Dreams of Future Past

Chapter 48

Castle was naked under his graduation robe. She would have loved to see that. He's going to be watching John Woo? Yes, of course, she'll join him. She can use some blood that isn't flowing from a real body. Better than that, keeping him company the night of Alexis' graduation will be one more step in moving closer to him again.

There were two guns. Maybe there was more than one killer. The victim had been carrying something heavy. His pockets are empty, but he was hiding lockpicks in his shoe.

He's a thief, Orlando Costas, who used to run with the Cazadores. He hadn't been arrested in years. He'd cleaned up his act and joined the military, serving as an MP in Germany. That would have made him part of law enforcement. Why would he turn back to crime and how did he end up dead in an alley?

Orlando's girlfriend Marisol Cartagena says he was with her last night, but when she woke up, Orlando and her car were gone. She thought he'd gone to look at the listings at the career center. He was out of work, and since her hours had been cut, money was very tight. Damn! A man serves his country and comes home to that. We should be doing better. Was he so desperate for money that he went back to his old life?

Orlando was meeting someone. There was a shootout. Oh God! Orlando had been coming from Captain Montgomery's house! This couldn't be connected to her mother's murder, could it?

The dead robber had been stealing files and Roy Montgomery's old computer. He pulled a gun on Evelyn, but she shot him in the shoulder with Roy's old 357. That was the nonfatal wound. Evelyn had been sleeping with the gun under her pillow. Kate isn't the only one who's been living in fear since Montgomery sacrificed himself. Fortunately, the kids weren't home. Evelyn said she wasn't supposed to be there, either. It was as if Orlando was expecting an empty house.

It was no ordinary burglary. No valuables were taken, except for Roy's laptop. There was nothing that could quickly be turned into cash. The robbery had to be connected to one of Roy's old cases. Could this be the lead she'd been waiting – or dreading - a year to find?

Who was Orlando talking to before he was killed?

She needs Castle right now. She needs him to say something reassuring. He responds that there are thousands of break-ins in New York City every year. Yeah, but how many of them are just looking for files?

Orlando's killing feels different from some fallout among thieves. The man who hired her mother's killer took out Raglan, McCallister, and Montgomery - everyone who could identify him. Montgomery died trying to protect her. The puppet master still attempted to kill her because she was trying to uncover his identity. Every morning she wakes up waiting for the second shoe to drop. Did it just crash into the floor? Why is she still alive?

Castle looks almost - guilty. What is he thinking about? Montgomery did call him before the shootout with Lockwood. Does Castle still know something she doesn't?

Castle brought coffee. He wants to know if she got any sleep. How could she? He says she's not in this alone. He's there. She knows that. It's the only thing keeping her sane right now. She reaches for his hand.

Wait! Montgomery's house may have been hit for the Cazadores. The robbery could actually just be about gangs. Montgomery busted the cousin of their leader, Diego Gutierrez. The gang might have been after evidence that might have convicted him. But why was Orlando involved with Gutierrez after so long?

Gutierrez claims he wasn't in the alley.

Damn! The ballistics don't match the bullet that killed Orlando. The DNA Lanie pulled from the tissue under Orlando's fingernails doesn't match either. It's not a match to anyone in the system, but it did match DNA found at the site of an old shooting - hers. This is about her. The man who shot her was the same man that killed Orlando!

Castle sits close enough that she can feel his warmth. He's trying to comfort her. She doesn't need comfort, she needs to nail the bastard who killed Orlando and make him tell her who ordered her shooting - and her mother's.

Ryan says that they should tell Gates what they've found. No way! Gates will pull her off the case, and she can't quit now.

No! Why is Castle saying that maybe she should be off the case? He's supposed to have her back. He says they tried to kill her once and if she keeps going they'll try to kill her again. What's to keep them from trying to kill her anyway? The only hope to put an end to this is to solve Orlando's murder, and get the guy who put a bullet in her chest. She's been waiting a year to get a clue to that shooter. She'll be damned if she'll turn the investigation over so someone can screw it up.

Can she get Gutierrez to talk? What did Orlando tell him? Why was he in that alley?

Gutierrez says that Orlando was in bad shape. Gutierrez promised him some work if he'd come back to the Cazadores, but Orlando wanted no part of that. He just wanted a loan. He said he had something big coming up that would fix his money problems. But then Orlando called Gutierrez for protection. He said that everything had gone wrong.

Gutierrez made Orlando's return to the Cazadores the price for his help and proposed the meeting in the alley. Orlando was desperate enough to agree. He had a good reason. By the time Gutierrez got to the alley, Orlando was dead. Gutierrez caught a glimpse of Orlando's killer before he disappeared into the night, but all he can tell Kate is that he was a white man about 6 feet tall. That's more than she had before.

If Gutierrez proposed the meet in the alley, how did Orlando's killer know about it? He must have been tapping Orlando's phone.

Who would know that Orlando could be turned back to breaking and entering? Espo thinks it must be someone from the military, maybe someone who knew him. That's a place to start.

Castle is still trying to pull her back. He says that whoever has gotten close to the secret is dead. Damn, she knows that! He insists that it's clear that they're over their heads. He's never said anything like that before. What's wrong with him?

Orlando got a $10,000 transfer to his account. It was untraceable, but Marisol knew about it. She started paying bills with it right away. She lied. She knew Orlando was into something - and she's on the run. She's going to have to give Kate the truth now.

Espo was right. Marisol says Orlando was hired by someone he knew from the service. It was just supposed to be one easy job for a lot of money - money they needed. The task was to get an old cop's files - all of them - anything Orlando could find.

Marisol never saw the man who hired Orlando. He left messages in the mailbox, coded so she couldn't read them. But she said Orlando met him at a church on State Street.

The charity box at the church has been broken into so many times that the church has security video.

There's an image of the killer. The boys want to contact CID and use facial recognition to find him. She can't let them do that. There have been so many corrupt cops, she doesn't trust anyone. There has to be another way to find him. She won't lose the lead.

Flashes of the whole history of the case bombard her thoughts as she stares at the murder board in her apartment. There has to be a way to identify the man on the video without tipping off her mother's killer.

Espo has something, a tag from a rental car agency. It's not much, but it's a trail to follow.

Why is Castle at her door? She can't wait to tell him what Espo found. What? He wants her to stop! What package? What deal? No! Castle was part of it!

How could he do that to her? He says it's because he loves her, but that she's known that for about a year. So, he did find out that she lied. Was that why he pulled away? But if he loves her, how could he keep her away from the one thing that's been driving her? No, she is not pulling back. If they want a war, she will bring it straight to their doorstep.

He tells her it's over. He's done. He says it's her life, and she can throw it away if she wants to, but he's not going to stay and watch her do it.

He's gone. After the way he betrayed her, she can get the murderer without him. But she feels like half her heart has just been ripped from her body.

She fingers her mother's ring as she stares at the stone above Johanna Beckett's grave. She can't let her down. Even without Castle, her mother will have justice.

The shooter is going under the name Cole Maddox. The boys are tracking the car he rented. Ryan wants her to bring a team. No! If the man pulling Maddox's strings has a mole in the department, she's not about to tip him off. Ryan can keep up the tracking, She and Espo will take the shooter down.

Montgomery's files are in Maddox's room. So is his wedding album. What could Maddox have wanted in there, a clue to Montgomery's unknown friend? Maddox attacks her and Espo. Espo is down! She's on her own, but he has no idea who he's dealing with. She throws all her strength into fighting him. It's not enough. He's enjoying this. He says she didn't know who she was dealing with. He knew he had her all the time. Why doesn't he just kill her? There's someone he needs to find. The man Castle was talking about; the one who made the deal to save her?

She's barely hanging on. Where is Castle? Is that his voice she hears calling her, telling her to hold on?

Is that Castle's hand catching her? No. it's Ryan, and he brought Gates. She's seen the captain angry before but never like this.

Gates says that Kate and Espo dishonored the city and the badge. They're both on suspension. After all she remembered, after all she's been through, does what Gates did to her even matter anymore? There's only one person who matters, and she drove him away. Gates can keep Kate's badge - forever.

A few things from her locker, her elephants, are all she's taking with her from all the years she's been fighting her battle.

It's raining. The sky is echoing her tears. She's at the swings, the place she opened herself to Castle enough to tell him that she needed her wall to fall. The pieces dropped as she hung from the building, remembering - remembering everything. Castle was her lifeline through all of it.

She tries to call him - again. Even after he would have been home from Alexis' graduation for hours, he doesn't answer. Is he really done with her? She needs to see him, make him understand how sorry she is for everything.

Her hand trembles as she knocks on his door, but not from the chilling water that's soaked her. What if he turns her away? His eyes are hard with anger and hurt as he demands to know what she wants.

It's not enough to say the words. She has to touch him, show him. He resists as her hands cradle his face. Her lips can't stop repeating that she's so sorry. He pulls away when she kisses him. He asks what happened. How can she tell him all that she's relived, all that she realized? She can only say that the man she was after got away and she didn't care. She almost died, and all she could think about was him. She just wants him.

He's pulling her inside. He kicks the door shut and pushes her against it. She can feel his hunger for everything he's been denied for four years - everything she's denied him. She guides his hand to her breasts, to her scar. They're both scarred - but now they can begin to heal together. Their fingers entwine. This was the dream that was meant to be -always.

Finis

A/N Thank you all for joining me on this foray into Kate's thoughts. I appreciate your thanks for my brief presence in your days. My next story will pick up right where this one leaves off, but it will be AU. Caskett's first night together will bring an unanticipated result. Join me again for Love's Gift.

Today's cover art is by Artifex Prime. If you are a fan of her work, you can order prints from her new online store at dot-com.