Chapter 4

Forgetting to Breathe

Kevin Ryan had been in countless situations that made his adrenaline pump, his heart pound and his palms sweat, but never in all his years in law enforcement had he ever been so afraid that he forgot to breathe. Until today.

Sitting in the passenger seat of Lt. McGuire's squad as they raced through the streets towards Jenny's apartment, he held his breath in fearful anticipation of what they'd find.

Today was Columbus Day, meaning all the schools were closed. Jen had told him the night before that she'd planned to stay home and relax on her day off, hoping to clean out some closets and catch up on some reading. So when he couldn't reach her on either her home phone or cell, he wanted to vomit.

For almost a year now, Ryan had been waiting to hear that his gun and badge were used in a crime. He knew that it wasn't a matter of if, but when Jerry Tyson would be back. When Captain Gates showed them evidence that Jerry Tyson was possibly back in action, he thought one of his worst nightmares had come true, but he never thought that his Jenny might be one of Tyson's victims.

Ryan fought back the tears that wanted to spill. He told himself that they didn't know anything yet. He tried to focus on his training and get control, but his emotions were winning the fight.

When they arrived at her building, Kevin jumped from the squad before it even fully stopped, ran past the doorman and straight to the elevator. The time it took for the car to climb the seven floors was agonizingly slow.

Ryan had always been happy that Jenny lived in a secure building. Most public school teachers couldn't afford such a nice place, but her roommate's dad was the building manager and got them a great rate. Now he was kicking himself for assuming that would keep her safe.

When he made it to her unit, he didn't even bother knocking, with his weapon drawn, he just opened the door with his key.

At first glance, nothing seemed out of place. He was dashing from room to room calling Jenny's name when McGuire finally caught up with him.

"Is she here?"

"No," Ryan's voice cracked when he answered.

"And she's not at work or running errands or anything?"

"No, no. She was supposed to be here."

"Then you start looking for signs of a struggle. I'll call it in and start talking to neighbors."

Ryan nodded and McGuire turned toward the hall, already talking with dispatch.

Going back to the door, Kevin began his search for clues, looking around the home that was as familiar to him as his own place. To his left was the kitchen and the patio door. He was in the living area and directly in front of him was the hall that led to the bathroom and two bedrooms.

The living room was the same as it was the night before, when they watched a True Grit. The blanket that they'd snuggled under was half tossed over the back of the couch and the empty popcorn bowl was still on the end table. Nothing looked odd or out of place. No signs of struggle either.

Ryan walked on toward the kitchen. The only thing new there was a large bouquet of flowers, but that didn't seem suspicious, because Jen's roommate Claire was always getting flowers and teddy bears and such sent to her from her boyfriend, Pete. He traveled a lot and was constantly sending gifts.

The patio and bathroom was also clear, as was Jenny's room, and although he'd never been in Claire's bedroom before, nothing stood out to him as being odd. It did remind him though to call her and see if she was alright, and also to see if she knew anything.

Kevin went back to Jenny's room while the call connected, and looked through Jenny's purse that was on her dresser. It still had her keys, wallet and cell phone which had no recent calls in or out listed in its call records.

On the third ring, Claire answered.

"Hello?"

"Claire, it's Kevin. Have you seen Jenny this morning?"

"Um, no. Pete came in on an early bird flight this morning. I left to pick him up around 5:30 and she was still asleep. Something wrong?"

Kevin closed his eyes. If only she knew how wrong things were. Still, he didn't want to scare her.

"She's missing, and I can't get a hold of her."

Claire missed the strain in the man's voice and laughed. "I'm sure she's not missing. Maybe she's at the gym and her phone is in the locker."

"No. It's not just her, Claire. Don't tell anyone this, but my partner Esposito, his girlfriend and my boss Detective Beckett are both missing too. We think an old case may be back for revenge."

Claire gasped. "Oh my God, Kevin. What can I do to help?"

"Just let me know if you hear anything from her. And stay with Pete. Don't come back to the apartment until we know everything is OK."

"OK. I mean, are you sure? I, I, I feel like I should do something." Claire was now obviously distressed.

All of a sudden, something clicked in Ryan's head.

"Did you come home after the airport?"

"No, we grabbed breakfast at Eggcelent, and then I dropped Pete off at his place and I went right to work."

"If Pete was flying in early this morning, why did he send you the flowers?"

"What flowers?"

"I'm at the apartment now, looking for her or any signs of what happened and there's a giant bouquet of mixed flowers on the counter. They weren't there last night, so I thought you'd got them this morning."

"Pete didn't send me any flowers, and they were not there when I left."

"Thanks Claire, I'll let you know if we find out anything. OK?"

"OK. Go find her Kevin."

When Ryan clicked off his phone, he was back in the kitchen. After pulling on a pair of latex gloves, he started searching for a card amid the flowers. He didn't find anything but noticed that suddenly he was feeling light headed.

Thinking it was just from the stress of the moment, he sat on a bar stool and dropped his head, trying to clear his mind. It was then that he spotted the card.

He bent down and picked up the small square of card stock from the floor. In neat script it simply said "Surprise."

As much dread as this brought him, it also gave him hope. It was their first clue. He made a call and knew someone from CSU would soon be there to start lifting finger prints.

After finishing that call, he made another.

When the other line picked up there was no "Hello" or "How's it going?". Esposito cut to the chase. "Find anything?"

"Possibly. She's not here and there are no signs of a struggle. Her roommate was gone before she woke up and didn't see anything either, but there's a giant unexplained bouquet of flowers here, that wasn't here when Claire left at 5:30 in the morning."

"There's a bouquet here too. The card just says "Surprise." I was just about to text you and Castle about it. I've got CSU coming to do prints."

"Me too," Ryan answered.

"Something's not right about those flowers. They smell funny and when I was near them, I felt all woozy."

"You too? I thought it was just me freaking out."

"No, them flowers are wack, Dude."

"Call Castle, see if Beckett got flowers too. I think it's our lead."

"Will do."

After hanging up, Kevin looked at the giant floral arrangement. Barely handling the flowers made him feel sick. Jenny was a small person, if she carried them from the door, her face would be right in them. If someone put something on the flowers to drug her, it wouldn't take long for it to work.

Just then McGuire came back in.

"Hey Ryan, after talking to the neighbors on this floor, no one saw anything suspicious, in fact, only one person saw anyone in the hall at all this morning, and he was a florist making a delivery, but they didn't know to whom."

"Go back to that witness and find out everything you can. Try to get a time and description on the florist. I think he may be our guy. I'm going to go down and talk with management."

Somebody had to have seen something, and he'd question every person in the city if that's what it took to get his fiance' back safe and sound.

X
X
X
X
X

A/N After the last chapter, Tycho77 was kind enough to share the name of the therapist that will be on the show, "Dr. Burke". So I've changed Dr. Murdoch mentioned in chapter 3, to Dr. Burke, both in the last chapter and also in future ones. So when you read Dr. Burke later, please know that was orignally Dr. Murdoch, but no longer!

Sorry if that's confusing, but I like the authenticity of it and made the change!

Thanks Tycho77!