Chapter XXX

12th Precinct, NYC

Ryan hadn't gotten around to getting the camera footage from the hotel yet, so Beckett went to the 12th with Alexis after discovering that Gates was away in meetings all day.

She didn't have much choice after Alexis showed up her doorstep with two lattes, fresh squeezed orange juice, and breakfast sandwiches. ("There are two, one with egg and ham, and the other with egg and cheese. Choose whichever one you prefer."). Little Castle was nothing if not persistent and thoughtful. Much like her father.

They filed a missing person report with LT and then she walked over to Ryan's desk while Alexis went to the washroom.

"Look, I'm sorry, but we got a body drop first thing this morning and with you and Espo suspended, it's all landing in my lap…it's not like Gates is gonna throw more manpower my way."

"I know," Beckett sighed and sat down across from him in Esposito's empty chair. "I appreciate you doing this, I really do."

Ryan stopped staring into his lap top long enough to look at her. "Did you get any sleep last night?"

Beckett frowned. She'd been running on a couple of hours of sleep a night for a few days now and the thoughts that Alexis had put into her head last night hadn't helped. Maybe if the teenager had given her five minutes to put on some concealer this morning, Ryan wouldn't have noticed.

"Not much," she admitted.

Now her partner had all her attention. "Do you really think something's happened to him?"

She bit her lip. "I don't know…I mean, this kind of thing, we saw it all the time in our rookie days, right? Drunk guy leaves party, does God knows what and ninety percent of the time, he quietly turns up a day or two later, too embarrassed to admit the things he doesn't remember doing."

Ryan shrugged. "True. And let's be honest, it's not like he doesn't have a reputation of doing exactly that. I checked to see if Castle had priors after you called me last night. Did you know he once rode a police horse naked?"

"So because my Dad did something stupid over twenty years ago, you're not even gonna bother looking for him?"

Both Beckett and Ryan whipped their heads around to see that Alexis had come back from the washroom and was standing right behind them.

Shit.

"Alexis, no…"

She was close to tears. Anger and profound disappointment were written all over her face as she backed away from them. "You know what? I'll find a private investigator. My Dad deserves better than this. Like someone who actually cares about finding him. Even if they only care because I'm paying them."

Beckett jumped up after her but Alexis was already gone. She took off into the stairwell.

"Alexis, stop!"

Beckett was faster and she finally caught up with her, just before Alexis was about to open the exit door for the street. She grabbed the teenager's jacket, yanking her back and forcing her to stop. "Will you give me a chance to explain?"

Alexis turned around, and the tears on her face broke Beckett's heart.

"Explain what? That my Dad does stupid things and that this is one of them?" She wiped away a tear with an angry swipe of her hand. "I'm the one who's stupid because I used to think you were so different from those other women he dated. But you're not. To think that he wants to marry you."

Beckett stared at her. "What?"

Alexis stared back. Suddenly dumbstruck with the realization that she said too much. Way, way too much.

"Forget it," she mumbled.

"What the hell are you talking about, Alexis?"

"I said forget it!" she hissed and shook off Beckett's hand from her jacket. "Let me go. Just forget I came to see you and go do whatever you were gonna do today."

"For God's sake, would you stop this?" Beckett stood in front of the exit door, blocking Alexis's way out. "Stop being pissed off with me for two seconds and let me explain?"

Alexis sat down on a step, crossed her arms and looked up at her. "Fine. I'm listening."

Beckett exhaled. "Look Ryan and I, we're cops. We're used to going by the evidence and the fact is that in most cases like this, when someone leaves a party drunk, especially a male, they almost always turn up a day or two later at some friend's place."

Alexis started to push herself back up. "I've heard enough…"

Beckett glared at her. Was this what dealing with teenagers was like? If so, she'd never given Castle enough credit. "I'm not finished!"

Alexis gave her a sullen look.

"And yes, as cops we take priors into consideration, but," she paused for emphasis. "That doesn't mean I'm not taking this seriously." The young woman's blue eyes were boring into her. Daring her to make a convincing argument. "I was up all night because you terrified me, making me think that Salvador Ojeda could be a part of this. And in case I haven't made it clear, I love your father, with all my heart, and it killed me when I thought he left the party with another woman."

She caught the first sign of remorse on Alexis's face. "Okay…"

"But that said, you father wasn't even ready to make our relationship public, so I don't know why in the world you'd think that he wants to get married."

"He does!"

"Alexis…"

"I know I shouldn't be telling you this, and Dad would probably kill me if he knew, but he wanted to propose to you on the night of the launch party. In private…and if you said yes, he was gonna announce it that night. In front of the whole world. He was so excited about it. About letting everyone know."

Beckett was dumbstruck, didn't know what to say.

Alexis held up her phone. "He told me because he wanted to know if I was okay with it. With you maybe moving in soon." She opened up a photo in a string of text messages. "He even had a ring picked out. Here…"

Beckett looked at the photo of the two-band platinum ring that sandwiched three diamonds and looked like it might cost as much as her annual salary. It was exactly the kind of strong, functional, one-of-a-kind exquisiteness that she'd have chosen herself if money were no object.

Oh, Rick.

"He wouldn't have left the party with another woman," Alexis insisted, bringing her back to the present. "In spite of the stupid things I said that night. That's what I'm trying to get across. He's so in love with you, he hasn't even looked at anyone else since you two started dating."

Beckett took a deep breath, still not sure how she felt about this latest revelation. It was overwhelming. All of it. "Look…I don't believe he's hungover at some stranger's apartment either. In spite of what you think you heard me and Ryan say up in the bullpen." She offered her a hand, a peace offering, to help her stand up from the steps she was sitting on. "Let's not fight each other, and go find your Dad, okay?"

Alexis nodded and reached for her hand. "Okay."

Lower East Side, NYC

They went back to Beckett's place together, to comb the camera footage that Ryan sent to her laptop. It wasn't exactly, entirely legal given her current suspended status, but it was a risk she was willing to take. It was either that or beg her already inundated partner to do it for her.

So she sat there and watched Castle mingling with an endless throng of people. Everyone had wanted a piece of him that night and he gave it, gladly. Watching him interact with others in the silent feed was a reminder of not just how good he was at it but also that it was neither forced nor fake. He was genuinely interested in what everyone had to say. Everyone who spoke to him had his undivided attention

Unlike me, you are so easy to fall in love with.

It was easy to see how someone with obsessive tendencies could mistake that natural, genuine warmth for something deeper. How someone who maybe hadn't felt a lot of love growing up could yearn to be part of Richard Castle's inner circle.

"There you are," Kate told Alexis as she paused the video feed. "You and your grandma. It's eleven thirty-seven. Is that the last encounter you had with your Dad?"

Alexis stared at the screen. Sombre. "Yeah…"

"Can you remember what he said? What you were talking about?"

Alexis shrugged. "It was…nothing important. Just, you know…small talk."

"Tell me anyway," Beckett pressed. "It might seem insignificant to you, but you never know. It could lead us somewhere." She gestured to the time-stamp on her lap top. "You were chatting for almost ten minutes. You had to have talked about something."

Alexis bit her lip. "Grandma complained about there not being any sexy men her age at the party."

Beckett bit back a smile. She adored Martha Rodgers a little more every day. "You look like you're having a disagreement with your Dad."

Alexis rested her chin in her palm. "It's nothing…just stupid stuff."

"Alexis…"

"We were talking about you, okay?"

"Me?"

"I was irritated that you didn't show up and…" Alexis stared at the screen, avoiding Beckett's inquiring gaze. "I told him."

"I see," Beckett kept her voice level.

"He told me that you had your reasons." Alexis mumbled. "He was defending you. Because he didn't want me being angry with you."

Beckett turned her gaze back to the screen. To the way Castle calmed his feisty teenager in the crowded room. To the disappointment he tried to hide.

If I'd been there that night none of this would have happened.

Guilt churned in her stomach. Made her feel sick.

"I'm sorry…" Alexis mumbled.

Beckett put a hand on her arm. "Stop apologising. I don't want you holding things back because you think you'll hurt my feelings, 'kay? I meant it when I said that every detail could be important."

"Okay. Fine. I'm still sorry though."

Alexis pushed a pizza box in her direction. "You haven't had any yet and I've had three slices."

Beckett vaguely remembered ordering it a couple of hours ago. "Is that how you stay so skinny?"

Beckett chuckled and took a bite of the now-cold slice, even though she had no appetite. "I get tunnel vision sometimes when I caught up in a case. Lose track of time."

"My Dad told me that about you, after he'd been shadowing you for a while. That you never back down, even when you run into walls."

She took another bite. "Not sure it's always a good thing. Sometimes it gets you suspended." If she weren't suspended, she could be doing this so much faster and more efficiently from her desk at the 12th. Along with all the resources she had at her fingertips there. She might have even convinced Gates to let her pursue it in an official capacity.

Instead here she was. Rogue cop trying to find the man she loved from her living room.

"Your last case, you said you were going after the man who shot you. I didn't even ask you if you caught him."

Beckett sighed and put aside her half-eaten slice of cold pizza, appetite gone for good. "I found him, but no, I didn't catch him." She had a miserable track record lately for catching the villains in her life.

"What happened?" Alexis pressed.

"I chased him up onto a rooftop. We got into a fist fight. I was in over my head and he almost pushed me off the roof. I was too busy hanging on to catch him." Bitterness laced her words.

Alexis paled. "That's awful."

"Tell me about it."

Little Castle pointed to a growing purple bruise on Kate's bare arm. "Is that how you got this?"

"Yeah," she mustered a lop-sided smile. "I have matching ones on my hips and my back. I wish I could say I inflicted some too, but I probably didn't. My ego also took a hit."

"Sorry…"

"I came up against a wall and tried to barrel through it. It was a foolish, irrational decision and I'm paying for it."

Alexis gave her a sympathetic look. "Tunnel vision?"

"If I do that this time, stop me, okay? This is too important."

Alexis nodded solemnly. She was so damn serious for a teenager. Especially for Richard Castle's teenager. "Okay." She pushed the pizza slice back in her direction. "Eat. You need the nutrients."

Beckett smirked. "Nutrients from pizza?"

"There are tomatoes and peppers and chicken on it."

She took another bite to appease her. "Point taken."

Then she resumed screening the video footage and alternated between the three cameras in the room for the next hour. Beckett spotted glimpses of Castle in all of them, but there was nothing that made her suspicious. It was more mingling and more drinking, nothing more intimate than that. There was no woman leading him out of the room, there wasn't even any flirting.

But you did drink a lot that night, she thought. It was entirely possible that he made a stupid decision while inebriated.

And then she caught something odd. It was a server handing him a note.

Beckett rewound the footage and studied it more closely. The server giving him the note and then Castle's reaction. His surprise as he read it and how he then made a beeline for what Beckett believed to be the exit.

It was after midnight now. Not that long before she arrived.

She'd been so close.

"Do you think this means something?" Alexis asked her. For a moment she'd almost forgotten that Alexis was here. She'd been so quiet and all of Beckett's focus had been on the footage.

"Yes." She switched to the camera that covered the exit and saw Castle leave the room. Alone, holding the paper note in his hand.

"We need to check the rest of the footage to see if he comes back," Beckett told Alexis but she had a feeling that this was the last they'd seen of him in that room. "And I need Ryan to give me access to any cameras near the hotel's main doors."

Her partner was going to kill her for asking, but she'd do it anyway.

Ryan did grumble, but he gave her what she asked for.

"You know that me asking the hotel for that server's name and contact info when this isn't an actual investigation is…all sorts of wrong. You do know this, right?" he'd whisper-hissed into the phone.

"It is an investigation. We filed a missing person report. We need to talk to her in regards to that missing person."

"We?"

"Ryan! This is Castle we're talking about!"

"I know, I know…I'll get it for you."

"If you get me a name in the next couple of hours, I can still track her down today."

"You?" He'd lowered his voice. "Did you forget that you're suspended?"

"She won't know that." Kate had paused. "There's something else. Can you ask the hotel if they have security footage that covers their front doors? If they do I need it for the time right after Castle left the ballroom."

In her experience, most hotels had cameras that covered their main entrance and she was increasingly certain that Castle had left the hotel after getting that note. If he hadn't and went to a guest room or another public area of the hotel, she'd need a guest list of everyone who stayed there two nights ago.

Beckett rewound the footage another half dozen times, while waiting for Ryan's call back, just to make sure there was nothing she missed. And every time she saw Castle walk out the doors of the ballroom it was another stab to the heart.

Then she had two more cups of coffee, watched Alexis pace and bite her nails, and finished another slice of pizza, before deciding to head to the hotel. If that banquet server was working today she'd be headed there anyway and she wanted to see if there were additional streetcams near the entrance of the hotel.

She told Alexis about her plans.

"Okay, I'm coming with you."

Beckett shook her head. "No."

"I'm coming!"

"Alexis…it's already gonna be tricky to do this without a badge. I can't bring along a teenager too."

Alexis was hurt. "I don't have to go in with you, just let me come."

Beckett exhaled. "You're gonna have to trust me on this, and in return I promise not to keep you in the dark. I'll tell you whatever I find out. You can call and text me anytime. Anytime. Besides, do you really think your Dad would want you to keep skipping your classes?"

She was close to tears now. "How am I supposed to concentrate on school?"

"Because you're tough and you know it's what your Dad would want." Beckett pulled her into a hug and held on tight. "I love your father and I'm gonna do whatever it takes to find him. Please trust that. But it means I have to focus on this without worrying about you and making sure you're safe."

Alexis nodded and held on to her. "Okay. But I'm gonna text you, like, all the time. You better have meant it about keeping me in the loop."

"I did, and I expect nothing less."

Dominick Hotel, SoHo, NYC

Ryan had a name for her as soon as she stepped out of the Spring Street subway station.

"Meera Patel. You're in luck, she's started her shift at 4pm today. I told the hotel you're coming by."

"You're the best. You know that, right?"

"Considering I also saved your life last week, you're right, I probably am."

Once inside the hotel, Beckett had asked to speak to the banquet manager and shown him her business card. Then she asked to speak to Meera. Had he been a stickler he could have asked for her badge, but hospitality workers were born people pleasers, too used to accommodating requests rather than asking why. Today she'd gladly take full advantage of it.

Soon she was seated at a large, round table next to a bubbly young woman with thick dark hair tied up into an elaborate bun. She wore a stunning nose ring that caught Beckett's attention.

"Yeah, I remember the Black Pawn party. How could I forget? It was one of our biggest functions this week and the only one where we had to dress up as Sexy Cops." She offered her a millennial eye roll that Beckett appreciated. Seriously, Rick? What the hell were you thinking?

Beckett had her lap top opened on the table and she pulled up the camera footage. "Can you confirm this is you, handing Richard Castle a note?'

Meera leaned into the laptop screen. "Yeah, that's me."

"Do you know what the note said?"

"No."

"Can you tell me who gave it to you?"

"Corey."

"Who's Corey?"

"He worked security for the party on Thursday. He gave it to me and told me I had to give it directly to Richard Castle."

Beckett clenched her teeth. Fuck. "Is this Corey working here today?"

"I don't think so."

"Okay…thanks, Meera." She'd have to get the hotel to give her his contact details, and that was pushing it in her suspended state. A Director of Security would definitely ask to see a badge.

"But I have his number," Meera told her.

"What?"

"Corey and I. We're friends. We go for drinks after work sometimes."

For once luck was on her side. "Do you think you can call him, Meera?"

"Call?" She asked, as if making a phone call in lieu of a text was an antiquated absurdity. "I guess."

Beckett bit her tongue. "Please. It's really important that I talk to him."

She rang his number.

"Hey Core." The way Meera's face lit up made Beckett suspect they were more than friends. "There's a detective who needs to talk to you about the Black Pawn party."

She took the phone from the woman, deciding she wanted to do this in person. "Hi Corey, this is Detective Kate Beckett from the 12th precinct. Can I meet you to ask you some questions? It'll only take a few minutes and I'll make my way to you."

Beckett left the hotel and noticed that the next closest streetcam to the hotel's front entrance was nearly a block away.

It took her over an hour on transit to get to the gym in the Bronx where Corey agreed to meet her. By the time she got there it was getting dark outside.

She spotted a black man waiting near the main entrance of the gym next to a duffel bag that sat on the sidewalk. He wore a thin, tight sweater that emphasized the fruits of his labour in the weight room, in spite of the chill outside.

Beckett held out her hand. "Detective Kate Beckett. Thanks for agreeing to meet with me, Corey."

He gave her a skeptical look. "Meera said you had questions about the Black Pawn party last week."

"I do," she spotted a Dunkin' Donuts half a block down the road and cocked her head towards it. "Can I buy you a coffee?"

"I don't do sugar or caffeine."

Of course you don't. Beckett mustered her most charming smile before he thought to ask for her badge. "It shows. What can I get you then?"

"Listen, I gotta bouncer gig tonight. Can we talk on the way back to my place, 'cause I gotta get changed."

Beckett nodded and walked in step with him as they made their way down the street. "Meera told me you gave her a note at the Black Pawn party to give to Richard Castle, is that true?"

He hesitated. "Yeah."

"Can you tell me who told you to give it to her?"

"Was just a guy."

A gust of wind blew past them, sending strands of hair across her face. This was going to be like pulling teeth and she'd much rather be doing it while staring him down at a table. "Did you know this guy?"

Corey picked up his pace. "No."

"Is this typical, that you're given notes to give to people at these functions?"

Corey shrugged his broad shoulders. "Happens sometimes."

"Do you know what the note said?"

"No."

"Corey," she deliberately slowed down. "I need to know who gave you that note and told you to give it to Richard Castle. It's really important. Someone's life is in danger."

"What?" Corey stopped walking. "Look, I said I don't know the guy. It was just a guy."

"I'm not looking to get you in trouble or to get you fired. I don't care if what you did was something you should've done or not or if he gave you money to do it," Beckett looked him in the eye now that he stopped moving and saw the unease on his face. "Is that clear? I don't care. But I do need you to be honest with me."

"I don't know what you want me to tell you…it was a guy in some expensive suit. Like everyone else that night. He didn't have access to the party. So he gave me fifty bucks to pass on the note. It was just a note! I figured what's the harm? It's not like he asked me to pass on drugs or somethin'."

Beckett pulled out her phone and showed him a picture of Salvador Ojeda. "Was this the guy who gave you the note?"

Corey stared at it. "I…I dunno. He looked different than in that picture. He was dressed all fancy and he had a beard."

She flipped to a different photo, the only one she had of Ojeda wearing something other than a t-shirt and jeans. "How about now?"

"I guess…if you add a beard, it kinda looks like him."

"Describe the man who gave you the note."

"He was…like I said, he was wearing a fancy suit. I thought for sure he was there for the party, but he said he wasn't on the list. That he didn't care about goin' in. He just needed to pass on a message. He said his cell phone died. He was real…casual, you know? Nothin' about him made me suspicious."

"Describe him," she repeated. "Physically."

"He wasn't that tall. Maybe same height as you….like 5'9 or 5'10. He had dark hair but I couldn't really tell his background. He coulda been Latin, or Middle Eastern, or Mediterranean…you know, just kinda too dark for a white guy. Normal build."

"Anything distinct that stood out? Piercings? Tattoos? Haircut? Earrings?"

"Nah…nothin' that I can remember. But I was real busy that night. Look, I didn't really pay attention." They were still standing in the middle of the sidewalk. "Can I take another look at the pictures?"

Beckett showed him her phone again and added a third photo. It was an older, blurrier one that she didn't think would help, but Corey stared at it longer than the others.

"Yeah…it definitely coulda been him."

Her heart pounded in her chest, still wishing hard that he'd shot her theory down instead of giving it fuel. "Okay. Did you see him again after that? Or see Richard Castle leaving the room with him?"

"No. Definitely not. I checked in a few more guests and then there was this lady who got drunk and she was making a scene. I had to escort her out. I didn't see the writer or the guy anymore after that. I'm sure." Corey took one more look at the photo and nodded with more certainty this time. "Yeah…I'm pretty sure it was him."

The chill that seeped through her bones now had nothing to do with the icy wind that howled down the street.