Well, I did say I’d post fanfiction
to celebrate new writing milestones (and for fun!). So for the release of Slightly Off the Mark here’s
an unusual crossover for you; I almost titled it “The Two Ricks”. One universe,
as you’ll see, is in prequel territory.
Title: Speed Trap
Author: ozma914
Summary: Castle's
road trip from Atlanta to New York gets sidetracked when Deputy Rick Grimes
takes a bite out of crime. Luckily, Castle has an unlikely fan.
Rating: PG
Length: 1,075 words
SPEED TRAP
Richard Castle was not unfamiliar with
the sight of flashing red and blue lights in his rear view mirror. However,
having it happen in rural Georgia gave him pause.
His daughter, who had been half-dozing
in the passenger seat, poked her head up. “I told you to rent a plain sedan.”
“But a Porsche is—“
“A police magnet.” Straightening, Alexis
adjusted her safety belt.
Castle pulled onto the berm and lowered
the window, then recoiled from a blast of hot air. “Oh, he’s going to be
grouchy from the heat.”
“How fast were you going?”
In the rearview mirror, Castle watched a
sheriff’s deputy step out of his car. “Um …”
“Maybe that’s why he’s going to be grouchy.”
The deputy stepped forward, one hand on
the grip of an amazingly large revolver. “License and registration, please.”
“Ah, yes, um, it’s a rental …”
Alexis handed him the paperwork, which Castle in turn handed over to the
officer. Being in the middle of Deep South nowhere was a bit intimidating by
itself, but Castle’s thoughts kept going to what a great character this guy
would be for his next book. Surely Nikki Heat could venture into, say, northern
Alabama on a case.
In addition to what appeared to be a
.357 Magnum, which couldn’t possibly be department issued, the guy wore an
honest to goodness cowboy hat with a star on the front. How cool was that?
“Do you know how fast you were going,
Mr. Castle?”
That brought him right back down to
earth. “I, um … yes, I do, um, Deputy Grimes. I’m sorry.”
Grimes flipped his eyes up to Castle.
“I’ll be back.” Taking the paperwork, Grimes headed toward the patrol car.
Castle looked toward Alexis, and only
then realized another deputy had stealthed his way to the passenger side of the
car. “Say, maybe you should roll your window down, too.”
She glanced toward the window. “Why, eek!”
The other deputy had the good grace to
look embarrassed when the window came down. “Sorry about that, ma’am, I didn’t
mean to startle you.”
She gave him a onceover, and went from
startled to swooning. “Oh, that’s all right.”
Daddy-daughter cross-country drives
weren’t what they used to be. The guy was handsome in his own way, with a
baseball cap instead of a cowboy hat, a bit more bulk than Grimes, and dark,
curly hair. To Castle’s relief, the deputy’s attention didn’t stay on Alexis
long. To something less than Castle’s relief, he instead bent down and gave
Castle a hard stare.
“Hey. Are you … Richard Castle?”
Oh, boy. “Well, there
are probably lots of—“
“Richard Castle, the writer?”
“Heh. Yes, I am.” Oh, please let this be …
The deputy grinned, just as his partner
returned to the driver’s side. “I love your Nikki Heat books!”
Oh, thank God.
Grimes lost his cop stance and
straightened, looking over the top of the Porsche. Turning a little red, the
other deputy also straightened.
“Shane? You read?”
“Come on, man, how long have we known
each other? Ya know I like a good cop thriller.”
“Cop thriller?” As a unit, both bent
down again. “Oh.” Grimes nodded. “Castle, got it. I didn’t much like it when
you killed off Storm.”
“Heh.”
“Yeah, but we got Nikki Heat,” Shane
said, leaning into the window. Alexis swooned a bit more. “So, that detective,
the one ya based Nikki on. Is she really--?”
“Oh, yeah.”
“Wow. You’re one lucky guy.”
Grimes cleared his throat. “That’s right,
because I’m letting you off with a warning, Mr. Castle … if you can tell me why
you were going twenty miles over the speed limit.”
“Twenty—was it twenty?” Grimes nodded.
“Well, the truth is, we got into a nasty incident as we were getting ready to
leave Atlanta, and it kind of made us anxious to head on home. I mean, we
wanted the road trip—“
Alexis broke in. “Some crazy guy tried
to bite him!”
The officers looked at each other.
“He missed.” Castle thought he should
stress that, so they didn’t haul him in for rabies shots, or something. The
laws in King County were most likely different from the ones in New York.
“Did
you report this?” Grimes sounded like he’d run Castle in if he hadn’t.
“Didn’t have to. Some Federal guys
showed up just in time and hauled the guy in, said they were taking him for
tests. I thought at first he was just a fan …”
The officers looked at each other again.
“Do fans do that?” Shane asked.
Alexis rolled her eyes. “You’d be
surprised. It’s where the term ‘rabid fan’ came from.”
“Yeah, I guess so.” Grimes looked at
Shane. “I guess living in the big city isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.”
“Not if people are always biting each
other.”
Finally, Grimes handed the license and
registration back. “Mr. Castle, I’m sure you had a difficult day … but I’d appreciate
it if you’d slow down and be careful.” He gestured toward Alexis. “Your
daughter, right? I have a son. Wouldn’t want to see him get lost in a car
accident.”
“No … no, thank you, officer.” He
watched Grimes walk back toward the patrol car. The guy knew how to slow a dad
down, for sure.
Then the window was filled again, by
another brown and tan clad body. “Um, Mr. Castle?” Shane glanced around, then
held out a ticket book. “If ya don’t mind …”
“I’d be happy to.” It was, indeed, the
first time Castle had ever been happy about signing a ticket.
“Thanks. Looking forward to your next
book.” Tipping his hat to Alexis, Shane headed back to the car.
They’d traveled on for half an hour—at
the speed limit—before Alexis spoke again. “No offense to the NYPD, but Georgia
cops are hot.”
“Please.”
Still, it might make for a great new
plotline. Nikki Heat, trying to solve a murder while navigating a love triangle
with Jameson Rook and a hunky, down home Deep South lawman? With a cowboy hat,
and a big .357 strapped to his side … Ooh. It could make a great spin-off
series.
Who knows what kind of challenges might
spring up for a Georgie deputy? The Porsche’s speed began to pick up, as
Castle’s anxiousness to start work on the new idea increased.
But he didn’t get pulled over again
until Kentucky.
