Summary – Kate is at mandatory police training and Castle gets into trouble while researching a story. Can the 12th save him in time?
Disclaimer – Don't own Castle, just writing for fun.
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Background – This is a sequel that takes place several months after "The Call" in which Beckett said no to Castle's proposal (otherwise, I wouldn't have had a story) and left for Washington DC without him. He then dropped Alexis off at the airport for her trip to Costa Rica and took off to parts unknown. Martha was doing summer stock in Upstate New York. Castle was kidnapped and they called the loft but no one was there to take the call. When Alexis came home 5 weeks later, she found out that her father was kidnapped. A week later, Kate found out and came back to the 12th to find Castle. They ended up engaged (of course). But at the end, we find out that Castle's kidnapping was not a random occurrence.
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Last chapter of The Call:
It was well after midnight when the call came on the burner phone that had been purchased specifically for this purpose. The limo sat in a vacant lot on the edge of the Potomac River.
"It's done," was the terse greeting. "Beckett is back with the NYPD and Castle is back in New York."
"Good. McAlister?"
"Accident with weights in the training yard – crushed his windpipe before anyone could help him. We've recovered the money. What about the boy?"
The woman thought for a moment. "He may be useful in the future, so no, nothing right now." There was a slight pause. "And do whatever it takes to keep Beckett and Castle in New York – I won't have them interfering with my plans."
She ended the call and tossed the phone into the river. It was unfortunate that Castle had seen them when he was in France, when they were someplace they weren't supposed to be.
And it was a shame that Castle didn't die while he was kidnapped. It would be much easier if they could take him out directly but that would alert certain parties to their presence and the outcome would not be good. They just had to keep him away from places where he might meet them and make a connection.
But for right now, this was good enough.
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And now for Chapter 1 of This Is Castle We're Talking About
Chapter 1
Sgt. Tom Demming smiled as he thumbed through the photographs his partner had just handed him, a smile that wasn't pleasant to behold, but smug and self-satisfying.
"Finally caught you, you bastard," he breathed silently.
How long had it been, he thought? More than 3 years since Kate dumped him for the craziness that was Castle? He thought he had moved on and while he could justify this as protecting a fellow police officer, he knew a tiny part of his heart still belonged to her and he definitely had an ulterior motive.
Castle was the type of man that he didn't particularly like – a flash in the pan that made guys like him seem too bland until a broken heart forced the victim back to reality, where only then he might get a second look while picking up the pieces.
Demming pressed a button on his phone. "Brenda, get me Judge Wilson. I need a search warrant for 595 Broome St. concerning the antiquity smuggling case. Yes, Richard Castle. Call me if you get any flak and I don't care if he's a friend of the mayors. He's a prime suspect and I've got the proof."
This was one that he would definitely do all the way by the books – he didn't want the writer slipping through his hands on a technicality. It was Castle they were talking about after all, and the man apparently was as slippery as an eel when it came to getting off scot-free in matters of the law as his rap sheet attested to. Yes, Castle had friends in high places, but they weren't going to be of any help this time.
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24 hours later, Demming and his squad were standing outside of Castle's door, pounding on it.
"Richard Castle, this is the NYPD!" shouted Demming. "Open up – we've got a search warrant!" He waited a few more minutes before pounding again. "This is the NYPD! Open up!" He finally motioned to the manager to unlock the door since there was no response from inside the loft.
Demming knew Castle was at home – as soon as he called in the search warrant, he had put surveillance on the writer yesterday afternoon siting him as a flight risk. The officers watching the place reported that he had come home around 7 last night and had not left since then. The only visitor he had was the delivery for Chinese food around 11 am.
Hyper aware, the team walked carefully into the loft because they knew that Castle had a gun at his residence and they didn't want to end up at wrong end of it.
"Richard Castle!" Demming called again. "This is the NYPD! We've got a search warrant."
He frowned at the stillness in the loft, noting the cartons of Chinese food on the table, when he heard a dripping noise coming from a room off to the side.
Demming walked to the door, carefully peered in, and then let out a string of explicatives that caught his team's attention.
"Call for an ambulance," he said to a policeman before barging into the room.
Castle lay limply on the floor of the study, his face pale, lips blue. A container of Chinese food was spilled across the desk, the sauce slowly dripping onto his laptop which lay topsy-turvy on the floor.
Demming felt for a pulse and then swore again, noting the Chinese food hanging out of the corner of Castle's mouth. Of all the rotten luck and bad timing…
"Cancel the ambulance and call the ME. We've got a body," he said as he stood up.
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Esposito made himself a cup of espresso as he surveyed the bull pen and nodded in satisfaction. Yes, he thought, things were going remarkably well since Gates had left him in charge yesterday morning when she had to leave town for a family emergency.
Gate's mother had fallen and broken her hip, and the captain was going to be there for the surgery and several days after to get Mrs. Gates settled into rehab. Beckett was at a police training in Washington DC for the week and Castle had made himself scarce, saying that if he didn't get something to Gina soon, she was likely to start pulling off parts and he was rather attached to his parts.
The 12th had caught a simple case yesterday, though nothing was simple about murder, which turned out to be a crime of passion. The wife had come home to find her dirt-bag husband in bed with his mistress and now they had 2 dead bodies on their hands.
Esposito had finished up the paperwork shortly after lunch and paused for a break, waiting for the next case to fall.
Yeah, with Beckett moving up to sergeant, being lead detective was definitely in his sights.
The elevator doors chimed and Ryan walked in, beaming and smiling from ear to ear.
"So how's the little peanut?" Espo asked, using his pet name for Kevin's and Jenny's baby.
"Growing just fine," said the Irish detective, pulling a picture out of the pocket of his coat and proudly presenting it to Espo. "See – there's his head and his legs…"
Espo squinted at the blurry picture as he looked at it from different angles. "If you say so, man." He stopped and looked at Ryan. "He? Can you even tell yet?"
Ryan shook his head. "Nah, but I've got a feeling about this. We Irishmen are hearty stock," he joked.
Espo clapped Ryan on the shoulder as he watched a uniformed officer walk towards them with a sheet of paper in her hands, a worriedly look on her face.
"Congratulations again, man. I couldn't be happier for you and Jenny," Espo said.
"Excuse me, Detective, but we've got a body drop," the officer said.
"Yeah, no rest for the weary," said Espo. "What's the address?"
He stared as the woman read off the address. "Are you sure about that?"
"Yes, sir," she said. "I double-checked it personally. They've called for the ME – Perlmutter is on his way."
Espo didn't even need to say "Let's go." to Ryan as they both ran for the elevator.
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Perlmutter had beaten them to the scene by 30 minutes and the body was being wheeled out the back door into the waiting morgue mobile when they arrived.
"Detectives," he said quietly. "I'm sorry for your loss. Do you want to…" he asked as both Espo and Ryan nodded.
Perlmutter unzipped the top of the bag.
Espo swore when he saw Castle. "What happened?"
"Looks like he choked on his lunch. I'll have something more definite when I get him back to the morgue. It couldn't have happened more than an hour ago though."
"Who?" started Ryan. "Did Alexis-?"
"No," Perlmutter said quickly. "It was Demming."
"Demming?" said Espo, frowning. "Tom Demming as in major crimes? What's he doing here?"
"You might want to ask him. He's got a team going through the loft," Perlmutter said as he zipped the bag back up. "If you'll excuse me, gentlemen. I should have a report on your desk in a couple of hours."
Espo and Ryan nodded at him and then hurried into the building and up to the loft.
CSU was carefully combing the scene when they arrived, Demming talking to several members of his team, pointing different things out.
Espo immediately walked up to him. "What the hell is this all about?" he asked defensively.
"Nice to see you too," Demming replied. "Are you here as a friend of the family or from the 12th? If you're a friend, we'll have to ask you to leave – this is an active crime scene. If you're from the 12th, we have a legal search warrant."
Espo stood straighter. "We're friends and we're from the 12th. What's the search warrant for?"
"Antiquities," Demming replied. "Castle was recently seen several times with a person of interest in regards to smuggling and we have reason to believe that he's involved in the operation."
"Castle?" said Ryan. "Seriously? I know he does hands-on research, but even he's not that stupid."
"Stupid, no," said Demming, "but rich, yes, and most of the time, they think the rules don't apply to them. So if he's bought something off market, we'll find it. But I guess it won't matter to him—" Demming didn't get a chance to finish what he was going to say before Espo hit him in the face with a right hook.
Ryan and Demming's team immediately stepped between the two to ward off any other hostilities.
Demming straightened up and rubbed his jaw. "I'll give you that one, detective, but like I said, it doesn't matter to him anymore." He turned to the lead CSU. "I'll be expecting your report," he said, "and make sure the 12th gets a copy too." He looked back at Espo and Ryan. "Give Detective Beckett my regards when you talk to her."
Demming pulled out his phone as he walked out of the loft, leaving Espo and Ryan standing there as the CSU team continued to collect evidence.
Kate – shit – what were they going to tell her?
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