A/N: Sorry, it took a long time again to upload. I hope you'll like this chapter, things start to get revealed, and the plot thickens. I'm amazingly greatful for the Fav Stories and Story Alerts, so keep reading! (Maybe review...) =) Thank you!
'Beckett.' he turned to the detective sitting next to him in the car as the pulled up in the 12th's carpark. 'Are you sure that...'
'That I wanna catch that son of a bitch?' she finished his sentence. 'Yeah, I'm sure.' her eyes were shining with pluck but he was worried. He knew her enough to know she won't hesitate getting herself in the biggest danger to finish what she started... And he couldn't bear to see her the way he saw yesterday. So painful, so broken, so weak...
'Alright.' he said, then both got out of the car.
oOo
'Beckett, what are you doing here?' Esposito asked surprised as the detective appeared after all what happened the day before.
'I'm catching a killer.' she replied not even looking at him and stepped to the board. There were only few informations about the type of the gun which Deston had been shot with, pictures of the crime scene and a photo of the victim.
'What?' Esposito was totally puzzled as Beckett took off the pictures from the board. He moved his glance from her to Castle then back at her again.
Mainwhile Kate wrote down the name of Christopher Herbert under the „killer" catchword in the case of Adam Deston's and his parents' murder.
'He spoke about a list with names on it...' she expressed her thoughts. For a few second Castle watched her doing the total opposite of what she was supposed to do, namely to stay at home and spend the day mourning her loved one... Instead, she jumped onto the case like a fierce tiger who caught sight of her future dinner...
He couldn't get rid of the voice in his head saying it's not going to end well... He took a deep breath and finally piped up:
'I think I know what kind of list he was talking about.' he pulled out a white piece of paper from his pocket. Beckett looked at him with confusion. Castle continued. 'Before you caught him, I had a close encounter with his fist... Then he put it in my pocket.' he touched the hurting, light purple spot under her eye. The detective didn't even notice his injury yet.
First Castle was upset about the sock, but later he figured out that Deston must have been as much surprised about him popping up as he was about meeting Adam.
Kate took the paper and started to read and write the names onto the board.
'Someone should explain what's going on...' Espoisto tried to tune in though he was losing the hope to get an answer.
'Where's Ryan?' Beckett asked. As her eyes met with his colleague's confused glance she slowed down a bit and said: 'I'm sorry. I can't explain this at the moment. I know I can't ask you to understand me, I'm just asking you to trust me.' she was awake to the fact that the lack of time wasn't the main obstruction for her to explain the things. She couldn't be capable of calling the last few days' events to mind... It would've been too painful. The only way she could get through this was to focus on the case and strangle her feelings...
Strangling my feelings... I'm good at it... - it crossed her mind as she caught sight of the writer standing next to her but the loud beat of her heart warned her to concentrate.
Esposito nodded slowly.
'Tell me what to do.' Kate felt relieved and she sent the cop to find Ryan.
oOo
'He said four of them will confess voluntarily...' Beckett was staring at the five pictures on the board. 'Who's the odd one?'
Castle pensively stared at the photos and the names above them, until a pair of magically deep blue eyes caught his sight...
'Looks familiar...' he mumbled, so Beckett rose her head immediately like a canine smelling a clue. She started to watch the picture too, which had a name of „Uriah Geronn" upon it.
It didn't ring a bell for neither, but the face, the eyes were familiar. The two glancing points which drew them in, like some kind of magic so they couldn't tear their looks from them...
'Charlene!' they bursted at the same time.
'Is it possible?' Castle asked founding that he had the same excitement growing in his body like when he and Beckett figures out who the killer is in an ordinary case, and they express it at the same time...
'Why not? It would make sense...' she replied, then got back to her thoughts with a renewed bounce. Castle couldn't follow her this time. Then she turned to him again with an excited-glad light in her eyes.
'That's why he did it! That's why he killed Charlene! Everything's clear now!' she shouted, then she realised the confused look on the writer's face. 'Uriah Geronn is Charlene's father... He probably changed his name to protect his daughter...'
'From Herbert?' asked Castle looking at the name under the „Killer" tag.
'Precisely. He... He killed the girl because Geronn has something, some conclusive evidence against Herbert and this was the only way for him to get it...'
'Geronn needed to think that his daughter was killed by Herbert?' Castle continued the train of thoughts. By the way, he noticed that the „he" mentioned by the detective was referring to Adam... She's not saying his name...
Kate nodded.
So that's the difference between „good guys" and „bad guys"... Katherine Beckett would never murder an innocent person to catch her mother's killer... - the writer thought. Altough the ex-groom became a bit more sympathetic for him as it got revealed that he had not killed a woman so cruelly just for fun... He had a quite good reason...
'Only the glass doesn't make sense...' it crossed his mind. 'Charlene had had a glass pushed down her throat. If you simply wanna kill someone, wouldn't you use a gun, or somenthing like that to avoid causing pain?'
The proposition made Beckett think this over as well but she shortly decided to care about this question later. They finally had a lead... She glanced at the ring shining on her finger then closed her eyes.
She had been standing here so many times yet. But she was disappointed all time. She felt fear slowly taking over her heart. She was trying to convince herself that this time it was different, she could already see the finish line...
'Kate... We're going to catch him.' Castle told her just like he had just read her mind. She flashed him a smile and looked into his eyes greatfully.
They were just looks between them... Looks filled with desire, and the feeling of an invisible wall parting them. Beckett had her heavy gaze tucked into Castle's just like she was saying:
'I'm sorry...' because that wall had been hoisted by her, she had to separate herself from her feelings, she had to separate herself from him as well... Therefore if their actions couldn't be honest expressing how they truly felt for each other, their looks surely did. Neither were capable of lying to the other when they had their eyes met – never from now on, just like as before.
oOo
The two of them was standing in front of the door. Finally she rose a hand and knocked. Soon a man appeared in the doorway, having his shiny blue eyes on the newcomers.
'Who are you? What do you want?' he wasn't very pleasant of their visit, though Kate didn't expect it either.
'We're here because of Charlene.' she replied, and saw a fast-moving shade of fear wandering the man's face.
'What Charlene? I'm not familiar with that name...' no matter how hard he tried to hide it, the french accent could be easily discovered in his speak.
'Mr. Geronn, we know that she was your daughter. She's dead.' Beckett continued, but she didn't see what came next. The man's eyes filled with tears, his face, his whole body turned into a turtured, haggard person's, it was like visible pain settling onto his shoulders...
Castle noted to himself that Uriah is not very good at keeping his disguise... Despite this he looked really miserable and heartbreaking – just like his daughter's body.
'I'm sorry...' Beckett added and gave the crying man an arm to lean on. At this moment Geronn froze. He rose his eyes to Beckett with a totally changed look in them.
'Who are you?' he hissed through his teeth totally forgetting about his accent, almost in french. Kate didn't answer, so Uriah started to squeeze her arm with iron hands and looked at her ring. Then he repeated the question: 'Who are you?'
'Do you know, how Charlene died?' Castle suddenly piped up. The man had his eyes wandering to the writer with an unhealthy dose of paranoid gleam in them. 'A glass had been pushed down her throat.'
Geronn froze again, the paranoia turned into pure hatred and anger. He released Kate's arm who immediately pulled it away.
'Herbert killed my daughter... It was him, wasn't he? He killed her!' if a „whispered shout" is an existing way of expression, the man was speaking that way. It felt like the silence before the storm.
Castle and Beckett had their eyes met. Both knew that they had to lie... Another obvious difference between the „good" and the „bad" side...
This is Adam's case, not mine... - it crossed Kate's mind. Then she took a deep breath and made her choice: this time she won't be a cop... She'll be a friend instead.
'Yes. Christopher Herbert killed your daughter.' she declared in a surprisingly confident way. The mystery of the glass had been solved: it means something to Geronn which is important enough to convince him about the killer's identity.
Such a twisted case. - Castle started to think that Adam Deston was the living Derrick Storm himself...
