother in months. "I'm not glad our theater burned down, but I am glad to have had some time to spend with you two. I've learned a lot." Martha smiled and hugged her son.
"Have you got everything Martha?" Kate didn't want her to leave anything behind that she might need.
"I think so dear." Martha had loved meeting Kate.
"I'm going to go check, just to be sure." Kate stepped across the hall and into the room Martha had been staying in and searched it, the closet, and the bathroom. They had already searched the mezzanine level that Martha had taken a liking to. Like Kate, she found it to be the perfect place to relax and read a book while listening to music.
"I like her Richard, that young lady loves you a lot. She has taken a nasty blow losing her mother like that. I'm glad she and her father have recovered so well. Try not to do anything to lose her son."
"That woman suffered greatly when you ended up in the hospital. The pain she was feeling was written all over her face." Martha had met Jim when he had been invited over for dinner. Everything had gone so well until they somehow ended up on the topic of baseball and acting.
It wasn't until Rick had mentioned that Joe Torre and his third wife Alice (Alie) would be over next week for dinner when the Yankees had a day off and would be home. That was when Martha suddenly switched gears and started talking about Joe and his wife and how Richard had met them.
"I'll let you know ahead of time mother when Kate picks a date. Hopefully it will work with your schedule." Rick wasn't losing Kate now.
"It doesn't matter son, my understudy can fill in nicely for a week. I'm not missing my son's wedding simply because I have a show when that happens. I have every intention of crying my eyes out that day." Martha had hugged and kissed her son and let them escort her out to a taxi, convincing them that they didn't need to take her to the airport. She was perfectly capable of finding her way through an airport.
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Kate was leaning up against the edge of their infinity pool in the very same room at their favorite hotel in St. Lucia. She was just trying to relax and not think of anything. So much had happened lately and she simply wanted to chill out.
She felt the ripples of water signaling that Castle had slipped into the pool behind her. She began to hum when she felt Castle's arms circle around her and felt his kisses on her shoulder.
"Thinking too hard again?" Rick questioned.
"Not this time, I'm trying not to think of anything and just relax," Kate answered, smiling.
"I didn't hurt you?" Rick wasn't sure. Kate's screams had been slightly different.
Kate spun in place so that she could wrap her arms around his neck. "No babe, I don't think you could ever hurt me while making love to me. Hand cuffs, my little toy, or your new whip. I love all of it, and you." Kate gave Castle a quick kiss. "It does give me an idea for later," Kate smiled while teasing him.
"I still have my birthday gift that I haven't used," Rick reminded Kate while smiling an evil teasing grin.
She sucked in a breath. Kate had temporarily forgotten about that gift. "I mean it still babe, anytime, anything, anywhere. I'm yours, all yours." This time Kate kissed Rick hard and with purpose.
Rick returned her kiss as he ran his hands up her back and then back down to her ass. He lifted Kate up and felt her wrap her legs around him. Kate tilted her head to one side to allow Rick access to kiss and suckle on her neck.
Her position also gave Rick better access to Kate's breasts where he lavished them with kisses, licked them, and nibbled on her nipples. She leaned far back and held Rick's head in place as she relished what Rick was doing to her breasts.
Rick left her breasts and started kissing her, using his tongue to taste her, allowing Kate to do the same. She let out a low moan as she suddenly felt Rick inside her. Kate broke from the kiss and started gently biting Rick's ear. She huffed and moaned as he slowly increased his rhythm, moving in and out of her.
"I'm close Rick, so close," Kate whispered in his ear. She didn't hear or feel anything but him. Not the slapping of the water up against the pool wall or her own cries. "Castle, please." Kate needed release, just a little something.
He moved one of his hands that was holding Kate up and pressed a finger into Kate's anus. This little action allowed Kate to come all over Castle's erection as she cried out, feeling Rick fill her with his come.
It took Kate a number of minutes to calm down and relax up against Castle. "I love you Rick. I don't know how I found you or why, I just can't live without you anymore. You mean the world to me."
"I almost died when I saw you on the sidewalk after being injected with Nuke. And I would have lost you if I didn't have Jill. I don't even know where I would be right now." Kate started kissing him again, not wanting a response. She just wanted to be with him and feel him.
They were resting in bed naked, feeling their own skin up against the other, when Rick's cell phone started vibrating and making a noise on the side table. "Don't answer it, Jordan doesn't want us back for another 4 days." Kate wanted those days to be right here in St. Lucia.
Rick reached for his phone causing Kate to moan. Rick looked at the caller ID. "It's Henry," Rick informed Kate. He answered his phone and listened for a while. "We'll be there," Rick said. He ended the call and tossed his phone onto the sofa on the other side of the room.
"Henry wants us in the courthouse at 10:00 am tomorrow. The judge has reached his verdict on Gina's lawsuit," Rick told Kate.
Kate simply rolled into Castle trying to get even closer to him. Tomorrow might be the end of her life as she knows it. The man she loves trapped in a relationship with the woman who was trying to steal Castle from her.
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Hours later Rick and Kate met Jim and Henry outside the building. "Ready?" Henry asked.
"No," Kate responded quickly, there was too much at stake to even begin to be ready. Still she found herself sitting in the courtroom with Gina and her lawyer. The bailiff asked for quiet and for everyone to please rise. The judge came into the courtroom, sat down at the bench, and asked each party to stand.
"Based on information provided, the court finds that there is insufficient evidence for the lawsuit to continue. This court rules that the lawsuit is dismissed. While the original contract has been lost, a copy of something that has not been documented and approved by both parties nullifies any present contract that is in place between both parties."
"Any other actions that are associated with this lawsuit are not affected by this ruling. This case only deals with the viability of there being a lawsuit from one party against the other for which there is insufficient evidence to sustain this lawsuit as well as the existence of any contract that is presently in place."
"This case is dismissed." The judge stood up and left the courtroom.
Gina and her lawyer remained quiet though it all as had Henry and Jim. Henry took this opportunity to approach their table. "Gina Cowell, here are your court papers for the court date for our counter suit. A similar set of papers are being delivered to the offices of Black Pawn."
What you, and by proxy Black Pawn, have attempted cannot nor will not go without retribution for your actions. I will see you in court Ms. Cowell," Henry informed her and joined Jim, Rick and Kate as they walked out of the room.
"Tell me it's over dad." Kate needed to hear it.
Jim hugged Kate. "Yes Katie, it is all over now. Gina has no legal rights to stand on to enforce anything between her, Black Pawn, and Rick."
Jim leaned down so he could whisper in her ear. "Rick is all yours if you still want him. And I expect to be able to walk you down the aisle someday soon." Jim stepped back and started smiling at Kate.
Kate smiled, turned to launch herself at Rick, and hugged him tightly. "You're not escaping from me Castle, you're mine now," Kate whispered into Castle's ear.
"Not until you pick a date Kate," Rick whispered back.
"Let's go home Castle." Kate wanted to celebrate her victory.
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Kate squealed with delight when she found that Castle's idea of going home was to go back to their hotel room in St. Lucia. She stripped off her clothes and ran for the pool. "You coming Castle?" Kate inquired as she dived into the pool and disappeared from view.
They spent the rest of the day lounging in the pool, occasionally finding themselves wrapped up in each other's arms kissing. They both leaned up against the edge of the pool looking out onto their view. "You sure you don't want your own villa here? We could take part of the money meant for Papa Murphy's in the Atlanta area and buy one."
"We already have 16 locations that are under construction with the first one almost ready to open. Instead of 8 in Atlanta we could open only 4 for now," Rick offered since Kate kept bringing them back to St. Lucia. Plus the wedding was going to be here. If they had enough beds they could save on the cost of getting a hotel for everyone. Rick had already talked Kate into getting airline tickets for everyone. All their guests had to do was buy their own food and pay for whatever else they wanted to do, like slathering themselves in mud.
"We can look again I suppose. We also need to go down to the lobby and meet with the wedding staff and try and set a date," Kate replied.
"We can go house hunting tomorrow and stop at the lobby on our way out to find an early dinner," Rick suggested, getting Kate to agree.
"Richard, your cell phone is ringing," Jack informed them, knowing that the phone was out of reach and set on vibrate. "Caller ID is Jordan Shaw."
"Oh God, she better not want us to come back already," Kate moaned.
Rick knew he was never reaching his phone in time, especially when he didn't even know where he tossed it. "Can we talk through you Jack?" Rick asked, never having done this yet.
"Transfer complete," Jack told them. "Castle," Rick said, talking to open air.
"Castle, is Beckett with you?" Jordan didn't want to have to say this twice.
"Right here Jordan, what do you have for us?" Kate turned on her work persona.
"I'm not sure where you two are but I thought I should tell you. Bracken has been elected Senator for the State of New York. It was a landslide actually; the two men he had in competition only got 1% of the vote combined."
"Even the agents I assigned to study his advertising messages wanted to vote for him." Jordan added with a little humor. "You two are still off for the next three days, when you get back I want you both back on the drug case. We need to find this guy. So whatever you two are doing, keep doing it." Jordan ended the call.
"Landslide huh?" Rick questioned. "Less than 1%?" Kate added skeptically.
"How does a politician win by that amount? How can he be all things to all the people and win in a landslide by such an unimaginable margin?" Kate questioned. "It takes millions of dollars to run a campaign; he needed to generate millions of dollars in campaign pledges. And he had what, 3 months or so to do it in?"
"Jack are there any election results that are similar anywhere?" Rick queried.
"Scanning… The only elections that are reported to be this one sided take place in countries with a dictator. In a democracy this percentage is unprecedented," Jack informed them.
Both of them sighed. "Jack I have a task for you. I want you to hack every computer you can find and run scans on them. I want to know how Bracken made his money, what he spent it on, where he went. Create a list of everyone who donated money for his campaign and how much. Also find out how much of that money is left and where it is located. What did he spend the money on? Meals, hotels, prostitutes, gifts that he used to bribe people or companies with. Then break it down to a nice simple report that can be printed out," Rick requested.
"Understood, be advised that even for me this will take a little time," Jack cautioned.
"Not a problem. He's already been elected, just not sworn in yet, so we still have time. See if you can have it all done by the time we are back in New York," Rick asked him.
"Anything Jack finds will not be admissible in court, Castle." Kate pointed out the obvious.
"True, but if we give leads to Penelope, maybe she can fill in the rest and then it will be admissible," Rick countered. She thought about it for a moment. "Breadcrumbs!" Kate started smiling.
"Still how did he win by that big of a margin?" Kate went back to the original problem. "Are all the votes placed into one computer? I thought a lot of the counting was done by hand and then locked up in individual boxes so they could be re-counted later if someone demanded a re-count." Kate was trying to understand.
"Jack will find it, there isn't anything he can't find." Rick had faith. "So what do we do for the next couple of hours before we select a date on our way to find dinner?" He grinned while he cupped Kate's breasts in his hands and began kissing his way down from her forehead till he reached her lips.
Kate hummed softly. "Bed Castle, NOW!" Kate wanted out of the pool to do what she had in mind. They had to dry off first. Then Rick jumped into bed as he watched a naked Kate walk for the dresser and come back to bed with her double headed toy in one hand, a bottle of lube in the other and a grin on her face. Kate had long since gotten over being shy about using her little toy, knowing that Castle was a willing partner.
Some time later Kate was resting up against Castle feeling secure and comfortable in his arms, a place she never wanted to leave from. "We should shower and head for the lobby and find dinner," Rick reminded her, listening to Kate groan softly.
"We still have 3 more days since we don't have to fly," Rick pointed out. It was enough to get Kate to let go of Castle and roll out of bed. She sashayed her way into the bathroom, secure in the knowledge that Castle was staring at her ass. An ass that Castle had been in just moments ago.
Kate had changed into a sundress with no bra and slipped on her flip flops while Rick was wearing locally bought shorts, a Hawaiian shirt and his flip flops. They were directed where to go by the clerk at the front desk.
They were just approaching the hotel's event staff office when Kate whispered, "I went commando Castle." Rick stopped in his tracks.
Kate held the door open and turned to look at him. "COMING Castle?" Kate grinned since she knew what she had said had an ulterior meaning after what she had just told him.
The event coordinator was only too happy to help them and was pleased to know that Kate had already made reservations for the wedding, they just needed to decide on a date. The woman was spending all her time going over what Kate had already selected and was offering options not listed on the web site, never seeing Rick's hand slowly making its way up Kate's leg while pushing her dress aside the further up her leg he got.
Kate put her hand on his just as Rick's fingers had almost reached the finish line. Kate hadn't thought it possible after having made love to Castle for almost 2 full hours, but she was wet again. He needed to stop or she was going to stain her dress.
"Have you two considered a month let alone a date?" The woman asked just as Kate stopped Castle's hand.
"We only want to leave a New York winter. After that we're not sure. Plus we need to coordinate this date with the yacht that will be our honeymoon for a week," Kate pointed out as she lifted Castle's hand up and held it in both of hers. She tried to shake her leg to get her dress to fall back down her leg, not daring to look at what she was sure was a smug look on Castle's face.
"Well, let's see what dates are already taken and go from there," the coordinator offered, not showing that she was on to what Castle had been doing. Maybe she was that good because she had seen a lot of it, or maybe he had been just ninja enough for her not to notice.
Rick and Kate left with three dates that Kate needed to coordinate with the yacht rental. Next came dinner that was right in the hotel since neither of them wanted to go anywhere tonight.
"I need to go home and get my bag Castle. It has all my research and how to contact the yacht rental," Kate informed him. She touched Rick and found themselves in their master bedroom. She went around the corner and into the closet area. Jack had already taken care of the security alarm.
Kate grabbed her bag and put it on the island in the dressing room so she could check and make sure she had everything, including names and numbers. A moment later and they were back in their hotel room. She planned to look it over tomorrow since it was late in the day in St. Lucia.
Come morning, Rick rented a Jeep and went in search of the same real estate agent that they had used previously so they could look for more homes on this trip since they were now armed with what Kate wanted.
The first house was 15 minutes south of the city of Soufriere, the capital city of St. Lucia, about an hour south of their hotel.
"This house is just a short 5 or 10 minute walk to your own secluded beach. It is a 3 bedroom with 3 full size en-suite bathrooms along with one half bath near the front entrance. It has 12 foot ceilings throughout with ceiling fans and central air. The pool deck offers views of the Pitons and views of the yachts that will pass by. It is offered at $2.2 million US dollars. Take a look," he offered and let Rick and Kate enter.
From the outside the place reminded Kate of a castle since all of the walls were made of stone. The living room had dark tiled floors about the same shade as the rock walls. The vaulted ceiling was a lot like their ceiling at home. It was stained dark just like theirs. There were a pair of wood doors that looked out onto the pool and patio with the ocean just beyond.
Next came the kitchen. "OH WOW Castle!" Kate looked around. There was a giant island in the middle that had the stove top, stainless steel hood hanging from the ceiling and a small prep sink. There were double ovens that were side by side next to the sink that was under the only window. There was a split system above the window.
There wasn't an ounce of white in the kitchen, just like Kate liked it most. It even had a built-in pantry that was massive. "This is the refrigerator we have at home Castle." Kate opened it to look inside.
The pool outside was a simple rectangle and unremarkable. There were 6 lounges divided into 3 groups each with an umbrella. There was a gazebo that had a large dining room table that would seat 6. The table and chairs were all rattan without cushions.
The master bedroom turned out to be on the second floor of a round turret in the middle of the house. It had large windows with beautiful views; the tile floor was a match for what was downstairs. It had a four post canopy king size bed.
The master bath was awful. It had a single vanity sink, a toilet and bidet sitting out for all to see right next to a large deep tub with terrible tiled walls. The space needed to be gutted and remodeled.
The other two bedrooms were smaller and filled wall to wall and floor to ceiling with the same horrid tile. Both bathrooms needed to be gutted. The bathrooms turned out to be a deal breaker.
The next house was just east of the city of Soufriere by about 10 or 15 minutes and was located up in a hill.
"This house is a 4 bedroom, 4-1/2 bath, it is offered at an even $3 million US dollars." This time their agent handed over a handout that the owner had put together for prospective buyers.
Tamarind House covers 8,850 sq. ft. of indoor and outdoor space. The house is constructed of local Belfond stone and built to allow the free flow of tropical breezes with 25 foot high green heart ceilings. Entry to the main house is through a descending staircase, which leads you into a cool, circular courtyard filled with banana plants and flowers. As you pass through the stone arch doorway, the 2,550 sq ft living room stretches away before you and leads to the terrace, where the tamarind tree grows up out of the tiles. The master suite is 640 sq ft of bedroom and private terrace with a walk-in closet and an Italian tiled bathroom with tub/shower and double sinks. The Piton view from the bed is framed by bougainvillea climbing up the stone walls. The second bedroom is a total of 415 sq ft of bedroom, Italian tiled bathroom with shower and its own private terrace. The third bedroom has an en-suite and looks out onto a private terrace and the Cottage master bedroom suite has three stone arch openings and 30 foot high ceilings. The Cottage has its own living room, kitchen, four poster king size bed, en-suite and terrace. The bedroom above the courtyard entrance can be used for a caretaker or an office. There is also a separate self contained lodge next to the car port overlooking the main totally private salt water swimming pool is situated below the cottage and is surrounded by 1,060 sq ft of terrace and a shaded pavilion. The property also features a professional size tennis court, with a Swiss made Bioflex surface and of course superb views of the Pitons as you play.
The tile outside continued into the house and looked a lot like terra cotta tiles since the orange color reminded both of them of that.
The living room was not air conditioned based on that it was open to the outside through 3 of the 4 walls. The only way to close off the space looked to be heavy wrought iron gates.
The master bedroom was the same way. It, too, had wood vaulted ceilings that were almost as dark as their ceiling at home. It even had a large sitting room area.
The spare bedrooms were much smaller and had white walls and white ceilings with orange tiled floors.
There was a large outdoor covered space that had their only dining room. At the edge you could look down on the pool that was one level down. The tennis court was one more level down from the pool. The pool itself was obviously not an infinity pool.
Next came the kitchen. "OH GOD Castle." Kate looked around, for $3 million she was expecting a lot more than this. The windows had wrought iron on the outside of the glass everywhere. White tile countertops, white walls, white simple cheap appliances with an electric range and oven. The only microwave was sitting on the countertop. The cabinets all had white pull handles. Even worse was the refrigerator. It looked like one of those cheap $200 Sears specials.
"This space needs to be gutted Castle, it's terrible, and I'm sick of the terra cotta tile floors. Even the bedrooms have it," Kate moaned.
They left without buying a home in St. Lucia, for now anyway.