Driving Heat

by Richard Castle

  “Our ride has been unconventional to say the least. Just surviving to get to this moment was a minor miracle. But just when I thought I couldn’t get any closer to you, or feel more certain of our marriage, that experience created a bond nothing will ever break.

  “I, Nikki Heat, stand before you and everyone I care about…” She paused and swallowed hard. He gave her a nod of encouragement, and she continued. “And one who could not be here…to promise that I will always love you, Jameson Rook. I will always be there for you. I will be your friend, and, yes, your partner in crime forever. As every moment from this day forth becomes the time of our lives.”

  Rook beamed as he slipped the wedding band on her finger. Nikki’s radiant eyes barely left his as she put the ring on him.

  The judge said, “By the power vested in me by the State of New York, I now pronounce you husband and wife.” He didn’t have to tell them to kiss.

  Heat and Rook had already found each other.

  It’s 2:00 A.M., and here I sit, too pumped to sleep, still buoyant from receiving that Career Achievement Award at tonight’s big Poe’s Pen ceremony and, frankly, unable to wake her up. Oh, well. Picture, dear reader, my bespoke tux jacket on the floor, bow tie undone, and a rocks glass of the Irish at hand with no cubes to spoil the amber magic. Yes, it was all very heady tonight. The Poe’s Pen statuette, the gracious words from the award presenter, the great Michael Connelly, the bloodred carpet…But, in truth, it was the faces—the gathering of all those who are so close and so dear to me around that table of honor as I looked out from the podium—that meant the most, the chance to toast those who made it all possible.

  So while I’m in a toasting mood (and who knows, afterward, in the mood for dancing the Time Warp), let me lift an aged spirit to all those who once again proved that these puppies don’t write themselves. It all begins and, hopefully, never ends with Kate Beckett, my inspiration, my teacher, my lover, my bestest friend…for the time of our life. The crew at the Twelfth Precinct rocks it, and is my rock. Javier Esposito and Kevin Ryan, my only regret is that I could never coin a portmanteau for you. Espry? Javin? How about “buds”? Victoria Gates continues to let me run rampant, and for that I am grateful, as ever.

  An autopsy, truth be told, is never a party you want to be invited to, but Dr. Lanie Parish down at the Office of Chief Medical Examiner makes that basement room as close to upbeat as it can be without, well, waking the dead.

  My mother, Martha, is equal parts consternation and inspiration and neither of us would have it any other way. My daughter, Alexis, continues to outshine her ol’ dad at every turn. She needs to knock that off. Smarty! (Next book, I’m having her write this section!)

  Pardon me while I clang a spoon on my glass in celebration of the amazing Nathan, Stana, Seamus, Jon, Molly, Susan, Tamala, and Penny.

  The folks in the Clinton Building at Raleigh Studios also get a smart salut! Hey, it just occurred to me, I could turn this toast into a swell drinking game.

  Terri Edda Miller, you intoxicate me simply by being near. Hand in hand, arm in arm, onward—together. Always.

  To you, Jennifer Allen. My eyes mist over, and I think of Hemingway, who said, “It is the journey that matters, in the end.” Our lovely ride continues with all commas in place and accounted for.

  Thanks to Laura Hopper, Executive Editor at Disney Publishing Worldwide, Kingswell, and to Lisa Schomas and her terrific support team at ABC for success built on amazing cooperation and forethought.

  My agent, Sloan Harris at ICM Partners, has always made sure my glass is half full, and I am grateful for his belief in me from the start.

  Will Balliett, Gretchen Young, and Elisabeth Dyssegaard also deserve a clink and a sip for this little experiment that could.

  Ellen Borakove continues to provide ace technical assistance for all things OCME. Additionally, I got amazing help from Monica Smiddy, M.D., forensic pathologist, New York City.

  Shamus Smith, NYPD, not only provided a trove of background and technical assistance, but come on—a cop with a name like Shamus helping with a detective story? How could I go wrong?

  Thanks to Jacqui Rivera for the introduction to Shamus, and to Joe Murphy, the pride of Melbourne, for logistical and research assistance. And, year after year—ever astute, ever faithful, ever enterprising—Cooper McMains, thank you for your cherished assistance.

  If ever I thought someone was invaluable to a project it would certainly be David Liske, CEO, CPE, ACTAR, and a Principal Associate with LISKE Consulting Group Forensic Professionals. David most generously gave me hours of his time and whole sections of his brain as I researched this book. Whatever I got right about vehicle crash forensics and reconstruction, credit David. Whatever I got wrong, that would be on me.

  Also, I got lots and lots of help from the New York Public Library, so special shout-outs (Ssssssh!) go to Research Community Manager Carolyn Broomhead, PhD, and Reference Librarian Jay Barksdale for research assistance, as well as the writing space accommodation in room 228E, “The last quiet place on earth.”

  John Parry once again came through with perfect Upstate recon, including actual GPS location scouting for the Triplex.

  Alton Brown, no cutthroat he, not only came up with the Jameson punch recipe, but sweated the detail of finding one that could be served chilled for a summer wedding, not the traditional warm one.

  My friend Jill Krementz would have indeed shot Pulitzer-quality wedding photos, and I thank her for that. And a fist bump to my pal Ken Levine, who always reminds me at the start of each book that a murder might not be a bad idea.

  And now, I’ll refill the glass for this one, because it’s a huge thank-you: Andrew Marlowe, you took a castle and made it Camelot. ’Nuff said? Never enough. Consider me an author whose best words would only be inadequate.

  And, Tom, what can I say…? Except that I’m still living up to that nom de plume award. Maybe not as cool as getting one from Michael Connelly, but I guess it was a start.

  RC

  May 12, 2015, 2:34 A.M.

  New York City

  RICHARD CASTLE is the author of numerous bestsellers, including Heat Wave, Naked Heat, Heat Rises, Frozen Heat, Deadly Heat, Raging Heat, Storm Front, and Wild Storm, and the Derrick Storm eBook original trilogy. When he’s not writing bestsellers, Mr. Castle consults with the NYPD’s Twelfth Precinct on New York’s strangest homicides. His first novel, In a Hail of Bullets, published while he was still in college, received the Nom DePlume Society’s prestigious Tom Straw Award for Mystery Literature.

  Mr. Castle lives in Manhattan with his family, all of whom infuse his life with humor and inspiration.