"There's a child here, at the precinct." It was Gates, standing at the door of their bullpen. Kate and her team turned to look at her.
"A kid?" Castle echoed.
"Yes a kid."
Now, children at the precinct were not unheard of. Witnesses who brought their kids along often let them wander off and do their own stuff, trusting that a building full of officers will keep their offspring safe. Officers and detectives themselves often had their brought their kids back too, after picking them up from school and realizing that they had a little more work to do but no one to take care of them.
In fact, there was a little playpen on the first floor just for occasions like these. Nobody needed the innocent children wandering about to bump into some slimy suspect or, even worse, wander into the morgue.
"So? There are children here all the damn time." It was Esposito, looking increasingly annoyed. They had just wrapped up their latest case only a few minutes ago and it had been a long and tiring one. Serial killers were painful to catch.
"What's strange is that we have no idea who the kid is. There are no witnesses or suspects, or even officers with kids in here right now.
And nobody even realized the kid was in here until she rode the elevator all the way up here!"
Gates looked exasperated.
"Okay…" Beckett said, slowly. "What does that have to do with us?"
"Because, the kid refuses to tell me who she is, or why she's here, or anything of that sort. She just gave me this. Apparently, her mother gave her the list and told her to only speak to people whose names were on it."
She held out said piece of paper. The three detectives and writer crowded around, looking at it.
There were four names, written neatly. Definitely not the handwriting of a child. The curled and slightly written handwriting seemed vaguely familiar to Beckett, but she didn't dwell on it.
Dear,
Mister Richard Castle
Detective Kate Beckett
Detective Javier Esposito
Detective Kevin Ryan
Take care of this child. If you are anyone other than these people, please do bring her over to the 12th precinct.
"Why would a kid be looking for all of us?" Ryan asked, rather uselessly.
"Sir, where is she?"
"In my office, I'll bring her over."
A few moments later, Gates appeared again, kid in tow. "Here," she said, gently. "The people you were looking for."
The young girl- who looked about eight or nine slowly approached Beckett. She looked tired, hungry, and her long brown hair was in a mess. Her eyes- they seemed familiar, but Beckett couldn't remember exactly where she had seen them before.
She kneeled down, meeting the girl's eyes. "Hello, I'm Detective Kate Beckett. Were you looking for me?"
The girl nodded. "Mommy said that- that if she doesn't come home I should come here and look for you." She sniffled. "Mommy and Daddy haven't come home in three days and I'm-I'm scared."
Castle placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, and Beckett let him handle the situation for now. After all, if there was anyone in the room good with kids, it was him.
"Hey, don't cry, we'll find your mommy and daddy. Promise." He held out his pinkie finger, which the girl hooked her own around, gratefully. "But first, you have to help us. Can you tell us your name, and your parents' name?"
"My name is ..Helen. Mommy's name is Kelly Nieman…Daddy is Jerry Tyson." She frowned. "Can you help me find them?"
Castle smiled, not missing a beat. No point letting his internal panic show and scaring the kid even more. "Of course. Why don't we get a snack? There's a vending machine over there, you can choose whatever you want."
Helen nodded and let Richard guide her out of the room.
"Are- she's 3XK's daughter?"
"Seems so, sir. And, she does resemble her…parents… quite a bit." Referring to the serial killer and his alleged accomplice as parents made her sick, sick to her stomach. Parents were supposed to be kind, loving people. Not a couple of sociopathic murders.
"Okay, so even if she is their daughter, why would Niemann tell her to look for us of all people?" Kevin just sounded tired.
"Who knows bro. Maybe they're on the run, and leaving their daughter to police officers were their best bet?"
"But that means that they care. Are those people even capable of such a thing?"
Esposito just shrugged. The entire situation was just too bizarre.
"Okay, let's just wait for Castle to come back. Hopefully after Helen is calmed down and in better shape we can ask her a few more questions." Kate sat down on her table, ignoring the pile of paperwork in favour of opening up the files containing information on the look-alike case they dealt with not too long ago. Everything else had been stolen, and sadly, this was the only thing containing even the barest bit on information on 3XK.
"Detectives, you do realize that this means that Tyson is still alive? Even after shooting him and throwing him off the bridge?"
"Well apparently, chopping his head off is the only to kill him," Kevin grunted. "Maybe not even that."
It was then that Richard came back with the young girl. She held the promised bag of snacks in one hand and a drink in the other, looking happier and content than she had just moments ago. Castle sat her down on a desk furthest away from where the detectives were huddling handed her a piece of paper and a pen. He then headed over.
"So…"
"So yes, the daughter of the infamous 3XK. And this," Richard handed them a picture. "Helen gave this to me. It proves a lot of things, as you can see."
Kate felt herself shivering as she looked at the picture. It was the kind of pictures you took at photo booths- dorky pictures with your friends and family printed in little sets of four.
This certain set of pictures had Helen, Niemann and Tyson posing in them, happily smiling at the camera, making peace signs and hugging each other. They looked normal. They looked happy. They looked like the most perfect little family.
And the timestamp showed that the picture was taken just two weeks ago.
"Looks like Jerry Tyson is indeed alive." Gates tactfully decided not to comment on the nature of the pictures. "From now on, I'm giving you the task of catching him-again. And until this..mess is sorted out, taking care of the child." She gave the team a steely look. Will that be okay with you, detectives?"
They nodded.
"And the kid…."
"Uh, me and Beckett will take care of her. For the time being. Once we settle things with the social services and all those people."
"Good. Now, I must be going." With that, she left.
Helen slipped out of her chair and ran over to Castle as soon as Gates left. "Look, Mr Castle, I drew me and Mommy and Daddy all together!" She was holding a drawing of three stick figures, holding hands and sporting big smiles. Ryan and Esposito gave Castle strange matching looks.
"That's lovely dear. I tell you what, why don't you come back home with me and Detective Beckett? We can have dinner there, and you can spend the night."
Helen nodded. "Okay!"
She pattered off, presumably to finish her food that she had left on the desk. Castle let out a soft sigh. "She's really tired now- it's better to let her rest before we ask her anything. We'll bring her back to the precinct tomorrow and then we can start on this case properly-okay? You all get home and have a good rest. The next few weeks-"
"Are going to be hell." Beckett finished for him.
Okay-first of all, I'm sorry for completely throwing standard police protocols out of the window.
I felt that the idea of 3XK having a family or someone he trully cared about was really interesting, and I was so excited when Kelly was introduced. Yes I know its not possible and together with the "happy family" thing I'm totally ruining his character. Forgive me.
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