Thanks as always for your reviews, alerts and favourites. Appreciated and welcomed.
I had great fun with this chapter. I really hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it.
Rating still T. Shows still aren't mine and in all likelihood, never will be.
Kate Beckett did so love a good interrogation. There was nothing quite the feeling of tripping up a suspect; catching them in their lies and making all the pieces of the murder puzzle come together.
Of course, today was a little different from usual, in California instead of New York, and the chair at her side usually occupied by Castle instead containing Agent Cho. But nonetheless, this was still her playground, her home turf.
As usual, she had taken the lead in the interrogation of Derek Van Keil. Agent Cho had in fact, said very little the whole time, fixing Van Keil with an impassive, unmoving stare. She had to admit, she could see why Lisbon had said he was the best; there had probably been many a suspect who had simply cracked under his steely gaze without a single question needing to be asked.
Derek Van Keil however, seemed to be made of stronger stuff. While clearly uncomfortable with being in an interview room, and avoiding Agent Cho's eye as best he could, he'd yet to give any sign that he was about to fold.
She'd asked him about being cut out of the family fortune in the event of divorce, and whether he was aware his wife had started seeing someone else. He put on a good show of surprise and outrage upon hearing the latter question, but personally, she wasn't buying it. His outburst just seemed a little too polished, as though it had been rehearsed many times in preparation for something like this.
This would be about the time on a normal day when she'd glance at Castle and the two of them would have one of their telepathic conversations about what to do next, but today, he wasn't here. She knew he was close by however, watching from behind the mirror probably, as was his custom when not allowed to sit in with her. Over the years, she had become more and more used to his presence in the interrogation room, and things felt different now when he wasn't there. Not bad exactly, she didn't need him to be able to do her job, but slightly off-kilter, like the balance had been upset.
She always asked the direct questions; the what, the who, the how, but Castle always took it upon himself to ask the why. It wasn't enough for him to have evidence that someone had committed a crime; he wanted to know the motivation behind it, why they'd felt they'd had to turn to turn to murder. He wasn't satisfied unless things made sense to him, and she had to admit, that trait had been helpful in the past, encouraging them to look further afield, to think a little more creatively, and catching out many people would otherwise would not have been brought to justice.
Derek Van Keil raised an eyebrow at her, as though challenging her to hit him with her best shot. If there was something she hated more than a lying suspect, it was a smug one.
"Would you consider yourself a vengeful person, Mr Van Keil?" she asked.
"No," he said. "I don't like to be crossed, but hey, who does?" he replied.
"And what if someone did cross you?" said Cho, speaking for the first time in his slow, deep voice. "Like your wife for example."
"I'm not sure I know what you mean."
"Let me paint a little picture for you," said Beckett. "You and Rebecca are having problems with your marriage, and then you find out that she's seeing someone else, planning to leave you…and taking all her inheritance with her. You don't strike me as the kind of guy who would take that lying down."
"So I hired a hitman to murder my wife before she could divorce me?" he said, skeptically. "I think you've been hanging around with that novelist for far too long Detective, and his talent for making up stories is rubbing off on you." He leaned forward in his seat. "Tell me, how much are you like that cop Nikki Heat?"
"She's a fictional character," said Beckett, forcing herself not to sigh. She was really sick of having to make that distinction. "But there is one quality we share," she said.
"And what's that? A healthy sexual appetite?" he asked, leering at her. "I'm a single man now… and I'm lonely."
Beckett ignored this. "You want to know the thing about me and Nikki Heat?" she asked, lowering her voice, and glaring at him. "We always get the bad guy in the end."
"I will never get tired of this."
Castle stood in the observation room with Jane next to him, watching Beckett advance on Van Keil with the fire in her eyes he knew and adored.
"She's quite something," Jane agreed.
"She's like a panther in there," said Castle. " She sneaks up on people, and they don't even realise it, and then bam!" He smacked his fist into his palm. "She strikes. I could watch her interrogate all day."
Jane smiled at this, and Castle realised that he had been gushing like a schoolgirl with a crush. How embarrassing. "Where's Lisbon?" he asked, changing the subject.
Curiously, Jane's smile widened even further at the mention of his boss.
"She's with the others, going through the autopsy reports," he said.
Castle frowned. Lisbon hadn't struck him as the type to be content with doing paperwork when she had plenty of subordinates to delegate it to. He'd thought she'd want to be right in the thick of things.
But then, she'd been acting strangely ever since she and Jane had emerged from her office half an hour ago. She hadn't met her consultant's eyes once, and had brushed Castle off when he'd asked her if she was OK. If it had been anyone else, he might have suspected that something of a romantic nature had happened in that office. All the signs were there. The awkwardness, the way the hem of her sweater seemed a little creased, the way she was avoiding Jane like the plague.
But Agent Lisbon would never do a thing like that. Ridiculous.
On the other side of the glass, Beckett slammed something down in front of Van Keil, which when he picked it up, was revealed to be a photograph. He smirked at her, and she began firing more questions at him. On the other hand, Agent Cho maintained his silence.
"Not exactly the talkative type, is he?" Castle observed, as Cho crossed his arms.
Jane chuckled. "He doesn't have to be," he said. "It's all in the eyes."
"How do you mean?"
"Try being on the receiving end of that glare sometime, and you'll know what I'm talking about."
They watched for another few minutes, as Van Keil deftly sidestepped question after question. It seemed he had an answer for everything.
"This guy is good," said Castle. "He's not flinching."
"He's prepared himself for this," said Jane. "I bet he's been practising what to say ever since we visited his house the other day."
"Do you think they can break him?"
"No disrespect to your 'panther,'" said Jane, and Castle scowled at him, "but I doubt it. Look at his face; he's enjoying this. He feels like he's in control."
"So what do we do next?" asked Castle, deigning to ignore the slight on Beckett.
"I want to go back to his place, and have a proper look around," said Jane. "If he did hire our hitman there's bound to be evidence of it somewhere."
"Don't we need a warrant for that? And the keys?"
"Well yes, technically. But you know, warrants take time. And I happen to have a certain skill for locks. So what do you say?" he asked, with a sly grin. "Are you in?"
A smile slowly spread across Castle's face. He thought he'd been behaving pretty well since they'd been here in Sacramento. Beckett had given him a long lecture on the plane about how since they were out of her jurisdiction, she would not have the same power to get him out of sticky situations that she normally did. But the fresh disappointment with Beckett and the ongoing partner/friend debate, and the maddeningly slow progress of the case combined together now to leave him feeling a little reckless.
He never could resist the tempting call of adventure, and by the looks of it, he had finally come across someone who felt the same way. He remembered what Esposito had told him about Jane's history of going to extreme lengths to prove himself right. He could relate. In fact, now he thought about it, he and Jane seemed to have quite a lot in common, right on down to taste in women (though in that particular area he would have preferred a little difference of opinion.)
He really shouldn't go. Beckett would be furious when she inevitably found out, and Lisbon would probably be none too impressed either. Common sense and rationality told him to stay put. There'd be plenty of time to search the house later, with all the proper warrants to hand, not to mention some actual evidence, rather than just his gut feeling.
But Jane had the same gut feeling, and he liked to think they were both reasonably perceptive people. And Van Keil didn't live all that far away; if they left now, they could go and be back before they were missed. Van Keil would be spooked by the interrogation today; if there were anything incriminating in the house, he would certainly get rid of it as soon as possible. If they were going to do this, they had to do it now.
He nodded at Jane. "Let's do it," he said. "But we'd better make it quick."
Lisbon tried to focus on the file in front of her. She was studying the autopsy report of one of their new victims and her concentration was fleeting, to say the least. On either side, Ryan and Esposito were each bent over a file, Van Pelt doing the same at her desk. Rigsby stood at the whiteboard, adding the relevant notes that the others called out to him.
She stared down at the page, but the words just didn't seem to be going in, or making any kind of sense. Her mind kept revisiting her little interlude with Jane, and simply refused to take anything else on board.
Name: Bryce Freeman.
She'd kissed Jane half an hour ago. She'd been imagining it, wondering what it might be like for months, and now it had actually happened. Oh God, if she'd any idea what was going to happen when he'd followed her into her office…no. She mustn't be thinking about this right now.
Date of birth: 4/19/1986
Had he planned it? Did he follow her in with the intention of kissing her, or had it been a spur-of-the-moment thing? Did it make a difference to her either way? But it was irrelevant anyway, so stop thinking about it Teresa!
Race: Caucasian.
She shouldn't have kissed him back, should have been strong enough to push him away, make him stop. But he'd made her believe in that moment that she was all he wanted, and she had never known her consultant not to get what he wanted. How was she supposed to stop him? Oh, and it had felt so good, she could have stayed there forever.
Race: Caucasian.
What? She'd read this part already, hadn't she? Yes. Yes, she had. She'd just been distracted by thoughts of what they might have been doing at this very moment, had he not stopped it. But she should not be thinking about it, because it was not going to happen. Ever. But what if she did want it to happen again? What if she wanted to happen frequently? What if she could very easily see herself being happy to kiss him every day for an extended period? What did that mean?
Race: Caucasian.
This was getting ridiculous now. She'd read the same entry three times, and still wasn't any closer to taking it in. She was letting him screw with her head; she was letting him get under her skin. Well, no more. She took a deep breath to clear her head and then she started the whole thing afresh.
Name: Bryce Freeman
Footsteps approaching, and she made the mistake of looking up to see him walking by, accompanied by Castle. He caught her eye, and sent a lady-killer smile her way, the very one that she'd always secretly found irresistible. The one that always made her want to smile back, but she refused to give in to him. She was stronger than this. She turned determinedly back to the report again, as he began to make his way towards her.
Name:
Oh, for the love of God.
"Hey Lisbon," came his voice. "Hard at work, I see."
She fixed her face into an expression of disapproval before she put down the file. Best to at least pretend that everything was normal; despite the way her mind was in turmoil right now.
"Unlike you two," she said, coolly.
"Castle and I have to step out for a while," he informed her.
His collar was crooked, she noticed. She must have knocked it when she'd put her arms around his neck. She hadn't had a clue at the time, too occupied with getting her hands on him as quickly as possible. She wanted to reach out and fix it for him; it seemed to be screaming at her as evidence of what they had done.
"And do what?" she asked, desperately trying to keep her mind on the conversation.
"Lunch," said Jane without missing a beat. "You guys are doing boring stuff, so we thought we'd go get a taco."
Castle nodded. "Do you want us to bring you back one, Lisbon?" he offered, looking over her face with apparent concern. "You look a little strange."
She opened her mouth to respond but Jane neatly cut her off.
"She's all right," he said. "It's just been a surprising day that's all." He gave a tiny wink. "Right, Lisbon?"
Ordinarily, she would be hesitant to let her consultant out of her sight for longer than a few minutes, particularly when he was with someone who might serve as a potential accomplice in whatever chaos might ensue. But this was a good opportunity for her. She could use the time Jane was away to get her head out of the clouds and back on their case. Sometimes she just needed a break from him, and especially today.
"Right," she agreed. "But don't take too long. We might need you guys later."
"Isn't that nice?" said Jane to Castle. "We're needed."
"I said 'might,'" said Lisbon irritably. "Just go. And Jane, please be careful. I don't want a repeat of what happened last time you went for tacos."
"I'm always careful."
"Sure you are. And we don't have time to mount a full-scale search today, so if it happens again, you're on your own."
He laughed at that, waved a goodbye, and walked off to the elevator with a confused-looking Castle. She could feel Jane's eyes on her as he stepped inside and pressed the down button. He kept gazing at her until the doors slid closed.
The instant he disappeared from view, she put down the file and told Rigsby to come take over. That was the good thing about being in charge; someone else could do the legwork while she went for coffee. And she was going to need an extra-strong one this afternoon, and perhaps some of the chocolate biscuits Rigsby had stashed away in his desk.
"So what happened last time you went out for tacos?" Castle asked Jane as the lift descended.
"Let's just say I took a long detour, courtesy of a slightly crazy environmental activist," said Jane.
"What, were you kidnapped or something?"
"Yep. The first time of several. Has it ever happened to you?"
Castle nodded. "Once," he said. He was sure he'd never forget the few hours he'd spent at the mercy of Jerry Tyson, with an injured Ryan, wondering if help was coming, terrified that they might be too late. Thank God his mother had gotten the hint when he'd spoken to her, if she hadn't sent Beckett and the rest of the team along he would most probably not be standing here now.
"I don't know why it's always me they want to snatch, of all people," said Jane. "The CBI wouldn't pay to get me back; in fact they'd probably pay them to keep me."
The doors opened and they walked out to the lobby. As they went to push the door open, a young woman entered in front of them. At the sight of Castle, she gasped in delight.
"Oh, my gosh! Richard Castle. It really is you!"
Jane grinned at her. "Hello, Raquel," he said.
Raquel spared him a quick, disinterested glance. "Oh, hey Jane," she said, before turning back to Castle. "I can't believe it's true!" she squealed. "My friend Mimi told me you were here but I just couldn't believe it unless I saw you with my own eyes. And then she said was I calling her a liar? And then I said-"
"It's nice to meet you, Raquel," said Castle automatically. "But we were kind of on the way somewhere so if you'll excuse us…"
Raquel held up a cell phone. "Oh please, Mr Castle, can I have a picture first?" she asked.
Castle looked sideways at Jane, who sighed. "Make it quick," he muttered. "We're on the clock here. We've got maybe forty-five minutes before Lisbon figures out what's really going on, and then all bets are off."
"Don't worry, man," said Castle, under his breath. "I got this."
Castle effortlessly switched into fan mode, made the required small talk, posed for a photograph, and within a few minutes he and Jane were on their way out the door.
"Don't you ever get tired of that?" Jane asked as they walked through the parking lot.
"What man doesn't love the idea of women throwing themselves at him all day?" said Castle, with a grin. Indeed, he knew many men who would give anything to be in his spot. He however, would happily trade in every fan girl in the world in order to have a chance with the one he really wanted.
Jane shrugged, and came to a stop, pulling a ring of keys out of his pocket.
"What the hell is this?" said Castle, as he surveyed the small blue car they were standing next to. He'd never seen anything like it before, except perhaps in old movies he couldn't remember the name of.
"My car," Jane said, flatly. "I'm sorry you won't be able to travel in the style to which you're accustomed, but we can't all drive Ferraris."
Castle frowned at him. Did he really have to make it sound so pretentious? He may be rich now, but he certainly hadn't started out that way, and he had never, ever, made judgements on people's character based on money. He wasn't like that. And he was proud to say that Alexis, who had grown up in a life of privilege, and had everything she could possibly want, wasn't like that either. He credited that to good parenting on his part.
"Maybe we should take the SUV," he suggested, forcing politeness. "It might be less conspicuous."
"What is it with people and making judgements on my car?" Jane complained, unlocking the doors. "It's a classic!"
They'd been interrogating Van Keil for over an hour now, and still no dice. Beckett was beginning to get frustrated by the lack of progress, and she suspected Agent Cho was as well, as he had abandoned the strong silent routine and was beginning to ask questions of his own.
And still Van Keil hadn't cracked. Usually in a situation like this, now would be about the time to bring Castle in. He no doubt had some crazy take on it that she wouldn't have been able to come up with in a million years. She glanced up at the mirror. He must be behind there, watching, he always was. Maybe she could slip out for a moment and compare notes with him.
She always hated having to ask for help, but sometimes circumstances forced her to swallow her pride. And Castle wouldn't judge her, or think any less of her. In fact, on the rare occasions she did reach out to him, he could barely contain his excitement. It was kind of sweet how proud he was of himself whenever he was able to help her.
And the point was, at the moment she was backed into a corner and running out of ideas.
Decision made, she quietly excused herself and walked next door to the viewing room. To her surprise, it was empty. Strange. She'd never known Castle not to be hovering around during an interview. Something about it gave her a bad feeling, but she hastily dismissed it. He must have gone for coffee, that was all, or Lisbon had gotten him to help out with some other aspect of the investigation.
As she stepped back into the interrogation room, the thought crossed her mind that he might be up to his old tricks, and was off God-knew-where doing something stupid, but she dismissed that too. He didn't know this area at all. Surely he wouldn't be fool enough to go running around Sacramento on his own.
Jane parked his car across the street from Van Keil's house and he and Castle proceeded up the front walk, trying not to look suspicious. With a furtive look to the left and right to make sure nobody was watching, he reached into his pocket for a pin and quickly picked the lock.
"Told you," he said, in answer to Castle's raised eyebrow. "I've never met a locked door yet that I couldn't open."
They crept inside, and took in their surroundings.
"There's an office down the hall," said Castle. "That's as good a place as any to start."
"I'll take a look in the bedroom," said Jane.
He pushed the door open and found himself in a room with soft white carpet on the floor, wide windows, and a huge bed, with a duvet that looked as though it had easily cost Van Keil a thousand dollars or more. He opened the closet to find it full of expensive tailored suits, designer shirts and dress shoes. There was no gap to indicate clothes had recently been removed from it, and there was no makeup on the dressing table. It was clear his wife had not lived here for a long time before her death.
"Got anything?" called Castle from the next room.
"Looks like Rebecca had moved out a while ago," he called back. "There's none of her stuff here at all."
"Vasser mentioned they were separated. Maybe she was living with him." Castle suggested.
"Yeah, maybe. Have you found anything?"
"His laptop," Castle said, carrying it in with him as he came to join Jane. "Password was easy to crack. Seriously, who uses their own name as a password?"
"Someone who's either very foolish, or very arrogant."
"Or both," Castle pointed out. He tapped a few keys on the laptop. "There's not much here," he said. "Stock market results, eBay, porn…jeez," he added. "And Beckett thinks I have a dirty mind. This stuff is even making me blush."
"Maybe we're looking in the wrong place," said Jane, thoughtfully, as Castle continued to tap beside him. "He wouldn't have left evidence on the computer. That's where he would have expected us to look."
"Well, if he didn't know we were coming…" proposed Castle.
"No, you saw him in that interrogation room. He was well prepared for being interviewed. I bet he has a whole bunch of contingency plans, just in case we came poking around."
Castle sighed, and closed the laptop. "It's clear," he said. He looked around the room, and focused on something on the bedside table. "Hey Jane," he said, nudging him. "Check it out." Jane followed his eyeline until he saw it too.
"Their missing wedding picture," he said, picking it up. Rebecca had been a beautiful woman in life, he thought as he examined it. She was glowing with happiness, with Derek's arms around her. He passed it to Castle, who looked at it too, with a sad smile on his face.
"They look happy," he said.
"Makes you wonder how it all went so wrong," said Jane.
"That's the thing about marriage, I guess," said Castle. "It's basically two people taking a huge gamble on the fact that they'll be happy together for the rest of their lives, and it's damn hard to do. I've got two failed ones to prove it."
"But you'd be open to doing it again," said Jane, remembering the conversation they'd had on this subject the last time they were here.
"Sure, to the right person."
"As in, to Beckett?"
Castle frowned at Jane, but didn't deny the charge. "If the day ever comes when I can call Kate Beckett my wife I will be a very, very lucky man." There was a brief pause. "And what about you?" he asked. "Would you ever get married again?"
Jane looked down at his wedding ring, and it flashed in the sunlight. He was slightly taken aback by the question; he didn't remember mentioning anything about his marital status to Castle.
"You're a widower, right?" said Castle. "It's the only way to explain the fact that you still wear the ring, but have never mentioned your wife once."
"Very astute," said Jane.
"For what it's worth, I'm sorry," said Castle.
"Thanks," said Jane, choosing not to answer Castle's question, because in all honesty, he had no idea what his future plans were (well aside from the obvious.) He'd never given much thought to what might happen if Red John were out of the way. He supposed, in theory, he would like to perhaps find somebody to spend the rest of his days with, however long they may be. And given the incident in her office this morning, he couldn't imagine wanting to be with anybody but Lisbon. But he wasn't sure if he'd ever be comfortable with the idea of remarrying. One thing he was sure of, however was that he couldn't handle losing another wife.
"Don't you think it's strange that he kept it though?" asked Castle. "I mean, he's purged the house of every other vestige of his wife. Why keep this?"
"It's odd," Jane agreed.
Castle made to hand the photo back, but Jane, distracted by his thoughts, didn't reach for it in time and it slipped though his fingers, onto the floor. He picked it up again, but in so doing, noticed something strange.
"Hey, look," he said to Castle. "The back of this isn't dusty."
"So?"
"Well, look at the front," he said, turning it over. "It's caked with dust, but the back doesn't have a speck on it."
"You think it's been opened recently?" said Castle, cottoning on.
"Let's find out."
Jane opened the back of the frame, and gave it a gentle shake. A piece of paper fell out onto the floor.
Another half-hour of fruitless questioning later, Beckett was forced to concede defeat. Derek Van Keil was not going to budge, and without any evidence against him, she had no reason to hold him any longer. Regretfully, she told he was free to leave. He rose from his seat with a smug smile, and swept out of the interview room.
"Bad luck," said Agent Cho. She supposed that was his idea of being supportive and comforting.
"We'll get him next time," she said, with much more confidence than she felt.
"I wouldn't count on it," said Cho, flatly.
"I was being optimistic," she explained.
"And I was being honest."
She refrained from rolling her eyes with difficulty. Yes, Cho was right and the odds of getting Van Keil to crack were not great, but did he have to be such a downer all the time? She found it incredibly depressing. She supposed his policy of brutal honesty was an acquired taste however, as the rest of his team didn't seem to mind, and even found it amusing some of the time.
For her part however, she hoped to find Castle, who always seemed to say the right thing at moments like this. He was bound to have some new idea of a lead to pursue, or at the very least, a few words of encouragement.
She and Cho left the interview room and walked back out into the bullpen, where most of the others were still trawling through the autopsy reports.
"Any luck?" asked Lisbon, who was studying the whiteboard with a cup of coffee in her hand.
"Nope," said Beckett. "I had to cut him loose. But he knows something, I'm sure of it."
"Damn," said Lisbon. "Maybe tomorrow we can let Jane take a run at him. He might be able to get something."
"How about you guys?" asked Beckett. "Any DNA evidence from our killer yet?"
Lisbon smiled. "Yes, actually. Detective Ryan discovered something in one of our cold cases."
Beckett felt a surge of pride at her detective as he told her the details. "One of the female victims Joanne Prescott, there was a hair caught in the rope that was used to strangle her. It wasn't hers. I've just put in a call to the evidence lock-up. The case is three years old, so it should still be in there somewhere. All we have to do is get a sample from our hitman, and if we're right, he's toast."
He hit high-fives with Esposito, and then Rigsby, who sat on either side of him.
"Good work, guys," said Beckett. "Now all we gotta do is find the bastard."
She walked over to join Lisbon at the whiteboard. Lisbon seemed to be a lot calmer now than she had been earlier. Beckett wondered what had brought on the frenetic mood she'd be in before. Whatever he said, she suspected Jane knew exactly what had been going on; apparently he and his boss continued to have a few secrets.
A few minutes passed, and Beckett felt a growing sense of unease. Something felt wrong. She looked around to see what it was that could be troubling her, and then realised that it was about what wasn't there.
Where was Castle? It had now been nearly ten minutes since she'd emerged from the interview room and he had yet to appear at her side. He should be standing here with them right now, deeply immersed in the case like he usually was. She'd gotten so used to him shadowing her now, that something felt off when he wasn't around.
"Has anyone seen Castle?" she asked the room at large.
To her surprise, it was Lisbon who answered. "Yeah, he and Jane went out for tacos."
"Tacos?" Beckett repeated. "Castle doesn't even like Mexican food that much. How long ago did they go?"
Lisbon, who had been writing something on the board, paused mid-word. "A while ago, actually," she said. "I would've thought they'd be back by now." Slowly, the neutral expression on her face started to change, and a look of mingled horror and fury took its place. "Oh God," she said.
"What?" asked Beckett, in alarm.
Lisbon didn't seem to have heard her, still holding the whiteboard marker in place. "I'm such an idiot," she said quietly. "Oh, I'll kill him. I swear to God, this time I'm going to shoot him."
"Lisbon!" said Beckett loudly, in an attempt to get her attention. "What's going on?"
Lisbon turned to face her. "When Jane has a theory, he tends to kind of fall off the grid sometimes," she said. "He'll run off and chase up his idea without telling anyone where he's going."
And Beckett understood. Jane had a history of going rogue. Kind of like someone else she knew.
"Castle does the same thing," she admitted, wanting to smack her head against the whiteboard at her stupidity for letting him out of her sight for even a minute. "What are we going to do?" she asked.
Castle picked up the little piece of paper and eagerly smoothed it out. He read the word 'Freemont' and a telephone number.
"No way," he breathed. "He keeps his hitman's contact details inside his wedding picture? That is cold."
"Smart," Jane commented, giving credit where it was due. "No-one would ever have thought to look there. Except for us of course."
They exchanged a smile.
"Gives a whole new meaning to 'til death do us part,'" said Castle. "This is what we've been looking for. But what do we do? We can't take it with us, if he checks and discovers it's missing, he'll know someone's been here."
"Have you got a notepad and pen?" asked Jane.
"Duh," said Castle, reaching into his pocket. "I'm a writer. Standard tools of the trade."
"Good. Copy it down, and then we should get the hell out of here. Lisbon'll be smelling a rat by now."
"Thank God Beckett's busy interviewing Van Keil," said Castle.
"Oh is she?" a new voice broke in, from behind them. Castle forced himself not to yelp in fright as he turned around to see Derek Van Keil standing in the doorway, holding a gun.
As one, he and Jane raised their hands to the heads.
"Not very slick, boys," he commented. "If you're going to break into someone's house, at least have the sense to shut the door behind you."
"Actually you know, we were just leaving," Castle tried, but Van Keil merely smirked.
"I don't think so," he said. "You know too much. We're going to have to deal with that." He surveyed them both. "I can see that neither of you are armed, but I think I'd better take your cell-phones, just so you can't call in the cavalry."
He raised the gun threateningly, and they both obeyed the command, handing over their phones. Van Keil took out the batteries and stowed the phones in his pocket.
"OK," he said. "Now we deal with the more pressing problem of the two of you finding out my dirty little secret."
"They'll be looking for us, you know," Jane spoke up. "When we don't come back they'll know something's up."
Van Keil shrugged. "I bet neither of you bothered to tell them where you were going," he said. "And by the time they figure out where to look it'll be too late."
Lisbon took a deep breath. "They must have caught something about the case," she said. "We just have to figure out what. And wherever they are, at least we know they must be together."
"Great," said Beckett, unenthusiastically. "An idiot being lead by an even bigger idiot. That's comforting."
"Which one's which?" asked Lisbon.
"Who even cares?"
"This is exactly the kind of hassle we didn't need," said Lisbon, wearily. "I told Jane to stay out of trouble. How stupid am I, thinking he might actually listen to me for once?"
This was all her fault. This was obviously the real reason Jane had kissed her this morning, in order to distract her enough to run another stupid scheme without her noticing. And hadn't that worked a treat? She'd allowed herself to be taken in again and now Jane and Castle were somewhere out there, possibly in danger.
Good one, Lisbon.
Beckett pulled her cellphone out of her pocket and speed-dialled. Lisbon watched anxiously as she held it to her ear. After a minute, cursing, Beckett hung up.
"Castle's phone is off," she reported. "He never turns it off, just in case Alexis calls."
Even though she knew there was little point, Lisbon reached for her own cell and tried Jane's number too.
"Jane's not picking up either," she said.
The first throes of panic were starting to set in now, and Lisbon knew she had to stop herself from losing her head. It wouldn't help them find Jane and Castle, but she couldn't help being afraid. Jane had a knack for getting kidnapped, and every time he did, it was at the back of her mind that Red John might be behind it. But it was unlikely that the serial killer was the culprit this time, it would make no sense to take Castle as well. The last thing he would want would be to have two agencies on his tail.
She took another deep breath. Assuming Jane and Castle had been kidnapped, it was time to take action. Fortunately, she was at an advantage here. She knew how to handle this kind of situation, Jane having put her through it many times before. She knew the key was to clear her head, let go of her emotions and follow the evidence.
She glanced at Beckett, who was putting on a reasonable attempt to hide her distress. She imagined that the idea of something happening to Castle sickened her just as the idea of something happening to Jane made her want to throw up.
"OK," she said. "We need to figure out where the guys were going, and whether they made it before they were taken."
She saw Beckett visibly calm herself and then she agreed.
"We can do this," said Lisbon. "Jane's my partner. Castle is yours. We know them better than anyone else. We can find them."
"We will find them," said Beckett. "And when we do, I'm going to kick Castle's ass into next week."
"Right there with you," said Lisbon, thinking of Jane. "Let's get to work."
It really was getting boring this kidnapping thing, Jane thought. They were all the same. Threats at gunpoint, hands bound with ropes, cell phones confiscated. Maybe the next time it happened, they would be a little more inventive. He smiled to himself.
"Something funny?" asked Castle, from his left. Van Keil had moved them into the kitchen and fixed their ropes to chairs so they couldn't move an inch. He had then left them, saying something about the bathroom and not to try anything, as he would soon be back.
"Oh relax," said Jane. "Everything's going to be fine."
"Are you kidding me?" asked Castle incredulously. "Are we not seeing the same situation here? We are tied up, nobody knows we're here and there's hit-man hiring lunatic with a gun."
"Lisbon will find us," said Jane, calmly. "She's gotten me out of far worse scrapes than this."
"You have a lot of faith in Lisbon," Castle observed.
"I told you, I've been kidnapped tons of times before this. She's never failed yet."
"And Beckett will be helping her too," said Castle. "She always comes through for me."
"Exactly. Put the two of them together and they'll be here within the hour."
"It must have something to do with the case," Beckett said, as she and Lisbon stood together at the whiteboard.
"When was the last time you remember seeing Castle?" asked Lisbon.
Beckett thought for a moment. "He asked me if he could come into the interrogation with me. I said no because you wanted Cho in there, and I thought three would be too many."
"Jane said he wanted to watch and see if he could get a read on Van Keil during the interview," said Lisbon. "So he went into the viewing room."
"Castle was probably in there too. If they were watching the interrogation, they would have seen that he wasn't going to break. So I guess they took matters into their own hands and hatched their little plan."
"Plan to do what, though?" said Lisbon. "If Jane thinks an interview's going badly he usually just bursts in and takes over."
"Maybe they decided to go and look for some evidence," said Beckett. "Which of course would have led them to Van Keil's house. Maybe that's where they went."
"How long ago did you cut him loose?" asked Lisbon, as if struck by a sudden thought.
"Maybe half an hour ago, why?"
"That's plenty of time for him to get home. If he caught them there…." She trailed off, but Beckett knew they were thinking the same thing.
"Oh, hell."
Lisbon grabbed for the keys. "We've got to get over there. Cho, Esposito you're with us," she tossed over her shoulder. "The rest of you hold down the fort, answer the phones. If you hear from Jane or Castle, call Beckett or me right away."
They all piled into the elevator, and rode it to the ground floor. Beckett spotted a young woman sitting behind the reception desk reapplying her lipstick.
"You didn't happen to see two men come by here about an hour ago, did you?" she asked.
"Yes!" the woman squealed. "I saw Richard Castle, can you believe it? Jane was with him," she added to Lisbon. "They said something about taking a drive as they were leaving."
Beckett and Lisbon exchanged worried glances and then continued out the door. Lisbon scanned the carpark. "Jane's car is gone," she said.
"How can you be sure?" asked Beckett. After all, Lisbon had taken the smallest of looks before making that assessment. To her surprise, Lisbon smiled.
"Trust me, you'll know it when you see it."
They all got into the SUV, turned on the lights and sirens, and sped through the streets of Sacramento. When they got close, Lisbon shut off the sirens and parked the car just down the road from Van Keil's place.
"There's Jane's car," said Lisbon, pointing to a powder blue Citroen parked across the street. Beckett raised her eyebrows.
"Is he serious?" she asked Lisbon, who shrugged.
"That's Jane," she said. "He's not what you'd call normal." She drew her gun from its holster, and the others all mirrored her. "OK, Cho and I will take the front door, and you guys take the back. We need to take him alive if possible. We all clear on that?"
Nods all around.
"Let's go," said Beckett.
Jane might be comfortable with being kidnapped, but Castle was not. The only good thing about this situation was that Van Keil seemed to have decided he wanted to be certain of how much they knew before he killed them. Jane had managed to spin an impressive lie to give them a little breathing space, but Castle had the feeling that their borrowed time was about to run out.
Beckett and the others must be on their way by now. If they could just hang in there a little longer…
But Van Keil smirked again in that way that sent a chill down Castle's spine.
"This has been fun, gentlemen," he said. "But now I think it's time to say goodbye. I'll need to get rid of you before your buddies turn up. Mr Jane, let's start with you."
Castle couldn't see what was going on from the angle he was on but he could hear Van Keil's footsteps, and the gun being cocked.
"You should be thanking me," Castle heard him hiss. "You'll be with your lovely wife and daughter again."
Castle flinched with surprise. He had no idea Jane had a child. A daughter, who he'd lost along with his wife. How tragic. If they got out of this, he'd have to ask him about that later. Though right now, that was a pretty big if.
Suddenly, there was a thud on the door.
"Mr Van Keil!" Lisbon's voice rang out. "Open this door!"
Van Keil cursed, but Castle's heart gave a leap. They were saved.
"Open it now!" came Lisbon's voice again. After a moment, there was an almighty crash, as he assumed the door was broken down. Gun in hand; Van Keil sprinted out to meet them.
Castle heard the intermingled shouting of Lisbon, Van Keil, and several other voices, which he recognised to belong to Cho, Esposito and finally the most beautiful sound of all, Beckett. There was a series of thuds, and much scuffling. Then a gun discharged whether friend or foe's he didn't know.
Then he heard it, a slamming sound and a soft moan of pain. Terror coursed through him. He'd know that voice anywhere. Beckett. She was down. It would be all his fault if she'd been shot, he'd made her come here in the first place. He should have been there, to protect her.
He endured what felt like an hour of agonising worry before anything happened. Lisbon appeared before them, holstering her weapon, and seemingly unhurt.
"Have I ever told you my dear, that you have an impeccable sense of timing?" Jane said to her.
She ignored him and instead turned to Castle.
"Are you OK?" she asked.
"Yeah, fine," he said. "Beckett, where is she? What happened? Was she hit? I heard-"
"She's OK," Lisbon cut him off, reassuringly. "She tackled Van Keil to get the gun off him and he threw her off into the wall. She just got a little winded, that's all."
"Oh thank God," he said. "I thought-" He couldn't complete the sentence; the idea was too horrific to think about.
"I'm OK too," Jane piped up. "Just in case you're interested."
Lisbon ignored him again, and focused on the ropes binding Castle to the chair. "Let's get these off you."
"Lisbon!" Beckett's voice could be heard from around the corner. "Van Keil's secure. Have you found them?"
"Yeah, they're here. They're fine."
"Good. I'll be right in."
Castle smiled as the ropes began to loosen. His wrists hurt where they'd been cutting into his flesh.
"What are you so happy about?" asked Lisbon, sharply. "She won't be nearly as nice to you as I am."
His face fell. "She won't? But you don't seem mad at me."
Lisbon smirked. "We came to an arrangement on the way over here. She deals with you, I deal with Jane."
The telltale sound of stilettos was audible as Beckett marched into the room. There was already a lump rising on her head, and she was cradling her left arm in her right. He felt guilty at the sight of her. It was all his fault.
"Hey," she greeted him, eyes flashing with anger. "You OK?"
He nodded.
"Good. Get out of the chair. We need to talk."
He looked to Lisbon, who was still working on the ropes.
"Can't I just stay tied up?"
This may seem like the end, but it isn't. Plenty more to come yet.
I can't believe it took me this long to tap into the potential of having not one, but two nutty consultants to play with. How slow am I? Hope you liked it.
