Hey guys, I really hope you like chapter 7 and 8 all one chapter, but it felt way to long. I'll be posting chapter 8 soon though!
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Castle checked the count down for about the 10th time in 2 minutes. They had already wasted an hour trying to track where the video link and call came from.
"Nothing," Esposito sighed, "this guy is top of his class. His phone service bounces off 6 different towers and the video stream is untraceable."
"So where do we go from here?" Castle demanded, his anger spiking at the loss of time.
"What did he say over the phone again?" Ryan asked.
"I've already told you this!" His voice rising.
"Detective Castle, I would like Miss Beckett back as much as you do. And to make sure that happens we have to work calmly together on this case!" Gates' voice was smooth but assertive. Castle pinched the bridge of his nose to help him calm down.
The detective sighed, "He said I was messing his plans up, so he planned on messing up mine."
"What do you think he means by that?" Gates asked.
"I'm not sure. I can't think of anything I've done differently to make him say that. I've never seen this guy before either. And it's not an ex-boyfriend of Beckett because he wouldn't be threatening to kill her, right?"
"Right" Ryan said, "He took her from the scene this afternoon correct? And there were video camera's there. So why don't we check some of them to see if anyone got a glimpse of him and his car."
"While you're doing that, I'll get others to see if they can match his face." Gates said as Ryan and Esposito headed off.
"And what can I do?" Castle asked.
"Stay calm and think, okay? Use that top of the line brain of yours to figure out the connection." And Gates was off without letting Castle object.
He sat in his chair and put his head in his hands. He felt like he couldn't breathe, Kate was missing and it was his fault. Castle was going to have two murders on his hands, two people he lov-… Rick's breath caught in his throat. Could he really like Kate more than normal? Castle hated using that four letter word; it was too final and absolute for him. But he felt different towards Kate.
"Dad!" A teenage girl's voice called. Castle picked his head up from his hands and saw his daughter and mother running towards him. "Dad what's going on? We got a call from Gates saying that you were going to need us!"
Castle gave them both a tired, weary smile. "Sweetie, Beckett's been kidnapped. She was taken this afternoon while we were at the scene. We have 23 hours to find her, and we have nothing to go on."
Alexis was shocked at the predicament her dad was in. "Oh my…" She turned and sat in a chair by herself.
"Are you okay kiddo?" Martha finally spoke, her eyes somber.
"Mother I can't…" Castle's face and heart fell once more. "I can't lose her."
Martha walked around the desk and rubbed her son's back. "I know, son. That's why you are going to do everything you can to find her. I know you won't stop until you have her back safe and sound."
Rick nodded at his mother's comforting words; he knew he would not sleep until he found the son of a bitch that took Kate Beckett.
"We've matched him!" Ryan called as they rushed towards Castle. Martha nodded at Rick than collected Alexis and headed out the door. "His name is Tyler Rowand, age 36, works at a bar, divorced." Ryan looked down at his paper "Doesn't live too far from here."
"Alright, Esposito get to work on the family of Rowand, get as much info as you can on him. Ryan, you come with me and we'll head to his apartment." Castle's voice was assertive and his partners followed wordlessly.
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Castle walked slowly around the apartment of Tyler Rowand, nothing seemed out of place. Nothing was turned over, there were no papers strewn about, the kidnapper wasn't in a rush to get out at all, and he wasn't scared of the cops showing up.
"It doesn't seem like there is anything here." Ryan commented from in the kitchen.
"There has to be, something here has to show what links him to me. There has to be something…" Castle was getting frustrated they were wasting time just look at nothing.
"What about this?" Ryan called from the kitchen; Castle grabbed the piece of paper from his hand and studied it.
"It's a bill… for a storage center." Castle got out his phone and called back to the precinct, a few words were exchanged then he hung up. "The storage center was accessed monthly, and then two weeks ago he started going every day up until yesterday. Let's head there now."
The car ride was short; Ryan learned just how fast Castle could drive. Rick constantly was thinking of those red numbers ticking down to nothing. Every second felt like it was taking up 5 minutes.
As soon as the car stopped, Castle was out and running into the storage rooms.
"Storage number 312!" Ryan called from behind, Castle glancing at the numbers as he ran by.
"Here it is!" Castle turned and kicked the door in, no point in waiting for a manger to come by, right?
What the detective saw next surprised him in one second, and in the next he understood his part in the kidnapping.
"It's… pictures?" Ryan said from behind him. "It's pictures! Of Hailey Grey… our latest murder?"
"Damn! Beckett led us straight to him without even trying! A crazy fan, just like she said! And the murder investigation, that's how I connect!" Castle felt foolish, he should have listened and he didn't.
Ryan walked around the room slowly, "Can we classify this as an obsessed fan? It just doesn't make sense to as why he would kill her."
"It doesn't make sense right now, but I have the link!" Castle's victory soon turned to sorrow once more. "Fuck… now how does that help me save Beckett?" He closed his eyes; he could feel himself losing Beckett already.
"Hey, we're in this together, alright boss? We're going to get her a back safe and sound for you. And now we're just one step closer!" Ryan promised in the quiet of the storage.
Castle nodded; but no matter what comforting words were said, the clock was still ticking down.
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No more than two minutes back into the precinct, Gates poked her head out of her office.
"Castle! He's on the phone!" She called.
Rick grabbed the phone, put it to his ear and his teeth were set. "Hello, Tyler."
"Oh darn, you've got my name." His deep voice chuckled.
"Hailey Grey was a pretty girl, had a bright future. Why was it that you killed her?" Castle refused to be jerked around by this guy.
There was a pause over the phone; Castle knew he caught the kidnapper off guard.
"Silly, silly, Richard, my personal life won't lead you to Kate."
"Let me talk to her now, asshole!"
"I don't think you're in a position to be making demands, Richard. You've got 19 hours left, plan accordingly." That deep chuckle, "oh and once again, check your email." The line ended.
Castle's head whipped toward the computer, the video link already on the screen.
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A man came into her blurry vision; Beckett couldn't tell what was dreams and reality anymore. His foot stuck out and suddenly Kate's world was rushing past her. Pain shook through her body and rattled her teeth as her chair hit the cement floor. She writhed against her restraints, but it was useless. Her world lurched forward and she was sitting straight up again, a video camera in her face.
"Say hi to your boyfriend." The man said, and a red light clicked on.
She tried to call out to Castle but the tape covering her mouth made everything come out muffled.
"Richard, look at her, you're the reason she is going to die. This is entirely fault." The man walked behind Kate and began to run his fingers across her back. "You'll never find her, you'll never save her."
Beckett's heart was racing, she closed her eyes to block out the man who took her at the crime scene, who shoved her into a car and drove her to this factory.
"Cherish her now, Richard. You're time with her is running out." The red light clicked off. Beckett squirmed in her chair some more. "Perfect." The man whispered to himself, and then he walked off into the darkness where Beckett heard a door open then close.
Beckett craned her head from left to right to survey her surroundings. Nothing; except for a stream of light coming in from behind her. "Castle, please save me," she whispered against the tape.
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"I want him dead!" Castle growled; his fist clench tightly into a ball. "I want him found! And I want him dead!" The timer appeared again. 18 hours. He moved to the murder board. "What do we even know about this guy?"
"He was divorced over a year ago to a woman named Megan Hughes. She'll be at the station first thing tomorrow morning. He worked at a rundown bar, making enough money to get by. There hasn't been any a huge deposit or withdrawal from his bank account recently. The only thing that sets him apart is the storage room." Esposito said staring at the murder board also.
"She was murdered by Tyler or not, but for some since we began to investigate the case we were screwing up some part of his plans. None of this is going to lead us to Beckett though!" Castle turned around, "what do we have on the cell phone signal and the video link."
"Still nothing, he's bouncing off to many towers. We can't pin point his exact location. We have his license plate number and model and make of his car and we have cops out searching for it." Ryan chirped in.
"Goddammit, where did he take her?" Castle growled.
"Richard Castle?" A man asked quietly. Rick whipped around at the use of his full name like the way the kidnapper had been calling him. A withered man stood before him, his hair a mess of gray, with saddened deep set eyes.
"Can I help you, sir?" Castle asked as he stared at the man, he looked familiar but he was unable to place him.
"Jim Beckett, Katie's father." He reached out his hand and Castle shook it. "Now tell me where my daughter is."
Castle collapsed in the nearest chair, head in his hands; his third time apologizing for the night.
"Sir, this is all my fault. I shouldn't have ever let her shadow me to crime scenes from the start. I should have known better, sir I am so sorry."
"Son, sorry isn't going to bring my daughter back to me. If you truly are sorry get up out of this chair and look harder, look closer." Jim Beckett pulled a chair up next to him and lowered his old body into it. "Detective Castle, after the first week of shadowing, Katie called raving about you. She wouldn't stop, and I thought it was just the initial idea of you. But it kept going and going, every week I was getting calls from her about how amazing you were. The talents you held."
Castle stared at the floor, "but sir, I can't-"
"From what I can tell," Mr. Beckett cut in, "you aren't a quitter. I've never heard my daughter talk about someone like she talks about you. I need you to bring her to me. I need you to save her. Do you think you can do that, detective Castle?"
Rick picked his head up and looked into Jim Beckett's eyes. He nodded wordlessly.
"Good, now get up and get to work." Beckett's dad stood, patted Castle on the back then walked out silently.
Castle stared at the board until he memorized every curve of every letter that was written on it. None of this information was helping them find Beckett. He was coming up with nothing, over and over again. Castle had no idea where to look.
"Boss, I think maybe you should go home. It's late." Ryan sat next to Castle and began to stare at the bored.
"I can't. We've already wasted too much time." Castle glanced down at his watch 12:18 it blinked. "We have 17 hours left. I need to save her." He said for the millionth time tonight.
"Esposito and I can look over everything, with fresh eyes. You've been trying for too long, go home and take a quick nap. And then, come back and look some more."
Castle shook his head, "I can't. I need to find her."
"Rick," Ryan said seriously, "go home. You need some sleep."
Castle stared blankly at him for a little, then nodded and grabbed his coat and belongings and headed to leave.
He woke up screaming in a cold sweat. His dream was so real; he could feel the silkiness of her skin slipping through his hands. Castle had found Beckett in the darkness of somewhere unknown, he called her name repeatedly but she couldn't hear him. He ran to her, and tried to shake her but she couldn't feel it. Then suddenly a she was gone, disappearing into wisps. He heard the deep chuckle of Tyler Rowand behind him and with a side smile he said "you were too late, Richard."
Rick looked at the clock 3:24. He had wasted 2 hours on useless sleep. He dressed in fresh clothes and headed back to the precinct for round two.