CH 4: I Need a Number
There was nothing. Absolutely nothing in Vanessa's apartment that would help them find who did this. There weren't any cameras in the building except the ones that she had installed in her home, but those were gone along with the receivers. As Beckett and Knight were about to leave, Vanessa walked in.
"Rick!" she said, surprised to see her boss standing in front of her. "I- I mean Captain Knight. I mean Rook."
"Where have you been?" Knight said, just as surprised as she was.
"Out of town." She tried to get a view of her apartment around Knight and Detective Beckett but couldn't see much. "Who's this?" Kate could tell from the tone that she was somewhere between angry and confused. "Look, I know I said I wanted to try something more adventurous, but sleeping with another woman wasn't what I meant."
Knight blushed, entirely embarrassed that Beckett had heard that. Beckett just cleared her throat and said, "I'm Detective Kate Beckett, NYPD." Vanessa's expression eased a little. "I'm afraid someone broke in to your apartment and tore it up."
"I was robbed?"
"No," Rick said, unable to stop himself. "It was a burglary since no one else was-" Beckett backhanded his gut and Vanessa stormed in, pushing Beckett a little in the process. "Where were you?" Beckett could hear the concern in his voice.
"I was..." Vanessa trailed off as she saw the extent of the damage to her home. "Son of a bitch! I'll never know exactly what's missing." She heard Knight's footsteps coming up behind her and felt his hand on her shoulder.
"Where did you keep your files?" Vanessa's eyes shot completely open. Oh shit. She ran to her open bedroom closet and dug through the pile of clothes laying in the bottom. She found a cardboard box and opened it. Empty. Fuck! Knight pulled out his cell phone and hit 1 on his speed dial. "I need a SitRep on all missions and status check on all assets."
Vanessa was watching Beckett watch Knight. "What are you doing here?" Beckett didn't respond, just kept staring at Rick. "I said, what are you doing here?"
Kate turned and looked at the other woman. "I'm conducting a burglary investigation."
Vanessa shook her head and stepped closer to Kate. "No, what are you doing here?"
"I signed a non-disclosure agreement, he hasn't read me in yet, so I'm still not sure what's going on."
"Hasn't read you in yet, huh?" Kate didn't like where this was going, it sounded like jealousy. "I bet he'll read you in over dinner in bed." "Beckett closed her eyes and shook her head. "Your bed. He doesn't like bringing women home."
"That's not going to happ-"
"Oh, so you're already sleeping together."
"No," Rick cut in. Then, with a quick sideways glance to Beckett, added, "Not yet." She rolled her eyes.
"So, what's going on?" Beckett finally asked.
Knight frowned. "Gould is dead." He turned to Beckett. "Your boyfriend's team is investigating, I have to get over there now. Vanessa, I need you to go to the 12th Precinct and talk to Lieutenant Mike Royce... tell him who you are and that I sent you." She nodded in agreement.
Back in Beckett's Crown Vic, she glanced at Rick who was smiling like an idiot. "He's my ex-boyfriend."
"Who?" he asked, feigning confusion. "Royce? I know that?"
"He TOLD you?" Knight nodded and Beckett's eyes narrowed. "I was talking about-"
"Schlemming. Yeah, I know. I just want you to know that I know... it makes you... available."
Kate rolled her eyes and looked back out the windshield. "I'm not available." She stole a quick glance at him, but he wasn't looking at her. He was frowning. "That's why it didn't work with any of them; I'm not emotionally available." Knight narrowed his eyes.
As Beckett and Knight walked toward Sergeant Gould's body, she felt a hand on her arm and stopped. Knight had a serious look on his face, one she hadn't seen before. "Can I..." he started quietly. "Ask you a favor?" She raised an eyebrow. "I'm divorcing my wife Gina." Beckett's expression changed to one of annoyance. "And she wants full custody of Alexis."
"How does this concern me?" She realized this wasn't the time to get back at him for being a pain... after she said it. "What am I supposed to do?"
"Gina isn't her mother, but she's home more and has a less dangerous job." Knight was pleading with her, but she didn't know what to say. "I'm her father, I'm a better parent. Hell, she doesn't even love Alexis half as much as I do, she just wants to get back at me for divorcing her."
Beckett was still silent, still wondering what Rick wanted. "My lawyer said that if I can get someone who isn't family or an employee-"
"I don't know you well enough."
"What if that was your daughter? You're a cop, you might not be able to keep her from your jackass ex who just wants to screw you for divorcing him simply because your job is too dangerous."
"I'll think about it."
Rick smiled.
"Hey, Beckett!" Demming called from his spot near Gould's body. "What are you doing here?"
She started off again toward the crime scene, leaving Knight and his mischievous grin tailing behind. "What's he doing here?"
"Your victim was an employee of mine." Knight said, stepping in between Beckett and Demming. She glared at the back of his head then rolled her eyes and pushed past him.
"Rook?" called a voice familiar both to Knight and Beckett.
"Esposito?" Knight asked, stepping up to the detective. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm a homicide detective now, bro," he replied as they went through the motions of a complex handshake. "You still at Academi?"
Knight shook his head. "Started my own company: The Castle." Esposito narrowed his eyes in approval and nodded. "That's why I'm here, Gould worked for me."
"Sorry, bro." The detective then turned to Demming and Beckett. "You know this guy saved my life?" They both shook their head, Knight felt embarrassed. "We used to call him 'Risk' when he was with Blackwater."
"Come on," Rick whined. "You know I never liked that nickname." Beckett smiled. Rick noticed.
"Now she's gonna call me Risk all the time."
Demming had had enough. "Can we get back to the cop work? I've got a youth charity basket ball game that I'd like to get to tonight.
Knight narrowed his eyes and muttered, "And I bet you take yoga classes just to pick up girls." Esposito chuckled. Demming narrowed his eyes and was about to say something when Knight's phone rang. "Knight." His eyes widened and he pointed to his phone, mouthing 'I have to take this' to Beckett. She rolled her eyes. "Look, Sorenson, I know that Mike told me to call you..."
"Wait," said Beckett as Knight passed by. "Will Sorenson?" Knight nodded and waved her off and her jaw dropped.
The following conversation about Gould's body was interrupted by Knight's shouting. "Dammit, Will! Stop calling me 'Writer Monkey!'" He looked around and noticed everyone was staring at him. "Fine, I'll call the NSA back," he said quietly, then shouted back to Beckett, "Hey, I gotta roll. I'll see you Thursday!"
She smiled and waved back. Katherine Beckett! Did you just smile and wave? She sighed and then her eyes widened. Shit. She'd forgotten about dinner with Leon. This was going to be a long week.
Knight sat down at the desk in his home office and dropped a large stack of files down on the floor next to his seat. As he ran his hands over his face, Sorenson's words echoed in his mind. "If you hurt Kate, there's nowhere you can hide from me or her." He looked down at the tower of papers and opened the top one on his desk. He looked at the name and decided it must be an alias.
Pushing the folder to the side, he searched through the stack and found another. He looked through until he found the phone number he was looking for. Knight dialed it and waited for a pick up. "Mr. Coonan, my name is Rick Knight, I'm with The Castle." He waited for a response. "Yes, that Castle. I need the number for Rathborne."
Oh, shite! Is Knight doing something he probably shouldn't? Only time will tell – well, time and me writing it. Thanks to the 4 or 5 people reading this right now.
- Laramie
