AN: Two chapter in one day… You're all going to get sick of me at this rate. I know this one's shorter than most, but I felt like it would be best left like this. I covered a lot of important information in this chapter already and I didn't want to take away from that by adding another scene. Hope you like it. As always, reviews are welcome and appreciated.
Chapter 7:
Tuesday morning started out like every morning, wake up next to Castle, jog, shower, eat breakfast, head to work. Kate took comfort in the routine, even if she knew it would soon change. She was okay with that. Kate knew she would have Castle and a beautiful baby to call her own, what more could she possibly ask for in life.
However, Kate's dreamy daze started to come to a halt the closer they got to the precinct. The events of yesterday stated coming back to her. Replaying themselves in her head. The revulsion she felt at what the killer was doing to these innocent children. The determination to catch this guy. They all brought Kate back to reality.
Kate now realized she and Castle hadn't spoken at all on the drive to the station. She glanced over at him curiously before focusing her eyes back on the road and asking him what was on his mind.
Castle shook his head, clearing his head. "Huh? Oh I was thinking about us. And the baby," he said sheepishly.
He knew the baby had been a touchy subject for Kate in the beginning and he was still hesitant to bring it up. He knew she was warming up to the pregnancy, but he didn't want to push.
If Castle hadn't been watching Kate intently after his confession, he would have missed the faint smile she gave,
"Do you think our two cases are connected?" Kate asked, changing the subject.
As happy as Kate was to hear Castle say things like that to her, she still wasn't comfortable responding to them.
"I think they're too similar not to be," he began.
Kate nodded in response, encouraging him to continue.
Castle started listing the similarities between the two cases, "Both victims were children. Both were found in the Manhattan area. There were traces of dirt under the boy's fingernails, likely coming from the same source as the dirt found under Marley's."
"I think you're right, but something seems off about it. I mean both victims were dumped in different places, aside from both being children, they appear to have nothing in common, and they had very different CODs," Kate said.
By now they were sitting in the parking garage by the precinct. Neither of them making a move to get out. The car was as good a place as any to discuss the case. At least there weren't going to be any interruptions in here.
Castle took a few moments to think over Kate's analysis of the two cases. He hadn't really considered the differences until now. To him the cases seemed too similar to not be connected, but Kate was right; there were some inconsistencies.
Castle being the mystery writer he was, was starting to draw a connection between the two. He was starting to see the story in his head. It was this creative thought process that made him such an asset as an honorary detective.
Detectives tended to just look at the facts. They saw everything at face value. Writers however saw the deeper or hidden meaning in things. Castle was always reading between the lines, drawing connections where there didn't seem to be one. He was truly talented when it came to writing stories and this talent often helped them solve the case.
"Well," Castle started. "the two different body dumps are likely to be from one of two options. Option 1: our killer is dumping the bodies at random locations to throw us off or to avoid suspicion, or Option 2: the locations have a connection that we're not seeing. Not yet anyways."
Kate nodded, considering his theory. "Okay," she said. "You're probably right about that. If he's doing body dumps he would be stupid to do them at the same spot every time. But how do you explain the different CODs and the fact that the victims really don't have all that much in common?"
"You're right, serial killers tend to have a type, but maybe his type is children. Maybe that's as specific a type as he needs. It's no different than a killer choosing blonde victims. Sometimes they type is very broad."
Castle paused to let Kate absorb the information before continuing, "As for the different cause of death for each victim, I'm getting the feeling that our killer is murdering these victims for the fun of killing. For killers, there's a certain high that goes along with the power of holding someone's life in his or her hands. Maybe this guy gets off on watching his victims die. I know it sounds far-fetched, but we've seen stranger things."
Kate was silent, trying to process the onslaught of information.
"I think you might be right," she said suddenly.
Kate got out of the car and started heading towards the parking garage exit. She had to tell the guys about this. They were finally getting somewhere in the case.
Castle got out of the car quickly and hurried to catch up to Kate. He didn't have to ask her why she was in such a hurry all of a sudden, he knew it was about the possible breakthrough in the case.
