Author's Note: I'd like to thank MaineCastle, phnxgrl, southerngirl1, and TORONTOSUN for their reviews. There is a little bit of Russian in this chapter too (same format as chapter 18). This chapter starts not long after the last one ended. Enjoy!

Chapter 20

Alex entered the warehouse cautiously. An ambush from The Gentleman wasn't unheard of and he wasn't afraid of eliminating employees who might soon become liabilities. Take Stephan Sobral. Detective Karpowski had been looking to talk to him, gotten fairly close, and he'd wound up dead. To say she was nervous about this meeting was an understatement.

One of his goons came up to pat her down, but backed off when she narrowed her eyes and glared at him. One of her new rules for interacting with The Gentleman was no one was taking her weapons. She had a knife at her hip and a gun in her shoulder holster. You could never be too careful in here. She wound her way through the getaway vehicles toward the lit area in the back. In the middle was a computer setup not unlike Sloan's back home. Sitting in the seat of command was The Gentleman. She couldn't see what was on the screens but she recognized the look on his face as one Sloan wore when he was digging into something. She could tell The Gentleman knew what he was doing.

He glanced over and saw her. "Ah, you're here. Good. I had something I wanted to discuss with you."

"It's been a while since the last job. I was beginning to wonder if you'd forgotten me."

"Of course not. I just didn't have anything for someone of your talent. Come."

She approached warily. "I heard through the grapevine that Detective Beckett's father was murdered. Word is I did it, but I know I didn't. Do you know anything about that?"

The Gentleman didn't look up from his desk. "Your technologically savvy boyfriend couldn't find anything out?"

Alex's face remained impassive, but inside she was panicking; he knows about Sloan. "He was able to access the police files, so I know they don't think I did it. I'm just trying to figure out how my hair was left at the scene."

"My contacts say The Chameleon was behind that. You would have to ask him why he chose to emulate you."

The Gentleman was behind the frame. "Perhaps I will."

"Now, let's move on to business. There is a cop I have a… disagreement with. Her sin occurred years ago, but there were several players involved, so I was unable to exact my revenge at the time. Not until I knew who else was involved."

"What did she do?"

"She was instrumental in bringing down an organization I was tied to. The resultant federal investigation and trial brought down many of my contacts and most of my business, making it impossible to work for quite some time."

Alex cocked an eyebrow. "You want me to take out all the players?"

"Not all of them. I have other contractors engaging the other targets. For you, I have two targets. One will be difficult to get to for a few weeks, but the other is local."

"Who are they?"

"One is an Assistant U.S. Attorney named Candace Robinson. At the moment, she is embroiled in a large case and has too many eyes on her. The second is Detective Katherine Beckett."

"No." Alex spoke without thinking.

"No?"

"She's a victim of my mentor." Alex knew she was treading on thin ice now and needed to be careful. "I made a choice early in my career to never harm someone he'd hurt."

The Gentleman narrowed his eyes. "I don't think you fully understand what it means to work for me. It means when I give you a target or assignment, you carry out that assignment with no questions asked. You will kill her or I will take someone very precious from you. And you know who that person is."

Alex swallowed hard, her voice now coming in a rasp. "How long do I have?"

"For Detective Beckett, one month."

Back at the precinct, Beckett was excited to learn that one of Oksana's coworkers remembered seeing a guy shadowing Oksana three days before her death. Esposito and Ryan had followed up with the security cameras at the library and had spotted Pashkov following Oksana through the library. A good lawyer could play down the implications of that video, but it was enough to get a pair of plainclothes officers to sit on him while more information came in.

And then the CSU report came in. A team had been sent to dumpster dive within a five block radius of the victim's apartment, and they had apparently scored. They found two black trash bags filled with the trash from Oksana's apartment plus rags, hospital style restraints, latex gloves and the original bed sheets from her bed. The lab had tested all relevant items and found an unknown male DNA sample on the bed sheets, inside the latex gloves, and inside the condoms which also had Oksana's DNA on the outside.

Ryan ran a check again, but Pashkov's DNA and fingerprints were not in the system at all. Beckett had contacted the plainclothes shadowing Pashkov and told them to keep their eyes peeled for anything he discarded. If they were lucky, those items just might have his DNA on them. Short of getting a warrant for his DNA, which they didn't have enough probable cause yet, that would be the only way.

Castle took Pashkov's picture off the board. "We should run his picture by the neighbor. That might be better than the sketch."

Beckett hit the print button. "Good idea." She went and retrieved the printout. "That's why I put together this 'six pack'. Showing her his picture is good, but having her make the I.D. is better."

He put the picture of Pashkov back up on the board. "And it is infinitely more useful in court. What are we waiting for?"

"Let's go."

Half an hour later they knocked on the door of Oksana's friend and neighbor. "Да, привет? (Da, privet? Yes, hello?) Oh, Detective. What now?"

"We'd like to see if you recognize the man you met. If you can pick him out of this array, we'd appreciate it."

The old lady started studying the photo array, systematically looking at each picture carefully before moving on to the next one. For a moment, Beckett thought she would identify him soon but as time went on that hope started to fade. After a few minutes she looked up. The Detective recognized the look as one people wore when they were searching their memory banks for something.

After a moment of contemplation, she looked back down at the sheet. "This one." She pointed to the picture of Vladimir Pashkov. "He's the one who opened Oksana's door."

"Спасибо (Spasibo, Thank you)." Beckett pulled out her phone. "Pick him up. I'll draw up the DNA warrant."

Pashkov had been sitting in the Interrogation room for a few minutes now. While Beckett and Castle had been questioning the old lady, the shadows had pulled a takeout container from the trash and sent it to the lab. Two minutes ago they'd gotten the results from the test; it was a perfect match. Now they were waiting for the swab they had collected from Pashkov when he'd arrived to be tested against the condom and sheets too. Beckett had no doubt it would match as well.

In the meantime, she was watching him and his lawyer through the Observation window. She couldn't hear what was being said, though it looked like the lawyer was doing most of the talking. The door to the Observation Room opened and an officer handed Beckett a folder. She opened it to see the updated DNA results.

Castle couldn't see the results from where he was standing. "What does it say?"

"It's a match, just like the takeout container. Vladimir Pashkov raped and murdered Oksana Sokolova."

"We should go in."

Beckett shook her head. "I've dealt with this lawyer a couple times before. She's easier to handle if you wait till she knocks on the glass to let you know they're ready."

Castle turned his attention back to the other room. "Is it just me or does she seem, I don't know, flustered in there?"

"Yes. It almost looks like he's not cooperating with her. I wonder why; he did ask for a lawyer."

Beckett and Castle went back to watching the exchange in the room. Pashkov remained stoic, staring at his cuffed hands on top of the table. The lawyer continued trying to get him to speak to her. Eventually the lawyer threw up her hands, stood, and knocked on the glass. Beckett looked to Castle, raised her eyebrows and shrugged before they left the Observation Room and went into I2.

Helen Miksit looked over as they entered I2. "Figures you'd be lurking in there."

"Looking, not listening. Mr. Pashkov…"

"Doctor."

"Mr. Pashkov, you are still a student, which means you have not yet received the rank of doctor. As I was saying, you are suspected of the rape and murder of Oksana Sokolova."

"I'm advising my client to remain silent."

Pashkov's face contorted with disgust. "Oh shut up. I don't want you as my lawyer. You're fired."

Beckett held up her hand. "Mr. Pashkov, you realize that by dismissing your attorney, you will be waiving your right to council?"

"Yes, I do. When I asked for a lawyer, I was hoping for someone else. Apparently they aren't available anymore."

Miksit was packing her briefcase. "The lawyer he's looking for moved to Boston. If he reconsiders, give me a call."

Beckett waited till Miksit had left to continue. "Before we continue, you are sure you wish to waive your right to council?"

"Yes, I'm sure. She would have just screwed me over anyway."

"Okay." Beckett didn't agree with Pashkov's decision, but she wasn't going to push until he did change his mind. "Did you rape Oksana Sokolova?"

"No. We made love. I'm allowed to sleep with my wife."

Beckett opened her notebook. "When did she become your wife?"

Pashkov scoffed. "It won't be in your computers. We didn't get married by this country's laws. She was my wife from before we were born. We were destined to be together."

Castle glanced at Beckett. "Did she know that?"

Pashkov's face took on an ugly expression. "No, she refused to believe it. Even after I made her mine, she refused to accept the truth. I had to show her again and again. She fought the restraints. But there was no mark."

"How did you subdue her?"

"A rag soaked in Chloroform. She would have made too much noise if I hadn't. The pig from the nightclub had her confused; she thought she was his plaything to keep his marriage working. But he was wrong! She was mine; I just had to make sure she couldn't run away while I proved it to her. That's why I used the restraints. She didn't belong to that pig anymore. She was mine."

Beckett stopped writing. "By 'the pig' you mean Simon Barner."

"Yes, him. He was trying to break up our marriage to save his own. I couldn't let him."

Castle rested his hands on the table. "So why did you kill Oksana?"

Pashkov grew angry. "She wouldn't believe me. The first moment I saw her, I knew she was mine. Her perfect veins, the way she talked, I just knew. But when I told her, she just laughed at me; told me she was taken."

Beckett nodded. "And that's when you started following her."

"I had to find out who it was. And then I had to punish them. If Oksana wouldn't be with me, no one could have her. And him? He had taken her from me; I had to make sure he knew she was no longer his."

"How did you kill her?"

"I strangled her with her robe tie, just like she'd strangled our love. It's soft and wouldn't leave as much of a bruise if I did it right. Then I took her straight to the nightclub. I didn't want her to show lividity and her blood needed to still be fluid so I could stage everything right."

"How'd you get into the nightclub?"

"I followed the pig a few times. Saw the code he used to turn off the security. I used it to get in and set everything up. When she was in place, I cut her throat; used her hair to keep her face out of the bloodflow as much as possible."

"Vladimir Pashkov, you are under arrest for the rape and murder of Oksana Sokolova." Beckett opened the door and had a uniform come in to take him to booking.

Pashkov stood. "She was mine. I had to show her. You will never understand."

Alexis greeted them as they walked in the door. "Hey, dinner's almost ready."

"It smells delicious." Beckett hung up her coat.

Castle followed suit. "You didn't have to do this again tonight."

"It's my last chance before I go back to school."

"Back to Stanford?"

Alexis nodded. "Yeah, you were right. As much as I'd like to be closer, Stanford is my school."

Castle smiled. "I'm glad you figured that out." He pulled her into a big hug. "I'll miss you."

"Yeah, me too." They broke apart. "Let's eat. We've got some laser tag to play."

"You're on."

A/N: That's it for this case. I will be taking a brief hiatus from posting for a few weeks while I finish writing up the next case. Thanks for reading and stay tuned!