477. Chapter 477

After Last Call

Episode 3.10

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: The Force may be with me, but I don't own Castle. Rating: K+ Time: See above and below.

Author's note: This is a sequel to chapter 395.

Officer Kate Beckett walked down the street with a smile on her face. Instead of the stiff and scratchy serge uniform and stiff billed cap she wore as one of New York City's first policewomen, she wore a cloche hat over her freshly cut and stylishly bobbed hair, very much a la mode. Her dress came to her knees, which was very daring for Kate. And on her legs she had real silk stockings, a gift from her boyfriend. I have a boyfriend! Kate thought happily to herself. And not just any boyfriend, he's Rick Castle, scion of the wealthy and socially elite Rodgers family. Not that Kate cared one whit about money or social status. But Rick was kind, open and affectionate. Not to mention fun.

Arriving at Rick's brownstone, just off Central Park, she knocked on the door, although Rick had told her often enough to just walk right in. The door swung open and Kate saw a flash of red hair and a boldly patterned dress before she was engulfed in a hug.

"You must be Kate!" The redhead said. "I'm Martha Rodgers, Rick's mother." Martha stood back and looked at Kate. "And you're every bit as beautiful as Rick said." Kate blushed at that. "And I'm sure you're as intelligent and compassionate as well."

Kate blushed even more at that compliment. She knew that Martha Rodgers, the widow of George William Rodgers III, had been a chorus girl for Flo Ziegfeld and was scorned by the rest of the very prim and proper Rodgers family in spite of having inherited a vast sum of money. Accordingly, Martha Rodger's life was more bohemian than one would have expected.

"Kathryn, dear, I can't thank you enough. When Richard came back from the World War after flying SPADs in France, he was a broken man. The death and misery of the war, and the tragic love affair with that lovely French girl, Defense de Fumer, she married an English RAF pilot, Sir Algernon Barking-Madly, don't you know. A rather eccentric chap, I'm told. Plus the war to end all wars hardly even slowed them down: the English and the Irish, Russians and Poles, Greeks and Turks…" Martha shuddered. "I thought I'd lost the fine young man who went to war in 1917. You brought him back."

"No, really, Mrs. Rodgers, he was there all along. I just gave him a little push."

"And modest as well. And you must call me Martha, dear. Everyone does." Martha looked at the Cartier watch on her wrist. "Dear me. I must be off. The gallery is having an exhibit of that Mr. Picasso's paintings." Martha frowned. "They are so odd, but they are all the rage." And Martha was out the door.

"So, you met my mother?"

Kate turned to meet her boyfriend who gave her a quick kiss.

"Ready to go, sweetheart?" He asked.

"Where are you taking me?"

Rick smiled. "That's a deep, dark secret." Rick led her to the garage and helped her into his new Pierce Arrow. Kate allowed him to see a bit of her legs as she got in, hoping he wouldn't think her too forward.

"How are the Nikki Heat stories going?" She asked. The fictional detective that Rick was writing about had an odd name, but she supposed that fiction writers did that sort of thing. However, she did feel that in her relationship with her paramour, crime reporter Jameson Rook, that Nikki was a bit fast.

Rick smiled. "Black Pawn magazine bought the fourth story, and guess what?"

Kate waited a minute. "Well, what?"

"Guess." Rick said.

"They want Nikki to work with a Chinese policeman from Hawaii to defeat a merciless king from another planet?"

"No, they…Hey! That's a great idea. But, Black Pawn wants to publish a Nikki Heat book!

"That's wonderful. What did they…" Kate stopped as Rick was parking the car. "Where are we?"

"The Old Haunt."

Kate was scandalized. "The Old Haunt? But that's a speakeasy. They sell alcoholic beverages here. That's illegal. I'm a police officer. I can't go in there."

"Not even to solve a crime?" Rick countered. "Besides, the Mayor of New York drinks here. Are you going to arrest Beau James?

"Well, I suppose…"

Rick took her arm and led her inside. Once inside, they walked to the back of the speakeasy and into an office. An attractive Negro woman was waiting for them.

"Lanie, this is Officer Kate Beckett. Kate, this is the owner of The Old Haunt, Lanie Parish." Rick said.

Kate held out her hand. "How do you do, Miss Parish."

The woman did not take her hand. "What did you call me?" She said, her eyes narrowing.

Kate was confused. Had she said something wrong? "I called you Miss Parish."

Lanie smiled. "I've been called a lot of things by cops, but never have I been called Miss Parish. I think I like your girlfriend, Rick."

"Can you tell Kate what your problem is, Lanie?"

Lanie looked at Kate, as if sizing her up, then shrugged. "I'm being forced out of business. Ever since Big Josh Davidson and Tony Massiano were killed, a new mob is taking over and expanding. The boss calls himself Lazarus and I don't know any more about him. But his right hand man is an old friend of yours, I hear. A former NYPD Sergeant, Tom Demming."

Kate grimaced at the name. Demming, a corrupt and incompetent cop, had been accidentally exposed by Kate as a kit man for the mobster Tony Massiano. Demming had accidentally shot Massiano while trying to kill Kate. A hero to the NYPD for killing Massiano and saving Kate, he had resigned and fled since every other mob in New York now knew Demming had been killing their members for money. Now he was back.

"What can I do?" Kate asked.

"Every Friday, Demming comes by to demand protection money from me. Each week he demands more. Pretty soon, I'll have to sell the Old Haunt to raise the money. If some honest cops were to see that, Demming could be arrested and sweated for information about this Lazarus."

Kate nodded. "I'll have to talk to my boss, Sergeant Montgomery."

"So you'll try?" Lanie asked, somewhat skeptically.

"Of course." Kate said.

Later that day, Kate and Rick met with Sergeant Montgomery, and Kate's two detective friends, Ryan and Esposito. Although only fictional women, like Nikki Heat, had ever become an NYPD detective, Kate hoped that one day she could achieve that.

"You realize that Demming knows all of you? As soon as he sees you, he'll rabbit." Montgomery said skeptically.

"He doesn't know me, Sergeant Montgomery." Rick said. "And my mother knows enough about wigs and make up so that he'll never recognize Kate. Er, Officer Beckett."

Montgomery smiled at the writer. "Rick, it's not like everyone in the precinct doesn't know she's your girlfriend."

Kate blushed furiously, but Rick just smiled.

Friday afternoon, Rick and Kate sat at the bar by the cash register. Kate, in a blonde wig and with more makeup on than she had ever worn, sat facing Rick and away from the cash register.

At about five o'clock Demming came in. He had added the beginnings of a beer belly since Kate had last seen him and he was unshaven. When he got close enough, Kate could smell cheap alcohol on his breath.

He leaned on the bar. "Get your ass over here, Lanie. The price of protection has gone up. It's two hundred and fifty dollars now."

"Two hundred and fifty dollars?" Lanie said, outraged. "How do you expect me to pay that?"

"I don't care." Demming snarled.

"I don't know if I have that much." Kanie said, with uncertainty in her voice.

"You either pay me the two fifty or a couple of my pals and I'll break up your speakeasy and knock a few teeth out of your customers. Now that wouldn't be good for business, would it?"

That threat was all that Kate needed to hear. "Thomas Demming, you are under arrest for extortion."

Demming whirled around. He saw Kate and laughed. "Beckett? You think you can arrest me? Do you know who I am? And what are you doing in a speakeasy? Run along before I spank that skinny ass of yours." He turned back to Lanie. "Now, hand over the money, bitch."

"Hands on your head." Espo said coldly, from behind Demming.

"I'm going to give you clowns just two seconds to get out of my face or I'll…"

Whatever the threat was to be would forever be unknown. Ryan brought his blackjack down smartly on Demming's head and Demming hit the floor, knocking over a spittoon onto himself.

"He resisted arrest." Ryan said.

"That he did." Esposito agreed.

Alas, the real name of Lazarus was never revealed by Demming. The morning after he was arrested, he was found dead in his cell with a broken neck. The coroner's report found he had died at the hands of a person or persons unknown.

But Lazarus had reason to remember Kate Beckett and her friends.

On Saturday night, Lanie held a small celebration for Rick and his three police friends. Kate had too much to drink and ended up in Rick's bed.

The next morning Rick awoke to the sound of muffled sobbing. "Kate? What is it? Did I hurt you last night?"

Kate shook her head. "No. In fact it was fantastic."

"Then what is it?"

Kate sobbed some more, but then spoke. "I'm no longer a virgin. No decent man will marry me now."

"Then you'll have to marry an indecent man." Rick said softly.

"How can you joke about this?" Kate said angrily.

"I'm not joking. Officer Katherine Houghton Beckett, will you marry me?"

She turned around to face him. "What?"

"Will you marry me?"

"But you're Richard Rodgers and I'm just…."

"The most remarkable and extraordinary woman I've ever met. Please, will you marry me?"

"Yes."