A/N : As the summary indicates spoilers for 7x17 and other stories in season 7 in this story. You've been warned.
Disclaimer : Castle is the property of ABC, AWM, David Amann and the rest of the writers and definitely not me.
Chief Inspector Zhang pushes open the hotel room door and stalks in. She closes the door behind her and makes sure to flip over the latch and lock the door behind her. She really doesn't want to be disturbed right now. She's come back to her hotel room for a quick break before meeting up with Detective Beckett like she arranged. A quick break that will include some research.
As she shrugs off her long black leather coat and then drapes it over the office chair behind the desk in the room she thinks back to her encounter with the New York Detectives that are investigating Henry's murder. In particular she thinks about her encounter with the lead detective and her surprising shadow. Surprising that the civilian is both her partner and her husband. What would it be like to be able to work with your husband? Maybe if she could do that her marriage wouldn't be in the trouble it is in now.
Zhang pulls out the chair that has her coat on it and sits at the desk. She reaches for the laptop on the desk in front of her and opens it. Digging into the the tight front pocket of her jeans she pulls out a USB dongle and plugs it into the side of her laptop. It takes her just a few more moments to have the computer powered up and for her to be logged into the secure federal taskforce servers. Servers she is able to access via the encrypted dongle she just attached to her laptop.
As she types in the search parameters she thinks it's only fair what she's doing. She'd seen her own personnel file in Detective Beckett's hands after they'd returned her personal effects so it's only fair she gets to a look at the admittedly beautiful detective's file. Plus she needs to know who she's dealing with. How manageable the woman is going to be and how much of a barrier she is going to be to Zhang finding Henry's murderer.
Again she thinks back to her interrogation by Detective Beckett and the woman as she had paced, no prowled, in front of her as Zhang had sat there, shackled to the table. From the look in those hazel eyes and the relaxed set of her shoulders Zhang could tell Beckett felt totally at home in that interrogation room and completely unfazed by the posturing she'd tried in an attempt to put her off her stride. But there was something else in those eyes. A look that she'd seen in her own eyes in the mirror more than a few times. A look of determination, intelligence and world-weariness that made her think that she and Beckett might have more than a few things in common. Might even be kindred spirits.
It was because of that she'd decided to accept the proposal to work with the NYPD on Henry's murder. That and she knew that it would really only take a couple of phone calls from their Captain to her superiors in DC and Beijing to have her on the first plane back to San Francisco at least and back to Hong Kong at worst. Then there would be no way she could find out what happened to her friend and to make those responsible pay and she was going to do it her way no matter what kinship she might sense with the brunette New York Detective.
A subdued beep sounds from her computer indicating that the search is complete. She traces her forefinger over the trackpad of the laptop and then taps it to open the information that the search program has discovered for her. She starts reading the information chronologically that the various federal and local law enforcement databases have on one Detective Katherine Beckett.
Hmm…native New Yorker, upper middle class, parents both lawyers, studied law at Stanford in California and then transferred to NYU and graduated there before enrolling in the NYPD Academy. Why would she suddenly change her university, change her life and move back to New York to become a cop?...Ahh, her mother was murdered just before the change. So she's one of those cops, a crusader. Someone driven to seek justice for victims because she didn't get it for her mother. But wait, her mother's name, Johanna Beckett, that's familiar. She thinks for a moment to try and recall why but shakes her head as the memory won't come. She continues to read the information on the screen in front of her.
So, graduated from the Academy at the top of her class and her short time in uniform with an even briefer time in Vice have her supervisors singing her praises with the highest possible evaluations. She reads words like dedicated, intelligent, highly ethical and hard working all though her evals. Then she sits the Detective's exam and again passes in the top one percent and is then posted straight into the homicide division of the 12th precinct. The youngest woman to make detective in NYPD history and one of very few rookie detectives that get posted straight into homicide.
Well, so far it looks like Zhang is looking into a mirror. At a woman with a career and a driven personality not too dissimilar to her own. Not that she has a dead parent to drive her search for justice but she knows she's no less dedicated than Detective Beckett.
Zhang reads through Beckett's rise through the Detective grades until she makes Detective First Grade, in charge of her own team and essentially the second in command of the 12ths homicide division. It all still looks close to her own career where it looks like Beckett is on the fast track to becoming Captain and running her own precinct or even moving onto a federal agency. Her team's clearance rates are very high then just over six years ago they go even higher to become the best in the city, hell, in any city. That's interesting, that's when her now husband, Richard Castle, joined her team as an unofficial consultant to do research for his mystery novels. Novels where the main character is based on Detective Beckett…That's right, she thought she recognised the name. He's one of those names she often sees on colourful posters in airport gift shops and bookstores. Not that she reads mystery fiction. Her weakness is for science fiction and not so much reading it but more watching TV series like Star Trek. When she has the time.
Castle's inclusion into her team seems to have stopped Beckett's career's upwards trajectory for a while and given that they are now married Zhang thinks she's knows what causes that. Beckett gets distracted by her feelings for the author which obviously leads to them starting a relationship and then getting married. Yet, as she reads her clearance rate increased after the writer joined and, in fact, dropped a couple of times when the writer wasn't a part of the team. She also notices that from the fact that their relationship isn't officially recorded until over four years after Castle joins that, unless they hid their relationship for quite some time, Beckett was probably distracted by her feelings for the man and had taken her eye off her career.
No, that's not right. Career, ambition to be the best and reaching for the top job, that's not Beckett's driving force. No, justice for victims, their families and by extension for her mother is what drives the slim detective. Though she now reads that Beckett does try spreading her wings out of her comfort zone of the 12th precinct. A couple of years ago, at the same time she gets engaged to the writer, she's headhunted and takes a job with a federal taskforce in the US Attorney General's office.
Her eyebrows rise as she reads the brief period of time the job with the AG's office lasts. They rise even higher when she reads of the reason for her dismissal from the taskforce. Yet is she really surprised? She has already pegged Beckett as one of those cops for which the victim and justice are the most important things and politics mean nothing. So the politics that are involved in a job on a federal taskforce, politics Zhang is extremely familiar with given the tightrope act she has to endure running her own, multi-national and multijurisdictional taskforce, are very low priorities in Beckett's estimation. She acknowledges feeling some admiration and a little jealousy for the principled stand of the American detective and her willingness to walk away from obvious career advancement to save a civilian's life. All too many times she knows she's let politics or 'the big picture' influence her choices in cases and he career.
Those principals could work for her or against her in her quest to find Henry's killer. She hasn't enough information yet one way or the other. She just better keep reading.
Zhang scrolls down as she continues to read through some of Beckett's cases. Ahhh…..that's where she remembers the name Johanna Beckett. Zhang had been in DC about a year ago, for preliminary meetings for the establishment of her taskforce, when the news became full of the arrest of an American Senator, Bracken, for corruption, money laundering and conspiracy to commit murder. The name Johanna Beckett had been mentioned as one of those whose murder he was responsible for. In fact now as she remembers she thinks she recalls seeing images of a tall female Detective arresting the Senator at a press conference and that Detective was the same one the just interrogated her. Well, looks like Beckett got justice for her mother after all and got to lock up the man responsible for her mother's death.
The Hong Kong Chief Inspector gives a snort of amusement. She also remembers thinking at the time that if a similar arrest had taken place in mainland China then instead of taking the corrupt Senator to jail for a round of long and expensive of court cases the central government would have just had him shot and billed the cost of the bullet to his family. For all the satisfaction Beckett no doubt got from arresting the man responsible for her own personal misery Zhang thinks that Beckett might not have minded such an outcome.
In fact, looking through Beckett's records her mother's case was a dark thread that ran all through her career. Not only was it the driving force to her becoming a cop but it kept cropping up in her life. Probably because Beckett wouldn't let it go. Perhaps she can use that? If Beckett understands such personal commitment to a case then she might be inclined to let her do what she needs to find Henry's killer. From what she can see here Beckett went to similar lengths in chasing Bracken, including killing the hit man that actually murdered her mother in the same precinct that she just left.
Again Beckett's husband has been involved in all of those cases and looks like was instrumental in supporting Beckett in her crusade. So she can't discount the author either and needs to manage him as well so that she can work the case her way. Perhaps she should read more about the cases Castle has been most involved in to get a more of a feel of the team dynamic. She discounts the two male Detectives she disarmed so easily at Henry's apartment. They are foot soldiers not leaders. No Beckett and by extension Castle are the leaders on that team so she needs to know both of them.
Reading further she confirms what she read earlier, that Castle's presence on the team seems to have increased their solve rate to unbelievable proportions. Hmm, maybe police forces around the world should employ rich, playboy mystery writers to consult with their homicide bureaus.
Oh…Wow! Well that's…unexpected. The couple's most recent case. Where a pair of serial killers kidnapped Beckett and led the NYPD and in particular Castle on a disturbing and distressing dance looking for her. Looks like the serial killers actually made a literally fatal error targeting Beckett and Castle. Castle lures the male, Tyson, into a trap where he is taken down by a sniper, after he's revealed the means to locate Beckett. Not that she ultimately needed the help because despite being drugged and secured to an operating table Beckett was able to get free and kill the female, Neiman, with her own scalpel. So they're both not just pretty faces. She didn't think the American couple could be so ruthless.
But maybe that's it, they're a couple and one of them was threatened. Obviously they would do anything for one another or to get back to the other. Zhang reads about another time when Beckett's team's figures went down further than they ever had before. When her husband went missing for two months. From the figures and the leave requests that Beckett put in during that time she can surmise that Beckett did everything she could and then some to find Castle and her career be dammed.
Zhang sits back in her chair and ponders her own marriage and whether she has that kind of relationship with her husband. A relationship where one would do anything for the other. Not anymore. Humph…her husband is great at acting tough on screen but in real life? Well despite the number of times she's taken him to the gun range he still can't stop blinking every time he fires a gun in one of his movies. No, if she was ever captured by a serial killer her husband would 'act' tough but would be next to useless. He definitely wouldn't have the courage or intelligence to use himself as bait to lure a serial killer into a trap.
All in all everything she's read has her…..impressed. Extremely impressed and a more than a bit envious of Detective Beckett and her life. She is obviously principled and comfortable in her life and her work. She's slain her dragons, with the help of her husband and she works side by side with him and he has based a bestselling character on her. They are true partners in everything and it's such a rare thing. Something she doesn't currently have with the separation from her husband. Even the light in her life that are her children have taken a back seat to her career. Beckett has shown that her career is not the most important thing in her life if it interferes with what is really important to her. Her principles and her family, especially Castle.
So how will she handle the Detective so that she can make sure Henry's killer is found and that she is the one that finds them? She might have to up her own intimidation and show off her skills even more. Try to impress Beckett herself and build up the reputation she knows she has for being a super cop. She knows on paper that she looks like she's the most put together cop on the planet it's just that the truth is she, especially her personal life, is anything but. This upcoming 'bonding' session at the firing range should allow her to reinforce the image anyway. Good thing she practices at the range every week as a way to fill in her free, empty time in San Francisco away from her home and her family. Not that she'll tell Beckett that. No, she'll tell Beckett that she hasn't been near a range in six months.
Looking at her watch she can see it's time to go and meet with Beckett. She rises from the desk and puts her jacket back on. Ok, game face on. She can do this. Anything she can do to make this intimidatingly impressive Detective Beckett let her stay with the investigation into the death of her friend and ensure that those responsible are brought to justice.
A/N : Just a piece that came to me to put out there that Zhang was just as impressed with Beckett. I thought it might explain why she ends up opening up to our favourite detective about the truth of her private life. Plus how can she not be impressed with Castle and Beckett. Enjoy Castle Monday.