Chapter 21 - Sunday Afternoon

She watched at the detective and the writer left her little shop with narrowed eyes. The potion and the spell should be working, but these two were here, talking to her protégé when they should be in bed, slaves to their mutual lust. Clenching her fists, she wanted to scream. This wasn't supposed to happen. How could she get away from here when they knew so much about her and, if she wasn't mistaken, had a photo of her too. Turning away she headed down the alley, towards her van, where she cast a small spell:

"Change the colour from black to white,

And turn the lights to blue.

Make the numbers fade out of sight,

The letters something new.

So no one can identify,

Or stop the van today.

Help me to fade out of sight

And disappear into the night."

Taking a handful of silver powder she blew it towards the van and was rewarded when the van changed colour and licence plate details. She smiled grimly at the only thing that had gone right today and got in, heading towards the East River.

Kate strode into the bullpen with purpose. She had called Ryan and Espo from the car, telling them to meet in the office as soon as possible. She found them waiting for her, so she headed straight for their desks. "Our suspect is Elizabeth Rivers." She handed Ryan the photo and he turned to his computer to search for her. "She owns the herbal shop in Greenwich Village. She drives a black van with green and pink lights on the undercarriage, licence SPN 2981. She's also a practising witch." She turned to Esposito. "See if you can find any covens in the area, she's part of one."

"Alright." He turned to his own computer and started typing.

"Elizabeth Rivers. Thirty two. She lives on Central Park West." Ryan pressed a few buttons. "She has a record. Two counts of disturbing the peace and one for possession of an illegal substance. She did six months for the drugs charge and was given community service for the others. But they were seven years ago. Nothing since then."

"There's only one coven listed in the area. The 'Sisters of the New Age of Karma and Equality'. Quite a mouthful."

"So they're called SNAKE?" Castle asked, abbreviating the name.

They all took a minute to reach the same conclusion as him and found the name strange and slightly humorous. "Alright, let's concentrate. We need evidence to prove she did it. Did she know any of our vic's? Does she connect to the warehouse? Motive. Means. Opportunity."

They spent the next hour searching through their reports and the vic's records, trying to find something to connect them.

"Here's something." Espo said walking over to the board. "Christopher used to visit Greenwich Village pretty regularly before his parents died. The shop across the street, Ralph's, was a regular stop for him."

"So she could have seen him through the window." Beckett nodded. Espo wrote it on the board under the heading 'Connections'.

Over the course of the afternoon the list grew, linking her to all three victims, but mainly Christopher. She seemed to frequent the same places he used to. After his loss she appeared to lose track of him, then two months ago she started using stores around his work places, indicating she found him again. It looked like she was stalking him.

"I think we've managed to discover the chain of events." Beckett commented to the room at large. "Elizabeth must have been in love with Christopher, so she started stalking him. Then his parents died, and he became something of a recluse. Somehow she found him again and resumed stalking him. Then he met Catherine, through Amanda, and they began dating. That was probably when she snapped, and decided if she couldn't have him no one could."

"But why kill the girlfriend and the matchmaker?" Espo asked.

"I don't know, maybe to kill the competition. We'll ask her when we arrest her." Beckett told them. "Put out a BOLO on the van and on her. She wasn't at work today as it's her day off."

Ryan and Esposito returned to their desks to set them up and get her photo circulated to the cops on the street. Kate only hoped they found her quickly, three murders in five days was too many. It made her a serial killer and Kate only hoped she was finished, and no-one else would turn up dead, because of a rejection.

They didn't have any luck finding her. It seemed like she had disappeared, and there was no sign of the van. No one had gone anywhere near the warehouse for the drugs, and she hadn't returned to her apartment for the night either. Feeling they'd have better luck in the morning when the warrants came through they called it a night.

Kate held back, waiting for Esposito and Ryan to leave before her, so she could talk to Castle alone, or as alone as you could get in the bullpen. "Rick, I don't know whether this is the drug talking, but I don't want to be alone tonight. The thought of the empty apartment that awaits me just makes me cringe. Do you mind if I come over later to stay the night?" She asked shyly, not meeting his eyes, afraid to see his reaction.

"Kate, look at me." He said gently, and waited for her to comply. When she did he continued. "You don't have to ask. I've always told you to make yourself at home. Besides, I'd love to have you stay."

"But what about Alexis, and Martha?" She asked, wanting him to spend time with his family, and not have to deal with her neuroses.

"They'll understand, Kate. I'll talk to them when I get home, let them know you'll be coming over later to stay the night." Seeing Kate's sceptical look he added, "They understand that nothing is decided yet, and it won't be until we get to the bottom of the case. Once we do, I'll sit down with them and explain everything. Don't worry Kate, just come over when you're ready."

"Okay, Rick. I'll see you soon." She looked around to check they weren't seen, then gave him a scorching kiss that nearly knocked his socks off. When he remembered to breathe, Kate was in the elevator, holding the door open for him.

He had a suspicious gleam in his eye when he finally joined her for the ride downstairs, and it didn't take long to figure out why. When the doors closed, giving them total privacy he backed her up against the wall and kissed the life out of her. He ran his hands down her back, letting her feel every inch of his body, and the painful erection she had caused with her action. Trailing his lips to her ear, he whispered, "This is what you do to me when you kiss me like that. I hope you plan to do something about it when I see you later." The doors opened so he turned on his heel and walked out, looking totally unaffected by the events that just occurred. Kate stared after him, amazed by the strong reaction she had illicited with just one tiny kiss. The elevator dinged and the doors started closing, causing Kate to snap out of it and hurry after him. She headed to her car in a sort of daze, unaware of her surroundings. When Esposito stepped out of the shadows and spoke, she jumped about a foot in the air. "Sorry, Beckett. You okay?"

"Yeah, Espo. I'm fine. You just caught me off guard is all. I didn't expect anyone to be down here." She made it a statement, but sent him a questioning glance.

"I have a bad feeling I can't seem to shake, and I just wanted to make sure you're okay." He told her, looking harder and seeing she was shaking a little. "You sure you're okay? You're shaking."

"I'm fine, Espo. "She repeated. "You scared me is all, and the adrenaline's pumping. When that stops so will the shakes. Go home, we got a big day tomorrow."

They went their separate ways, but Esposito waited until she got in her car and was safely on her way before heading home himself. He felt eyes watching him and he didn't like it. It put him on edge. The whole case did. Hopefully it would all be over tomorrow and the feeling would disappear.

Just one chapter today. It's getting close to the end now, just a few more chapters to go!