Hey you guys! I've been loving all of the reviews I've been getting recently. You've all been fantastic; please keep it up!
Here's the next chapter I got for you. I need to know what you think about it, so please give me as much feedback as you can.
Chapter Nine: Trick or Treat
The elevator doors slid open and Beckett headed over to Ryan and Esposito's desks. They were both glued to their respective computer screens. Esposito was scanning through a list of some kind that Beckett couldn't read from the distance, and behind him Ryan was excitedly ending a conversation from his office phone. Even over the distance, she heard the ending remarks from Ryan.
"Get out of here! You sure? Okay, thanks again. I'll call again if I need any more information. Yep, bye."
Both men turned as she neared their desks. She was excited to share her news, but on principle she checked with Ryan and Esposito first to see what they had. Her discoveries had to take a back seat to theirs because most of their findings were based on facts rather than theories that she picked up in the field. Besides, they most likely discovered the same things she did.
"Okay boys, trick or treat?"
"We are all over the treats today. What bout you Beckett? You got something good for us on the babysitter vs. parents front?" Esposito never reached Ryan's levels of excitement over new pieces of information, and got nowhere near as high as Castle's excitement levels,
"I've got a few good theories, but you first," she pushed.
"Do you want to?" Ryan asked, both out of courtesy towards his partner, and to keep Beckett in anticipation for another several seconds. The impatient team leader knew this game by now, and waited silently for their quips to end.
"Nah bro, this is all you. It was your find after all,"
"You kidding me? You found at least half of it!"
"But the best part goes to you, bro. I'll chip in when I want to."
"M'kay, if you insist," Ryan shrugged modestly before finally turning back to Beckett, who looked at them curiously, but still said nothing. He continued. "Well, Espo over here was checking a few leads on whether or not our babysitter really stuck to her usual schedule, and it turns out she made a bit of a detour."
"Detour?" Beckett had expected to get some dirt about the parents, and was surprised at the immediate mention of Jessie.
"NYU uses swipe cards for certain resident housing, as well as the library, and a few other public access buildings after 11 pm," Esposito took up what was obviously his findings. "Each time a particular student swipes their ID for access, it's recorded in a huge database. According to that, our babysitter swiped into the library at ten to seven pm."
"Did you poke around yet? She may have lent a friend her ID." Beckett asked, more out of necessity than out of distrust. Her detectives were thorough, and she didn't doubt their competence. She just had to cover all of her bases.
"I have a feeling that's not the case, seeing as someone else brought the kids home from the park," Ryan added in eagerly. Beckett turned to face him in complete astonishment.
"Someone else?"
•••
Ryan was surprised that their team leader didn't get whiplash as she turned to face him directly. Still, that was a typical Beckett reaction; by now he had come to expect them. In response to her surprise, he merely let the wide grin that he'd been suppressing take over his face. He knew what she was about to ask, so he beat her to it. He held up the print out of a video still of their John Doe for Beckett to see.
"He returned with them at exactly 6:34, and both kids seemed completely comfortable with him, so either their parents never taught them never to talk to strangers, or…"
"They know him." She cut him off, but he expected that too, and continued to talk as if she said nothing.
"Our babysitter is nowhere to be seen until 8:50, and a few minutes later, like clockwork, our mystery man makes his exit," Ryan had toned down his massive grin down to a better-controlled smirk of self pride as Beckett made the rest of the connections in her head.
"That's in the middle of our kill zone," Beckett said in shock. Clearly, whatever she had found had been pushed to the back of her mind to make way for his theory.
"And," Esposito interrupted with a comment on his own, "the babysitter did say that she never checked on them after they went to sleep. She had no clue whether or not Kayla was there afterwards"
"Any clue who this guy is?"
"Well, I called the lobby receptionist and he said that the guy had only come a couple of times before, maybe two or three times. Each time, he was let up, Jessie was babysitting."
"There's the connection. This could be our killer." Beckett said resolutely, "It's too late to go poking around now, so we'll pick this up tomorrow. Night."
Both Ryan and Esposito took this as their cue to leave, and began to gather up all the necessary files and other folders that they needed. Esposito packed up first, and gave his goodbyes quickly before escaping towards home. Ryan took a little more time to make sure he had everything he needed, just in case he felt like digging around later.
Still, that was doubtful. He knew as well as any cop out there what would happen for the remainder of everyone's night. He, Beckett, and Esposito would all go home and crash with some microwavable leftovers, needing to de-stress from the events of the day.
As a habit, Ryan liked to walk to and from work each day, if only to clear his head. He didn't need to bring his personal life into the workplace, and bringing work home was too much as well, especially if it was one of the nights Jenny came over to make sure he ate real food. As much as he appreciated and trusted his girlfriend, there was no way he could talk about the details of his cases with her.
Tonight though, Ryan hailed a cab the moment he stepped on the street. He knew there was no clearing his head tonight. He just hoped he could explain that to Jenny, who was sure to be over at his apartment right now. It was one of those nights, and he didn't know what he'd tell her.
Actually, he did. He knew exactly what he was going to say. He was just going to apologize, and say that he was worn out because of the job. It's what he always said on nights like these. And because she was so understanding, she wouldn't ask too many questions, if any. Some nights she'd keep him company while he decompressed in front of the television, other nights she's offer him a back rub to help him relax, and some nights she'd leave him to his own thoughts.
He wasn't sure which he preferred tonight.
•••
"You're telling me that after half a summer of no communication, he calls you out of the blue just to check in because of the case?" Lanie's disbelieving tone poured out of the small cell phone with incredible volume, and Beckett couldn't help but smirk.
"You want to try to dive into the mind of Richard Castle go ahead, but don't expect me to try and help you when you get lost," she quipped back to the Medical Examiner. Beckett was prepared for the age-old battle of banter, full with the normal amount of denial, insistence, and wit.
"Well I'll give Writer Boy this; oblivious as he is, he sure does know what to say."
"He's a writer, what do you expect?"
"You really think he just fed you a string of bull? Come on girl, you're smarter than that!"
"I'm not saying that it was insincere, just that he writes these beach novels specifically to catch audience attention. Of course he knows what to say, and how to exaggerate it."
Beckett grinned about the normalcy in this. She was eating some Chinese takeout leftovers on her bed, while on the phone with her friend, talking about boys. It just seemed so reminiscent of high school, and she loved it. Not even the cold, undercooked patch in the middle of her Pork Lo Mein could really bug her. She had made good process today in the case, there was nothing nagging her too much, and she made a note to look into the parents at some point already. Even though this mystery guy was probably their killer, she never overlooked something odd like that.
But for now, she just needed to relax.
"Oh shut up! The boy cares. He may be an oblivious idiot with the worst timing in the world, but that just means he's a guy. When it comes down to it, he really means it." Beckett didn't know how to respond to Lanie's frank comment. Normally the woman talked about him in the contexts of letting loose and having fun. She never brought up the idea of something genuine. So, Beckett pulled the last thing she could think of out.
"Fine, what about you? How's your love life doing, if you're so willing to give me advice on this." It sounded weak, even to her.
"Is that the best you've got? Trying to turn the tables on me? That's sad." Lanie said, followed by a few tsks. But then she continued. "Fine, I'll give you time to lick your wounds, but this conversation isn't over. Things are going fine with me. I go on dates. Saw that guy Eli last Tuesday, but I'm not too crazy 'bout it."
"Whoa, I know that tone," Beckett said in surprise, not expecting that response. "What aren't you telling me?"
"Nothing! I mean, I am considering this other guy, but I doubt it'll go anywhere. Just one of those doomed to fail scenarios, and I don't want to get into that right now."
"Fair enough," she said, appeased at Lanie's answer, but still curious about this mystery guy. Still, if she had learned anything as a cop, it's when to back off and not scare a witness. "So, what're your plans for the night?"
"No plans, just relaxing and trying to take my mind off the dead girl on my table for a few hours. You?"
"Same. Maybe watch something on TV if there's anything good."
"Well, the Sci-fi channel has a Star Wars marathon like, every other week, so if there's nothing else,"
"You know, I might just do that. Want to stay on and watch with me, or are you turning in early?"
"Actually can I take a rain check? Danny's calling. See you later?"
"In our line of work, it's inevitable. Night Lanie."
Beckett grinned, still curious about the abrupt end of their conversation. She was almost positive that Lanie wasn't interrupted by her older brother, so her thoughts immediately went to this mystery man. Deciding to confront Lanie about it later, she put her empty plate on the bedside table, burrowed under her covers, and flipped her TV to the Sci-fi channel.
•••
"You dragged me all the way out here; you'd better be paying for drinks."
Esposito turned around with a slight smile on his face at the brash voice coming from behind him. He knew that he wouldn't be able to wind down the usual way after today's events, so he walked over to a nearby bar, and called the first person he thought of. Usually after a rough day, he'd call Ryan to go out for beers, that is, if Honeymilk wasn't already taking up his time. But today, he knew better than to expect Ryan to be up for drinks.
"Of course," he responded smoothly, and offered her a chair at the bar. She took it.
"So, what's on your mind Detective?" she asked, not with impatience, but something else he couldn't name.
"Do you mind shop talk?"
"Whether I mind it or not, it interferes anyway, so go ahead," she said coolly, but he could tell that she was curious about this one's progress. "Making any leeway on the case?"
"Well for starters, she has a name now," Esposito started, and was amazed at how the smallest detail intrigued the M.E. so much. "Kayla Evans."
"Any strong leads so far?"
"We just found out that a full-time babysitter left them at some point last night to take a trip to her college library and gave the kids to some mystery guy. By the time he left, we're already half in our kill zone."
"And you think this is your guy?"
"Well, we're sure as hell not ruling him out."
The bartender came over to them at that exact moment, and they both turned away from each other, and to the counter. Lanie immediately ordered a mojito on the rocks. She didn't even pause. Esposito knew for a fact that she could drink beer with the rest of them, but this was the first time he was seeing her in a more natural setting. His natural instinct as a detective was to pay attention to everything, so he kept her in his peripherals as he ordered his beer. That smile that had been tugging at his lips before was becoming even more persistent.
"So, what were you doing before you asked me to this place?"
"Staring at a computer screen until my eyes turned into squares," Esposito said with a laugh. "What about you?"
"Well, I was cutting up a body, but then I did the smart thing and went home. Kate called and we talked for a bit, but then I got invited to a bar."
"Well, was it worth it?" He couldn't resist asking the question at the risk of looking like an idiot.
"You're a better conversationalist than the people I normally meet on the table, but we'll see…" she gave him a patented Lanie smirk that he was sure was flirtatious. He couldn't control the smile much more, and tried to cover it with a smirk of his own, but that ridiculous grin was probably still evident.
He couldn't help the string of Spanish curses that flew out of his mouth when his phone began to ring.
•••
The woman clutched the phone desperately, hiding in the door frame of the bathroom. Tearstains ran down her unmarred face, and her eyes were swollen and red.
"Come on…" she muttered under her breath, not daring to go much louder. "Pick up! Pick up! Pick up! Pick up!"
Finally the persistent ringing from the cell phone stopped, followed shortly after by the background noises of a bar.
"Esposito."
"Oh thank God I got you!" she gasped in relief, her voice breathy and faint. "Please! I need you to come here right away, it's important!"
Insert dramatic music here (I was thinking Beethoven's fifth, but if you've got something else playing, it's cool.) Who do you think this woman is? What relevence does she have to the case? The characters? Something else? I want to hear what you think. Also, you're going to start getting a lot more explanation for Ryan's issues, so I need to know if you have any guesses whatsoever on Ryan's backstory, what they are. It would be an enormous help to see how many clues I give out, and if they're too big or too small.
Also, like I said before, you've been fantastic with reviews, so as promised, here's the next chapter title:
Chapter Ten: Calling in Favors
