Chapter XIII
Rikers Island
Three weeks later
She was starting to lose hope.
Kate Beckett remembered a statistic that she'd seen at the precinct somewhere, a random number amidst a pile of paper work.
Thirty-eight days.
That was the average length of stay at Rikers. A fair number of detainees were released after their preliminary hearing. Others after a full trial. A good chunk of them were transferred from Rikers only to spend the next few years in another prison. Some of them for the rest of their lives. Others went straight to death row.
That was her likely destination too, according to every news reporter that had an opinion on her case.
The preliminary hearing had come and gone and her trial was still over a week away.
As of today she'd surpassed the average stay at Rikers by one day. Thirty-nine days. Five and a half weeks of trying to stay alive in one piece and it was wearing her down. Everything took so much effort. Not getting her ass kicked every day. Not crying when Castle wrapped his arms around her at the end of his visit. Not letting the guilt consume her when she saw the toll this was taking on her father. Not giving in to the offer of life in prison in exchange for a guilty plea. Not letting the panic creep up on her the way it threatened to do every night.
It was so exhausting. All of it.
And maybe it was all for nothing. Beckett questioned whether it was worth it when at the end of it all she'd have a death sentence hanging over her head. A legally sanctioned one this time.
That reality always hit her hardest at night (and it was a reality, no matter how much deluded hope she wanted to cling to), when the lights went out and she'd spend endless hours staring at the mouldy ceiling, listening for threats coming from inside and outside her cell. Willing her thoughts to stop racing until neither fear, panic nor the cold that seeped into her bones, were a match for the overwhelming fatigue that always, eventually, pulled her under. No matter how much she fought against it, like she was doing now.
Because that's when she lost control. When she was suddenly transported back to the van.
This time the man was so close to her, she could feel his breath on her skin.
"History will repeat itself Captain. You're going to end up dead in an alley like your mother. Because you couldn't help yourself. Couldn't stay away from something that was none of your business. You do realize you've just put the final nail in your father's coffin?"
The regret was so heavy it gnawed at her insides and scraped away at them.
But she was not going down without a fight. Beckett used every ounce of strength to fight him off but she couldn't move.
Couldn't even breathe.
An invisible noose was tightening around her neck, cutting off her oxygen.
Kate gasped.
The pressure around her neck was so strong it jerked her eyes wide open. From nightmare back into wakefulness.
This time it wasn't a dream.
She was back in her prison cell where her cellmate's livid face was staring down at her. The black eye that Kate gave her yesterday surrounded the woman's orbs in a swirling mass of colours, all in different hues of blue and purple.
But it was hard to focus on the swirl of colours around the woman's eye while her hands were on her Beckett's neck, trying to choke her to death.
"You think you can do what you did and get away with it, bitch?"
Beckett tried to wedge her fingers underneath the woman's grip but it was too tight. Maybe if she hadn't been caught half asleep and completely unaware she'd have stood a chance but as it was it took all her strength to flex her neck muscles and stop the woman from crushing her windpipes.
Beckett wriggled her body under the woman's grip, trying to squirm out from underneath her. To make strangling her more difficult.
But the lack of oxygen made her slow. Sapped away at her strength while darkness was starting to cloud around her eyes.
At this rate she'd pass out in a minute or so. And that'd be the end of her.
Her eyes widened with fury, staring up at the vile woman hovering over her.
No fucking way. The absolute refusal thundered through her brain.
Kate was not going to go like this. She wasn't certain of much of anything lately, but she was not dying here. Not tonight.
She'd promised her husband, after all, and she'd let him down often enough lately. Not this time.
Beckett might not be able to wedge her fingers underneath the ones her cellmate had curled around her neck, but with only a bit of effort she could grab the edge of the woman's pinkie finger. Once she had a tenuous hold on it she could then slowly grab the entire pinkie finger and grasp it in her hand.
Then yank it back.
It was one of the most vulnerable parts of the human body and one of the easiest bones to break.
Consciousness was slipping away from her but in her last coherent moment, Beckett managed to wrap her hand around the woman's little finger and found a reserve of strength that made it possible to pull it back hard enough that it broke.
The woman let go at the same time that Beckett heard the cracking noise. She heard her scream in pain while she pushed herself off the bunk bed and gasped for air. Wheezing as she sucked it in gratefully, like a dying asthmatic.
Her lungs expanded after the first breath of air, starting off an uncontrollable coughing fit.
The woman was furious and came at her again, but this time Beckett was ready. She could block her attacker with an elbow in spite of the fact that she couldn't stop coughing. It hurt like hell to breathe but at least she was. Breathing.
Beckett prepared to block her again when she saw the woman lunge for her a second time.
What she didn't expect was for Janelle, the other woman sharing their cell, who'd ignored every single previous attack against her, to get up from her bunk and hold back her attacker. Janelle, who towered over them both and had to weigh more than both of them combined. She grabbed the other woman's arms and held on to them so hard that Beckett finally got a reprieve. Long enough to allow her to stop coughing and suck in air in a more controlled fashion. She was still wheezing though, like a lifetime smoker whose lungs were failing.
Her attacker was now raging at Janelle, whose grip on her only got tighter. She was using brute force to hoist up her arms behind her back.
"What the fuck is wrong with you? You takin' the pig's side now?"
"If you don' stop screaming and a CO comes in here one more time, Imma kill you myself."
Kate watched them both as she sat down on the lower bunk, massaging her neck. Breathing was easier now. It hurt but she wasn't wheezing or coughing anymore. Carla, the fourth woman in the cell was wide awake now too, taking in the scene in silence. Carla had only been here two days and Beckett had barely heard her say a word the entire time. She had giant black eyes that looked shell-shocked most of the time.
"Bitch broke my finger!"
Janelle yanked the woman's arms higher, making her look like a trussed chicken and Beckett couldn't help a smirk. Karma's a bitch.
"She been here more than a month," Janelle hissed. "One fucking month and skinny white cop bitch is still breathing and you the one screamin'. You the one gettin' beat up. Breakin' your damn bones." A look of disgust crossed her massive black face. "I'm done with this shit. You had your chance. No more."
Janelle rammed the woman's entire body into the wall, making Beckett wince. It surprised her that correctional officers hadn't stormed in here yet. And yet it didn't. Not much surprised her in this place anymore.
"S'over," Janelle warned her one last time. "You leave that bitch alone. You got that?"
She waited until the woman gave her a barely noticeable nod. Then she dropped her body to the ground like a sack of potatoes and calmly settled back into her bunk.
Beckett and Carla stared at each other. Carla's lips even twitched upwards a little, in what almost resembled a smile. One that Beckett acknowledged with one of her own. They watched her attacker writhing on the floor, before slowly curling into the foetal position. She'd probably spend the rest of the night there.
The woman had almost strangled her tonight, but the end result wasn't so bad. Janelle's reasons for siding with her might be completely selfish, but Beckett didn't care. She finally had someone on her side. The constant attacks were going to stop and it would take a little less effort to get through the day tomorrow. And the day after tomorrow.
It wasn't much, but it was worth something.
New York City
Next day
"Oh no you don't, bro! Not a chance!"
Javier Esposito saw the postal employee about to close the door of the post office while he was still getting out of his car on the other side of the street.
He slammed his car door shut and ran though traffic, oblivious to the horns honking at him, towards the massive building and the Roman columns that flanked it and then he pounded his fist on the locked glass door. The same guy who'd closed the door only moments had already walking away from it, oblivious to Esposito's banging.
"Come on!" Javier yelled through the glass. "It is exactly two minutes to six o'clock! Two minutes before you get to close this door! I have two minutes to pick up my package!"
The man inside the post office pointed to the massive clock on the wall. Showing the time as 5:59pm.
Esposito cursed under his breath. Then he yanked out his badge and pressed it against the glass so the man inside could see it. "If you don't open this door right now, I might go postal."
Seeing the gold badge made the post office worker walk back to the door. He opened it without hiding his irritation. "What can I do for ya, officer?"
"It's not six yet," Esposito told him as he made a beeline for the counter and took out the paper notice the mailman had left at his apartment yesterday. The notice he got three weeks ago after missing his third delivery attempt expired today. Tomorrow they'd send it back where it came from. Back to his tía in Texas who'd call him frantically because she'd wonder what the hell was wrong with him. Whether he'd frozen to death in the New York City winter or died in the line of duty.
He couldn't have that. He had to get the damn package.
"What?"
Esposito pointed to his watch. "I have thirty seconds." Except when he finally got to the counter and the woman there gave him the kind of disapproving, irritated eye-roll he used to get from Lanie, he started to feel a bit of remorse.
This wasn't like him. Using the badge like this. Being a jerk and throwing his weight around.
But he'd been so wrapped up in trying to get Beckett out of that godawful prison and had spent every waking moment at the precinct lately, that it had come to this point. Never being home during the delivery times and being unable to find ten minutes of free time to drag his ass here and pick up his aunt's care package.
Truth be told, he was exhausted. He could really, really, use an evening of tequila, telenovelas and those Mexican cinnamon candies that reminded him of happier times.
"Sorry," he mumbled to the Lanie-lookalike as he handed her the delivery notice over the counter. "Didn't mean to be a jerk. But I really need to get this package before goes back to Texas. My tía would never forgive me." He tried for a smile. The kind that used to get Lanie to forgive him a lot of things.
But this woman remained stone-faced as she went to get his package, plopped it on the counter and made him sign for it.
"Nice try. 'Cause that aint goin' anywhere near Texas," she pointed out. "It's from Brooklyn."
"What?" Espo didn't understand. His tía was the only person who ever sent him anything by mail.
He grabbed the package and stared at the return address, unable to comprehend what he was seeing.
The package was sent by Vikram Singh.
Javier Esposito's fingers tightened around it, his eyes on the date that was inked onto the corner, above the stamp.
It was post-dated the day before he died.
Vikram Singh had mailed this package to him the day before he died and it had been sitting here, at the post office for over a month.
Shit, shit, shit.
Esposito clenched his teeth and tightened his hold on the package. For a second he was unsure of what to do with it. But after a moment's hesitation he ripped it open by tearing away at the seal on top.
There was another package inside the bubble wrap with a type-written note on it: "Contents of this package belong to Vikram Singh. Do not open contents. Direct all contents to Vikram Singh - 12th Precinct." It had Vikram's badge number and the precinct address on it too.
"What the...?"
Esposito tried to open the second package inside, but this one was sealed differently, with an adhesive of sorts that his fingernails couldn't pry open.
"Sir?"
Esposito heard the lady from behind the counter but he paid no attention to her. All his focus was on trying to open the package.
"Sir!"
This time her voice made him jump. "What is it?"
"We're closed."
Esposito finally unglued his eyes from the package he was holding and scanned the empty post office. The guy who'd tried to lock the door on him earlier was standing beside it now, giving him the evil eye.
"Alright, alright." He'd get his ass out of here, but where would he go with this? Was it even safe to carry it around outside? Should he try and open it in the car? What if someone had followed him?
Esposito exhaled. He was being stupid. No one was following him. It's probably why Vikram had sent it to him not Castle. Nearly a month ago! The pang of guilt was settling firmly in his gut now. Like a rock.
What if this was important? What if it could help Beckett?
"Sir?"
"Yeah, yeah...I'm leaving. I'm leaving."
Esposito held on to the package tightly as he made his way back across the street and into his car. He locked all door and set it down on the passenger's seat next to him. Then he grabbed his phone and called his partner.
"Yo, Ryan. You gotta meet me back at the precinct. Yeah, now." He got an earful about Jenny being so very pregnant that she was about to pop. How he'd only just left the precinct, late as usual and was nearly home already. That the only time he saw his wife and daughter lately was when he tucked them into bed. "Look- I get it. Sorry, bro. But trust me, you want to see this. I've got something and it could be huge." He didn't want to mention Vikram's name over the phone. "If I hadn't called you about this and told you to come back in, trust me, you'd kick my ass."
Esposito got another earful from Ryan about how this better be good before his partner told him he was coming back into Manhattan. That he'd be at the precinct in half an hour.
Then he leaned back in his seat and called Castle's number next.