215. Chapter 215

After Heartbreak Hotel, Again

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: Since my baby left me, I've got a new place to dwell, it's where I don't own Castle. Rating: K Time: See above.

"Castle, turn the heat on, it's freezing in here." Kate stomped her feet to keep the circulation going while Rick dropped their suitcases and headed for the thermostat.

"That's funny." He said, examining the thermostat.

"Nothing is funny about this." Kate shot back. "The thruway is shut down because of the snow, the heater in the car is out and we had to pay five star hotel rates for this dump."

"And the thermostat shows that it's a balmy seventy five in here."

"That can't be right. I can see my breath in here." Kate walked over and looked at the thermostat. Castle was right. "Well, turn it up all the way."

He did and nothing happened. "Maybe I should go talk to the manager."

"You think?" Kate said. "While you're gone, I'll start a nice hot shower. " She kissed him. "Hurry back."

"Hurry back? After that kiss? Now I don't want to leave."

"Go!"

He went.

He ran through the driving snow to the office. He wasn't surprised that it was cold in the office. Why didn't I notice that when we checked in? Fine detective I am.

"Hi, I'm Mr. Castle, room 125. Our heater doesn't work."

The manager looked up from under layers of clothing. "Yup." He put his head back down.

"Could we get it fixed?"

"Ain't broken." He didn't raise his head this time.

"Are you telling me it's supposed to not work?"

"No."

"Then what's the problem?" Castle was starting to get angry.

"Fuel oil."

"There's no fuel oil for the heaters?"

"Yup."

Castle sighed. "Why."

"Been a blizzard for nigh on six days now. Folks run their heaters all day and all night. And, the truck from Shorty's Fuel and Propane can't get past the snowdrifts. Fuel oil run out."

"We just drove down from the ski slopes. We had no trouble getting here."

"I'll tell Shorty that. But he still can't get past the drifts."

Castle turned to leave. Then he turned around. "Do you heat your water with fuel oil?"

"Yup."

Rick left. Kate would not be happy.

"Kate?" He called, entering their room. He could hear the water running and Kate cursing in the bathroom. "Kate?"

"In here." She growled. "I've been running the water since you left. It's still ice cold."

"Yeah. The manager said they ran out of fuel oil. No heat and no hot water."

"Can we find another motel?"

He shook his head. "The thruway is closed in front of us and behind us. There's a polar vortex sitting over New York and I think I saw a glacier zipping down the frontage road, not paying any attention to the speed limit. I we get off the thruway and onto these country roads, we could get stuck and with no heater, that wouldn't be good."

Kate glared at him, but then smiled. "It's not your fault. There's no reason for me to get mad at you."

"We'll go for dinner to the place across the road. We'll get nice and warm there and then come back here and go to bed."

But, when they pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant, they saw that the neon sign that had attracted them when they were arriving, was now out. The restaurant was dark.

"We could try driving back towards New York and see if anything else is open." Castle suggested.

"Or drive off the road, get stuck and freeze solid." Kate countered.

They drove back to the motel and went back into their room. "We can take our minds off of the cold with some TV. I wonder if they have cable. Maybe a football game?"

"Surfing from Hawaii would be my choice." Kate said.

Rick turned on the TV and got…"Snow? Snow on all channels?" He moaned.

"Seems appropriate." Kate said grumpily.

"We could go to bed, get up early and see if we can drive back to the city." When Castle tried to set the alarm clock, he found it didn't work either.

"With our luck, the beds are non-functional, too." He said. He looked over at Kate, who was getting clothing out of her suitcase. "What are you doing?"

"Dressing for bed. I'm putting on my thermal underwear, then my ski pants and parka with two pairs of thick socks and my gloves. I suggest you do the same. It's getting colder and colder in here." He looked over at Castle. "What? Were you expecting me to sleep in the nude?"

"No, not nude. But I thought…" Kate rolled her eyes. "Right! Thermal underwear, thick socks and gloves." He began unpacking his suitcase.

Rick and Kate snuggled together in bed and Rick began to drift off. Suddenly, he felt Kate stiffen. "What is it?" He asked.

"I hear someone crying."

"It's probably me." Castle said quietly. "Go to sleep."

Instead, Kate got out of bed and reached for her boots.

"What are you doing?"

"It's coming from next door. I'm going to see what the problem is."

Castle shook his head slowly. "Considering this place, I assume everyone in this motel is crying."

She pulled on her boots and headed for the door. "Coming, Castle?"

He rolled out of bed and got his shoes on.

Once outside, Kate checked the room next to them. The crying was definitely coming from there. She knocked on the door. No answer. She knocked again. Still no answer. "Are you okay? We can hear you crying."

"Go away." The voice sounded young and scared.

"We can help you." Kate said.

"No one can help me. Go away."

Kate turned to Rick. "Should we ask the manager to let us in?"

Rick turned the door knob and the door opened. "No reason to think the doors work any better than anything else around here."

They walked in and found a teenaged girl sitting on the bed, crying.

"Hi, I'm Kate. This is Rick. Can we help you?"

The girl shook her head. "No one can help me. Just go away."

"How do you know we can't help you if you don't tell us what's wrong, Judy?" Castle asked.

"How do you know my name?"

Rick held up her driver's license. "I took this out of your wallet. You're Judy Wells, age eighteen and you live in New York City. Right across from Central Park. Nice area. We live in Tribeca. How'd you end up here?"

"Please! Go away."

"We should call her parents." Kate said, looking at Rick.

"No! Don't do that." Judy wailed.

"Judy, I'm a New York cop, and I've found a suspicious incident here. It'd be a lot better if you told me right now, informally, rather than make this official."

"You're a cop? Oh, no!" Judy cried and threw herself on her bed and sobbed.

Kate sat down beside her and gently stroked her hair. "It's okay, Judy. Whatever happened, we can fix it. Can you tell me what happened to you?"

Judy sobbed for a while, then was silent. Finally, she sat up and spoke, in a monotone. "It's my boyfriend, Mike. My parents never liked him. They said he was a bum and just wanted my money. But we loved each other. So we decided to run away. I took all of my money out of my college and savings and all of my jewelry. When we got here and…" she looked away and blushed. "…we made love." She finished softly.

"And then he left with your money and your jewelry?" Kate asked.

Judy nodded. "He called me a stupid rich bitch. And he laughed at me."

"How long ago did he leave?" Rick asked.

Judy checked her watch. "He left at about two."

"We'll be happy to give you a ride back to New York and take a report on this Mike. What with the weather, he won't get as far as he probably intended."

"NO! I can't go home! My parents will hate me!" Judy began sobbing again.

Rick sat down by Kate. "Judy, our daughter was involved with an…inappropriate young man when she started college. But she worked it out and we never stopped loving her and your parents won't stop loving you because of this."

"Are you sure?"

Rick and Kate nodded.

"And besides, you'll freeze solid if you stay here."

Kate glared at Rick, but Judy giggled. "Solid?" The young woman asked.

"Hard as a rock. You could sink the Titanic if it hit you. Penguins would live on top of you. Polar bears would…"

"Enough, Castle." Kate said softly. She turned to Judy, "Will you be okay sleeping here tonight?"

"Sure."

Castle got up and checked the door. "You might want to lock the door this time, okay?"

Kate and Rick reassured Judy that everything would be okay and went back to their room and crawled back into bed. They kissed goodnight again.

"We did good, didn't we?" Rick said.

"We did."

"Do you want to fly to the Bahamas next weekend?"

"I thought you'd never ask."