Her Name Was Elena by Oldest Man
Chapter 4
Volkov boyat'sa — v les ne khodit' [If you're afraid of wolves - don't go to the woods.] Old Russian proverb.
Elena Antonenko looked at Castle's card and noted his cell phone number and then his address. She had no idea how far her hotel was from his apartment and she didn't want to arrive late.
"Excuse me, Detective Beckett, do you know how far this address is from the Marriott Centre? I have to plan my time and I have no idea how long it will take to get to Rick's home and I do not wish to be late."
Kate took the card and noticed that he was still at the same address and then turned it over and committed his new cell phone number to memory. Cops could be sneaky sometimes.
"I don't think it will take more than 20 minutes. Castle's loft is on a quiet side street near the park."
"Thank you, Detective Beckett."
"If we're going to be working together, please call me Kate or Beckett. Titles don't mean a lot around here. Let me introduce you to the boys on my team and then we'll get you outfitted with a vest and a weapon. No one goes out on my team without a vest. No exceptions. Are you authorized to carry a firearm in the US?"
Kate wanted to see him, to talk with him but the Captain had purposely drawn the blinds on his office after staring at her for a few seconds. The look on his face made her feel – dirty somehow.
"Da – yes. I have a special addendum to my visa from your Department of Homeland Security. Agent Fallon was very helpful in helping me get it."
"May I see your weapon, please? Is it compatible with standard 9mm cartridges?"
"Yes. It is the MP-443 Grach – er – 'Rook' in English. Is there something wrong, Det – Kate?" She drew and cleared the weapon, ejecting the magazine and clearing the chamber before handing it to Beckett.
"Um, no, no. It's just that Castle's alter ego in his novels was named Rook, as I'm sure you know. It's just a coincidence. Wow, it's heavier than it looks!"
"Yes. It is heavy – um – 33 or 34 ounces in weight. But it is very reliable, accurate, and it does not mind getting dirty. I owe this my life several times over."
'She owes her Rook her life as do I owe mine.'
"We have a range here. Would you like to go and do some shooting and run comparisons? Our Glock 40 is standard but it's got a lot of plastic so it's lighter than your Rook."
'Rook. Why couldn't it have been named anything else? Crow, Buzzard, Vulture?'
"Excellent idea, Kate. And then maybe we can talk about the case I came to learn from? I have clearances from your Internal Bureau and your Homeland Security agency."
'Why does she have to be so damned good looking and why do even I find her twisted English versions so charming? Damn Castle. He could have said No when she asked him to dinner.'
Javier Esposito watches Beckett and the Russian cop talk shop and compare weapons. He's really not listening or even paying attention. His mind, his anger, is focused on what Castle had said to him. Both the words and the look on his face belied what Esposito and Ryan had been told. 'Why is Castle so damned bitter all of a sudden?'
"Yo, Ryan, let's you and me hit the breakroom. I want to compare some notes. Something's not right here. Man, Castle, he's never ever got in my face like he did and he was telling it like it is. The problem I got is that his version is different than Beckett's."
Montgomery's Office
"You sure you won't reconsider? You've been a great help to us all and you keep morale up and crap down. Are you sure?" Montgomery was clasping Rick's hand in goodbye.
"Yes. It's time for me to move on. I have more than enough research and background but to be honest, the Nikki Heat series just doesn't have the sparkle it once had."
"Rick, man to man, is Beckett the reason for your sudden departure?"
"I almost froze to death and then almost got blown up and it was a wake up call. I don't belong here. I'm a chronicler, a teller of real people's adventures and deeds as fiction. This is all too intense and I'm just not cut out for it. I'm not the brave man I thought I was. Almost dying was a wake up call for Richard Castle. I don't have the balls to do this, not anymore, Roy."
"You didn't answer my question, Rick." He knew the answer. He just wanted confirmation for his own satisfaction and peace of mind. Castle was a lot of things but a coward wasn't one of them.
"Roy, make sure you watch your ass out there. It's been a pleasure. You know where I live. Don't be a stranger. The beach house is yours anytime you decide to take a vacation, you know that. Make sure the guys know that, too. And Beckett, of course. Be a nice place for a honeymoon – rent free."
He forced a laugh and then waved his hand and left. He pushed the elevator button and the Fates were kind. The doors opened in response to the push and he was gone.
Homicide Squad Break Room
"Kevin, I'm telling ya, I saw his eyes. I saw that what he said and what he didn't say – he spouted the company line but it wasn't how it went down. Something happened in that freezer and again right afterwards. They dropped the hammer on any intel from the 'event' but something happened there, too."
"Esposito, it's none of our business. We have enough on our plates. Beckett's the boss. What she says is the truth as far as I'm concerned. I love Castle to death but the man's gone. Think about it. We are a team. Castle was never really 'one of us'. He was only here for Beckett and now he's not."
"So that's it? You're just going to let it go. Man, he is my friend. He might not be a cop but he's been beside us every step of the way through some hairy shit and not once did he break faith. I know cops with 20 years who can't say the same."
"So ask her. You have questions. She has the answers. Ask her. Maybe ask Lanie first, though. No sense walking into the lair of the alpha dog without knowing what you're getting in to."
"Now that's a damned good idea. I'll be back." Esposito headed down to the morgue and the ME's office. If anyone had the straight poop on Beckett versus Castle it was Lanie Parish.
Indoor Firing Range
Kate watch as Elena burned through one magazine, reloaded and then burned through another. One of the advantages of her weapon was how easily the magazine released. Another was it's capacity: 18 rounds.
Elena pushed the button to return the trolley and removed her ear protectors. She looked at the silhouette and snickered. She could tell exactly when she'd been distracted by a random thought. The one bullet hole that was in the 6-ring and not the 9 or 10.
"What's so funny? I'd say that's damned fine marksmanship." Kate could do as well, but not firing as fast as Elena had been.
"See here? I was thinking about the look on his face when he thought I was someone named Katya. He looked so hopeful and then so sad. Do you know this Katya?"
"No. He never mentioned her and I know most of the women he's dated over the past 3 years." He's dated like what, 4 times in 3 years?
"Good. I think he has the heats for her. The look on his face made me wonder about it. So, you and he – " The look on her face finished the sentence.
"Me and Castle? Oh, good God, no! I have a boyfriend, a doctor who's on his way to the Middle East on some humanitarian mission. And it's 'hots', Elena. You think he has the 'hots' for her." She rarely lied and yet it just rolled off her tongue like butter off a hot knife. She felt it was the truth so in her mind, it wasn't really a lie.
"Good. I would not want to be stepping on heels here."
"Toes. I would not want to be stepping on toes." Elena nodded and repeated the phrase a few times. It finally sounded correct to her ears and also made sense.
Elena had done literally thousands of interviews in her climb up the ranks of the department and she knew a lie when she heard it. Beckett's pupils had dialated, her eyes moved to the lower right and then the lower left of her field of vision and her nostrils flared slightly. No. Kate Beckett was a lousy liar. Too bad for her.
12th Precinct Morgue
"Javier, it's a good thing I don't have any fresh meat lying around here otherwise you'd be responsible for some serious delays in processing. Tell me again what Rick said? He really got into your face? He actually pushed his finger into you to make his points? Damn! I missed it. I always knew that boy had balls."
"Fine. He's got cojones muy grandes but answer my question, Lanie. Was he telling the truth? Is that all this is? He's moving on. Nothing else? Because I think the man's been pushed away one time too many and he's just had it up to here with the situation." He held his hand over his head, palm down.
"Look, there are some things that happened that I can't go into. Mostly because I don't really know exactly what happened but I can tell you this: Kate Beckett is alive and well today because Castle kept her alive in that freezer at great personal risk and uh, and the other place I can't talk about."
"And that's it? He expected some kind of reward for taking care of his partner? He's got his nose out of joint because we didn't hail him as some kinda frikkin' HE – RO? He quit because of that? What an asshole!"
"No. You know better than that. I think – no, I know that Beckett walked away with Josh and Castle didn't like it. The other time, I wasn't there but I was here, upstairs, when Josh showed up and she left with him, again. That had to have left a mark on Castle for sure after all they'd been through together."
"Oh. Yeah. Well, that explains everything. 'Course it doesn't matter now. Beckett told Josh to go Eff himself this morning on the phone right before the Russian chick showed up. She made a beeline for Castle and they're going to dinner tonight."
"It's about time Beckett got her head on straight. So Castle's staying then? Do we have to give back the party basket?"
"Uh, Lanie, it was the Russian Inspector who asked Castle to dinner. Not Beckett."
"What? Ima gonna smack that girl until she gets some smarts. So Castle is still gone? What did Beckett do? Did she talk to him at all? She is so not going to let him leave, is she?"
"Fraid so."
"I need to talk some sense into her. You go back up to the squad and I'll be along directly. Then you and Ryan take the Russian cop out for Vodka or something and I'll straighten our girl out right pronto."
Unfortunately, the rotation team got a body and Lanie missed Beckett but met Inspector Elena Antonenko as she got off the elevator on the squad floor.
"I was looking for Detective Beckett. I'm Lanie Parish, the Medical Examiner assigned to the Precinct. You must be the Russian cop." She was never known for her tact.
"Yes, I am Senior Inspector Elena Antonenko. It is good to meet you. We do not have our own 'medical examiner' but must send corpses to be processed in a central facility. The results are neither timely nor enlightening. I would be pleased to observe an examination, Dr. Parish. To see how it should be done so I can go home and kick some back ends."
"Why, sure. And I think you mean 'rear ends'. I don't have any customers right now but I'll let you know when we get a fresh one and that should be right smartly. So you and Castle have dinner plans? You know that he and Beckett have been dancing around each other for years."
"She told me she has a boyfriend, a doctor. She said she had no interest in a man-child."
"Ima gonna smack her." Her pager went off and she apologized to Elena.
"Got a customer. Got to go to the crime scene. Want to ride along?"
"I must take a rainy day on that. I have to return to my hotel, contact my office in Moscow and make a report. Next time, Dr. Parish, for certainly."
"It's Lanie and I'll hold you to that. Well, gotta fly."
'Kate you are in so much trouble. I think you're in for the fight of your life. Javier didn't mention she had a killer body. Good boy. Ah, Katie. Sometimes you're so dumb.'
