For starters, I do not own Castle or any of the characters from Castle. I'm just writing for fun, clean and simple. I also could never be genius enough to write such a song as "White Blank Page" which is the property of the fabulous Mumford and Sons.
So here's the second part. I had a bunch of trouble finishing this chapter. I have things planned out, this one just wouldn't come out. I'm not sure how I feel about it still. But here it is. And I'm getting started on this chapter so PLEASE let me know what you think? I'm not quite sure if I'm gonna finish this… 3rd person's harder than I anticipated.
Anyway, feedback/reviews are ALWAYS appreciated.
Thanks,
M:)
XXX
White Blank Page
CHAPTER 2
They'd barely even begun looking at the evidence before the second call came. Another homicide, 8th and Lex. Kate was reluctant to leave the first murder behind but something in the dispatch operator's voice made her feel like it was a necessary sacrifice. They drove to the scene in near silence. Rick hadn't stopped watching her since the whole scene in the bathroom and she was starting to regret letting him see her like that.
"You're staring at me," she groused, tightening her hands on the wheel.
"You're worth staring at," he shot back without missing a beat. She was surprised by that. Usually he just made up some awkward excuse and looked away but something had clearly changed.
"Well… stop. It's creepy."
Castle chuckled quietly and was glad when he noticed the slight cant to her lips. Unthinkingly, he reached for the radio dial, searching for something other than NPR. Her thin hand reached out and snapped the back of his.
He snatched his hand back, rubbing where she'd lashed him, "Ow! Jeez, Beckett."
"What's gotten into you today, Castle?" She half laughed, "First the staring, then messing with my radio… I'm just waiting for the fidgeting to start." But secretly, she was glad of his annoying behavior. He was distracting her, trying to take her mind off of things. She was pretty sure that was the reason for him acting the way he was. And she was eternally grateful
They pulled up to the crime scene and exited the car quickly, Kate in the lead. Instantly, the same sensation of foreboding overcame her and she glanced around the crime scene. Everyone was a little more subdued, meaning that the victim was probably on the young end of things. Damn it. These cases took a toll on everyone.
But it was Lanie's face that solidified Kate's worries. The shock and sadness was
finely etched on her friend's face and as Kate watched, the ME flicked her eyes from the body, to Castle, shaking her head imperceptivily. Beckett's eyes jumped to the body and her stomach plummeted. Damn it. Castle could not see this.
She turned just before the yellow tape, blocking Castle's view and startling him to a halt, "Go home, Castle."
"What? Beckett, if this is about the staring or the radio or whatever, I swear I'll-"
"No, it's not about that. You just… you don't need to see this one." She was trying so hard to save him the heart ache, protect him from the panic that would surely over take him the moment he laid eyes on the body but he would have none of it.
"Come on, Beckett I've seen bodies before," and with a cocky jolt, he feinted right and went left, spinning around her (pleasantly surprised to find it had worked) and ducked under the tape. Where he promptly stopped dead, staring at the pavement, face quickly draining of color.
Kate was at his side as he struggled to draw breath.
"Alexis?" he wheezed, abject terror claiming his splotchy face. His head swiveled wildly around the crime scene, searching for his daughter.
Because the girl on the ground was her spitting image. A long, thick mane of vibrant red hair, contrasting sharply with stark white skin. Thin, long and lean. Just looking at her made Kate's heart flipflop with fear. She couldn't imagine how Castle was feeling. But there were subtle differences, a large freckle near her left eye, calloused hands, arms too muscled, so that, upon closer examination, it was clear that this girl wasn't Alexis, as similar as they may appear.
Kate shot Lanie a slightly panicked look and glanced at Castle. Lanie gave her a look that clearly said Duh, get him out of here! And Kate grabbed his wrist to yank him back under the yellow tape.
"Castle, look at me." She stared up into his face and waited until he turned to look at her. Tears had welled up in his crystalline eyes and she gritted her teeth to keep her own at bay, "It's not her. Alexis is safe."
"Then where-" he was spinning out¸ shaky hands, eyes dilating, a thin sheen of sweat developing on his forehead. Kate reached forward and snagged his hands in hers.
"She's at home. Lanie sent her home." A glance at the ME told her she'd made the right assumption.
"But what if she was taken on the way there or else-" his voice wavered he had her fingers in a death grip.
"I made her call me as soon as she got home." Lanie swooped in to Kate's aid, "Hell, I made her hold the phone up when she locked the door so I could hear it click. She's safe, Writer Boy. I wouldn't let anything happen to your girl."
"Thanks Lanie." He sighed in relief, leaning against the brick façade of the shop near the alleyway where the body was found. His grip didn't loosen on Kate's hand and she made no move to pull away. She was pulling down her wall. She swore she was and this was part of it, physical contact, touching him, letting him need to touch her. She could handle that.
"Rick, go home. See your kid. I'll call you when we have a lead on the Bakeman Case if you still want in on it."
He looked up at her, half pleading, "Come to the loft tonight. Eat dinner, rest."
"Castle, I can't, I've gotta work on the case."
"So bring it with you. I'll make sure Lex doesn't see what she shouldn't and we can work on it. Please."
Beckett ran her free hand through her hair and tugged on the end of her scarf. Breaking down the wall. Letting him in. Come on, Kate, you can do this.
"Yeah, okay, I'll try, Castle. If there are no suspects to interrogate or anything like that, I'll be there, okay?"
"Thank you, Kate," he sighed.
"Go home, Rick. I'll see you later." She squeezed his hand then detangle their fingers.
Lanie watched the whole exchange, trying to control a triumphant smirk at the hand holding, Kate taking care of Writer Boy in his panic. She'd been pulling for them since… well not day one but pretty soon thereafter. Kate needed someone like him in her life, child-like, a little obnoxious, but so essentially good and caring. Yin and Yang. It was finally progress.
Kate ducked back under the yellow tape that Officer Johnson was holding up for her. She shot him a nod of thanks and then began the process of separating this girl from Alexis.
"Sooo?" Her friend's voice interrupted.
"What, Lanie?"
"Since when do you guys do that at a crime scene?"
"Do what?" Kate didn't look away from the girl, trying to find more differences. Different nail polish color, orange instead of bright blue, a larger nose. This wasn't Alexis.
"The comforting and the hand holding thing!" Lanie burst out quietly.
"The vic looks like his daughter! What do you want me to do, make him stay on the case?" Beckett was avoiding Lanie's question and she knew it. She didn't even know what was going on, much less enough to tell anyone!
Thankfully, the ME let it drop, "Okay. Vic is Alahnis Cardell, 18. Based on levidity, I'd say time of death is between three and five this morning."
"When we were at the other crime scene." Kate murmured.
"Yeah. Now cause of death would most likely be strangulations from the ligature marks on her neck. Won't know for sure until I get her back to the lab."
"Thanks, Lanie." Kate stood and searched the crowd for Ryan and Esposito who appeared at her side almost instantly.
"Hey so, as far as we've found, no one saw anything on this murder or the Bakeman case," Esposito supplied quickly.
Noticing their boss's irritation, Ryan jumped in, "But we did find security camera in front of two of the stores near here and the Bakeman crime scene. We might be able to get tapes from both and look through them."
"Then go ahead and do that," She snapped unintentionally. They didn't bat an eye just nodded and turned to go.
"You got it, boss."
XXX
The day was absolute hell. Kate set up a second murder board for Alahnis Cardell and was promptly called away to back to back interviews with the families of their victims.
Jolene Bakeman had had a husband and (Beckett's stomach plummeted when she saw) a daughter, who was at most 21. They'd clung to each other, both fighting tears as they staunchly denied the possibility of anyone ever wanting to hurt Jolene. Everyone at her law firm had loved her, there was no familial discontent, no monetary troubles, no unsavory connections from the past that either the husband or the daughter knew about. Their lives had been happy and carefree. The father had lost it then, turning to pull his daughter close. Kate had left them in peace, fighting off her own memories.
Alahnis Cardell's family interview hadn't gone any better. Her father was remarried to a woman he'd met several years previously but they were all adamant that they were a family and an close knit one at that. That Alahnis had been almost inseparable from her step mother and new little sister (who was fast asleep in a carrier at her mother's feet) and that she would have told them if anything had been the matter. Alahnis' stepmother had to quiet her husband, hold him, when he broke out into a rage, demanding who would do such a thing to his daughter, that she'd never hurt any one. Kate had no answer to that. She simply sat there and listened to the family cry, silently promising herself that she wouldn't rest until these cases were closed.
After the heart wrenching interviews, Beckett took a moment to herself. The physical sickness that had plagued her earlier threatened to take over again but she forced it down. This wasn't about her. It was about these families, these now broken families getting peace and justice. Taking a deep breath and clenching trembling hands, she ambled into the bullpen and over to Ryan's desk where he and Esposito were pouring over the tapes.
"Anything?"
Both shook their heads, not taking their eyes off of the screen.
Kate sighed, knowing that she hadn't expected much, "Okay, well keep looking just in case."
She spent the next three hours looking over the victim's relationships, delving into their lives, seeing if there was any kind of connection but there was nothing. She had long since sent Esposito and Ryan home, since they'd found nothing on the tapes and were basically running on coffee and an hour nap. Ryan hadn't seen Jenny in a couple of days and knowing him, it was killing him to stay away from her for so long. Espo had slunk off muttering something about Thai food, but Beckett knew that he was almost certifiably going to see Lanie. She sighed and started going over the cases again.
It was almost nine before Castle called her, "That's it, Beckett, I'm cutting you off. Get out of the precinct and come over."
"Castle, I can't. I need to finish going over these papers." For the third time…
"So bring them with you. We can set up a mini murder board and eat and rest and…"
"Okay okay." She grumbled, just to shut him up, "I'll be there soon."
"Good."
"Alexis okay?" she mumbled, closing the case files and sticking them in her purse.
"Fine. I… Sorry for bailing on you this afternoon."
"Shut up. You didn't. I'll see you soon."
She hung up and swung her jacket over her shoulders and headed for the elevator.
It wasn't Castle who answered the door when she knocked, but Alexis. As soon as she saw the young woman, Kate felt a part of the tension that had been knotting in her stomach, vanish.
"Hi Kate." The girl smiled, a little hesitantly.
"Hey, Lex," she sighed, returning the smile tiredly. Lately, she'd been spending more and more time at the loft and getting Alexis to finally call her Kate felt like a huge achievement.
"Have you eaten?" the girl asked, shutting the door behind her and taking Beckett's coat as she kicked off her heels.
"Um. No but I'm not really hungry."
"Really? Because Dad said you'd say that and that I wasn't supposed to listen to you." Alexis' eyes gleamed and Kate couldn't help throwing her head back in a laugh. And God, it felt good to laugh.
"Really? And where is this father of yours?"
"Hiding in his study, doing God knows what."
Kate smiled again and pulled the files from her purse, "Well I'll go give these to him and see what he's up to."
"Okay." Alexis surprised Kate but flinging her arms around her and whispering, "Thank you for sending him home."
Stunned, Kate returned the hug, wrapping the red-head up in her arms, "Don't thank me."
Alexis squeezed one last time and then let go, heading up the stairs calling over her shoulder, "I'll be in my room if you guys need me."
Beckett smiled after the little Castle and then turned to the study. Knocking quietly on the slightly ajar door, she stuck her head in.
Castle was seated at his desk, facing away from the door staring at the smart board. It was completely blue except for a square picture of her in the middle. She knew what that meant.
"Castle." He jumped and swiveled to find her staring at the board.
"Beckett, hey, I didn't hear you come in." he stood and started over to her but stopped when she turned her gaze on him.
"You're not working on it, are you?" She swallowed hard, barely able to hold his eyes. No, he couldn't be doing this. Not again.
"Of course not. No. You asked me to stop working on it, I stopped."
"Then why-"
"I like that picture of you," he turned back to the smart board, smiling a little sadly at the thumbnail, "You look happy."
She bit off some snarky comment about how she looked now and glanced down at the folders in her hand, "Um. Here are the cases. I tried not to get any pictures with her face."
Instantly the air thickened and Castle stared at the folders in his hands, "What was her name?"
"Alahnis Cardell. She was 18. A swimmer. Worked at an animal shelter. Top of her class. Close to her family. No one knows why…" Why such senseless violence would be committed against such good person? Why she had her life snatched away so early? Why her?
Rick dropped the files onto his desk and took Kate's hand, "You hungry?" his voice was rougher than usual, but remained steady. She tried to fight the urge to run away as his thumb smoothed over her wrist. Letting him in, letting go, you can handle this, Kate.
"No." she couldn't tear her eyes away from the folders among the strewn plot ideas and other papers on the desk.
"Humor me then." He tugged her out of the study and toward the kitchen.