Thanks again to Brandi for the beta!
Routines made their lives run a little smoother. Of course, with three children and an unpredictable job, there were bumps, but after a few years of raising children and marriage, Kate always felt like they had their heads above water. On days when she had an early shift, she was up before the sun, showering and getting ready as quietly as possible so she wouldn't wake her husband before their son did. In the kitchen, she would brew a pot of coffee so it would be ready for him, taking just a small amount for herself on her drive into work. As the coffee machine sputtered, she would hunch over the island, writing notes of encouragement to her daughters that Rick would hide in their lunchboxes. McNulty, her new partner, teased her for it, but he didn't understand. He didn't know about her mother's case, and how she'd almost lost her family chasing down leads. Letting the girls know that she was thinking of them, even while she was at work, had become an important ritual as she moved past her mother's murder.
On early days, she could be home in time for dinner. She never knew what she was walking into those nights. Usually she interrupted their laser tag games, the girls crouched behind the couch while Rick tried to find them, the baby monitor clipped to his pants. Once they attacked her with water guns, their laughter so infectious that it made Oliver laugh for the first time, and she couldn't find it in her heart to be upset. And every once in a while, she walked in to find Rick cooking, and Carrie in the living room, using her sister for support as she twirled around in a circle on inline skates and practiced getting herself in the air. Kate took charge of the bedtime routine, reading the girls stories and tucking them in, treasuring the moments she got to spend with them.
Later shifts were different. Those mornings she woke up to the sound of her family. She would cook breakfast while Rick made her coffee, she would quiz Alexis on her spelling words and check homework. Carrie kept Oliver busy while she and Rick packed lunches, Rick making the sandwiches in just the right way while she bagged snacks and placed her notes. Then Rick would stay with Oliver while Kate drove them to school. In the car they would talk about what they were learning, tell her about that crazy thing that one of their classmates did, or they would sing along at the tops of their lungs to the radio, all worries about whether or not it sounded good drowned out by the sound of their voices. When they walked to the front of the school, Kate would kiss each of them, and would worry that it might be the day that Alexis decided that she was '"too old" for the familiar peck on her cheek. She would then return home and get ready for her shift, giving her husband a run down of their latest case as she changed, and making funny faces at her quiet son to make him laugh before leaving.
At bedtime, she got a call from Rick, and everyone would tell her goodnight and blow her kisses. Coming home, it would be silent, only the tapping of her husband's computer keys to greet her. And while it was nice to have uninterrupted time with him, she missed the life that her home breathed when everyone was awake.
Then there were on-call nights. No routine ever seemed to prepare her for those. So when her phone rang at two in the morning, the harsh sound waking her from her slumber, she pushed herself off of her husband's chest to reach for her phone. "Beckett." She barked, making Rick startle.
"We've got another one." Her partner's voice on the other end was the last thing she wanted to hear.
She groaned, her mind flashing to the other crime scenes, victims on the ground with their hands tied behind their back. "Same writing on the forehead?"
"Yes. The ME will be here soon."
Rick stirred as she stretched, his blue eyes popping open to stare at her. "Okay. Text me the address and I'll be there soon."
As she hung up, Rick rubbed the sleep from his eyes and stretched to sit up with her. "Writing on the forehead?"
She sighed, turning her head towards him. "We've found two bodies, I guess three now, where people have been shot execution style, with the words 'try again' written on their forehead."
His eyes widened. "Wow. Taunt much?"
Kate chuckled, bending down to touch her feet. "Right?" She grunted as she came back up. "The problem is, the killer is good. He doesn't leave fingerprints or fibers, and we can't find connections between the victims. So I kind of feel like I'm hitting a wall." Kate twisted on the bed, facing Rick, and tilted her head just enough to steal a good morning kiss. "I want to stay but I have to go. The faster we process the scene, the faster we can solve the crime."
Her feet hit the floor, but before she could run away, his hand on her wrist pulled her back. His sudden kiss made her insides flutter, the corners of her mouth turning upward as his lips pulled away from hers. "You'll get the guy." He assured her, his blue eyes warm even in the darkness of their room.
"I always do!" She stole one last peck, his gaze so inviting that she couldn't resist, before creeping toward the closet. Her outfit consisted of black slacks and the first thing her hand made contact with in the closet. It wasn't like anyone expected her to look flawless at two in the morning. Her feet found heels at the foot of the closet door, and she slipped into those as she used her fingers to pull her hair back into a bun. Make-up could wait until she had to make a notification.
Rick was already asleep again as she left the bedroom, and she almost forgot to write notes for the girls on her way out. She kept them simple, just hearts and the three letters it took to spell out 'Mom', and she was out the door.
When she arrived at the crime scene, Lanie was already there, crouched down and examining the body. McNulty, her partner, was interviewing the neighbors, so she took the opportunity to kneel down next to the friendly woman. Before she could ask for the details though, the doctor spoke, looking up from the body as she tried not to laugh. "My guess is that you weren't anticipating the hike to a crime scene at this time of night?"
"Is anyone?" Kate laughed, trying to figure out why the woman was so amused. She followed the downward slope of Lanie's pen with her eyes until they landed at her feet. She could feel the heat rising to her cheeks as it hit her, the mismatched shoes taunting her from below. Her hands started pulling her pant legs down, and she prayed to a God she wasn't sure she believed in that no one else would notice it. She threw her head back and groaned, making the ME giggle. "Oh, my girls will never let me live this down!" Neither would Rick. The girls would tease, but Rick would bring this up forever. He will remind her to check her shoes before she leaves every day for the next year, and then sporadically after that when she grows too tired of it.
"Please, they never have to know! What size do you wear?"
Kate's eyebrows rose as she studied the woman, hopeful yet unsure of where this was going. "Nine."
Lanie's dark brown eyes glanced back down at her clipboard as she wrote down another observation. "Remind me when we get back to autopsy, I should have an extra pair of shoes in my locker."
Relief washed over her as the woman spoke, her shoulders relaxing back to their natural position as she also let her eyes travel back to the victim in front of them. "You are a lifesaver."
"This isn't a freebie. You can take me out for drinks some night as a thank you." She turned again to look at Kate, one eyebrow raised as she studied the detective, waiting to see how she would react.
"Deal. Thank you." It came as a relief. Why asking someone to have a few drinks after a long day was so hard, Kate would never know. And now, thanks to getting dressed in the dark and the generosity of a woman she barely knew, she may have found herself a friend outside of the boy's club they called homicide. "So does it look like the others?"
"So far, yes. But I can tell you more conclusively when we get the body back to the lab." She jerked her head toward the door. "Your partner has his wallet. I guess the neighbors heard the shot and called it in. They were too afraid to come out of the apartment to see the shooter for themselves though."
Her eyes rolled back into her head. "Great. No eyewitnesses, no prints, no evidence. Again."
"Don't be so sure about that, Beckett." Her partner's voice made her jump, her hands dropping to cover her mismatched shoes from his view. "This building may not have working security cameras, but the one across the street does, so we might get his face. That, and the fifteen-year-old boy from next door looked through the peephole and might be able to give us a sketch."
"And CSU isn't done with the crime scene yet, so don't rule out prints." The ME spoke without looking up, taking measurements on the bullet hole and writing down her findings. "Don't give up hope."
Kate let out a breath as she stood, her fingers tucking the loose tendrils of her hair behind her ears. "Right. Sorry." She was basing her fears off of the last two scenes, and it was a bit hasty of her to assume there wasn't evidence at the scene. And although the sketch was promising, she knew a good defense attorney would tear it to shreds, especially if the boy only saw for a minute, or looked away because he was afraid for his own life. She yawned, shaking her head to try and stay awake. "Do you want me to knock on doors, see if anyone else heard anything?"
McNulty glanced at his watch before meeting her eye. "No one is going to be happy with you. Just a warning. But if you're up to it, I'll head back to the precinct and start digging into his life."
She shrugged his concerns off. "I'll be fine. When I'm done I'll check back in with you, and then join Lanie in Autopsy."
Her partner flashed a sympathetic look, his hand carding through his blonde hair. "I'll get you a coffee. You look like you need it." With that, he left, greeting the uni's guarding the door with a loud grin and handshakes as he turned down the hallway.
She did need the coffee. And apparently, so did the people she was trying to talk to, who didn't appreciate being woken up by a young looking detective in mismatched shoes. "Of course I heard something! You lot have been thumping around out here for hours. Maybe if you stopped goofing off, you'd have something!" One woman yelled before slamming the door in her face. Another was a young man, who hadn't seen anything but was intent on getting her number. He threw every awkward and borderline-offensive pick up line at her that he could, despite the ring on her finger. And once the door opened on a man, blinking the sleep from his eyes, his crying son perched on his hip, begging them to quiet down so everyone could just get some sleep.
The whole situation just made her want to scream. There had been a murder in the apartment building. So far, they didn't know the killer's motive, or why he was after the victims themselves. The whole building could be in danger, and all they wanted to do was go back to sleep.
It was four apartments down that she got something they may have been able to work with. She heard the usual expletives as she knocked on the door and identified herself, and a crash as the inhabitant tripped over something in the darkness. He opened the door, dark circles under his eyes, and glared at her. "What? Can't I get a moment of peace?"
"I know, I'm sorry. I was hoping to get some information on your neighbor? Donovan Pike from unit twenty-one?"
The man scoffed. "Figures. That guy has been nothing but trouble."
She flipped to a new page in her notebook. "How so?"
"You know. Fighting with his girlfriend, coming and going at all hours of the night. And then he did something to his water I think. There was a lot of rot, and pipes needed to be fixed, and he finally managed to get the super to agree to fix it. Of course, the maintenance guy worked at all hours, blasting his music so loud that I could hear it all the way down here. I think Pipe, or whatever his name is, stayed with family until the job was finished. Now he gets himself murdered and we have to listen to the cops come and go."
She held back her eye roll, jotting down notes as he spoke. "Do you know what company handles the maintenance requests?"
"You'd have to get that list from the super. Can I go back to bed now?"
"Sure. But if you think of something else, can you give me a call?" She handed him a card, which he dropped on his table as he shrugged. "Thank you." Kate managed to get out, just before he slammed the door in her face.
The girlfriend was a lead. Maybe she would know who wanted him killed. The maintenance man was another avenue to look into. He could have seen something while he was at the apartment that could give them some more information. She had half a mind to wake the super and get the number of the company that serviced the building. But McNulty wasn't there to approve it, and she was still the low woman on the totem pole. So instead, she took her new information and headed out.
At the precinct, she slipped her notebook over to him and watched as he flipped through it, her hands wrapping around the tall latte cup he had left on her desk. "I think we should get in touch with the maintenance company, maybe the man who serviced Pike's apartment saw something that we didn't." He only nodded, jotting a few things down himself before turning back toward his computer. Kate took the opportunity to flip pages, landing on the information of the inappropriate man, and ripping the page from the book. "If that guy calls, he's dealing with you."
"Okay." At his affirmative answer, she nodded once and began her trek across the precinct floor. "Where are you going?" His voice echoed in the still empty room.
She twirled around to make eye contact, walking backwards. "The morgue. I need to run something by Lanie. Thanks for the coffee!" The cup held up in the air to emphasize that point, she turned again, so she was facing the right direction as she walked.
"I want you back here in time to make the notification."
"Got it!"