OMG Target killed me! Hopefully some of you are still alive. If not, I love zombies.
Thank you all again for reading on. And of course for the lovely reviews.
Hope you like this one as well.
Disclaimer: I wish I owned Castle or any of the characters. If I did, we wouldn't have to wait another week for Hunt.
Chapter 3: Setting Up
When they got in the bullpen no one was there yet.
"They must still be canvassing the neighborhood. Maybe we can set up the board already" Beckett said to Castle. She realized this was going to be a long and hard case for all of them.
"Beckett, a word please." Captain Gates came out of her office. Her expression didn't reveal anything about the nature of the talk.
Beckett and Castle shared a look and Gates noticed. "Don't worry, I just want to talk to you about the case."
"Yes, sure."
Beckett walked into the Captain's office and sat down in one of the chairs while Gates took her seat on the other side of the desk.
"You know this will be a tough case. The media will all over this and people will be worried about their children," Gates started.
"Yes sir, I know. But as always we'll do our best to catch the killer," Beckett said in defense.
"I am not accusing you of not doing that but I just wanted to be clear that there will be no talking to the press and that this has to be solved as quick as possible."
"I understand."
"Now, go back to work and give this little girl a peaceful rest."
"I will sir, thank you."
Beckett had barely set one foot out of the office when Castle started asking questions. "What did she want to talk to you about? Are we in trouble? What is wrong?"
"Calm down Castle. She just gave me the usual speech about the media control and all the other stuff surrounding a case like this one."
"So nothing about me then?"
"No, nothing about you." She couldn't help but laugh at his reaction. "You know she doesn't really hate you that much that every time I go in there she wants to talk about all the stupid things you did, right."
"Wow detective, do you say I pull of so many stupid things?" he said with a boyish grin.
She hit his arm playfully and walked over to her desk to grab some markers. "Here catch." She threw a blue one at Castle. "Draw the timeline and I'll put on when she was possibly murdered and what we yet know about her."
"Fine, just keep avoiding my questions. You'll crack eventually, you know."
"You really think I'll crack?"
"For this ruggedly handsome and funny guy? Definitely!"
"Ruggedly handsome? Please…" Esposito came into the bullpen with Ryan at few inches behind him. "Look at me, I'm like an Aztec god."
"Yeah just keep thinking that," his partner said.
"You ruin my spirit."
"You're welcome."
"You guys done so you can tell me what you found?" Beckett liked the light conversations but they had to progress. This case needed to be closed as soon as possible for Gates and, more importantly, for the little girl.
"Of course. No one in the buildings on that block seemed to hear or see anything. Most of the stores didn't have camera security either," Ryan said.
"Most? So some did have cameras?" It was more a statement than a question really.
"Yeah," Esposito cut in, "one of them had a video but the owner won't let us see it without a warrant."
"Then get us a warrant so we can look at it."
"As you wish. Heard anything from Lanie yet?" Esposito sounded a bit too interested in Lanie according to Beckett.
"No, but it's only been a few hours. Maybe we should check the picture of our victim with missing person reports. We might get a hit off of it. I'll print out her picture and why don't you and Castle get the boxes," she said to Ryan.
"There must be a more efficient way to do this." Castle hated this part. He thought that they should have a comparison program do to that sort of work for them. Technology had improved a lot over the years and they should use that instead of going through all the files by hand.
Beckett knew what he was thinking and agreed with it but they had no other choice. The department just didn't have that kind of resources for it.
"Sorry, Castle, we'll have to. It's part of our job. You know you could just leave any day if you'd want to." She hoped with all her heart he wouldn't. She knew he wouldn't wait for her forever, but just until she was ready to admit her love to him she hoped he would stick.
The Twelfth just wouldn't be the same without him. Castle grew on everyone over these 3 years and they all liked his presence a lot. He made the entire floor laugh at his jokes and strange theories. The time he played that bet with the whole precinct was just one of the great memories
Beckett knew her life would never be the same and she liked that feeling. The feeling of happiness and being loved. They were all one big happy family with their struggles and their highs. They would always stick together and have each other's back. Anytime, anyplace, always.
So what do you think? Suggestions welcome. Please review
Lots of Loveballs X L.