Chapter 6: Blood Brothers
"Castle," Beckett said strapping her vest. "Stay in the car I mean it."
"You only think you mean it," Castle said placing on his own vest.
Beckett smiled and placed a hand on his chest. "Castle, I'm serious, stay in the car. There are six of us going in. I don't need any distractions."
Castle sighed, "Fine but can I distract you later?" he said with a smile.
Beckett smiled back, "Count on it."
"Be careful," he said to his fiancé.
The two detectives and four agents made their way to the house in Spanish Harlem. Hotchner and Beckett took the front, Ryan and Reid the sides, and Prentiss and Morgan took the back.
Beckett knocked on the front door. "Rocky Reimer, NYPD open up."
There was no answer. Hotch nodded and let Beckett kick open the front door.
"NYPD," Beckett called.
"FBI," said Hotch.
The agents and detectives began clearing the rooms. The house was completely empty.
"Rocky is twenty-five right," Spencer asked Beckett as the two of them were in one of the rooms. Beckett nodded, "This doesn't look like a room for a twenty-five year old. I mean you've got toy wrestling action figures and wrestling rings, an old 1985 Nintendo Entertainment System with Batman and wresting games. The only thing that looks recent are the clothes, TV, and DVDs."
"He's got the mind of a third grader," said Beckett, "Not only is his mind stuck there but by the looks of it so is his safe place."
"Makes you wonder what his parents did to him. They took him out of school and didn't even bother to home school him either but why? Why prevent your child an education?"
Beckett shined a light under the bed and then looked up. "Spencer," she said to him.
He knelt down and shown his light under to reveal a series of backpacks.
After less than a few minutes they had the backpacks on the bed in two piles.
"Hotch," said Spencer, "You guys better get in here."
"Woah, that's a lot of backpacks," Morgan said when they joined Beckett and Reid.
"These six are from our current victims," Beckett said pointing to the pile on the left.
"And these others," asked Prentiss, "They look pretty old."
There were six other bags on the bed in a pile on the right.
Beckett pulled up some notes on her phone, "Obed Hernando, age eight went missing on September 9th, 2002. His body was never found."
"That's right around the time his father died," said Hotch.
Spencer, without consulting his notes added, "His father died Friday September 6th, 2002."
"So his parents were the trigger," said Morgan. "His dad dies when he's twelve years old and since he has the mental capacity of an eight year old how does an eight year old deal with death?"
"They understand death," said Prentiss, "But it's a concept some still can't grasp. Kids that age tend to think that death is something that happens to other people and not themselves or the people in their lives. He knows his parents are gone and are never coming back but there still isn't a connection just yet."
"And by the looks of things," said Morgan, "He was never taught a positive way to cope with the emotions he was feeling after his parents died."
Beckett had pulled some of the items from the backpacks which contained hand held video games, iPods, school work, and text books.
Hotch spoke up, "He attacks eight and nine year olds not to harm them but to understand them. He's confused about who he is. He works with his brothers, maybe something menial like lifting boxes but he's always felt there was something missing. He's like a person with Down Syndrome who can only get a job bagging groceries."
"The lack of growing up," said Beckett, "the lack of a normal education. He's been taken care of his whole life. He doesn't know how to take care of himself."
"Nicely done Detective Beckett," said Spencer.
"The second trigger comes," said Morgan, "when his mom dies a week ago."
Prentiss nodded, "So not knowing how to handle it he resorts back to the only coping mechanism he knows."
Back outside Castle was getting bored of waiting. What was taking so long he wondered? He wanted to go in thinking maybe he could be of some help, see something that the detectives or agents couldn't, give a writer's point of view.
Instead he sat, thinking of texting Beckett but decided against it knowing she would probably get angry and he didn't like it when she was angry at him.
In front of him an old white Nissan Altima was making its way toward him. Castle instantly recognized the driver as one of the Reimer brothers. Castle pressed the button that ran the flashing red and blue lights on the front of the car and the horn which could be heard but didn't need one of those old time bubble sirens.
The driver of the car immediately put on the breaks and then reversed.
"Oh no you don't," Castle said as he took off after the car.
The cruiser rammed into the left side of the car, Castle hoping to cut him off, causing the car to swerve a little and hit the stop sign.
From inside the house the agents and detectives had heard the siren and then the crash.
They all rushed outside. Beckett was in the lead calling out, "Castle! Castle!"
