Kate shifts from foot to foot at the murder board, letting herself adjust to their newest information. A pro. A hit-man. The thought makes her shudder, her spine tingling with dread. Who the hell is behind this? Esposito steps behind her, his presence grounding her again, and she turns to regard him.
"If we're looking at a pro, I'm willing to bet he was tailing Taverner for weeks." He taps his index finger against Scott's picture on the board, "Researching. Looking for the perfect time to strike." Espo's voice turns soft and sullen and Kate turns to him and forces a smile, her heart aching. How easy it is for her to forget how deeply wounded the man must be. He never lets it show through, but his past as a military sniper had to have taken its toll.
"What do you mean by 'tailing him'?" Kate asks, and she flinches as Castle appears next to her – too close – and where did he even come from? But his eyes are thick with focus, she can almost see the wheels turning in his head.
Espo answers her, "A professional hit-man, a sniper, would want to know exactly where their target is going to be at every moment of his day. They stalk their prey. I'm willing to bet he followed Scott for at least a couple of weeks before he killed him."
"So – maybe when we questioned Scott's coworkers the first time, we weren't asking the right questions. If one of them can ID the sniper, and we follow him up the chain of command, we can nail this criminal mastermind!" Castle chimes in, nearly bouncing like an excited child. Esposito nods harshly before answering.
"Exactly, bro. And we still need to try and get more out of Meech – with DeLuca being awake, I think we have some more leverage to work with."
Castle meets Kate's eyes, as if asking permission for something. She's clueless, so she smiles tentatively, waits him out.
"Since Scott's coworkers already know you, Kate and I can do some rat-race interrogations while you two," Castle gestures between Ryan and Esposito with an index finger, "beat the snot out of Meech." Kate rolls her eyes in his direction, but he pretends not to notice. Espo is holding his hand in a fist by his head and Castle raises his arm to bump fists with him.
"Sounds perfect, bro."
"Castle! Stop fidgeting!" Kate reaches an arm across the center console and holds on to his thigh, trying to stop its wiggling. It stops, and she turns to see Castle meet her eyes.
"Sorry, Kate." He begins, with a look that says, I'm really not sorry. "I just keep thinking about the crime scenes, how they had no trace evidence, nothing shifted around. It's terrifying to think that this person, who murders people from afar without leaving evidence, could've been as close to Scott as you and I are."
She lets out a defeated sigh. "Yeah, I know how you feel, Castle. But this may be how we end up finding the guy, and when we do, we're putting him away for life. The closer he got to Scott, the easier it will be to nab him. So let's hope he got close."
He looks down at her hand still on his leg, and grabs hold of it with his own hand before she has the presence of mind to jerk it away, threading their fingers together. "Well, it was probably not quite this close." She's staring straight ahead at the road, trying not to let him see her flushed face, but she knows he's waggling those eyebrows at her, and her lips tilt upward to let a brief smile escape.
"You're ridiculous." She finally manages, but her voice displays a full-bodied mirth that he undoubtedly catches onto.
"Ridiculously handsome, you mean." She jerks her hand away from his and uses the back of it to slap him hard on the shoulder.
"Shut up." She's trying to scold him, she really is – but he's gotten under her skin, and a laugh bubbles out of her as he grabs her hand again, unwilling to relinquish it.
She doesn't try to take it back for the rest of the ride.
"I'm exhausted. There has to be a million employees in this building!" Castle lets out another whine and Kate can't stop herself from considering how easily she might be able to dispose of his body if he finally makes her snap.
"Castle, we've only questioned one floor."
"It's a really huge floor! I bet there are 500 employees on this floor alone."
She shoots him a death glare as her phone rings, and she starts fishing in her pocket for it.
"Beckett."
"Hey Kate, it's Javi – how's the canvas coming?" Kate glances around her to make sure it's safe to talk, but sees no one around them in the office building's back hallway.
"Hey. We're about to head back. We've re-questioned everyone on Scott's floor, and all the guys who work the front desk. No one noticed anything and no one seems suspicious."
"Oooh, except for that one woman with a glass-eye, she was seriously creepy!" Castle is whispering it to her harshly, gesturing to his eye and shuddering dramatically. He's stepped up close to her to try and hear her conversation with Esposito, but she waves her hand at him, shooing him away.
"That's a shame. But hey, listen to this – Ryan and I may have got a lead outta Meech. He told us that the Dragon definitely would've hired a pro because he doesn't like getting his hands dirty, and he also said that there was a joint he told Scott to meet him at once, sounds like he threatened him."
"Maybe he was blackmailing him?" Kate said.
"Could be, but Meech said he and DeLuca followed Scott to meet this guy because he was afraid to go alone. Well, the hit-man or the Dragon must've gotten scared away by the two of them because no one ever showed and Scott high-tailed it outta there before things could go south. But get this: the next day? Scott got another call from this Dragon guy, put him on edge. That was two days before he was shot."
"Any idea where this place is?"
"Yeah, it's a club on 43rd, Meech thinks it's where the Dragon does all his wheeling and dealing."
"Thanks Javi, anything else?"
"No, we're looking up this place right now. Talk to you when you get here."
Kate hangs up the phone and fills Castle in on the phone call while they ride the elevator back down to the lobby.
"Do you really think the sniper is still going to be hanging out down at the club?"
"You should know men Castle, always creatures of habit. Especially psychotic ones." She leaves him standing in the elevator, perplexed, and shimmies her hips a little more than usual as she walks towards the building's exit. She's not surprised when he catches up to her fairly quickly, moving to hold the door open for her. The display of chivalry makes her blush, but she doesn't think he notices.
The building's outdoor security officer tips his hat in their direction and Kate nods to him, turns to walk down the street before stopping in her tracks. Castle bumps into her from behind, sending a sharp jolt of electricity through her when his hand nudges her ass. She turns quickly, realization etched all over her features.
"Castle. We didn't talk to the security officer." She's looking over his shoulder at the man, and reaches up and pushes on Castle's shoulder, walks back towards the office building.
"Sir, hi. I'm Kate Beckett, a private investigator working with the NYPD, and this is my partner Rick Castle. We were wondering if you've happened to see anything that may have been suspicious going on around here over the past two or three weeks? Maybe something involving…" Kate pulls her phone out of her pocket, calls up the photograph of Scott Taverner before flashing it in front of the security officer's face. "This man?"
The security officer scrunches up his wrinkled forehead, leans in close and then shakes his head.
"No ma'am. I see him comin' in and outta here, sure. But ain't nothing suspicious about it."
Castle chimes in.
"Maybe you've seen someone else hanging around here, it would've been about two weeks ago. Someone who doesn't work here, and definitely doesn't belong here."
The security officer scratches his head and looks up as if in thought.
"Maybe it's nothing, but I did notice a guy pacing around in front of the building a couple a weeks ago. The thing that was odd about it was that he was back for a few days in a row. Thought he might be waiting for someone up there, ya know?" He gestures to the tower behind him.
"What'd this guy look like?" Kate asks, trying to keep her voice steady, hide her eagerness.
"He was blond, tall, muscular. Had pretty blue eyes, but I think he had a scar on his face."
Kate smiles at the man and then shares a quick look with Castle, sees the excitement dancing through his features as well.
"This building has security cameras, right?" The man nods. "We're going to need you to pull the camera's feed from around the same time you saw this man, and then come down to the precinct and identify him for us."
"I don't know miss. I can't just leave my post like that."
"You'll need to work it out, sir. This is part of an ongoing homicide investigation."
The security officer looks genuinely alarmed, but then schools his features and nods before leading Kate and Castle inside.
"Yo, man – what took you so long?" Kate growls under her breath as Esposito addresses Castle first. Sure, Castle's several steps ahead of them – security officer Frankie Hillman and herself – but something flickers in her chest at the realization that she and Castle are now some kind of unorthodox team. When did that happen? She steps quickly behind the solid, smiling man – determined not to let this ridiculous fluttering feeling affect her job performance – and answers the question Castle has left hanging in the air.
"We caught another lead as we were leaving – turns out the security officer," She gestures to the man behind her, "Saw a man staking out Scott's building two weeks ago. Got him to pull the security footage for us." She holds up her arm and wiggles the CD in her hand. Espo beams at her and grabs it, turns on his heel and heads for his desk. Kate lags behind, making sure that Frankie gets a good view of the video feed.
Espo pulls up the video quickly and looks back at Kate for clarification.
"He says he saw the man on this day around lunch time." She points at the screen. Espo nods and hits video speeds up, and everyone is leaning in, watching with rapt attention, too focused on the task to even breathe.
"That's him!" Frankie shouts, and Espo pauses the feed quickly, stopping on an image of the street, packed full of pedestrians. Frankie leans in and extends a meaty finger toward the screen, gesturing toward the blonde man near the center. The picture is grainy, but the face is distinctive, all sharp jutting bones and tight lines.
Kate startles as Castle stands up and lets out a loud clap.
"Yes! We got him!"
"Whoa, boy. Calm down. We aren't even close yet."
She's not sure she'll survive this. In the locker room at the precinct, Kate pulls off her jeans, and shimmies her hips into a skin-tight skirt, something she pulled out of the vice department. She runs her hand over her exposed thigh and thanks her lucky stars that she shaved this morning. Her blouse is exchanged for a tiny tube top, and she layers a black leather blazer over it, adjusts her chest and musses her hair. After applying a thick layer of red lipstick, she takes a deep breath and steps back into the bull pen.
The look on Castle's face makes her breathing stutter. She turns to hide the smile cracking over her face and stifles a laugh. His eyes are as big as saucers and there's a drop of drool threatening to spill from his mouth at any second. I want to kiss it off. Whoa, Kate. Where the hell did that thought come from? He doesn't look so bad himself, all sleek lines and mussed hair. Somehow his eyes look bluer than ever before. How does he do that? Kate sashays toward him and Espo turns, catching a glimpse of her and letting out a long whistle. She gives him the evil eye and he avoids her gaze like a scalded dog, instead turning his attention on Castle, nudging his elbow.
"I don't know if this is going to work Castle. We've got to maintain a level of plausibility here. She may be too much woman for ya." Ryan barks out a laugh from behind them, and Esposito looks smug.
"Ha ha, very funny guys. We've got this under control. Beckett and I are nothing if not professional." He turns to pull Kate into his side, placing his hand over her shoulder, and she shrugs him off, snorting.
"Professional, my ass." She barks at him, "But you're just my arm candy anyway." Castle lets out a feral groan, so quiet, she knows it was for her ears only.
"You guys sure you're up to this? We'll have backup surrounding the scene, so with your wires, you'll be able to alert us to anything fishy that goes down in that place." Kate nods, adrenaline pumping through her body at the thought of being part of an undercover op again – it really has nothing to do with the man she's pressed up against, her friend. Partner?
The bouncer is easy enough to charm, though he gives Castle some menacing looks as she drags him through the door. The club is high-end, dark and ritzy, full of women who might be labeled as call girls rather than one of the more derogatory terms. Castle coughs as soon as they make it through the entryway, smoke and other substances thick in the air. They sway together instinctively, and Castle places his hand on her hip, the contact sending an electric shock through her, making her jump. She immediately stops swaying, and turns in his arms. He doesn't let go of her hip, only seems to grip her tighter. The music is so loud that when Kate tries to talk to Castle, her yells come across as barely a whisper.
"Castle, remember the plan, ok? I'm going to scope the place out, and you're going to hang back."
"But, I'm here to be your back-up, Kate!"
"Castle, no one is going to give me the time of day if I have some desperate guppy hanging all over me. You can back me up from over there." She gestures behind him to the bar, and he nods. Thankfully he stays put as she shimmies her way through the crowd, bouncing her hips with each step, running her hands through her hair. Her eyes quickly scan the room, taking stock of her surroundings. A man approaches her from behind, suddenly very close, grinding against her and breathing down her neck. She tries to shrug him off, disgusted, but he grabs hold of her arms, effectively holding her in place. Kate groans, tries to think of a way to get out of this without drawing attention to herself, blowing her cover.
"Hey, get off me you perv!" She shouts it into his ear, even as she weighs her options.
"Oooh, fiesty one!" He chuckles, and before she can make her move, she feels him being pulled back, hears him grunt and turns to see Castle knee him in the crotch.
"Leave her alone!" He yells at the guy, and Kate looks around, panicked, hoping no one was paying too much attention. Thankfully the club is so packed full of people, and so loud – no one thinks anything is out of the ordinary. The grimy man disappears into the crowd, limping away and she turns to Castle with a murderous gaze.
"Castle! I told you not to do anything that could compromise our situation! Do you realize you could've blown the whole op?"
"I couldn't stand back there and watch him treat you like that!"
"I had it under control, Castle!"
He doesn't answer, just runs his hand over his neck and Kate feels a little of her rage subsiding. He was annoying as hell, but somehow also really… sweet. She sighs, touches his arm and meets his gaze.
"Okay, come on. Just walk far enough behind me this time. I'm going to head toward that back corner." She points to a corner of the room that she'd noticed before the pervert had tried to mount her. It draws her attention because of the great number of brazen women just standing around protectively, not participating. She slowly makes her way to that side of the club, dancing and swaying – trying not to turn and look at Castle. She knows he's close behind her, but she can't bear to see his face after the stunt he pulled back there, 'defending her honor' or something.
As she inches closer to the hoard of women she switches gears, shrugs off her blazer, exposing wide expanses of her smooth skin and runs her fingers through her hair again. She catches a glimpse of a man sitting behind the women, he's blond, sharp, and tan – no doubt the same man she saw on the security footage, with a woman draped over each side. The other women give her murderous glares, but move aside as she saunters up to the sofa in the corner, trying to hide a disgusted shiver as he uses his eyes to scan up and down her body, drinking her in.
"Well, well, well. What can I do for you, princess?" Kate grins, and sets her voice an octave higher before responding.
"I'm looking for something um… to make me feel" she giggles, "shiny?" The hardened man smiles at her and gestures for her to sit next to him.
"You want to feel shiny, huh?" He whispers in her ear and she nods, smiles at him again, her tongue pushing through her teeth as she flirts.
"How much we talking here?" His nose is pressed into her neck now, and she doesn't look up, but hopes Castle isn't watching right now. Don't do anything stupid, Castle. I've almost got him. Her telepathy must work for the time being because the pimp here seems to be buying her little charade, he reaches into his pocket and pulls out… a cigarette. Damn.
"Ohh, ummmm, just enough to last me. I can pay."
"You can pay, huh?" She nods, arches her back and runs her fingers through her hair again, twirling the ends through her fingers. She feels her stomach drop when he stands up, looks back down at her with slotted eyes and mutters under his breath. "Try again later, doll." He disappears through the crowd of women, and they chase after him as he weaves through the crowd. Damn, damn, damn.
Castle suddenly appears at her side, and she stands up. She hears Ryan in her ear, asking her what's going on – telling her to get Castle and get out of there, and has she been made? She ignores them, reaches down for the blonde man's shot glass and shoves it under her arm, hidden by her blazer. She adjusts her stupidly short skirt, grabs hold of Castle's sleeve and drags him until they're all the way back out in the street.