It took me so much longer to finish this chapter than I was hoping it would. I'm sorry. Things like life and the need to sleep can be so distracting sometimes. But here it is now and it's a long one. Thank you to those of you reading and taking the time to review. I really appreciate you sharing your thoughts.
Reminder: This is set after Knockout, sometime during the summer, but now that the new season has started it's AU.
Also, I still do not own Castle nor do I own Heat Wave.
The scene in Hannah Orlov's living room was eerily similar to that of Polina Bancroft's less than seventy-two hours earlier, but instead of blue and red lights flashing through the darkness, warm rays of early morning sunlight were slipping through the slats of the blinds. Tiny specks of dust danced and sparkled in the illuminated air as the crime scene technicians quietly and efficiently went about their jobs snapping photos, bagging potential evidence and dusting for fingerprints. The three detectives and Castle stood in silence behind Lanie as she knelt next to the couch, carefully examining the young woman's body.
Hannah Orlov's blonde curls were covered by another wavy, brunette wig and the V-neck of her black tee-shirt clearly showed the bright streak of reddened skin around her throat. The dark lashes of her closed eyes cast soft shadows over her lightly bronzed skin and her arms cradled another copy of Heat Wave, holding it against her stomach.
They watched as Lanie gently moved Hannah's arms aside and picked up the book, opening to the dedication page. Tyson had made his edits again, the crimson letters of Castle's initials and the Triple Killer signature stood out brightly against the creamy white page and black typeface.
Lanie glanced over her shoulder, briefly making eye contact with Kate before turning back and placing the book in an evidence bag. Through the clear plastic they could see that Castle's photo on the back cover was obscured by a stain of dark, burgundy blood that had spilled from the bullet hole Tyson put in Hannah Orlov after he strangled her.
Kate felt a faint twinge of pain from her own shooting as she stepped away from the others and crossed the room to examine the large photo collage on the opposite wall. Pictures of various types of scenery and architecture were mixed in with images of a beautiful young woman with a broad smile and bright, sparkling hazel eyes, surrounded by friends and family and on her own in hiking gear on a windblown mountaintop, riding an elephant through a jungle and walking down a dusty, sundrenched, empty street. It was hard to reconcile her vibrant existence in these photos with the lifeless victim on the other side of the room.
Castle had followed her across the room and she now felt Ryan and Esposito step up beside her. She turned to them.
"Who found her?" she asked quietly.
"Neighbor across the hall," Ryan supplied, tipping his head toward a distraught looking man with dark rimmed glasses standing with an officer in the kitchen. "Ms. Orlov sometimes takes care of his cat when he goes out of town. He came over early this morning to ask her and when he knocked he noticed the door wasn't shut all the way. He came in to check on her and found her like that."
"And what do we know about her?"
"She's a freelance journalist and photographer. Her latest project was in Afghanistan. She got back three weeks ago," Esposito said, tapping a pen against his notepad as he continued. "According to the neighbor she also has a blog that's gotten pretty popular lately. She mostly covers human rights and activism topics but apparently she's stirred up some controversy recently and people have been writing some not so nice things in their comments." He glanced over his shoulder at the man in the kitchen. "He thinks she got killed because of something she wrote."
They all glanced toward the kitchen again at the devastated man staring blankly at the tiled floor. He was more upset than neighbors of murder victims usually were in this city. He clearly cared a great deal about his neighbor and, judging by the way he looked like his world had just been shattered, Kate would have bet that he had even been in love with her.
She turned her attention back to Ryan as he spoke, "He says she's friendly but she mostly keeps to herself around here, prefers to keep her apartment as a quiet workspace, doesn't have many visitors."
"Did he see her at all last night?"
"No, but when he got home around 8:30 he almost crashed into a guy in the stairwell. Says he always takes the stairs and he usually never sees anyone else in there. They nearly collided at the door of the landing for this floor."
Ryan paused and Esposito jumped in.
"He didn't get a good look at him, he was on the phone and the guy was wearing a hat, but he remembers this guy dropping something metal and hurrying to pick it up. He didn't pay much attention at the time but now he thinks it may have been a badge."
His eyes quickly flicked sideways to his partner for a moment before he continued.
"There are no signs of forced entry so we're thinking he showed her the badge and she let him in or at least opened the door for him."
Kate nodded in agreement. Now that Tyson had a badge he could forgo the gas leak and cable repairman routine. Most people would open their doors for a cop with a badge. That metal shield was supposed to be a sign that they could trust them.
"Excuse me, Detectives." They all turned as the young, blond CSU tech approached them, seeming a bit apprehensive to be addressing all of them at once. "I found this under the sofa," he said, holding up an evidence bag with an easily recognizable yellow Metro Card inside. "I don't think it was the victim's. I checked and she already has one in her wallet. I overheard you saying she didn't have a lot of visitors so I thought maybe it's the killer's and he lost it while he was, you know, killing her."
Kate took the bag from him, smoothing the plastic over the card as she examined it. It was still in good condition and judging by the expiration date, it had been purchased fairly recently.
"Right, thanks Bradford." She gave him a quick smile as he turn away, eager to get back to work, and her sharp gaze surveyed the room again, looking for anything to jump out that she may have missed before. When she found nothing she faced her boys again.
"Alright, put Tyson in a photo lineup and get the neighbor to come down and take a look and let's run that Metro Card and see who it might belong to and where they've been."
The partners headed for the kitchen and Kate turned her attention to Castle who had been uncharacteristically quiet all morning. He had stepped away a moment ago and was now standing in front of the photo collage again. As she stepped up beside him she saw that his gaze had landed on a picture of Hannah and her neighbor laughing as they held his cat between them, all three wearing sparkly party hats.
"I wonder if she knew," Castle mused out loud, his voice low and contemplative.
"That he loved her?" Kate asked and he turned to look at her, his eyes already full of sadness showed a hint of surprise and he nodded.
"Yeah," she replied confidently. "She's a woman. Even if she didn't know for certain, I'm sure she at least had a suspicion."
An odd look crossed his face and he opened his mouth to speak but closed it again an instant later, simply nodding instead. His gaze stayed on her though, intent and focused like he was trying to decipher something in her eyes.
After a moment she forced herself to look away, tucking an errant wave behind her ear as she examined the photos once again.
It was impossible to ignore the pang of sorrow she felt at the thought that there would be no more photos of happy memories to add to the collection. Jerry Tyson had seen to that.
…
…
The guy standing in front of Alexis in line had a piece of blue chewing gum stuck to the back of his shirt. It was disgusting but she couldn't stop staring at it. The angel on her shoulder told her in a loud, confident voice of someone who was used to having her orders followed, that she should let him know it was there. Anyone would want to know if they had a piece of gum stuck on their clothes and if he sat down it was going to be somebody else's problem as well. But the devil on her other shoulder had been listening to the guy's phone conversation as he loudly bragged to his friend about the girl he'd lied to and then hooked up with last night. The devil was whispering slyly to her that he really didn't deserve to be told. In fact, the right thing to do would be to use that piece of gum to stick a warning sign on him. Caution! This guy is a jerk. Keep back 200 feet.
"Wow. Art History, Criminology and Psychology." Alexis was pulled out of her internal battle between good and evil and turned to find the man behind her craning his neck to see the titles of the books she was carrying.
"Are you interested in all those subjects?" he asked, his eyes moving from the books in her arms to her face briefly, before following the lengths of her hair hanging in front of her shoulder.
"Um, yeah." She clutched the books closer to her chest. There was something weird about the way this man was looking at her. It wasn't the way men sometimes looked at her, checking her out when they thought she wouldn't notice. Instead, the way his cold, dark eyes couldn't seem to settle in one place for long made her feel like he was trying to memorize her. It was like he was drinking in all of her details or imagining her somewhere else. It sent a chill down her spine.
As the line moved forward, Alexis angled herself away from him, hoping he would take the not so subtle hint to leave her alone.
He didn't.
"Do you have a favorite class?" he asked, stepping farther forward to stand beside her in the line.
"Not yet." She looked at him quickly before glancing around. His Yankee's hat, scruffy beard, grey T-shirt and jeans weren't uncommon at a coffee shop at the University but he was out of place and it was what he was lacking that made him stand out. Everyone here was either a student or a professor and they all had a backpack or bag like her own to carry their books and papers and computers. This man didn't have anything with him.
"Are you a student here?" she asked pointedly.
"Oh, no." He smiled at her but it only made his dark eyes look more severe. "No, I just really like their coffee."
She looked away again and got one last glimpse of the blue gum before it's owner got his coffee and walked away.
The man didn't say anything else as Alexis placed her order and waited but she could feel his eyes on her hair again. She pulled out her wallet and wished that instead of her computer bag she'd brought her purse which had the pepper spray her father had insisted she carry with her when he started working with Detective Beckett. She didn't like it but she had to admit it would have been a comfort to have it with her now. At least she'd be able to get away from him once she got her coffee and bagel.
"Here, let me get that for you," he said suddenly, reaching out to hand some money to the girl behind the counter.
"No. It's fine. I've got it." Alexis said forcefully, handing over her own cash. The girl raised her eyebrows at them, then took Alexis's money and told her it would be another minute for her bagel to toast.
"I guess you should enjoy it while your dad can still pay for you." The man's voice was low with an icy tone to it and she swung around to face him, her heart pounding.
"What is that supposed to mean?" she demanded.
"Nothing." He shook his head and shrugged. "You're young and you should enjoy having your dad around to take care of you before you have bills and stuff of your own to worry about." He spoke lightly but the hard glint in his eyes sent goose bumps up and down her arms.
She grabbed her bagel and tossed it on top of her stack of books, no longer feeling remotely hungry. She picked up her coffee and turned to leave, just wanting to get out of there and away from him as quickly as possible. A knot of worry was twisting her stomach and she wasn't even sure exactly what it was she was so worried about.
"Have a really nice day, Alexis." At the sound of her name she spun back around, ready to run or scream or throw her hot coffee in his face.
"Your bracelet," he said, nodding at her hand holding the coffee. She glanced at her wrist and the silver beads spelling out her name, but she could feel the knot in her stomach twisting even more and a tingling on the back of her neck telling her to get out now. She backed away from him before turning and hurrying out the door, nearly colliding with the people coming in.
She sped down the street, swerving around people, trying to put as much distance as she could between herself and the shop, or more exactly, between herself and the creepy man in the coffee shop. She only paused long enough to toss the coffee and bagel in a trash can and hurried on, fumbling to remove her bracelet and keep ahold of her books. It felt tainted now and she shoved it to the bottom of her bag, hoping she would be able to forget about the entire unnerving experience. The bracelet had been a gift from her mother and Meredith would never know if she never wore it again.
Before she turned the corner, Alexis looked back at the coffee shop and could see the man standing outside drinking his coffee, and although she couldn't be exactly sure what he was looking at, she thought she could feel his eyes on her once more, watching her walk away.
…
…
Beckett leaned back in her chair and sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. She could feel the faint pounding of an oncoming headache behind her eyes. The early start to the day was catching up with her already. She needed coffee. And speaking of coffee…
"Have you guys seen Castle?" she asked Ryan and Esposito. The two detectives' eyes went to the empty chair beside her desk and then glanced around the bullpen, shrugging and shaking their heads.
She and Castle had talked to Hannah Orlov's parents when they arrived the precinct earlier. Mr. and Mrs. Orlov had been understandably inconsolable and Castle had disappeared sometime after they left. Talking to the family of the victim was one of the hardest parts of her job and when the victim was someone's child it was even harder. Castle never said anything but she knew that with his imagination and his ability to empathize that those interviews with parents got to him. He was never more than a few seconds away from imagining himself in their place.
She thought he had gone to wander the precinct and regroup but nearly an hour had passed since the Orlov's left and still Castle was nowhere to be found.
Kate grabbed her phone and empty coffee mug and headed for the break room. Thankfully it was empty and she hit Castle's speed dial as she refilled the water in the coffeemaker.
"Castle? Where'd you go?" she asked when he answered.
"I'm at Penny's," he told her and she could hear the familiar jingle of the bell over the front door in the background. "I didn't have any breakfast and I know you probably didn't either so I figured it was time we eat something. And real food, not whatever we could scavenge at the precinct."
"Okay," she agreed and flipped the coffeemaker back off again, her mouth suddenly watering at the thought of Penny's special blend coffee and fluffy blueberry muffins. She glanced at her desk and made a snap decision. "Meet me at the car when you get back. We're going to see Lanie."
"Did she find something?" he asked hopefully.
Kate sighed. "Not yet but I can't stand sitting around here waiting anymore."
"Okay, I'll be there in five minutes."
…
…
Half an hour later, after a quick breakfast in the car and a harder than usual search for a parking space, they arrived at the Medical Examiner's office.
Kate's phone chimed multiple times as they pushed through the first set of swinging doors heading to the morgue.
"I must not have had any service in the garage," she said as she dug it out of her pocket. She stopped a moment to check the missed calls and then raised worried eyes to meet Castle's.
"Lanie called a bunch of times and sent a 911 text."
In an instant they set off again hurrying down the hallway. Kate's phone rang again as she shoved open the door to the morgue with such force it bounced off the wall behind it with a loud bang and nearly smacked Castle in the face as he followed closely behind her.
Lanie spun around at the noise, her cellphone pressed to one ear and the morgue's landline to the other. "They just got here," she said quickly and hung up both phones. The landline fell out of its cradle and clattered on the desk but she ignored it and moved towards them, her eyes wide and her cellphone gripped tightly in her hand.
"Before you panic, they're already tracking her phone and they've got guys heading to your place right now," she told them, her wide eyes darting back and forth between them.
"What are you talking about, Lanie?" Kate asked her in startled confusion. "What's going on?"
"Alexis," Lanie said and her fearful eyes settled on Castle.
"What?" he gasped, his hands already fumbling through his pockets for his phone. Kate could feel the coffee and muffin she'd just eaten churning in her stomach as it twisted into knots of fear.
Her hand shot out to grip Lanie's arm. "What do you mean 'Alexis'? What is going on?" she asked, desperately seeking an explanation.
Lanie grabbed an evidence bag off the desk and held it out to them with shaking hands. "I found this when I was stripping the body. It was stuck inside her bra."
Kate took the bag from her friend, her own hands shaking now as she looked at what she was holding. It was part of a page torn from a book but someone had written diagonally over the printed text in bright red marker:
Blondes- tried and true but perhaps it's time to spice things up a bit. Maybe try a touch of ginger? It can't be that hard to find a pretty, young redhead in New York City.
Kate felt terror blossoming in her chest and beside her Castle let out a quiet, shaky moan, "Oh my god, Alexis."
She turned to see that all the color had drained out of his face. Even his eyes looked paler than usual. They were wide and horrified, searching her face for an explanation and hope as he pressed his phone to his ear again.
"She's not answering. Oh god, why isn't she answering?" he asked her imploringly. "Kate, if he… if she's…."
She reached out and grabbed the forearm of his freehand, squeezing tightly and forcing herself to breathe and ignore the almost painful pounding of her own terrified heart. She squeezed his arm again so that his wild gaze locked on her face.
"I know, Castle, I know," she said, trying to keep her voice calm and soothing. "Just think, where is she? What was she doing today?"
Her thumb rubbed small, calming circles against the tensed muscles of his arm and she could practically see his mind turning as her words sunk in.
"She...she's not at home. She has class. She's taking those summer classes at NYU. She's supposed to be there all day."
Out of the corner of her eye Kate could see that Lanie was already on the phone telling Esposito to go to the university and she kept her eyes locked on her partner's.
"Ok, she has class. That's why she's not answering. She's a good student, a good kid, she follows rules so she probably put her phone on silent during class."
He nodded but hit redial again, still trying to reach his daughter. "She's a good kid," he repeated, "She's such a good kid."
"I know she is," Kate told him and smiled, the muscles in her face fighting through the tension to make her lips curve. "But Castle, I need you to do something for me, okay?" she asked, her grip on his arm tightening again.
He nodded numbly.
"I need you to hang up and I need you to download that app that lets you GPS track Alexis's phone again right now."
She saw his confusion quickly turn to comprehension and his eyes lit up as he finally pulled his gaze and arm away from her, his trembling fingers flying over the screen of his phone.
Lanie was still on the phone with Esposito. Kate turned to her and quietly asked, "How far away are they?"
"About three minutes," Lanie told her. "They're having a hard time getting an exact location with the department's GPS tracking system. It's taking too long. Is that one going to be faster?"
"Yeah, yeah, here, I got it," Castle said quickly, breathlessly, handing his phone to Lanie. "That's it. That's where she is!"
They both watched, barely breathing, as Lanie relayed the information. Castle stood close beside her and Kate could feel him trembling where his arm was pressed against hers. Without giving it more than a split second of thought she reached out for him and grasped his hand with hers. His palm was damp with cool sweat but she didn't care, just twined her fingers with his and tightened her grip.
"They're pulling up to the building right now," Lanie informed them. "Do you know what class she's in?"
"I, um…It's Art History or Psychology. I don't know which one is meeting now."
"You got that?" Lanie spoke into the phone, "Yeah, okay." She lowered the phone and ended the call. "They're going in now. Said they'd call when they've got her."
Castle's hand shook in hers as he took his cell back from Lanie. He stared at the screen, his eyes fixed on the blue triangle representing his daughter's phone.
The morgue was silent around its three living souls, anxious energy zinging along their nerves but they didn't move. They were frozen in place, waiting.
After a minute that felt like an eternity, Castle looked away from his phone and up at Kate, his face ashen as he suddenly struggled to breathe.
"What if she's not there?" he gasped, his desperate gaze piercing her. "What if he just left her phone there for us to find or…Or what if he already got to her and she's…she's-"
"No, Castle, stop. Don't think that." She squeezed his hand as hard as she could, her nails digging into his skin, giving him a physical pain to distract his mind.
"She's going to be fine, Castle," she reassured him, trying to make herself believe her own words. "Ryan and Esposito will get her and they'll bring her home or bring her to the 12th, okay?"
His grip on her hand tightened, clinging to her, but he nodded and was able to draw a deep breath into his panicked lungs. "The 12th. I want to see her."
Kate nodded and whispered, "Okay."
The still, tension-filled silence settled over them again and their eyes darted between one another and Castle's phone. Lanie's arms were crossed over her chest, her fingers drumming a nervous rhythm on her elbow. Castle's grip on Kate's hand was as strong as ever. She could feel the curves of his nails poking her skin as he waited for a phone call that could potentially shatter his world.
Over the sound of her pounding, scared heart and rushing blood, Kate became aware of a faint clicking noise. It took her a moment to realize that it was her own foot tapping anxiously on the cold tiles and forced herself still.
They all jumped a moment later when Kate's phone rang loud and shrill through the stark silence. It nearly slipped through her fingers as she hurried to answer, putting it on speaker in the process.
Esposito's voice crackled over the speaker. "Yo, it's us. We found her. We're outside the classroom right now and she's fine."
Castle's shaky moan of relief reverberated off the hard surfaces of the room. He scrubbed his free hand over his face and raked it through his hair. His fingers relaxed in Kate's but his hold on her hand remained strong.
Kate could feel her own relief bubbling up inside her threatening to spill over in a laugh. She met Castle's eyes again, smiling at the way his hair was sticking up now.
"The class is supposed to get out soon," Esposito told them. "We'll wait and bring her back with us."
"Okay, thank you Esposito," Kate said gratefully. She hung up and took a deep breath, letting it back out slowly.
"God, why does she have to be such an overachiever sometimes?" Castle asked with an exasperated groan. "Why can't she just be a normal teenager sleeping till noon everyday all summer in our secure building? She has four years of college to figure out her major. She doesn't have to decide now before she even goes."
"Because she's your daughter," Kate told him with a smile. "She's never going to be just a normal teenager."
He chuckled lightly and nodded. "Yeah, you're right."
"Is Martha still in the Hamptons?"
"Yeah, yeah she is but I think she's supposed to be coming home tonight," he said, his brow creasing in concern again.
"It might be a good idea to try to convince her to stay a while longer and have Alexis go too."
He nodded and gave her hand a final squeeze before dropping it and stepping away to make the call.
Kate watched him for a moment till out of the corner of her eye she noticed the white sheet covering Hannah Orlov's body and remembered why they had come to the morgue in the first place.
"Did you find anything else?" she asked Lanie, tilting her head toward the sheet.
"Not yet. That note was the only unexpected thing. So far everything else is the same as the other- the rope fibers, the bullet; even time of death was similar, sometime between 6:00 and 8:00 last night."
Lanie glanced across the room and Kate followed her gaze. Castle ended his phone call and slipped the phone into his pocket. He stood still for a moment, his back to them, before furiously rubbing his palms against his eyes. His shoulders shook as he took one deep breath after another trying to calm the adrenaline and nauseating anxiety still coursing through him.
Lanie's elbow nudged her arm and she turned back to her friend.
"Someone needs to give that man a hug," she said with a twinkle in her eye and a quirk of her brow that told Kate she meant something other than a friendly, partnerly hug. "And I think that someone should be you."
"Yeah, maybe later," Kate replied, ignoring her friend's raised eyebrows. She stepped away and picked up the plastic enclosed note from where she had placed it on an empty metal autopsy table earlier.
Only the red, handwritten, veiled threat had registered when she read it earlier but she looked at it more closely now and saw that it was part of a page torn out of Heat Wave. The page had clearly been chosen on purpose, not just ripped out at random. It was the scene in which the Russian muscle Pochenko tried to strangle Nikki, a subject that clearly resonated with Jerry Tyson. She read it through quickly, trying to ignore the way the red marker had blotted out some of Castle's words.
Heat Wave
off his nose and chin onto her face, waterboarding her. She flailed her head side to side and took swipes at him with her right hand, but his choke was sapping her strength.
Fog crept into the edges of her vision. Above her, Pochenko's determined face became dappled by a shower of tiny shooting stars. He was taking his time, watching her lungs slowly lose oxygen, feeling her weaken, seeing her head flails become less rapid.
Nikki rolled her head to the side so she wouldn't have to look at him. She thought of her mother, murdered three feet away on this very floor, calling her name. And as blackness drew over her, Nikki thought how sad that she had no name to call for.
It was cut off there, a jagged edge of ripped paper before Nikki was able to grab the iron and get away.
A wave of intense hatred passed through Kate as she stood there holding the torn page. Tyson was using Castle's own words to put images in their minds, modeling his victims after her, threatening his daughter, all because Castle had figured out his plan. He hadn't even really ruined the plan. Tyson had still gotten away and he could have stayed gone. But he had chosen to comeback, seemingly intent on exacting revenge.
"You know what would be really great?" Castle's voice asked from beside her. He was looking down at the page in her hands, a small curl of disgust pulling at his upper lip.
She turned to him, noticing the muscle twitching along his clenched jaw. "What?"
"If you could iron Tyson's face when we catch him," he said, attempting to keep his voice light. "It'd be even better if you could be naked while you do it." He grinned at her but it was stiff and the glint in his eye wasn't his usual playful sparkle. It was something dark and serious, a need for vengeance she wished she could erase. Castle wasn't a vengeful person. He was the lightness in her world full of death and the worst things people could do to one another. He was smiles and jokes and ridiculous theories, the one trying to hold on to her when her need for the truth and justice for her mother overwhelmed her senses.
So she forced herself to act like it was any other suggestive comment from him, rolling her eyes and shaking her head. "I think I'll leave the naked ironing to Nikki Heat. I'd much rather just shoot him."
"Yeah, that'd work too."
She laid her hand briefly on his arm. "Come on, let's head back to the precinct, see Alexis."
Castle nodded at the mention of his daughter's name, already heading for the door in quick, long strides.
"Call me if you find anything else," Kate requested to Lanie before hurrying to catch up with him in the hallway outside the morgue.
…
…
"Sorry about that," Castle said, nodding at her hand as they pulled out of the parking garage a few minutes later. She glanced at her hand on the wheel and saw that the red crescent-shaped indentations from his nails were still visible on her skin.
Her eyes flicked from the road back to where he sat beside her. He was still tense, his hands clenched in fists and she could see the marks from her own nails on him.
She echoed him. "Sorry about that."
He looked down, seemingly surprised to see the small arcs on his skin as well. He traced his thumb over the marks gently, not trying to rub them away.
"Do you think he'd really go after her?" Castle asked, his gaze hard as he looked down the street in front of them. "Was it just an empty threat to torment us or do you think he might actually try to get to her?"
"I…I don't know," she answered truthfully and sighed. "He's changing things and I don't know what to expect from him anymore."
Castle nodded and was quiet for a moment. When he spoke his voice was full of frustration. "He's writing the rules to his game as he goes along and we just have to keep playing and hope we do something right. We have no game plan, no strategy. We're just reacting to his moves and he's always two steps ahead. How are we going to win when we don't even really know what this game is? It's…..It's not fair."
"You know better than to expect psychopathic serial killers to play fair, Castle. And we do know what his game is about. It's about making us suffer and trying to prove that he's better than us."
"But how does he want it to end? Is he just going to torture us for a while and then disappear again or is he building up to something more… radical?"
Neither spoke for a moment as his words hung in the air. The only sounds came from the street outside and the gentle hum of the engine as they slowed for a stoplight.
Kate turned to face him, seeking out his eyes with her own. "We're going to get him, Castle," she said, her voice low yet resolute. "He's not better than us. He can't think of everything. He'll slip up sometime and we'll nail him. The four of us versus him? I'd put my money on us every time."
"But how many women are going to die and how much are we going to suffer before that happens?"
…
…
"Dad!" Alexis exclaimed, jumping up from her seat at the table in the precinct conference room as he and Kate walked in. The redhead threw her arms around her father's middle, hugging him tightly.
"When Ryan and Esposito showed up at my class I thought something had happened to you," she said, her voice slightly muffled as she pressed her face against his shoulder.
"No, I'm alright, honey. And I'm sorry we scared you," Castle told her, holding her close and running his hand over her hair like he used to do when she was little and woke up crying from a nightmare, only this time it was to comfort himself after the nightmare of believing she was in danger. He breathed a sigh of relief, finally able to hold his daughter and see for himself that she was okay, and silently offered prayers of thanks to every deity he could think of. Over the top of Alexis's head he gave Ryan and Esposito a nod and smile, thanking them as well.
Finally he pulled back so that he could see her face and rested his hands on her shoulders. "Did they tell you what happened?"
"Not really, they just said you found something at a crime scene that worried you and they came to get me as a precaution. They wouldn't tell me anything else."
"We thought it'd be best if you explained," Ryan told him quietly.
"Dad, what's going on?" Alexis stepped back and crossed her arms in front of her, fixing her sharp, intent gaze on him. "You're all trying to act like it's no big deal but I can tell that there's something going on."
He gently ushered her towards a chair and sat down beside her, buying time and trying to figure out the best way to explain. Kate followed, silently sinking into the seat at the head of the table. Castle glanced at her before turning sideways to face his daughter.
"…There is a certain criminal who seems to have taken a bit of an interest in me," he said slowly.
A steely glint appeared in Alexis's blue eyes, seeing right through the evasive mask of his words.
"Some killer has set his sights on you?" she asked, her voice a combination of fear and frustration. "And you thought this guy might try to come after me?"
"It was a possibility and we weren't going to take any chances."
She glanced from her father to the detectives and back again. "Do you think he still might try?"
"It's a possibility, yes, which is why you're going to go home, pack a bag and go stay with Grams in the Hamptons until this is over."
Alexis's voice was firm and decisive. "No."
"Alexis-" her father started but she cut him off, each syllable she spoke sharp and clear, demanding he pay attention.
"I'm not leaving unless you come too. I am not going to go sit in the Hamptons with Gram again and wonder what the hell is going on back here and worry that I'm never going to see you again. I've done that once and I'm not going to do it again. If I'm going to worry and be scared about what might be happening to you I would much rather do that here in the same city that you're in."
Castle looked beyond Alexis to Kate, dark clouds casting shadows in his normally clear blue eyes. He was torn, she could tell, between his instinct to protect his daughter and his need help them stop Tyson. She gave him a small nod, hoping to convey that she would support whatever decision he made.
"Alexis…" he sighed, "I can't leave, honey. I… I need to be here."
"I know, Dad," she said softly, not surprised by his response. "So do I."
Father and daughter looked at each other for a moment, blue eyes on blue, as understanding and acceptance passed between them. Finally Castle nodded and leaned over to press a kiss against his daughter's forehead.
"Alexis," Kate said softly, drawing her attention. "I'm going to put a protective detail on you to make sure nothing happens. I know it's not fun to have someone following you around but this is important. And if anything at all makes you nervous or uncomfortable or just doesn't feel right, you go to them and tell them, okay?"
Alexis nodded but Kate noticed a flicker of unease in the girl's eyes. She waited a moment but when Alexis didn't say anything more she turned to Ryan and Esposito. "Guys, put Cipriani and Davis on the security detail and have them come in here."
"Yeah, we're on it." The two detectives stood and flashed quick grins at Alexis and Castle as they headed towards the door.
"Wait." Alexis's voice made them pause but her eyes were focused on Kate as she spoke. "I need to tell you something."
Kate saw the flicker of unease again but it was more distinct this time and didn't fade.
"Alexis?" Castle asked, his voice full of concern. "What is it?"
Her fingers twisted the hem of her shirt and she took a deep breath before speaking. "Well, I was getting coffee today between classes and there was this guy in the coffee shop and he started talking to me and he kinda really creeped me out. When I got to class and was away from him I thought I'd just overreacted, but now…. It could have been nothing but…I don't know…"
Ryan moved from where he had paused at the door, coming back to the table, a small wrinkle creasing his forehead. "What did he look like?"
"Um, he was wearing a hat so I couldn't see his hair but it was probably dark brown. He had a kinda scruffy beard and brown eyes." She paused and looked at her father. "He was probably a little shorter than you and maybe thirty, thirty-five years old."
A trickle of ice cold alarm slithered in Kate's stomach as she listened to Alexis's description. Behind her she heard Esposito moving back toward the table again and in the silence that filled the room she glanced up at her fellow detectives, trying to keep her face bare of emotion. They were both looking at her, the lines of their faces hardened and their eyes reflecting her apprehension.
Across the table Castle was staring at Alexis as she looked back at him in confusion and increasing worry at their reactions. Slowly his eyes moved from her to Kate, searching again for an explanation other than the one they were all thinking. He reached for Alexis's hand as Kate opened the folder on the table in front of her and pulled out a photo of Jerry Tyson. She glanced at Castle again before sliding it across the table.
"Was this the man, Alexis?"
Alexis's eyes widened in surprise and recognition and she nodded. "Yeah, that's him."
"Oh my god, Alexis," Castle said weakly, pulling her against him tightly.
"Shit," Esposito cursed and Ryan nodded in agreement, concern and anger shadowing his usually bright eyes.
"What is it?" Alexis asked, struggling to pull away from her father's grasp. "Who- Who is he?"
"His name is Jerry Tyson," Kate told her. "He…he's also known as the Triple Killer."
She could see the spark of recognition in Alexis's eyes.
"The one who strangled all those blonde women? The one who got away?" She turned to her father dismayed. "He's the one who's after you?"
He nodded and pulled her against his side again. Alexis went willingly, wrapping her arms around him as best she could from the awkward angle of their chairs. A torrent of emotions washed over Castle's face- fear, repulsion, anger, relief, confusion. After a moment he pulled back, settling his hands on Alexis's shoulders as he studied her face intently.
"Did he touch you? Did he do anything to you?"
She shook her head. "No, he was just talking to me and he tried to pay for my coffee and bagel but I didn't let him."
"Alexis," Kate said, her voice serious but gentle. "I need you to tell me exactly what happened and what he said, in as much detail as you can remember. Are you okay to do that or do you need a minute or some water..?"
"No, I'm fine," Alexis told her, shaking her head and brushing her hair over her shoulder, strands of coppery silk catching the light as they fell down her back.
The room was quiet except for Alexis's voice as she recounted her run-in with Jerry Tyson at the coffee shop that morning. She needed no prompting, no questioning, just told the story clearly and concisely, leaving in the necessary details and leaving out all the unnecessary ones.
"Are you okay, honey?" Castle murmured softly to her as she finished.
She nodded, a bit distracted. "Yeah, I just… I need to use the restroom." She rose and headed for the door, Castle following right behind her, unwilling to let her out of his sight quite yet.
Alexis turned to him, her hand on the doorknob and a faintly amused look on her face. "I know where it is, Dad," she told him gently and slipped out of the room.
Kate picked up the photo of Tyson and slid it back into her folder before she stood and joined Castle at the door where he was still looking across the bullpen where Alexis had disappeared from view.
"Are you okay?" she asked softly, resting her hand on his arm and angling her body to block it from Ryan and Esposito's eyes.
He rubbed a hand over his face and up through his hair. "Yeah, yeah, I'm…" he trailed off and dropped the pretense. "No. No, I'm not okay!" he exclaimed, his voice rough with emotion. "He was there with Alexis! He talked to her! He knew who she was and he knew exactly where to find her! He- He-"
Her hand squeezed his arm gently, her thumb tracing small circles again, trying to sooth him like she had earlier in the morgue. "She's okay, Castle. She's fine. He didn't hurt her. He didn't do anything to her." She tried to get him to focus on her but his eyes were frantic and she could practically feel the waves of barely contained anxiety rolling off him.
Esposito's voice drew their attention back to the table where he was still seated beside Ryan, a pensive expression on his face. "He knew that we would find the note and that she would tell us what happened and that we would make sure she's protected. He had the opportunity to hurt her but he didn't and he knew he wasn't going to get another opportunity. She's not his target," he concluded firmly and Kate found herself agreeing with his rationality. If Tyson had any intention of harming Alexis he would have done so today, caught them all off guard before they had a chance to try to protect her.
But Castle wasn't in any mood to listen to rational arguments. He pulled his arm from Kate's grasp, pacing back and forth in the small area between the door and the table.
"He was there! He found her and he talked to her. A serial killer tracked down my daughter because of me! Because I figured out too much about him and ruined his plan. He's back and he's killing again because-"
Ryan jumped up from his seat and cut Castle off. "No! We failed to catch him. It was our job, our responsibility, not yours, Castle and he'd still be killing even if you hadn't figured out the plan."
Esposito stepped forward, his dark eyes flicking back and forth between his partner and Castle as he spoke, his voice commanding , cutting through the tension filled air. "Hey, we can't be blaming ourselves. That's not going to help us catch him. The only one to blame here is Tyson. He's the one who's killing and he's doing this to scare us and to make us feel guilty-"
"And he's doing a damn good job of it!" Castle slapped his hand against the tabletop and for a moment the only sound in the room was the rattling of the table on its one uneven leg.
"We can't let him get in our heads," Esposito warned when the rattle stopped.
Castle took a deep breath, his eyes seeking out Kate's where she still stood quietly beside the door.
"Esposito's right," she told him, moving to join them around the table again. "This is what he wants, to screw with us and let his mind games wreak havoc on our investigation and drive us crazy. I know it's hard but we can't let him get to us. We can't play into his hand."
After a long moment Castle slowly nodded and sunk into a chair at the table again. Kate retook her seat as well, tilting her head to meet his eyes and placing her hand on his arm again, no longer caring if Ryan and Esposito saw and wanted to make something of it. "Alexis is okay," she reassured him, "and we're going to make sure that nothing happens to her, I promise."
He nodded again then glanced out toward the bullpen. "Has she been in the bathroom too long?"
"I'll go check on her."
…
…
Kate pushed open the door of the women's room and immediately spotted Alexis. She was leaning against the wall next to the row of sinks, her hands fiddling with the hem of her shirt and her brilliant red hair falling across her face.
"Hey," she said quietly, walking over towards the young woman and propping her hip against one of the sinks.
Alexis looked up and greeted her with a small smile. "Hi."
Kate studied her for a moment before asking, "Are you sure you're okay? Because it's alright if you're not. Something like this can rattle you even though you know that nothing happened and physically you're okay."
"I know but I really am fine, I'm just…processing and making sure there's nothing I forgot to mention."
Kate nodded and they were both quiet for a moment. She could tell that Alexis had something she wanted to say but she knew it was best to wait until she was ready instead of trying to pry it out of her. So she waited and let the steady drip, drip, drip of a leaking faucet lull her own frayed nerves and quiet her heartbeat.
"Why did he do what he did? Why did he find me but not do anything to me?" Alexis finally asked, her blue eyes blazing with the need to understand.
Why indeed? They were the same questions she'd been asking herself over and over. Why did Jerry Tyson do any of the things he'd done? And what was he playing at this time? Was he killing these women and tracking down Alexis just to mess with them or did he have something much more sinister planned, as Castle had suggested.
Kate pushed off the sink and nodded at the door. "Come on, let's go somewhere else to talk."
She led Alexis to the Property Room and saw the girl smile as she looked around at the space she had helped organize. It was much less likely that someone would walk in and interrupt their conversation in here. She pulled out the computer chair for Alexis and perched herself on a table across from her.
"Did your dad tell you what happened when Tyson got away last time?"
Alexis shook her head. "No, he just said that he knocked out Detective Ryan and got away."
"Tyson made a deal with his cellmate and set it up so that he took the fall for all of Tyson's murders. He played us and he had us fooled but your dad figured it out. Tyson still got away but his plan was ruined because we knew that he was actually the Triple Killer."
She watched Alexis's look of surprise transform into one of contemplation as she thought through what she had just been told.
"So he blames my dad for ruining his plan?" she asked.
"It seems that way," Kate replied, nodding.
"And…and he wants revenge?" Alexis's brow furrowed as she tried to understand the motivation behind Tyson's actions.
"We…" Kate sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "We're not entirely sure what he wants, but that seems to be a part of it."
"But why did he just talk to me? Why didn't he try to… to do anything to me?" Alexis asked again, sounding somewhat bewildered now.
"Well, he has a very specific profile for the women he kills and fortunately you don't fit it," Kate said with a tight smile but she couldn't help thinking that the day could have ended much differently if Alexis's hair had been another color.
"I'm not blonde."
Kate nodded. It wasn't something she had ever considered before but she was suddenly extremely thankful that Alexis embraced her natural hair color. It was ludicrous and terrifying to think that something as seemingly trivial as the color of her hair may have saved her life.
"And I think he may have done it because he wants to torment your dad, make him suffer. He wants to punish him for ruining his plan and just knowing that he was that close to you is enough to do that. He wants us to wonder what he's up to and drive ourselves crazy trying to figure it out."
"Do you think he'll try to… to hurt him?" Alexis questioned hesitantly, her fingers worrying the hem of her shirt again, her fear compelling her to ask the question she didn't necessarily want to know the answer to.
"I… I don't know, Alexis," she said truthfully, angling her head to catch the girl's eye directly, "but I'm not going to let anything happen to your dad and Ryan and Esposito won't let anything happen to him either. He's one of us and we protect our own."
Alexis nodded and continued pulling at a thread. The seam had put up a good fight against her anxious fingers but with a soft snap it finally gave up the contest and started to unravel. Her hands stilled.
"You have to be careful, Detective Beckett," she said quietly but earnestly. "If this…if Tyson is trying to make my dad suffer, going after you and hurting you would be a sure way to accomplish that."
"Alexis-" Kate started to protest but Alexis interrupted her, an uncharacteristically fierce look on the redhead's pale face.
"You didn't see him when you got shot and when you were in the hospital and even after you got out. He…" She shook her head searching for the right words. "He wasn't good. He really, really cares about you, so you can't let anything happen to you, either."
Stay with me, Kate. Don't leave me… I love you. His words replayed once again in the back of her mind and any protestation about Alexis's concern for her vanished.
"I…I'll be careful," she promised, swallowing the wave of emotion that still threatened to overwhelm her when she remembered.
Alexis bobbed her head once and smiled softly before looking away, her eyes roaming over the boxes lining the shelves of the room. Kate wondered if she had somehow sensed her emotional upheaval and was giving her a moment to regroup. She'd spent weeks thinking about his words and trying to sort out her own feelings, doubts and desires but she was still unsure how to proceed. Castle's declaration of love hadn't come as a complete surprise and it hadn't been unwelcome. In fact, the thought of it sent a ripple of warmth through her, like a sip of hot coffee on a cold morning. But it was daunting, too. When you loved someone you set yourself up for potentially getting your heart broken but being loved meant that you could potentially break that person's heart as well. And the last thing she wanted to be responsible for was breaking Castle's heart.
"So," Kate started, forcing her mind back to the present moment, "I noticed your books earlier. You're taking Criminology and Psychology and Art History, too?"
"Yeah," Alexis replied, smiling at the detective and the subject change. "Dad keeps telling me I'll have plenty of time to decide on a major once I actually get to college, but I've been looking at the course catalogue for Stanford and there are so many different things I'm interested in that I don't know how I'll ever narrow it down to just five classes a semester much less decide on a major." A small worried crease appeared between her eyebrows at the thought of having to make that decision. "So I thought that if I took some classes now and got an introduction to subjects I haven't had an opportunity to study yet, maybe it would help with the process when I do go to college." She shrugged her shoulders and continued speaking.
"I'm hopeless at painting and drawing and everything like that but Art History is really interesting and I haven't had a chance to really study it in depth."
"And the others?" Kate prompted her.
"I'm taking Criminology and Psychology because… I'm curious, I guess." She paused for a moment before launching into her explanation.
"You know, with my dad being 'The Master of the Macabre' and all that, murder and death have pretty much always been a part of my life, but it was always in a fictional, hypothetical way, like 'What happens if you put a head in the microwave?' or 'What's the best way to kill someone in their sleep?'."
She just smiled and shook her head at Kate's raised eyebrows.
"Then he started shadowing you and helping solve real crimes committed by real people and that all sort of became a part of my life too. I'm not saying that I blame him or that it was wrong or it's scarred me or messed with my mind in any way, it's just that it's made me think about things more. In his books the bad guy always gets caught and motives are clearly explained and everything is wrapped up neatly by the end, but I know that in real life that's not always the case. I just wonder sometimes, in the real world, what can make someone do such an awful thing to another person. So I guess I'm taking the classes to try to understand that better. Although," she added as an afterthought, "I wasn't expecting to have a situation in which I could actually apply what I'm learning present itself so readily."
Alexis looked up to find Kate studying her with a curious expression and an almost amused smile.
"What?"
"It's just funny," she said, shaking her head lightly, "because that's the reason I started reading murder-mystery novels. After my mother was killed I started taking Criminology courses but I also started reading detective stories. I was looking for answers, anywhere I could find them, to understand why and how someone could have done what they did." A shadow of sadness clouded her eyes for a brief moment before she continued.
"And you can't tell him this," she said quietly as she leaned forward and glanced at the door, "but your dad's books were always my favorites."
"Don't worry, Detective Beckett, your secret is safe with me." Alexis grinned at her with a twinkle in her clear blue eyes and she finally looked like her usual lighthearted self again.
"Come on," Kate said, sliding off the table, "He's probably wondering what's going on and I don't want him worrying you're not okay and barging into the women's room, thinking we're still in there."
…
Thank you for reading! Let me know what you think or if you have any suggestions or advice.
Hopefully the next chapter will cooperate and be ready quicker!