The Worst Possible Time, Chapter 3
Where we left: Kate's at the hospital, recovering from a gunshot wound. Demming headed off to the precinct, Espo took charge, and Castle's not picking up his phone.
Castle hasn't called back by the time Ryan and Esposito show up late the next morning. Ryan has that pinched, worried look he sometimes gets, the one that makes Beckett think of his years in Catholic school and his fear of getting on a nun's bad side.
Espo hands her a cup of peppermint tea as Ryan asks, "How you feeling?"
"I've been better." This is an edited version of the truth. Beckett barely slept because the pain medicine continues to upset her stomach. The night was a long stretch of neither sleeping nor waking, just hovering somewhere in between. Her body's coming out of the shock from the injury and surgery. She feels like someone filled her veins with cement before running wires that radiate pain out from her shoulder to the rest of her body. "What's going on with the case?"
Ryan pulls up a second chair as Espo takes the same spot as yesterday. Ryan's in a t-shirt and jeans today, meaning he looks even younger than normal. Beckett's actually of the unvoiced opinion that Ryan hates suits but wears them because they keep him from looking like a college freshman.
She takes a cautious sip of the tea. The tea yesterday is the only thing that's come close to calming her stomach. Given how much worse she feels today, she worries that it might instead induce her body into actually throwing up rather than merely threatening it.
Ryan and Espo share a look before Espo says, "DA gave the guy a plea deal."
Beckett coughs on the drink. "What?!"
"Turns out this is a lot bigger than one shop fencing stolen goods. Demming got a whiff of the scale last night during an interrogation, and as soon as he did, they got the DA involved." Ryan's voice has that calm, placating tone he uses when playing good cop.
Beckett has to be hearing this wrong. "The guy shot two cops."
"Yeah, but both are minor injuries." Espo rubs his chin. The movement is harsh and jerky. "DA's still throwing the book at him, but apparently this crime ring's been on the radar for a while but no one's been able to pin anything on them before now."
"Since the guy shot two cops, he's willing to sing like a canary to reduce his sentence." It helps Beckett's state of mind that Ryan doesn't look happy to relay this information.
"Demming's been leading the interrogations since he went in yesterday," Espo says. "He's not happy about the deal, but when I saw him this morning, he said that if even half of what this guy is telling them pans out, they're going to be sending several people to jail and recovering a chunk of stolen property."
"Bigger picture and all that, right?" It comes out more bitter than Beckett intends.
Ryan leans his elbows on his knees and clasps his hands together. "Look, it's not ideal. But the guy who shot you is definitely going away, and a lot more people are likely to end up in jail than if that guy went to trial. That's kind of a win, right?"
Kate takes another sip of the tea, which seems to be helping even as her blood pressure skyrockets. "Demming really thinks they'll be able to bust the ring?"
Espo nods. "Downright cocky about it."
"Robbery's called in a handful of their people to start making arrests today. They want to get a jump on them before news spreads about Francis turning state."
"The guy who shot me is named Francis?"
"Cecil Francis." Espo grins.
Beckett can't keep a sneer off her face. If she's going to get shot, it should at least be by someone named something more intimidating than the likely name of a kid who gets his lunch money stolen every day.
"You heard from Castle yet?" Espo asks.
Ryan looks over, his eyebrows raised.
"No. I left a message last night."
"Guy's probably writing." Espo's consoling tone makes Kate feel like a silly girl with a silly crush.
"Why don't I give him a call?" Ryan asks after a moment. "If he's writing, it might take more than one person calling to get him to pick up."
This is true. Kate knows this, but she also spent much of last night's long waking hours wondering if Castle simply doesn't want to talk to her. Maybe he'll pick up for Ryan.
Ryan steps out into the hall. Espo looks at Beckett.
"You look like hell."
At least he's not lying and telling her she looks great. "Thanks for raising my spirits."
Espo glances around the room. "Never sleep well in hospitals. Just let me go home and sleep in my own damned bed."
"Doctor says I may be able to go home tomorrow."
"He actually say that or just sort of agree to get you to stop badgering him?"
Kate shrugs as well as she can with one arm immobilized in a sling. "Little of both. He'd prefer I stay until Tuesday, but he also said there's not much more they can do at this point that I can't do as an outpatient."
The doctor, when he came by this morning, was not reassuring. It's a minor injury and no additional surgery is necessary at this point – for which Kate is grateful – and she's recovering nicely, but both he and the physical therapist were honest about the reality ahead of Kate. Her summer will be recovery and rehab. She will get better, but she has to be patient.
Given that Kate's already impatient, this does not bode well for her sanity. "Told me I should plan on not being back at work until around Labor Day and that anything before that is lucky."
"Desk duty?" Espo asks.
Kate grimaces as Ryan comes back into the room. "Got his voicemail. Left a message telling him to call you."
"Montgomery already gave us the go ahead to come get you from the hospital tomorrow if they let you out and a body doesn't drop," Espo says. Unlike Beckett even before her injury, both Espo and Ryan are on shift tomorrow.
"You don't – "
"Who else is going to come get you?" Espo asks with a raised eyebrow.
"Your Dad's not getting back until late Monday, right?" Ryan asks.
"Hauling your injured ass around beats hanging out at the precinct." Espo grins. "Figure we can take you home, move stuff around for you – "
"Make sure your take-out menus are accessible," Ryan adds.
They're tag teaming her. Likely worked it out ahead of time, just like they do before some interrogations.
"Fine." Let them win this one. Kate needs the help. She doesn't want to wait for her Dad to get back to the city, and there's no one else she wants to call. The boys will do what needs to be done and not hound her with questions or cast worrying looks in her direction. After barely sleeping the previous night, Beckett's tolerance for annoyances is at a not-surprising low.
There's a knock at the door, and Trish, the physical therapist from earlier, stands there. Speaking of annoyances.
"I'm sorry to interrupt, but I have a session with Ms. Beckett?" Trish is nice but young and the only one on the floor not calling Kate "Detective Beckett." Beckett normally doesn't care what title people use, but right now the 'Ms.' chafes. Beckett's a detective, even if she won't be out chasing suspects anytime soon, and she wants acknowledgement of her position.
Espo and Ryan say their goodbyes and leave Kate to the painful ministrations of Trish. Trish has a cheery smile that doesn't falter once as she tortures Kate with absurdly simple exercises that leave Kate rung out.
It's going to be a long summer.
Author's Note: Thank you, thank you, thank you for the wonderful reviews and responses to this story. I've loved hearing people's theories and ideas about this version of the Castle universe and hope the story continues to delight. Since this is a shorter chapter, I guarantee the next installment will be posted later this week.