The Bruise
Th man came out of nowhere, a dark shadow falling from between two parked cars. Beckett tried to stop, but it was impossible. The body crashed against her bumper. She could barely breathe. Her face was in the airbag and her seat belt cut across her chest, but no pain registered as she rushed out of the car to aid the fallen pedestrian. There was no pulse. Beckett called for help and made a vain attempt at CPR until the EMT's arrived.
As Lanie bent over the body, Beckett ran into the arms of an arriving Castle. "Oh God, Rick, I killed him!" she cried as he held her and kissed her hair.
Lanie rose from her crouch and face Beckett. "You didn't kill him, Kate."
"What are you talking about Lanie? My car practically crushed his face."
"You didn't kill him," Lanie explained, "because he was already dead. There's a GSW in the back of his neck. He's been dead for at least an hour."
"Someone pushed him in front of your car!" Castle exclaimed.
"Why would anyone do that?" Beckett asked.
"To mess with your head, Kate," Castle said. "Someone wants to mess with your head."
"Speaking of your head," Lanie interjected. "I need to have a look at you. That's one heck of a bruise." Lanie shined a light in Kates eyes. "It doesn't look like you have a concussion," she said, "but if you get a headache or you feel sick, you go to the hospital."
Kate started to protest. "I'll make sure," Castle assured Lanie.
Kate bolted out of bed. Castle sat straight up as he heard the sounds of sickness from the bathroom. Running to Kate, he lifted her hair until the retching stopped. Then he wiped her face with a moist washcloth and handed her a rinse for mouth. "can you get dressed?" he asked. "We're going to the hospital."
"Castle, it's no big deal," Kate argued.
"Lanie said you need to go, you're going. You can dress yourself or I can reverse our usual order of things and dress you," Castle said with a firmness he had usually reserved for Alexis.
Kate endured the indignity of an MRI and was kept overnight for observation with Castle drowsing in a chair beside her bed. Kate was discharged in the morning, with instructions to take it easy. Castle was sure that she would do no such thing unless forced to, but he would do his best to slow her down.
After a shower and fresh clothes, Kate was determined to get to the 12th. "I need to figure out who killed that man and threw him in front of my car," she told Castle.
"I know," Castle told her. "You wouldn't be you if you didn't."
Kate and Castle visited the morgue before continuing to the precinct. "How are you girlfriend?" Lanie asked.
"Fine," Kate answered.
Lanie looked at Castle. "How is she?"
"Stubborn," Castle told Lanie.
Kate ignored Castle's answer. "What have you got Lanie?" Kate asked.
"The bullet came from a nine millimeter," Lanie replied. "I sent it to ballistics. Our victim is a cop, or was a cop, George Burges. He was discharged for psych problems."
"I remember him," Kate said. "He was in the same academy class I was. I was surprised he got in and more surprised that he graduated. He was always a little off. When did he die?"
"Within two hours of the time he landed in front of your car."
"Whoever did it must have had it planned," Castle speculated.
"That's for you to figure out," Lanie told him.
Kate settled at her desk, brushing aside solicitous inquiries from Ryan and Esposito. The two men looked at Castle, who just shrugged. "Where are you going to start?" Castle asked Kate.
"With my academy class. It's the connection between me and George Burges."
Kate rose to start filling in the murder board. Castle put a gentle hand on her shoulder. "I can do it, he told her."
Kate accessed records of her academy class, grudgingly letting Castle help her go through them. With his speed reading skills, Castle actually made faster progress than Kate did. Kate was wearily rubbing her eyes when Castle called, "Got something! Sending it to you."
Kate looked at the record appearing on her screen, recognizing the face that she was seeing as Pete Jerzy, a classmate who had washed out before graduation after attacking another student, George Burges. After repeated attempts to re-enter the police academy and an unsuccessful try at the fire academy, Jerzy was working as a security guard at a big box store.
"Let's talk to him," Kate said.
Jerzy was just coming on duty when Kate and Castle arrived. Panic contorted his face when he saw Kate and he began to run. Kate ran after Burges, but Castle's legs were longer. He brought Burges down with a flying tackle and Kate used her handcuffs.
With Castle at her side, Kate sat opposite Jerzy in the box. "We have you Jerzy. We found the gun hidden in the ceiling of your room. It's a match to the bullet that killed George Burges. Why did you do it? Why did you throw him in front of my car?"
"Kate Beckett," Jerzy sneered. "So smart! Top of the class! But you never understood anything! And George, he was crazy, but they let him be a cop anyway, but not me! And you! You sailed through. The youngest woman to make detective. I wanted you to feel as helpless as I did. You did, didn't you? When you saw him in front of of your car and you couldn't do anything? I saw you. You tried to bring him back to life. Stone cold dead and you tried to bring him back to life. I watched you. The great Kate Beckett! You're a joke and everyone knows it now."
"The only thing everyone knows now," Kate calmly told Jerzy, "is that you're a murderer."
Kate left the room with Castle following. "Are you OK?" Castle asked.
"I'm fine," Kate told him.
"He's crazy. You know that, right?" Castle asked.
"Castle," Kate soothed, reaching up to stroke his cheek. "don't worry about it."
Kate lay back in a hot bubble filled tub. The sound of Castle's voice, reading the words of the latest love scene between Nikki Heat and Jameson Rook washed over her as she mentally substituted the names of Kate and Rick for their fictionalized counterparts. Her eyes opened and she rose and climbed over the side.
"Finished already?" Castle asked.
"Just starting," Kate told him, unbuttoning his shirt with a bubbly hand. "We have a scene to act out."