"Detective Beckett!" shouted Alexis as she ran to Kate. Martha followed quickly behind and asked Kate, "Where is Richard?"
Surprised and confused, Kate put her hands gently on the girl's shoulders and simply said, "Alexis." Seeing the look on Alexis' face, she quickly put her arms around the girl, one hand resting against the back of Alexis' head, comforting her. Kate looked at Martha and asked, "What happened?" She knew she was not going to like the answer.
Martha, her face drawn with anxiety, quickly explained, "Alexis and I were coming back from breakfast at the diner. When we arrived at our door, it was already open, and there was a man in the apartment, heading toward Richard's office. At first we thought Richard had a guest, one of his mystery writer friends, and we were going to go in, tell him Richard was here with you."
"But then we heard the home phone ring," interjected Alexis, "and when the man turned around to see where the ring was coming from, we could see how 'off' he looked, how angry." She continued in barely a whisper, "He had a knife."
"That's when we turned and ran", said Martha, "and we came directly here. I don't think he saw us".
"That's good", assured Kate, "Did you call your father?"
"I left my cell phone at home this morning", Martha responded in a flat voice.
"Mine's still charging", Alexis said, her voice rising as panic began to set in. "My dad's not here?"
Kate didn't bother to respond to Alexis just then, only snapped open her phone and barked a question to Esposito and Ryan, asking their location and status of the situation. She listened intently but with a cold, sinking dread as they told her they had arrived 8 minutes ago to find the loft open but empty. They were inside now, searching every room to piece together what had happened. She told them to call Castle's cell phone, to try to check in with him any way they could. Maybe Rick hadn't arrived home yet. Maybe he was still okay.
But Kate's mind had processed the information. She had done the math quickly and realized that Rick must have arrived at his loft just a few minutes ahead of Ryan and Esposito; and that the man in the apartment, undoubtedly Jonathan Garrison, would have still been there when Rick arrived at home. Rick would most certainly have been shouting for his daughter and mother as he ran in, paying no attention to the oddity of the open door.
"Oh, God, no" Kate said through clenched teeth. Alexis' face went white and Martha grabbed Kate's arm. "Where is my son?"
Kate looked in turn at Martha and Alexis, forcing them to meet her gaze. "I don't know, but I promise you that I'll find him." The resolve in Kate's eyes offered some relief to the Castle women standing before her. They knew that this detective cared deeply for the son and father who meant the world to them. They knew in their hearts that Kate Beckett would go to the ends of the earth to bring Rick back to them.
With a wavering glimmer of hope, Kate dialed Rick's cell phone herself and grimaced when she got his voice mail. "Please call me if you get this message, Rick. Please be okay." Her breath caught before she could hang up, and she could feel hot tears fighting to reach daylight. She swallowed and blinked them back into the corners of her eyes. Crying would not help Rick Castle and would certainly not make this any easier for Martha and Alexis. She hung up, and instructed the officers who had now arrived at the station to stay with Martha and Alexis and to not let them leave until Kate gave the okay. She then spoke calmly to the two women, even as her insides screamed at her to hurry, to find Rick. "Martha, Alexis", she began, "he is going to be okay. The man that was in your apartment is a suspect in the case we're working on. He's dangerous, but we have time. I promise you I'll bring your dad home." She looked directly at Alexis as she said those last few words. Kate had lost her mother when she was just a little bit older than Alexis was now, and she was d*mned if she was going to let Alexis feel that kind of loss. The two women nodded once, eyes wide. Kate continued, "I need you to stay here until I call and instruct these officers otherwise. Do you understand?" Again, the women nodded. "I'm going to have another officer go to your apartment and bring your cell phones back to you. If you hear anything from Castle, I need you to let me know right away." With their affirmation, Kate turned and walked briskly out the door.
xxxxx
Rick Castle had driven faster than he ever had before. Because it was still so early in the morning, not yet even 7:00, the workday commuters had barely begun to clog the streets. He made it from the 12th precinct to his loft in a record five minutes. He threw his car into park haphazardly against the curb, leaving the door open and running into his building. The security guard was nowhere to be seen. Not bothering to wait for the elevator, which was sure to be slow as the other residents made their way out for the day, Rick took the stairs up to his floor. He flung open the stairwell door , hearing the elevator clang shut as he entered the hallway. He ran to his loft, paying no attention to the open door, other than to be thankful he didn't have to slow down to use his keys. As he ran in, he shouted urgently, "Alexis! Mother!" There was, of course, no response. Unbeknownst to Rick, the two women had just gotten in the elevator to rush to the precinct.
He frantically wondered, had they been hurt? Had they been taken? "Alexis?" he said again loudly, trying not to lose hope. As he was about to shout for his mother, he heard a footstep behind him. He turned around, hoping to see Alexis standing beside him. Instead, he felt the sharp sting of a hard slap across his mouth and jaw. The slap was so hard it drew blood, but was meant only to stun. The real blow came several seconds later, while Rick tried to get his bearings. In that briefest of moments, Rick saw Jonathan Garrison grinning and raising a knife over his head. "Just the man I was looking for, Mr. Castle. Welcome home." With that, Garrison brought the knife down toward Castle's head, twisting his hand at the last moment, intending to knock Castle out with the butt end of the knife. As the handle of the knife was about to make its connection, Rick understood that Garrison did not come to hurt Alexis and Martha. Garrison had come to take Rick Castle away from Kate, to make her suffer yet another loss, to draw her into his death trap, just as he had done to Jillian and Nate. Filled with rage, Castle shouted "No!" and tried to block Garrison's attack, but he was too late. The ivory handle cracked against Castle's skull. As he fell to the floor, and darkness came toward him like an ocean wave, he could only think of Kate. Her name slipped from his lips as he felt consciousness being ripped away. The last thing he heard was Garrison's voice slithering its way into his ears, telling him that he was too late to help her now.
xxxxx
