The Push
Chapter 29
The grooves bracketing Kate's nose deepened as she ended her call with the Health Management Division. "What's wrong?" Castle asked.
"They won't accept Dr. Toner's assessment that my P.T.S.D. symptoms have been reduced to a manageable level. They say I have to go back to get cleared by Dr. Burke. Damn it, Castle! I need to go back to work! There's a bad guy out there shooting people, and Ryan, Espo, and Gate's whole fricking task force are getting nowhere!"
"Kate," Castle wondered. "When Burke clears you, and he will, are you sure this is the case you want to go back for? The sniper shot his first victim in the heart. Are you sure that coping with that won't cause a setback in the progress you've made? I've acceded to your wishes about not talking to Wheldon about ordering Gates to take me back. I won't be able to go to the precinct with you. Apparently, my takedown of Wood was not enough to convince Gates of my worthiness to partner with you and the boys."
"Castle, I have to do my part to get that madman off the streets. If I can't do that, what good am I?"
"So, are you going back to see Burke?"
Kate sighed and closed her eyes. "I have no choice."
Kate pulled her feet up under her and toyed with the miniature wood mannequin on the table beside her, as she sat opposite Dr. Burke. "I've been going over Dr. Toner's account of your therapy with him, Detective Beckett," Burke told her. It is very interesting and somewhat encouraging."
"Good, then sign the piece of paper and let me go back to work," Kate responded.
"Kate, you know it's not that easy. Obviously, I can't subject you to any more unexpected crashes. You'll be prepared for them. What I would like you to do, is tell me about your mother's death."
Kate crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Why my mother's death?"
"Because your shooting is not the only deep trauma you've experienced, and I'd like to see if there has been a change in how you regard a previous, and possibly a more significant trauma, since last we spoke."
"Fine. My mother, father, and I were supposed to be going to dinner. My father and I went to the restaurant together. My mother was supposed to meet us there. When she never showed up, Dad figured she must have gotten caught up in a case. That happened a lot. We went back to our apartment, and a Detective Raglan was waiting for us. He told us my mother had been killed. He said it was a random killing. Months ago I found out that he had been involved in her death. He was was shot when he tried to tell me the truth. I took down his shooter. Castle did, really. Then the bastard escaped from prison and Roy Montgomery died killing him. "
"Let's return to your mother's shooting," Burke directed. "When Detective Raglan told you your mother was dead, how did you feel?"
Kate grasped the arms of her chair. "At first, I thought it all had to be some big mistake, you know? That maybe someone who looked like her had died. But then Raglan told me what she was wearing. I'd seen her before she left that morning. I knew it was her. Then I just felt numb."
"And after that?"
"I saw what it was doing to my father. I watched him drain half a bottle of whiskey at one sitting because he couldn't cope with her death. I felt alone - and angry. I just wanted to get the bastard responsible."
"So, your father reacted to the loss by turning to alcohol. What did you do?" Burke queried.
Kate resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "I'd think that would be obvious. I became a cop. I wanted to catch my mother's killer, and every other killer I could."
"You wanted vengeance?" Burke prompted.
"I wanted justice," Kate insisted.
"And you finally got it. Your mother's killer has been found. What do you want now, Kate?"
"I want justice for everyone else who has lost a loved one to a murderer. That's why I want to get back to work."
"Alright, Kate. I will sign the piece of paper, as you put it, with one proviso. I want to see you, at least once a month, to make sure your symptoms are under control. I will be putting that in my report to Health Management Services, and your captain will be aware of it as well. Can you accept that condition?"
"I'll have to, won't I?" Kate replied.
Kate was embarrassed but gratified at the applause that greeted her return to the Twelfth Precinct. She met the appraising stare that came at her from over Victoria (Iron) Gate's reading glasses. "Detective Kate Beckett, your reputation, of course, precedes you," Gate's told her. "I received the notice that you passed your psych evaluation, with the accompanying caveat. Your badge has been waiting for you." Gates handed Kate her shield.
"I need my gun, sir," Kate replied, with what Ryan had warned her was Gates' preferred form of address.
"Then I'll need to see your re-qualification. "You've been gone for more than three months, Detective. That's more than long enough for anyone to get rusty, especially with an injury that limits your range of motion and your ability to absorb the force of a recoil. In any case, regulations demand that you re-qualify. With your previous ratings, I'm sure that you are more than familiar with the shooting range,"
"Yes, sir."
"Fine. Come back to me as soon as you have your paperwork and Detective…."
"Yes, sir?"
"Do not even think about bringing that pulp novelist shadow of yours into my precinct. My command has no place for rich dilettantes who want to play cop."
"Sir," Kate protested. "Castle has been my partner for three years. Our clearance rate rose when he began working with us. He has been instrumental in solving many of our cases."
"Cases are cleared by solid police work, not by flights of fancy," Detective. "When you come back, you come alone. Understood?"
"Yes sir," Kate agreed.
"So, you handed Gates a target with all ten shots in the center ring. Good for you!" Castle declared.
Kate drummed her fingers on the counter as she sat on a kitchen stool in the loft. "But she's absolutely insisting that you're persona non-grata, Castle. I'm rethinking not having you ask Wheldon to intervene."
"We'll find a way to work something out, Kate," Castle assured her. "In the meantime, just tell me everything you have so far on the case."
Kate used her fingertip to trace a pattern in the condensation on the surface of a bottle of cold water in front of her. "There is not much to tell, Castle. The bullet came from an unregistered weapon that wouldn't have been hard to get. When a casing was traced, it turned out to be a reload. The gun is a dead-end. There was some trace DNA, which gave us a rough physical description that could fit a few million men. We've been narrowing it down to people who would have the skill to make the shot. Espo's taken point on that, because of his experience in the military."
"Anything else?" Castle asked.
"Just weird paper dolls he's been leaving at the scene. They don't seem to mean anything. Maybe he's got a fetish or something."
"I've written about more than a few killer's fetishes. They usually have some kind of a backstory. Can you get me pictures of the dolls?" Castle proposed. "That mystery would at least be something I could work on without butting up against the iron gate blocking the precinct door."
"I don't know what you'll find, Castle, but at this point, it can't hurt for you to try."
