"Hey Lanie," Alexis greeted walking into the lab. She had called the ME the night before, and they set up a time to get together.
"Hey Sweetie. Is it noon already?" Lanie asked looking up from the microscope she was looking through.
"Yeah. Are you too busy? I can come back another day."
"No, no. Take a seat. I'll be done in one second."
"I kind of miss interning here. It really was a great experience."
"You're welcome to come back if you have time. I know your schedule is hectic." Lanie picked up a pen and jotted down a few lines of notes.
"I've been swamped lately. I actually haven't decided what I'm doing for the summer though."
"I could definitely use the help for a few months. No pressure to come back. Just if you want to, I can find work for you."
"Thanks. I'll think about it," Alexis smiled.
"Okay. Now let me wash my hands, and we can chat," Lanie said walking over to the sink.
"Any interesting cases lately?"
"You don't get enough of that from your dad and Beckett?"
"Yeah," Alexis laughed. "They talk about different stuff though. It's interesting and everything, but they look at murders differently than you do. It's all motives and no science."
"That's my girl. Well I can't say I've had anything too exciting. It's been more of a tragic week. I just finished up with a young woman who committed suicide."
"Oh," Alexis said sadly.
"Yeah. How's school been?" Lanie asked leading Alexis into her office.
"Good… Hard. I'm glad the semester's almost over," Alexis answered taking a seat across from Lanie at her desk.
"I bet. I know how hard you work and how involved you are."
"Yeah, I've been really busy."
"You said you had some school questions for me on the phone?"
"Yeah, I wanted to talk to you about future and career stuff. I'm finishing up my junior year and I still don't know what I want to do. Every time I think I know, I change my mind. I figured you know me pretty well, and I've interned for you so maybe you can give me some insight," Alexis explained.
"I'll do my best, sweetie."
"I've talked to my dad and Kate about it. He pretty much just told me to follow my heart and that he's proud of me which is great, but it doesn't help me at all. And I've been talking to Kate about being a lawyer for a while now and she's really helpful, but I'm just not sure. I feel like I'm interested in too many things."
"That's a tough place to be. I was lucky. I knew I wanted to go into medicine. I never would have guessed I'd end up a medical examiner though. I didn't even think about it till I was almost done with med school."
"I just don't know. I really liked working with you. I'm minoring in biology. I could see myself being a ME. It would be kind of like cross of medicine and law. I could do science and help bring people to justice."
"Sounds like a good fit. And I know you have a good idea of what the job entails. You won't be shocked by the early mornings and crazy hours-" Lanie was cut off by a knock on the door. "Come in."
"Sorry to interrupt, but there's a Dylan Baker here to see you."
"Dylan Baker? No, I don't know him." Lanie shook her head.
"He said he's here to talk about his sister's death," the tech explained.
"Okay, yeah, Jenna Baker. I finished her autopsy yesterday and sent the report to the detectives this morning. They should have talked to him."
"He said he has questions, and the detectives said to talk to you."
"Can you tell him he needs to make an appointment, and I'll talk through some things with him then."
"He seems pretty upset. I hate to send him away. The guy looks crushed."
"Okay. Give me like 10 minutes and send him in," Lanie agreed. She turned to Alexis, "Sorry. This is the girl I told you about that committed suicide."
"Can I sit in? I know this is going to be awful, but I'm worried I don't have what it takes to deal with this kind of stuff. I can't be a ME if I can't handle tragedy," Alexis asked shyly.
"Yeah, sure. As long as Mr. Baker doesn't mind having you here. You are now officially job shadowing me today. Remind me to get you to sign a confidentially form before you leave. I think your old ones are out of date."
Normally, Lanie would have said no without thinking twice, but she trusted Alexis. She knew she would be quiet and respectful.
"Okay, thanks."
"Let me grab her file. Pull your chair over to my side of the desk. You can sit with me," Lanie said getting up and walking to a filing cabinet against the wall.
A young man appeared in her doorway. He looked disheveled and clearly exhausted. Lanie felt bad for the kid. He couldn't be much older than Alexis. The past few days must have been hell for him.
"I'm Dr. Lanie Parish. I was the medical examiner on your sister's case. I'm very sorry for your loss," she greeted and extended her hand.
He shook her hand and gave her a small smile. "Thanks. Dylan Baker." He fully entered the room and shut the door behind him.
"Nice to meet you. This is Alexis Castle. She's a student at Columbia, who's shadowing me today. Do you mind if she sits in on our talk?" Lanie asked.
"No, that's fine," he answered nervously.
"Take a seat," Lanie offered gently.
"Thanks." Dylan sat on the edge of the chair and looked around the room.
"You have some questions about your sister?" Lanie asked drawing his attention back to her.
"Yes, the cops told me you ruled her death a suicide. That's ridiculous. Jenna would never kill herself," he said firmly.
"I'll explain my findings and do my best to help you understand," Lanie said calmly. She hated this part of her job. Normally the police handled it, but occasionally she would get a family member looking for more information. It happened most often in suicide cases.
"I don't want to hear it! Jenna didn't kill herself! She was murdered!" Dylan yelled. He jumped out of his chair and slammed his hand on the desk.
"Okay, okay. Let's talk about it. I will show you what I found and you can explain why you think she was murdered," Lanie said evenly.
"I don't think she was murdered. I know she was, and you are going to believe me." He responded and pulled a gun out of the back of his waistband. He pointed it right at Lanie's forehead.
"Woah," Alexis gasped. Both women were terrified.
"Both of you up. Put your phones on the desk," Dylan demanded waving the gun between them. He reached over with his other hand and unplugged Lanie's desk phone.
They stood up slowly. Lanie looked over at Alexis.
"Let's go. Do it now," Dylan commanded.
"It's in there," Alexis said quietly placing her purse on the desk. Her voice shook.
"Get it out. I want to see it."
Alexis ruffled through her bag, as Lanie took hers out of her pocket and set it down. After a few seconds, Alexis found it and placed it next to Lanie's.
"Good. Now both of you get your hands up." He kept the gun pointed steady right between them. Dylan picked up Alexis's phone, turned it off, and put it in his pocket. He did the same with Lanie's. As he did this, Alexis and Lanie just looked at each. Lanie knew she had to the adult and take care of Alexis. She couldn't panic. She tried her best to give Alexis a comforting look, but she was fairly certain her face just showed fear.
Dylan looked around. He peered out the big window in the side of Lanie's office into the hallway for a moment. It was the only window, and it appeared no one was around. Normally, it was a fairly busy hallway, but everyone was at lunch. The place usually pretty well cleared out at noon. Everyone went out or upstairs to eat, well except Pearlmutter, but he was off today.
"Here's what's going to happen. You're going to email the cops and tell them you messed up and you're changing her death to murder. It wasn't a suicide," Dylan demanded and fixed the gun on Lanie.
"Okay, okay. I can do that. I just need to use the computer." Lanie complied.
"Nobody move," Dylan yelled when Lanie took a step towards her computer. He was getting more and more agitated by the second. "I'm watching you type. You say exactly what you are supposed to. Try to send for help, and I will kill both you." He walked over to the other side of the desk and grabbed Alexis's arm forcefully. Alexis didn't respond at all. She wasn't going to let this guy know how scared she was. He turned to Lanie, "Type. Now"
"Okay," she said quietly.
"Make it sound legit. They need to believe you."
"I will write it just how I normally would," Lanie lied. She would never send an email for something this big. She would talk to the cops in person. That's when an idea came to her. She typed in the right detectives' addresses plus Beckett's. Dylan wouldn't know Beckett wasn't on the case, and if Lanie was lucky she would try to get ahold of her to ask about it. Lanie was worried no one was going to notice what was happening before it was too late. Dylan was really unstable. She hoped Beckett would notice the odd sock and investigate, assuming she saw the email in time.
"Good, good," Dylan said as he read her message as she typed.
Lanie quickly typed a short, but professional sounding message. "Is this alright?"
"Yeah, yeah. Hit send."
"I did what you asked. Now let us go," Lanie said with as much confidence and strength as she could muster.
"Okay, yeah… I just need a way out of here," Dylan answered. He kept a tight grip on Alexis's arm, and the gun fixed on Lanie. "No. I can't do that. You will write another email explaining that you didn't make a mistake," he said suddenly as if the thought had just came to him.
"So what now?" Alexis asked.
"I don't know. I don't know. We wait until I figure something out." Dylan was sweaty and panicky. "This wasn't my plan. I never meant to use the gun. This wasn't my plan."
"It's okay, Dylan. We know you didn't want to do this. You don't want to hurt anyone. You just want to help your sister," Lanie said gently. She knew she needed to get him to calm down.
"Right. That's right. I wouldn't have had to do any of this if you would have just done your job," he yelled and waved the gun. He left it pointing square at her chest.
"I'm sorry. I won't send another email. I promise. The detectives will work your sister's case and find the killer," Lanie begged. She was trying to keep her cool, but she's not a cop. She's not trained to handle this situation.
"I don't believe you. Now both of you sit while I figure this out." He pulled Alexis down hard into the chair, and used the gun to gesture for Lanie to sit. He walked back to the other side of the desk and yanked the power cord out of the back of Lanie's computer. It clicked, and the screen went back.
"Are you okay?" Lanie asked as he reached up and wiped the sweat off his brow. He kind of looked like he was going to pass out. Lanie thought that might be the best possible option at this point. She kept sneaking peaks out the window, but she hadn't seen anyone yet.
"Shut up," Dylan yelled.
"Tell me about your sister," Alexis asked. She noticed his distress too and went back to Lanie's approach of trying to calm him down.
"What?"
"Jenna. I know you must have really loved her. Tell me about her."
"She… she was amazing. She was the good one, you know? Not a shit show like the rest of our family. She was going to make something of her life." He gave her a sad smile.
"I'm really sorry for your loss," Alexis said sadly.
"Yeah, I bet you are. You don't give a damn. You just want to get out of here alive," he said bitterly and moved the gun from pointing at Lanie to focusing it on Alexis.
"Well, yes, but I care about your sister too. I want her to get justice," Alexis answered in a surprisingly calm voice. She surely didn't feel calm. She made the mistake of looking directly at the gun and almost lost it. Alexis took a deep breath and looked back at Dylan's face.
"It won't bring her back."
"No, it won't, but we can make sure her killer goes to jail and doesn't hurt anyone else," Alexis replied, all traces of the calm now gone from her voice as she tried to keep her eyes off the gun.
"They would already be looking if it wasn't for you!" He yelled and whipped the gun back to point at Lanie.
"I'm sorry," she said softly. A single tear escaped and rolled down her cheek.
"Shit, don't cry," Dylan sighed, but he didn't move the gun.
"You're pointing a gun at her. Don't tell her not to cry," Alexis defended. She was barely holding in her own tears.
"Shut up. This isn't my fault. I'm a victim here. I had to do this for my sister. I didn't want to do this," Dylan said angrily.
"At least let Alexis go. She had nothing to do with this. I did the autopsy. I made the decision, not her. She's just a kid," Lanie spoke up. She had taken a few deep breaths and managed to stop her tears for now.
"How old are you?"
"21," Alexis answered.
"Yeah, Jenna was 20," he scoffed.
"I'm sorry."
"Apologize again," Dylan challenged and moved the gun back on to Alexis.
Alexis tried not to look at the gun, but she was losing the battle. She let out a whimper as she stared at it. Lanie reached out and grabbed the girl's hand.
"Don't move," Dylan commanded.
"I'm just holding her hand," Lanie said firmly. She couldn't just watch and not help in some way. Alexis gripped her hand back tightly.
"Fine. Now if you two want to get out of here alive, you are going to help me."
"Okay. We'll do whatever you want," Lanie replied. She was slowly becoming angry. Where the hell was the police? There is no way no one has noticed by now. And how the hell did this guy even get a gun in here past security anyway?
"Where's the closest door?" Dylan asked.
"There's an emergency exit just out of my office and to the right. It's all the way at the end of hall. You'll see the red sign."
Dylan kept the gun on Alexis, but turned his head to look out the window. "Is there anyone out there?"
"I don't think so," Lanie answered.
"You don't think so?"
"I can't see either," she shrugged.
"Is it normally empty?"
"Most of the time," Lanie lied. Lunch should be over by now. She had no idea how long Dylan had been holding them, but it felt like hours.
He walked over, keeping the gun pointing in their direction, and got close enough to look out at different angles. "There's cops! A whole bunch of cops are lining sides of the hall."
Alexis let out a relieved sigh.
"Hey, this makes things worse for you," he yelled and pointed the gun back at Alexis. "I just need to think. I need to think." He looked up at the ceiling. "I'm going to take one of you out with me. If I use you as a shield, they can't shoot me." He looked back out the window. The cops had moved in. They had been trying to keep their presence a secret as they made a plan, but now that he saw them, it didn't matter. Lanie and Alexis continued to keep their eyes on Dylan. Alexis couldn't stop focusing on the gun.
"Please just let us go," Lanie said quietly.
"No! I can't just walked right out the door." He gestured to the door behind him. As he turned his body away from them, a shot rang out. Dylan dropped to the floor.
Lanie and Alexis whipped their heads around to look out the now shattered window. Beckett was standing right in the center, gun still raised. Focus and determination all over her face.
A second later, Castle burst in through the door. It took a beat for Alexis to react, but then she jumped out of her seat and ran into his arms.
"Oh my God, Dad!"
"It's over, baby. It's over," he whispered into her hair and held her tight.
Beckett followed closely behind. "Lanie!"
She hadn't really moved since the shot went off, but Beckett calling her name snapped her out of it. Lanie quickly accepted her friend's embrace. "You okay?" Beckett asked.
"Yeah, yeah," Lanie replied.
Ryan and Esposito came in with some other cops. Lanie's office was way too small for the growing amount of people. Lanie watched as Ryan bent down and checked Dylan for a pulse. When the detective just stood up silently, she knew Dylan was officially dead.
"Kate," Alexis called out finally pulling back from her father's arms. Lanie took a step to the side and let them hug. Beckett squeezed the girl tight, and Alexis gripped her as hard as she could. She was completely overwhelmed. Kate felt safe. She knew Kate had just saved her and Lanie's lives.
"We should get out of here," Lanie said quietly still looking down at Dylan.
"Let's go," Alexis agreed and pulled back from Beckett.
"There's a break room upstairs," Lanie offered.
"Perfect. Come on." Castle gestured for everyone to file out.
As they walked, Alexis reached out and grabbed Kate's hand. She could hear her dad behind them talking to Ryan. Alexis was barely keeping it together. Now that it was over, the fear and stress were crushing her.
"You okay?" Beckett asked softly.
"Yeah… just…" Alexis stuttered.
"I know. You're safe now," Beckett said and held her hand tighter.
In the elevator, Castle stayed close to Alexis. He had purposefully walked behind her, so he could see her. He never wanted to let her out of his sight again. He was worried earlier when Beckett said she thought something was up with Lanie, but when he remembered Alexis was with her, his worried tripled. Esposito had his arm around Lanie. She leaned on him tiredly.
"Can I get you guys something to drink or anything?" Ryan asked as they entered the break room, and everyone took a seat.
"Water?" Alexis asked timidly.
"No problem, Little Castle," Ryan smiled reassuringly. "Lanie?"
"Water would be great."
"When can we go home?" Alexis asked looking at Beckett.
"It won't be too long. Some detectives are going to come up in a minute and take statements from you and Lanie. You guys have to talk separately, but your dad can stay with you. I can't hear anything because I have to give my own statement."
"Because you shot him," Alexis said simply.
"Yeah," Beckett nodded. "I will need to talk some other detectives about that so I need to stick around, but you guys can go as soon as you give your statements."
"Will you come to the loft with us?" Alexis asked Lanie.
"Sure, sweetie. I don't really want to go home alone," Lanie agreed.
"You're not going home alone," Esposito said firmly.
"Javi."
"Just because we aren't together anymore doesn't mean I don't care about you. You know that. I'm not leaving you alone right now."
"Okay," Lanie smiled.
"Here you go," Ryan said giving Alexis and Lanie each a bottle of water.
"How did you know we were in trouble?" Alexis asked after taking a big swig of water.
"Lanie sent me an email about Jenna Baker. At first at I thought she just added me by mistake since it wasn't my case, but once I read it, I knew something was up," Beckett answered. She turned to Lanie, "You would never change a cause of death from suicide to homicide in a three-line email. You would call and have the detectives come down here to talk. When I called your office, lab, and cell, and they all went straight to voicemail, I got nervous. I called the mainline to OCME trying to get ahold of you. Someone came down and saw what was going on."
"That was my plan. I was banking on you checking your email and knowing me well enough to figure out something was up. Most people at lunch. I didn't know when someone would come by and look in the window or hear the yelling," Lanie leaned over and gave Beckett a side hug.
"I didn't know you emailed her too," Alexis said.
"It was all I could think of," Lanie shrugged.
"That was really smart," Alexis smiled.
A man walked in and introduced himself. "Hi, I'm Detective Walsh. How's everybody doing?"
"We're fine," Lanie answered.
"I have EMS here, if anyone needs checked out."
Lanie looked at Alexis. The girl looked terrified by the idea. "I think we're good, Alexis?"
"Yeah, I'm fine."
Castle took a good look at his daughter. She looked exhausted, but physically fine, so he let it go. In all honesty though, he would rather have someone take a look at her just to be safe.
"I just need to ask Dr. Parish and Miss Castle some questions," Detective Walsh said kindly.
They both looked at each other and nodded.
"Who wants to go first?"
Neither one of them said anything for a moment. "I will," Lanie offered and stood up.
"Thank you. And Detective Beckett, Sargent Roman would like to speak to you downstairs as soon as you can."
"Okay, I'll just be a moment."
Lanie and Detective Walsh started to leave the room, when Esposito popped up. "I'm going to go with her," he said quickly and followed them out.
"Can I get you anything?" Beckett asked Alexis reaching out and covering the girl's hand with her own. Beckett was worried about her, and she knew Castle was too. Alexis looked like she was going to break down at any second.
"I'm okay. Thanks."
"I'm going to go talk to Roman. I have my phone. Call me if you want me to come back up."
"Okay," Alexis said softly.
"If you guys are done before I come back just go ahead home. I'll meet you there. Just send me text, so I know you left."
Alexis nodded.
Beckett stood up and gave Alexis a small hug. "It's going to be okay. I promise," Beckett whispered to her.
She gave Castle a quick hug and kiss and said good bye to Ryan and headed out.
A/N: Thoughts? Comments? Let me know what you thought. I know this scenario might have been a little bit of a stretch logistically, but just roll with it lol. The next chapters will be the aftermath and Alexis and Lanie dealing with what happened to them. I know Alexis was completely fine with a gun being pointed at her in "In Plane Sight" and acted like a pro, but that won't be the case here. I found that kind of unrealistic to be honest. Thanks for reading!
