Genre: Angst, Crime, Drama, Romance
Rating: M for language, violence and sexual situations
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters featured on the show Castle, they belong to the creator of the show, ABC, and the others who do own them.
A/N #1: Want to make it clear that I am not a police officer, so I have very limited knowledge of homicide investigations. I've tried my best writing that portion of this story, but if I have mistakes dealing with that, then that's why.
A/N #2: Almost forgot to mention, in my story line; which as I mentioned before is AU now; only Ryan is aware of Castle and Beckett's relationship, so from Probable Cause to Secret Santa the events in those episode still apply to this series that I've written, just not Esposito or Lanie knowing about the relationship.
A/N #3: Quick note, to those reviewers who said the Prologue was short; I really didn't have much to write for an opening, so that's why. But I do appreciate that you took the time to send me a review, thanks!
A/N #4: Please don't flame this story, 'cause I know it's not really the best. But I hope that readers might leave a positive review. Thank you in advance if you do!
Each Unconscious Sufferer
"So do you really think this guy is necessarily bad news Castle?" Beckett asked her partner as they walked down a sidewalk in front of brownstone homes to the crime scene.
"Good question, I just don't understand why Alexis won't tell me more about this mystery boyfriend," Castle said, shaking his head as he thought of his daughter. "She kind of snapped in the end and said she just wants to see how this relationship will go." He glanced at his partner and saw the slight smile that flashed across her face. "What, it's comical?"
"No, it's not a surprise is what it is. I think she just wants to see how the relationship goes for now. See if it's got the potential to go any further, a lot of women will do that," Beckett answered as they went up the stairs to the entrance of the brownstone which was being guarded by two police officers.
"Should I still be worried about this guy?" Castle asked as one of the officers raised the police tape from one side of the double doors that were wide open.
"I don't think so, Alexis is a smart young woman, I'm sure she'll realize if the guy's a creep… or a criminal," Beckett said. She smiled back at her boyfriend as he muttered, "That's a relief," sarcastically, before she stepped into the house.
"Oh man, was there a riot here," Castle said as he stepped into the house after Beckett and looked around.
"Might as well have been," Detective Ryan said, walking over to them. "With all the damage done. But it's a homicide. Our victim is Maureen O'Malley, twenty-nine years old."
"How many killers were here?" Castle said, his eyes on the broken glass and pieces of wood strewn across the foyer.
"Don't know, but only one of them killed her," Ryan said, following Beckett over to the body by the stairs. "It looks like she was trying to keep them from something, judging from all the glass. She put up a good fight but…"
"She only has one cut?" Beckett asked, looking at the black haired woman on the floor, a deep horizontal gash on her upper arm that revealed the bone. "Anything else that might have killed her?"
"At this point I can't say for certain," Lanie said as she was kneeling next to the body and looking at the wound with a magnifying glass. "But it does seem like something with this cut caused her death, I'll have to examine her more closely to be able to give you a definitive answer."
"There's a lot of blood," Beckett said absently, straightening up and looking around the victim. "In a short trail and close to the body."
"Whatever it was that killed her was almost instant. Did they hit an artery?" Castle asked, looking at the blood pattern and the glass.
"Yes, but I don't think she died from that, not with how far she was able to get from where the blood pattern begins," Lanie said. "There is some kind of strange green coloring around the edges of her skin though; I'll need to run a toxicology report to check on that."
"She dragged herself," Castle said, going to where the blood started, spraying out towards the door in a fan shape of mist. "Once she fell on the ground, and went for the stairs. Anything up there?"
"A lot of footprints," Ryan answered. "You can see three different shapes right here. The soles were dirty, but not enough to really leave any treads for us to lift."
"Any other different patterns?" Beckett asked as she went to the side of the stairs where one of the rungs holding up the railing was knocked out. "I think I've found how she fought back without showing any signs of her struggle." She picked up a wooden bat with her gloved hands and showed Castle and Ryan.
"So she was trying to keep them from upstairs," Castle said. "Was anything stolen up there?"
"Esposito's looking with some officers," Ryan said. "In more detail because nothing was disturbed up there besides all the doors. Whatever they were looking for they wanted to find badly, almost every door's been ripped of the hinges."
"Any drawers opened or things rifled through?" Beckett asked after handing off the bat to someone from CSU to mark as evidence.
When Ryan shook his head no, Castle looked up the flight of marble stairs and said, "What could they have been looking for if it wasn't something valuable like jewelry or money? A computer, papers?"
"No, nothing that suggests they were looking for anything like that. There's absolutely no evidence of anything stolen or moved," Ryan said.
"Did the vic have a child? A son or daughter?" Beckett suddenly said, making Castle and Ryan look over at her.
Ryan opened his mouth to speak, looking bemused, when there was a call from the top of the stairs that interrupted him and made the three of them look up to see it was Esposito.
"She did have a kid, a daughter," he said. "She's up here in her room."
"Is she dead?" Castle asked.
"No, she's… in a hidden room inside her closet," Esposito said.
"Why haven't you gotten her out?" Beckett asked, going to the bottom of the stairs, keeping away from the body.
"There's no way to open the door to it on the outside. Only way is in the room where she's in, and she's not moving, saying we're all 'very bad men,'" Esposito replied. "Apparently the responding officers tried to get her out when they came up here and heard her crying. But she keeps saying her mother told her not to open the door, might be those very bad men."
"Maybe she'd trust a woman more," Castle said, glancing at Beckett.
"There aren't any female officers here?" Beckett said.
"Actually no," Ryan answered for Esposito. "You and Lanie are the only women here."
"Don't look at me, I need to get the vic back to the lab," Lanie said simply when Beckett turned to her as she was looking at the victim's face for evidence of injuries.
Taking in a deep breath, Beckett nodded, and she started up the stairs, hearing footsteps behind her. She turned to see it was Castle and she quickly turned back to Esposito who was starting down. "I'm going to need you to check on neighbors, see if anyone heard anything or saw the killers arriving or if there's another way to get into this house."
"Right on it," Esposito said as he went down the rest of the staircase at a jog and went through the front door after Ryan.
"You have to wonder why exactly this mother was so anxious to hide her daughter," Castle commented as they reached the top of the stairs and saw some officers standing at a doorway down the hallway.
"The room?" Beckett asked.
"Have you ever seen a room like that?" Castle replied. "It sounds like it might have been made specially for this purpose."
"We'll have to look into that. If the victim knew her daughter was in trouble and built a secret room to conceal her daughter in a situation like this it means she knew someone was after them," Beckett said. "Any luck?" she asked the officers.
"No Detective, she's refusing to even listen to us now," an officer said as he walked to the doorway from inside the room. "Hopefully you'll have better luck than us."
Beckett stepped inside the room and glanced around, seeing that it was a normal child's room. The walls were painted a pale blue and had numerous posters taped up to them and numerous stuffed animals that she guessed had been on top of the made bed before the killer and attackers had come in and tore it apart.
"Any idea how old she is?" Castle asked, looking around the walls as well.
"No clue, she won't even tell us her name, we're trying to look through the vic's papers to see a name, but it's as if she was hiding her daughter," one of the officers said.
Beckett had turned to the closet across from the bed and walked over to where she guessed was the hidden door, as some shoes and toys had been pushed away from one wall. She knocked on the wall and jumped when there was a child's scream inside.
"Go away, you're gonna hurt me!" came from inside the room, the voice muffled.
"No, it's okay sweetie," Beckett said, quickly realizing the little girl was very young by her voice. "I'm not here to hurt you, I'm a police officer."
"There are very bad men there, they will hurt me," the girl sobbed softly.
"Officers, I think maybe it'd be a good time to leave Detective Beckett on her own," Castle said, realizing that the little girl wasn't going to come out without all the men in the room leaving. He followed the officers out of the doorway and stopped before he turned to Beckett whispering, "I'll be in the hallway if you need my help."
Nodding, Beckett turned back to the door and said as gently as she could, "The other police officers are gone now."
"They're still bad men," the girl said, sounding as if she had calmed down slightly.
"No, no, they're police officers and I know them, they wouldn't hurt a little girl," Beckett said. "What's your name sweetie?" she asked, knowing that she needed to get the child to trust her if she was going to get her out of the room.
"J-Julia, what's yours?" the girl said softly.
"My name is Kate, and I'm here to help you Julia," Beckett said. "I know how scared you must be, but I promise you that I will do whatever I can to help you."
"Are the very bad men here still?" Julia said.
"No, there's only the police, and I promise, that's it," Beckett said. "So it's alright for you to come out, no one will hurt you, I promise. If they tried to I would definitely stop them." She was a little concerned when she got no answer, so she looked around the room, trying to find another way to connect to the girl, when she saw some ballet slippers on the floor with other shoes the officers had left a jumbled mess after pushing them away from the wall. "Do you like ballet at all Julia? Do you dance?" When she got no response she said, "I'm guessing you do, I see your ballet slippers here. I'm a little jealous, I danced when I was very little, about six years old, but I never got the hang of it."
"I'm four," Julia said suddenly after Beckett had paused. "I started dancing after my birthday last month."
"How fun," Beckett said. "Julia, why don't you come out now? I'm sure it's not very nice in that room in the dark."
"Are the bad men gone really?" Julia asked pleadingly.
"Yes it's just me in the room," Beckett said. She heard the click of a latch being opened, and a second later a small door, only around four feet high appeared suddenly in the wall, and she pushed back on her knees to get out of the way as it swung out towards her. She watched as a little girl with reddish brown hair stepped out of the dark room, her wide green eyes red with tears. She smiled a little at her, and was surprised when Julia suddenly threw herself at her, clinging to her neck. She was a little startled by the action, but a second later she wrapped her arms around the child, and hugged her as Julia began to sob against her.
Listening to Beckett inside the room trying to coax the little girl out of the closet, Castle smiled a little as she talked about ballet dancing. He was a little concerned when there was silence in the room, and he went to the doorway, looking in and seeing a little girl holding on tightly to Beckett as she stood up.
Shaking her head when Castle opened his mouth, Beckett went over to the window seat next to the torn up bed and set Julia down. When the little girl gasped at the sight of Castle and scrambled back on the seat before she hit the window she quickly told her, "No, it's okay Julia, this is my partner Castle, he won't hurt you, I promise." She smiled reassuringly at Julia when she looked up at her with wide eyes and said, "He's also my friend so I can tell you right now I trust him."
"Believe me, Kate would definitely be able to stop me if I was a bad man," Castle said, taking a few steps forward into the room. He frowned when Julia hid behind Beckett, holding onto her arm, and said, "I won't come any further."
"Julia, can you sit here for right now, I need to talk with him for a little bit okay? I won't leave the room, I promise," Beckett said soothingly as she gently pried her arm from Julia's tight grip. Once the little girl was holding her stuffed animal she'd been carrying with her in the compartment in the closet, Beckett went over to Castle and said, "Are social services here?"
"Ryan called up that a worker was here, but I don't know if she's going to let her take her," Castle said, glancing past Beckett's shoulder at the child who was sitting with her eyes closed tightly.
"I can take her down," Beckett said, glancing back at Julia. "But I can't let her see her mother's body. Even if it's covered, she'll see the glass and blood."
Castle thought for a moment before he took off his blazer and said, "Cover her with this."
Nodding, Beckett turned back to Julia and smiled at her before saying, "Julia, when you were in the closet, did you hear anyone in your room?"
"Yeah, the bad men were here, they were yelling," Julia whispered. "It scared me."
"Okay, we need to get you out of the house," Beckett said, picking her up and holding her against her hip. "That way we can take you someplace safe." Castle walked over to her then and she felt Julia grab her neck a little tighter than before. "It's okay; we just need to cover you up."
"Yeah, it's pretty sunny outside, so this is just to protect you," Castle said quickly as he helped Beckett with his blazer, covering the child from head to toe. "Can you see anything?"
"No," Julia said, her voice muffled.
"Good, now keep your face turned to me alright? That way the sun doesn't reach you," Beckett said, going with Castle's excuse since the little girl seemed to be buying it. She felt Julia's face burry into her neck and she walked out of the room with Castle following her. "It's okay," she whispered as Ryan and Esposito appeared at the top of the stairs when they reached them. "This is to shield her from downstairs. I'm handing her over to social services and we'll talk after she's on her way to the Precinct." The two men nodded and stepped out of her way as she descended, feeling Castle grab the lapels of his blazer as it started to slip from her tight grasp on it.
Once outside and down the brownstone's steps, Castle let go of the blazer and let Beckett remove it from the child before he took it back and followed her over to a young woman standing on the sidewalk.
"I'm with social services, is this the girl?" the woman asked as Julia kept her face pressed against Beckett's neck.
"This is Julia O'Malley, she's four years old," Beckett said as she handed over the girl. She was startled when Julia made a whimpering noise and held on tightly to her. "Julia, it's okay, this woman is here to help you, she won't let anyone hurt you." She then looked at the social services worker and said, "I'm going to need you to take her to the 12th Precinct, I need to interview her."
It took a little bit of a struggle before Beckett was able to give Julia to the woman, and she and Castle stayed on the sidewalk, watching as the worker carried the little girl, who was sobbing, to her car before they drove off. They looked at each other before Castle was the first to speak.
"Are we going back?" he asked her.
Looking back to the brownstone, Beckett nodded and said, "I need to tell Ryan and Esposito that we're heading out, that Julia might have something for us about the killer and attackers." She hurried up the steps then and was surprised when her two fellow detectives met her at the doorway. "Anything from the neighbors?" she asked.
"Most of them are at work about now," Ryan said. "But one older woman who's retired was looking out the window when she saw a dark SUV, no plates pull in front of the house here."
"Did she get a look at the men when they came out?" Beckett asked.
"One, but they were wearing scarves over their faces," Esposito said. "Only reason she mentioned the man is because he had a scar, from here to here," he said as he motioned from the end of his left eyebrow to about the middle of his cheek in a crescent shape.
"That's a pretty recognizable scar," Beckett said.
"That's why we asked her to come in and work with a sketch artist," Ryan said. "And the kid?"
"Julia O'Malley, four years old," Beckett said. "She said she heard our suspects when they were inside her room, she's being taken into the station now, I need to interview her."
"Looks like she got attached to you," Esposito commented.
"She's not a 'very bad man' like the rest of us," Castle commented.
"See if you can get anyone around here watching the crime scene to come forward with anything," Beckett said. "And tell Lanie we'll see what she has about the vic as soon as we're finished talking to the girl." She turned and went down the stairs, walking to where she had parked her car.
"You know Esposito was right," Castle said as they walked past the crowd of people that had gathered behind the police tape.
"It's like you said, I'm a woman, so she doesn't see me as any kind of threat," Beckett commented.
"You were pretty amazing getting her out of there though, it sounded like even if you were a woman, she wasn't going to trust you still," Castle said. "But you managed to connect with her quickly."
"I have to find her mother's killer," Beckett said as they reached the vehicle and she opened the driver's side door. "And if that means I'm her protector, then I'll take on that role gladly."
Castle nodded without comment, though he wanted to say that he thought she was taking on a role that was a lot more than a mere guardian for the little girl. And he wondered if Beckett was aware of it as they pulled away from the curb and headed to the 12th Precinct.
Walking down to her desk, Beckett hurriedly took off her coat and placed it on the side once she had reached it. She turned to Castle who was behind her and said, "You think she'll talk with you there?"
"If not I can make myself scarce," Castle said. "She's been through enough already."
"Okay," Beckett said, nodding absently. She led the way over to the interview room and saw that the social worker was in the doorway, waiting for them. "Is anything wrong?" she asked, worrying that something had happened to Julia.
"No, it's just she's not responding to me at all," the woman said. "She won't say anything besides your name Detective."
Glancing back at Castle and seeing the concerned look on his face, Beckett stepped inside the room and looked around, not seeing the little girl anywhere. "Is she-" she began.
"Over there, next to the couch," the social worker said.
Looking where the worker had mentioned, Beckett saw the white of Julia's shirt and she walked over to her quickly, kneeling down. "Julia, come out from there, it's okay, you don't need to worry about anyone hurting you here. This is a police station," she said as gently as she could as Julia looked at her with wide eyes but then glanced over at the social worker and Castle and tried to tuck herself further back next to the couch.
"It would probably be better if we left," Castle said. "I don't think she's going to want to speak to anyone besides Beckett."
"I'll be outside," the worker nodded.
"I'll be back," Castle said quickly before he followed the woman, closing the door behind him.
"Do you want to come out now?" Beckett asked the little girl, turning to her. She wasn't too surprised when Julia shook her head and she sighed, standing up. She didn't want to start the interview until she had the child more relaxed, willing to tell her everything she knew. Castle then knocked on the door just as she was wondering what she could do and she went to the doorway. "Water?" she asked as he handed her a cup with a straw.
"That's what took me longer, the social worker says Julia hasn't eaten or drunk anything since probably this morning," Castle said. "And this," he said, handing her a sketchpad and some crayons.
"Thanks," Beckett said, letting her fingers brush against his for an instant as she took the paper and crayons from him.
"I'll be right outside, the social worker's gone to get some coffee and she'll wait here outside until you're done and she can take her to social services," Castle said. "Good luck."
Nodding, Beckett closed the door and turned around, seeing that Julia was curled up on the floor by then. "Julia, I have some water here, if you're thirsty at all. And I have some crayons too, if you want to color a little bit you're welcome to," she said gently to the girl. When she didn't move from where she was, she sighed under her breath, knowing she'd been scared hearing Castle speak. She took a sip of the water and said, "It's fine sweetie, just regular water, and I hope you don't mind if I color some myself?" Getting no response, verbally or physically from the little girl, she sat on the couch and shook out the crayons on the sketchpad before picking up the red crayon. She started to draw a flower, glancing out of the corner of her eye at Julia.
Watching a little away from the windows in the room, Castle watched as the child stood up before she rushed at Beckett and jumped on the couch, scrambling up before she wrapped her arms around her tightly. He wondered then, with a sickening feeling in the pit of his stomach, if Julia was aware of what had happened to her mother and he stepped a little closer, wondering what the two were saying as he could see their mouths moving in speech.
"Julia… your mother is…" Beckett began. She had been startled when the little girl had asked her what had happened to her mother, and was unsure how exactly to tell a four year old her mother was dead.
"She's gone isn't she?" Julia said miserably. "She went up to the sky?"
"To the sky?" Beckett asked, wondering if she meant heaven.
"Like my little birdie that I had, my mommy said she went to the sky where no one hurts you," Julia said. Tears welled up in her green eyes and she sobbed saying, "The bad men hurt her."
"That's why I wanted to talk to you Julia, to find them so they can't do it to another mother," Beckett said, hugging her to calm her down. "Do you remember anything from earlier today?" She watched the little girl, but Julia merely shook her head and hugged her tightly, seeming to shut down. She knew she was going to have to draw out of the little girl what had occurred, but was unsure if she should even try without a psychiatrist. But she remembered that Julia wasn't talking to anyone but her, and she realized she had no choice, but knew she needed to take it very carefully to keep from frightening the child. "I noticed your little doll here," she began then, touching the blue animal. "Why don't you tell me about her?"
"It's a boy, his name's Stitch," Julia said, smiling briefly. "He's from the movies."
"I don't think I ever saw that movie, is it funny?" Beckett asked, glad to see the smile for the instant it was on her face.
"A lot, it's my fav'rite," Julia smiled shyly. "He's bad but he's nice, he's not a bad man."
"No, what is he?" Beckett asked, wanting to put a little space between the mention of 'bad men' again and asking what the little girl had gone through earlier.
"From space," Julia said. She giggled a little and said, "He's really strong and can lift up a car! He helps Lilo when she's in trouble, he saves her."
"That sounds like a really good movie," Beckett said. "You know what; I think this blue is perfect for Stitch, why don't you draw a picture for me of him? I'd love to see how you can draw." When Julia tightened her grip on her, she quickly picked up the sketchpad and blue crayon and handed them to her before she took the stuffed animal and said, "I'll hold on to him for you while you're drawing okay?"
Castle was still watching Beckett and Julia through the window as the little girl proceeded to color on the sketchpad and Beckett talked to her. He smiled a little, his suspicions that Julia's connection with his girlfriend wasn't just one sided. He frowned slightly, wondering what exactly the killer and attackers wanted with her, when a voice spoke behind him, making him jump.
"Sorry Castle," Ryan said. "Esposito and I just got back, we didn't get anyone else by the house, everyone was either not near a window or not at home and the street was pretty much empty because of the time on a work and school day. How's the interview going?" he asked as he nodded to Beckett and Julia.
"I don't know, she wouldn't talk to anyone but Beckett," Castle said.
"Not even the social worker?" Ryan said in surprise.
"Not even her, I think she's seeing Beckett as her protector," Castle said. "She's the first one who promised to keep her safe from any 'very bad men' and meant it."
"Yeah, she was saying that over and over when we were trying to get her out of that little room," Esposito said, coming up behind them then. "Think she managed to see or hear them?"
"She might have heard them, she told Beckett back at the house. It's why she had her brought here," Castle said, turning back to the room. He saw that Beckett was talking to Julia seriously, and he realized that the interview was over. "We better get back; she's going to get scared again."
"It's okay Julia, I can promise you that she'll keep you safe too," Beckett was saying as she led Julia down to where the social worker was waiting. She looked around and saw that Castle, Ryan and Esposito were standing by her desk, looking over at her surreptitiously. "And I'll see you again, tomorrow okay? You just need to go with Victoria here." She tried to hand over Julia to the social worker once they'd reached her, but Julia's tiny hand tightened on hers, nearly dropping the sketchpad that she was holding along with her stuffed animal and crayons in the other. "I promise I'll see you tomorrow sweetie, they'll keep you safe tonight," she said as she picked up Julia and handed her to the worker.
"I'll contact you tomorrow Detective, about her," the social worker said as Julia tried to lean out of her arms, reaching to Beckett.
"Thank you," Beckett said with a nod before the social worker carried Julia into the elevator and the doors soon closed on the little girl sobbing heavily and whispering her name. She turned and was startled to see Captain Gates standing in front of her.
"Detective Beckett, was that child harmed at all along with her mother?" Gates asked.
"No sir, her mother hid her in a secret room inside a closet before our suspects could enter the house. She had no physical injuries," Beckett answered quickly.
"Keep me appraised on your case Detective, and if that child is at any risk," Gates said shortly before she turned and left the hall, going to her office.
Nodding though Gates couldn't see her, Beckett walked over to her desk and said, "What do you guys have?"
"Got the sketch," Esposito said, handing Beckett a paper. "And we canvassed all the people there at the crime scene, but no else saw anything."
"It's not enough to go on," Beckett said in slight annoyance as she looked at the picture. The face was half covered, up to the bridge of the nose, and the scar was a crescent moon shape down underneath the covering from the end of the eyebrow, as Esposito had described before. "And the scar isn't enough; it could end in any way under the scarf or whatever he was wearing." She walked over to the whiteboard to the side of her desk and put up the sketch before writing 'suspect?' underneath it. "I'm wondering, if Julia is who they were looking for, if maybe her father might be behind it. Or any paternal family member."
"I'll look into it," Ryan said. "And check if any of her own family members wanted the kid."
"You think she's the key to this," Esposito said as Beckett put up a picture of the crime scene next to the picture of the sketch. "The girl?"
"She said that they were swearing and saying they couldn't find 'the kid,'" Beckett replied, looking at the picture of their vic. She furrowed her brow in thought and said, "And her mother apparently saw the men walking up to the house as she told her that the bad men were coming and it was time for her to do what the routine they'd played before."
"Routine they played before?" Castle repeated. "So she knew this was going to happen and made Julia practice hiding in that room."
"Apparently, that's why I think it's good start to look at the family," Beckett said. "And she can maybe ID them if she hears their voices again."
"How did you get that out of her? She sounded like she was in a state of shock," Esposito said in surprise.
"I was able to get her to trust me," Beckett said, staring at the whiteboard for a long time before she turned to the three men. "She knows her mother's dead. From what I can guess from what Julia said, her mother was preparing her for today for a year at least."
"What the hell could they have wanted her for," Esposito said.
"Whatever it was, it's probably still going to affect her," Castle said. When the others looked at him he said, "You think they'll give up? Just because they didn't find her at the house? The way they tore everything up, they probably still need to get Julia. Her mother just got in the way and that's why they got rid of her."
"He's right," Beckett said, looking at Castle. "Julia told me that they said they would wait for the police and find her after that."
"Is that why she became so scared of the responding officers and us?" Ryan asked.
"It is, but I tried to tell her that we're trying to help her but…" Beckett said before trailing off and looking back at the picture of Julia's mother.
"She does trust you though," Castle said, watching her closely.
"I was lucky," Beckett said, turning back to them. "Okay, I want to call Lanie; see if she's gotten anything from the body. Espo, I want you to check the records for any criminals with prior arrests that have that same scar. Was the eyewitness able to guess their ethnicities?"
"Just that they were Caucasian, but she couldn't narrow it any further," Esposito answered. "And they were close in height… she said about six feet, five ten and maybe five eleven."
"Not much to go on. Try anyways and see what you get," Beckett said, grabbing her coat. "I have a bad feeling they're going to try something now that Julia's out of hiding. I don't want her to be at risk; even if it's her father trying to get custody of her back from our vic." She set off down the aisle to the elevator, not checking to see if Castle was following her.
"She's got a connection now," Ryan said.
"I know, but do not tell Gates that because Julia's going to need Beckett," Castle said. He hurried over to the elevator just as Beckett was going inside and once the doors had closed he said, "You okay?"
"Yes, I just don't want anything to happen to her because I managed to persuade her out of that hidden room," Beckett said, looking at the numbers on the side of the door. She felt his hand on her arm and she looked up at him.
"She's a cute kid," Castle said simply.
"She is, and she's as much a victim as her mother," was all that Beckett would say before the elevator stopped and she strode out, unaware that Castle was watching her, but knowing that he knew she was hiding her emotions behind another wall, unable to face them for the moment. She closed her eyes tightly as she walked to her car, trying to ignore the connection she felt to Julia, her thoughts of her own mother filling her mind. She stopped abruptly and turned, seeing Castle was standing just outside the closed elevator doors before he walked to her. "Now is not a good time," she said to him pleadingly.
"No, but I will bring this up again Kate. Later," Castle said as a kind of warning.
Beckett didn't miss the relief on his face as she nodded, but she pushed her thoughts on Julia and the sudden bond she'd formed with the little girl away, and turned and walked from Castle, feeling his eyes on her as he walked after her. She knew she wasn't going to be able to ignore what had happened the second that compartment door had opened and she'd looked into Julia's green eyes that were filled with tears. She only hoped she would be able to do her job and protect the little girl from the killer and attackers, a surge of anger at anyone wanting to hurt Julia filling her and helping her steps speed up, echoing in the underground garage as she suddenly couldn't figure out the particulars of the murder and attempted kidnapping fast enough.