Lost
Season 9, Episode 16
Written by ipreferwestside
This is a work of fiction by writers with no professional connection to ABC network's Castle. Recognizable characters are the property of Andrew Marlowe and ABC. Names, places, and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
"Are you going to pick me up from school, too?"
She turned to glance at her son in the back seat. "Probably not, sweetie," she said, reaching back and patting his knee. "But I'll see you at home."
He looked crestfallen, and she tried to ignore it, tried not to let it bother her. She did want to spend more time with him, but he had school and she had her own commitments, and there just wasn't enough time in the day.
Besides, she hadn't seen her friends in ages.
She pulled up in front of the school, her son chattering away, and waited impatiently in line behind the other cars. This was why she usually had the driver take him; she hated lines, hated just waiting.
After what seemed like hours, she was in the small drop-off area, and she bid her son goodbye as he clambered out, still talking about his friends and the new pet frog they were supposed to get in his classroom.
"Have a good day, honey, I love you," she called out as he left the car.
"Bye Mom!"
She took a moment to close her eyes, but in that moment she heard the passenger door open and someone get in before the door closed again.
"I don't want to hurt you," an unfamiliar voice said. "I just want to talk."
She froze when she felt something against her side, and when she heard a click she knew it was a gun. "I have a family," she said, her voice cracking.
"Just drive."
She lifted her foot from the brake.
And then her phone rang.
Her passenger jerked, and she heard a loud bang, felt a sharp pain in her side. The next thing she knew she was alone in the car, and as she opened her door to get help, unbuckling her seatbelt, she lost her balance and fell to the ground.
The last thing she heard as her world faded to black was a scream.
"Ow!"
Kate jumped, taking care not to drop Castle's mug as she finished making his coffee. Strangely, her husband had been gone from bed when she'd woken up, but she'd heard grating sounds from what sounded like the nursery upstairs. She hadn't gone in search of him yet, but she'd figured he would be back down when he was done with whatever it was he was doing.
Judging by his shout, and the loud thud that accompanied it, something had gone wrong.
She abandoned the coffee, but before she could make her way upstairs she heard him coming down.
Loudly.
"Babe?" she asked, an inquisitive eyebrow raised when she took him in.
He was still in his pajamas, hair messy from sleep, and the scowl on his face was accompanied by the doll that he unceremoniously dropped on the island. She eyed the doll, then his limp, and reached for his coffee. "What's going on?"
Castle took the offered mug with a thin smile. "Thanks. I couldn't sleep, so I figured I'd rearrange the furniture in the nursery, like we'd been wanting to do. Then I saw the doll Alexis got for Lily, and I thought I'd get some practice in. You know, changing diapers. Practice makes perfect." He glared at the offending doll. "So I sat on the floor, and then... well, my knee locked up and when I tried to get up, I fell over."
Kate stifled the chuckle that threatened to escape at the image. "Are you okay?"
He grimaced, his hand at his knee. "Yeah, I'm okay, now. But remember last weekend?" At her smirk, he gave her a look. "Not that part, Beckett. I mean Saturday, when we watched the kids."
"Ah."
They'd babysat for Ryan, so he and Jenny could have a date night. While they hadn't had to keep the kids overnight like baby Benny three years prior, Castle had done most of the interacting with the kids. As a big kid himself, he had been in his element, but after four hours of playing horse and effectively being climbed on, he'd complained of his knees and back hurting the next day.
"Let's face it," he whined, leaning on the counter. "I don't think I'm cut out for this." He let out an exaggerated sigh. "I'm getting old. I'm pushing fifty and I'm about to have a newborn."
Kate abandoned her own coffee to circle around the island, and cupped his cheeks with her palms. "Listen to me," she said, her voice stern. "You are a wonderful father. You did a wonderful job raising Alexis, you're great with kids, and you'll be even better with Lily. I couldn't ask for a better man to have a child with."
"But I-"
"No buts," she interrupted, narrowing her eyes. "What happened to the RHD I married?" When he squinted at her, she smirked. "Ruggedly Handsome Dad? Don't tell me you forgot. Maybe you are getting old," she teased, patting his cheek and stepping away.
Castle grabbed her hand as she turned, and tugged her back into his side. "Hey." He rested his free hand on her belly and leaned down to give her a soft kiss. "Thanks," he murmured.
Kate smiled against his mouth and kissed him in return. "Any time. Now, how about we-"
She was cut off by the sound of her phone ringing, and with a groan, she forced herself from her husband's arms. "Huh. Something must be up." She turned the phone to show Castle the commissioner's name on the screen.
He smudged a kiss to her temple before stepping away, and she smiled at him even as she swiped the screen to answer.
"Captain Beckett."
"You'll do fine, Javi," Ryan assured his partner as they stepped out of his cruiser. "You're great with Sarah Grace."
"But not Nicholas."
Ryan lifted a brow. "Nicholas doesn't like anyone who isn't Jenny or me." He paused for a moment, thinking. "Well, or Castle. Or Beckett."
Esposito snorted. "Or Lanie."
"Well…"
"I'm fine with my own family, you know?" he interrupted. "But Richie hasn't warmed up to me yet. The kid still glares at me, like he's sizing me up. Just waiting for me to mess up. But Marisa gets off later than me tonight and her mom can't watch him past seven, so she asked me."
"Look, dude, it'll be fine. Keep showing up, and over time he'll realize that you're not going anywhere."
"Yeah, you're probably right. By the way, have you heard anything about the sergeant's exam?"
Ryan shook his head. "Not lately. I think I'm going to start looking at other options if this drags on too long."
Esposito stopped and grabbed Ryan's arm. "What, like leaving homicide?" he asked, the surprise on his face evident.
Ryan didn't answer. He glanced up and furrowed his brows when he noticed Beckett and Castle at the crime scene, talking with Lanie. "We'll talk later, ok? Beckett's here too."
Ryan eyed the car and the sheet-covered body next to the driver's door as he approached the scene. He narrowed his eyes at the pool of blood at the victim's torso, instead of the head, like he'd expected from an accident.
"Hey Cap," he greeted Beckett, who nodded at them. "What's going on?"
Since becoming Captain, Beckett had been going to crime scenes less often, but her presence outside the precinct was almost nonexistent the further along she got in her pregnancy.
Beckett motioned towards the cluster of news vans down the street and the crowd of adults near them in front of the school. "The commissioner called me in, for the press. Victim is 43-year-old Monica Kearney, the wife of State Senator Alexander Kearney." She led them closer to the body. "She was dropping her son off. All we know so far is that after her son got out, someone else got into her car, and she was shot."
Lanie crossed her arms and gave Beckett a look. "Nice report on the COD. I didn't realize you were the ME," she teased, her eyebrows raised.
Beckett blushed. "Sorry. Go on."
"Mm-hmm." Lanie knelt by the body and lifted the sheet, waited for Ryan and Espo to look before putting it back down. "That's basically everything we know right now. Single GSW to her side; one of the other parents tried to stop the bleeding, but she was dead when the paramedics got here."
"She's dropping her kid off at school and ends up getting shot? What the hell happened?" Espo asked, eliciting a shrug from Lanie.
"Beats me. That's your job."
Beckett looked over Ryan's shoulder and sighed. "Reporters are starting to gather. You guys take Castle, see if you can find out what happened. They should have security cameras that cover the drop-off area."
"You got it, boss." Ryan didn't miss the brush of Beckett's hand against her husband's, but he shifted his gaze away to let them have a final private moment before entering the chaos of a highly-publicized case.
"Dean Henderson, I'm Detective Esposito, this is my partner Detective Ryan, and Richard Castle. We're here to investigate what happened this morning."
Castle watched as Espo took point in speaking to the Dean. He knew how tough these cases could be, having consulted on several over the years, and Esposito taking the lead was an interesting choice. He was a very good detective, smart and to the point, but he occasionally lacked the patience or tact that high-profile cases required.
"Thank you." The Dean, a slender man in his 60s, slumped in his chair, the opposite demeanor that his impeccably parted hair and pressed suit would suggest. "I just can't believe it. I have no idea how something like this could happen. Not here, not at Grayson." He sighed and looked up at the detectives. "We have very tight security."
Castle quirked an eyebrow, but remained silent.
"We'd like to speak to your security people," Ryan piped up, pocketing his notebook. "Are there cameras at the front entrance?"
"Of course. The security office is down the hall and to the left," Dean Henderson said, waving his arm towards the door. "Christina can take you."
Christina, his assistant, was a pretty young lady with soft eyes, and she repeated how sad she was at what had happened. "I'd only met Mrs. Kearney a few times," she said as she led them to the office, "but she was always nice. And her son, Adam, he's a sweetheart. Smart as a whip, too. Okay, here we are."
"Thank you, Christina," Castle said with a nod, letting the detectives walk through the door first.
Hank Torres, head of security, was a large man, several inches taller than Castle and built like a linebacker. Castle hovered by the door, eyeing the computer screens along the wall. There were almost two dozen, which showed various areas around the campus. He spotted two from the front, the drop-off area, which he could see was roped off with crime-scene tape.
"Can we see the footage from when Mrs. Kearney dropped off her son?" Ryan asked.
"Of course," Torres said, turning to the computers. "I already have it up on screen four."
Castle and the detectives watched as a blue SUV stopped in front of the entrance. After a few moments a boy got out, presumably the son, and as soon as he was gone, a man - or a person with very short hair - opened the passenger door and got in.
"You see that?" Espo asked, breaking the silence.
Castle nodded. "It doesn't look like he's wearing any kind of mask," he said before Ryan could respond, "but you can't see his face, from either angle."
"Are there any other cameras that might show more?"
"No, that's it."
Ryan collected copies of the footage, both of the incident and the time before and after, and slipped the USB drive into his pocket as they walked back down the hall. "What do you think?" he asked the others. "It seemed like he knew where the cameras were. Inside job?"
Castle shook his head. "I think it's too soon to tell. We should talk to Adam, though; he might-" He was interrupted by his cell phone ringing, and he smiled when he saw his wife's picture on the screen. "Hey, Beckett. How'd it go with the media?"
"Fine," she sighed. "Any luck with the security footage?"
"No. It caught someone, possibly a man, getting in the car. We couldn't see his face though."
Castle heard the sound of a car door shutting, and the background noise quieted.
"Okay." Kate sighed again. "I need to stop at 1PP and meet with the commissioner. He wants an update in person. Do you mind tagging along with Ryan and Espo some more?"
"No, not at all." Castle paused to let the detectives get ahead of him. "Are you okay?" he asked, leaning against the wall.
Kate let out a hum, and he could imagine her looking down, the hand not holding the phone resting on her belly. "The commissioner wants it solved yesterday, is all. But hearing your voice makes it better," she admitted.
Castle smiled. "Happy to help." He looked up just in time to see Ryan and Esposito turn the corner back to the front entrance, and he rushed to follow. "Hey, what about the kid? We can't talk to him without his dad, right?"
"Technically we can, but considering the situation, I think we should wait. The senator is on his way to pick him up, then I want them to come to the precinct. Can you guys wait for him to get there, just come together?"
"Got it."
"'Kay. I gotta get going." Kate paused. "I love you, Rick."
"Love you too. Good luck with the commissioner."
Kate scoffed. "Yeah, thanks."
Castle noticed the looks that Ryan and Esposito were giving him, looks that were a mixture of fondness, from Ryan, and disgust, from Esposito. "Shut up," he muttered.
