A/N:: I am aware progress is painfully slow with this real life exists and tends to get in the way. I hope this is okay, I was intended it to be longer, but I think you'll agree that it certainly sets the scene for what is to come. The question is: How will it all end? RKC.
"Walter Smith was investigating your mothers' murder."
Castles' smooth voice kept repeating the words around her head like a song that wouldn't get out. The similarities of Walter Smiths' case were glaringly obvious to that of her mothers' but she didn't want to acknowledge that fact, that somebody was still out there carrying murders to hide what happened so many years ago. She thought that she held the cards. More than that, it meant Montgomery's death meant nothing and that it was all going to happen again, she was going to be hunted again.
Kate didn't remember being sat on the break room couch, nor how it got so dark. She could hear the furious whispered voices of her colleagues probably arguing over what was the best way forwards. They didn't seem to be paying her any attention, and as her mind returned to her, she felt the beginning of a plan in her head. The potential to solve all of her problems, something that would need a lot of planning, and a lot more secrecy than anything she had ever done in her life.
She put her hands in her head, scraping her fingers up through her scalp. She would need Castle's help, there would be no doubt. He would be the one with the imagination to pull off a stunt on the scale she was thinking of. Could she ask him too, though? She would have to think on a niggle of thought. Right now she had to right herself, focus on Walter Smith. To return to the present. There was every chance that she wouldn't be involved, that someone might not come after her this time, that they would realise that it wasn't her touching her mothers' case.
She didn't think she would be that lucky. She hadn't been at any other point regarding the murder of her mother.
"Kate? Are you okay?" Castle asked as he took the seat beside her.
"Yeah Rick I am. Thanks for asking," Kate replied, knowing that she didn't look and hadn't acted as though she was actually okay, "What we need to do is keep the connection to my mothers' case quite so that Gates doesn't find out. As soon as she does this case will be taken from us. We can't afford to let that happen. You know what is at stake here. We can't sully Montgomery's name. And it wouldn't just be his name that we would label as dirty." She said it all in a tone that required no arguments, "We wait for the CCTV to return from the lab to see if there are any new leads. We know who's behind these attacks so let's see if we can at least find some other connection to Walter and the person who killed him..." She sighed, knowing as she said it that there would be no other connection that the murder of his parents.
The idea flickered around her brain again. "Ryan, Espo, go home. Get some rest. We'll tackle this with fresh eyes in the morning. We'll find something to fob off Gates with in the mean time. Castle, a word before you go please?" She asked him to stay, but the way it sounded ensured that it was a question, more of an order.
"Sure, what can I do?" He asked as they said their goodbyes to the two Detectives, who left with some curious looks.
"Castle... I have an idea that I need your help with." Kate started, "You know what happened before. The assassin didn't stop until he had me on the edge of everything, life, sanity. I can't, no, I won't, let it happen again. How would it sound to you if we, as a team, drew him out? What if we set up a sting operation, just the four of us, and take him down once and for all? We get Bracken, the assassin, everything in one swoop."
"Kate, that's a nice idea but we can't – like you said we all know what's at stake here," Castle responded looking around the break room. He didn't want to look in her eyes to see the heartbreak that he knew would be there.
"I'm not talking about exposing us – I'm talking of them. We would be – we are – the victims." She emphasised, and Castle couldn't disagree. They were the victims, Kate more than any of the others in the team.
"Kate just what is it you want to do?" Castle asked frightened of the answer.
"We set a lure. We send a message saying that we are about to go public with the information that we have, Bracken knows about the files, he knows that we know everything about him, what he did, what they all did. We say we've had enough of the murder and the persecution. That we would give him one chance to set this right for himself, to hand himself in to us in a set location. I confront him." Kate explained, the plan forming for coherently as she talked it through with him.
"Kate, you know that won't happen. You know he would kill you before you did anything." He argued.
"Exactly. We'll let him kill me. Or, at least, think that he has," a look of utter shock and terror visible went over Castle's face, the thought of losing the woman he loves was not an acceptable idea, ever, "No, listen – I'll only pretend to be dead –"
"No. Kate the answer is no. We are not doing this. I am not even going to go through that again. There is no way that is acceptable. You know what these people are like. There is no pretending." He stood up quite abruptly, "You know they would check, to ensure they would have done the job properly."
"We only need a river, a pier, something with a strong current like the Hudson. Prepare it all in advance, stage absolutely everything. Then, call them out. They shoot me, I go in the river, the guys arrest the assassin and get Bracken – and you get me from the river. You find me and get me safe and we'll all be safe again." Castle thought Kate was starting to sound delusional, there was no way a plan like that would work – and what about the consequences – there would be no guarantee that they would even be able to pull it off.
"Kate – I said no. I won't go through that again." Castle responded – he started pacing. It was a crazy idea, a stupid one. Stupid enough to work? "Let's go home Kate. There's nothing else here for us tonight. And there is no way you are going to your own home tonight. It's with me, and nothing you can say will stop that."
"I could arrest you for kidnap – that would stop you," Kate responded a bit of her old self in the jibe.
"Then arrest me once we've sorted this all out." Castle replied somewhat acerbically.
TBC... Next chapter soon!
