Kate stood at attention outside of her captain's office. She couldn't understand what was going on but she knew whatever it was could not be good. The elevator dinged and her Captain walked off standing tall with a purpose. As she watched him walk off the elevator, whatever this was it was not going to be to her advantage she could tell just by the way he was walking towards her.
He unlocked the door to his office and entered never saying one word to her. He sat down at his desk and once he was situated he asked her to enter.
"Officer Beckett reporting as ordered sir." Kate saluted and stood at attention waiting for his return salute. Roy saluted her in return and then he told her to stand at ease.
She could tell he was reading over her file. But for what she couldn't understand why. She stood there for another agonizing three minutes waiting for him to address her. He closes her folder and steeples his hands together thinking about what to say.
"Beckett, it seems that I am in quite the predicament right now. I'm down one patrolman with Royce retiring, and now unbeknownst to you I am also down one detective first grade with Detective Davis is also retiring. Now I have a proposition for you and I seriously think you should consider it. I am going to promote you to detective 3rd grade. But there is a consideration I am going to add to this new position. For the last two years, I have been watching you go down to the archives and look at your mother's case file. I know this because I caught you down there when you thought I didn't find anyone in the archives two and a half years ago. You see the reason I have this information is that after the first time you might have been down there I could not prove it. So I had cameras installed where no one would find them. Your visits were spaced out so you wouldn't think that I knew you were actually down there. But the camera doesn't lie. I have all your visits stored in a file on my computer. So my proposition to you is this, you will be promoted to detective third grade. I have seen your performance evaluations in the field and your ex-training officer tells me that you are the one who gets things done. The promotion is on the up and up and you worked hard to get this shot. Don't let me down."
Kate was horrified. Never did she think to look twice for surveillance equipment. He had her dead to rights and she wondered what his ulterior motives were.
"I don't know what to say, sir."
"You better say that you'll take the promotion or I will make sure that the next assignment you will have will be a security guard at the Paramus Park mall."
"Yes, sir I accept, and I won't let you down," Kate replied unsure of the offer that had been made to her.
"Dismissed patrol person Beckett. I will inform you of what will happen during the week of what is to be expected of you. As of now, you will continue patrolling the streets of the 12th precinct until the end of the week. After then you are to report to me in civilian attire first thing Monday morning the 21st. Understood?"
"Yes sir."
"Good. Finish your shift and have a great weekend."
Kate turned and left her captain's office. She opens the door, walks through, and closes it behind her knowing that he was going to want some privacy.
She could not believe it. She'd been caught down in the archives and not that much happened to her disciplinary wise. But all she cared about was that she was now a detective. With where she was headed she would have access to so much more information to try and solve her mother's murder.
If she only knew what was in store for her in the near future, she might have stayed as a patrol cop.
She'd never been the one to explore her feminine side before in the world of fashion. She worked 8 to 12 hours in a blue uniform, weighed down with some heavy gear, and she was exhausted by the time her shift was over. But now that she was a detective and she was standing in the middle of a boutique deciding on which power suit to buy. She had already picked out a couple of blouses and some pants but she wanted to make a statement on how she presented herself. So she decided to go with a navy blue power suit. She bought this on the possibility that she might need to go to court to testify. This was the outfit that she would be wearing. She took her purchases to the front counter and paid for them. She remembers back to when her last days as a patrol person went. For the remaining three days left of her beat, they put her with a crotchety old patrolman James Orso. He knew the in's and outs of the neighborhood they patrolled almost as well as Royce did, but he was very unsociable. He was all about the job and nothing else. He even volunteered to do the paperwork on almost all of their cases that they had closed but he declined her help because he would rather have it done right the first time.
Come Monday she is already up, dressed, fed, and ready to leave her apartment by 6:00 am. Knowing that her captain gets into his office around 6:45 she decides to leave her place around 6:15 in the morning to be there before he shows up.
The thought that she'd have some time to prepare herself before seeing her captain went to hell when she got to the homicide floor only to see him already sitting at his desk. The second he sees her leave the elevator he waves to her to come to his office.
"Take a seat, Beckett."
She does and he looks at her. The silence is deafening.
"I am going to pair you with another detective. His name is Javier Esposito. He is a transfer from the 54th and he has insight into the job that you'll be doing. Listen to what he has to say. You will be with him for some time until I see that you can hold your own in the field as a detective. But remember one thing, you are the senior 3rd-grade detective so if there is anything that you might question, talk to him first before you make any snap decisions. Dismissed."
Kate did an about-face and left his office. She had to set up her desk and picked the first empty one she noticed. She sat down in the chair, put her purse in the lower left-hand drawer, and filled out a requisition form for her office supplies. She took the completed form and went down to the stockroom to draw what she needed to do her job.
Freshly minted detective Javier Esposito stops directly in front of the 12th precinct. He looks up at the building and wonders how he got to this point in time. Being a beat cop for the longest time he now has the opportunity to show the city how he can be a good detective. He climbs the stairs to the entrance and sees the desk sergeant.
The sergeant calls the Captain and he tells the sergeant to allow the new detective to come up to the fourth floor.
Roy has another problem to deal with. As he sits at his desk waiting for his newest detective to arrive, he twiddles with the business card in his right hand rotating it every time it hits his desk. After talking to the mayor and police commissioner after their last COMPSTAT meeting he was given the task of "using" a civilian consultant within his precinct. In his mind, the idea was completely absurd. Civilians have not been used in any capacity since meter maids had become sworn officers in the form of Traffic Enforcement Agents years ago. Now he needs to make nice with the brass at 1 PP and the mayor's office. He is not looking forward to this at all. Just as he was about to pick up the phone and make the call to this "consultant" there was a knock on his door.
"Enter."
Detective Esposito opens the door and steps through with a purpose. Roy can tell immediately that he was prior military but unsure of which branch he served in.
"Detective Javier Esposito reporting for duty sir."
"At ease Detective," Roy responds.
Esposito comes to relaxed parade rest. Now Roy has a good idea of which branch of the military he served in. Roy opens his file and starts to read. Detective Esposito was a beat cop with the 54th and has a colorful record. He has over 75 arrests mostly for B&E's a couple for domestic disturbances and one for an attempted bank robbery. He reads on and finds out that he was dispatched to New Amsterdam Bank and Trust to deal with crowd control before the HRT team arrived. What transpired was that he had intercepted the two robbers trying to escape through the back door of the bank with three hostages. He was able to talk them into surrendering without a shot fired. He was awarded the NYPD's Medal for Valor in a ceremony two months afterward.
"Detective have a seat, please," Roy tells his newest detective.
After about five minutes Roy closes the detective's file and looks up at him.
"So it looks like you'll be a good fit here. You have been given outstanding evaluations from your commanding officer at the 54th. From what he tells me you have street smarts and that is something we are desperately needing here at the 12th. I am going to assign you to Detective Beckett's squad. I have one more detective to interview to round out your team but in the meantime go out to the bullpen, pick a desk to work out of, and then draw your office supplies. Welcome to the 12th precinct's homicide squad Detective Esposito."
"Thank you, sir.
"Dismissed detective."
Esposito rose out of the chair, stood at attention, and saluted then turned for the door and left. Once his desk was chosen he went to the stockroom to requisition his office needs.
Roy now needed to do the inevitable. He picked up the card that he was fiddling with earlier and lifted the phone from its cradle. He dialed the number on the business card and waited for an answer.
"Richard Castle." The baritone voice answered.
"Good morning Mr. Castle. My name is Roy Montgomery. I'm the captain at the 12th precinct. I was given your contact information by my boss, the chief of police. But you know him better as the commissioner. Now Mr. Castle I don't quite understand what you need from the NYPD nor do I need to know. I want you to know from the start that I am against what you are asking for but the orders from the commissioner were very clear to let you consult. And you will do just that, you will consult. You will not be getting underfoot, or going out in the field to investigate crimes, bothering my detectives for information and there will be no favoritism on my part. Basically, you'll be riding a desk while you are here "consulting."
"Thank you, Roy. I'm sure that the commissioner has already told you that I will have unlimited access to your precinct and the detectives working in it and those that are involved with any case. So not to put the cart before the horse, I will be able to get what I need from any plainclothes or uniformed personnel at the 12th if it benefits my research for the book I'm writing." Rick told him.
"Mr. Castle let's get one thing straight you will address me as Captain or sir. You're not here to make friends and I certainly do not want to be yours. As far as I'm concerned this is my precinct and I will run it as I see fit. So it's up to you if you want to research for your book at my precinct because you will not be going out in the field you will instead be chained to a desk. And by desk I mean you'll be in the conference room doing all your research. Do I make myself clear?"
Rick had the smarts to agree with the Captain knowing that if he didn't his shadowing would be over before it even started.
"Crystal sir."
"Good. I'll see you Monday of next week at 8 am sharp."
"Sir, I usually don't get out of bed until 10 a.m. so being at your precinct at 8 a.m. could be a bit of a stretch but…"
Roy is not taking any shit from this guy and cuts him off mid-sentence.
"Mister Castle, one simple phone call to the brass will get you booted from my precinct. If you want the opportunity to research for this book you're writing you will be at my precinct Monday morning at 8 am. If you aren't here at that time I'll give orders to have you banned from the precinct so you won't even get up to my office. Do we understand each other now?"
"Yes sir. I'll see you Monday at 8 am."
"Have a good day Mister Castle." Roy hangs up the phone knowing that his entire life will change drastically next Monday.
Kevin Ryan had just about all he could take while he was working in the major crime unit. He'd been undercover more times than he could count and he brought down way too many bad guys for his cover to work anymore. His last undercover assignment had been on Staten Island and he infiltrated the Irish mob. He was able to gather enough evidence to arrest a majority of the people in the crime syndicate that controlled most of the drugs and illegal weapons dealing. Now that he had risked using his alias more than once people knew who he was it was time to move out of Major Crimes and maybe settle down. He had applied for a transfer position to the 12th Precinct as a detective and was waiting for an interview with the commanding officer. He was unsure as to what his role would be in the precinct but he was looking forward to a change.
On his way home later that night from the now-closed case on Staten Island, his cell phone rang and he was quick to answer.
"Detective Ryan speaking."
"Detective Ryan, this is Captain Montgomery from the 12th precinct. I was wondering if you had the time to make it to my office tomorrow afternoon say around 2 pm?"
"Captain, your timing is impeccable. We just closed our case on Staten Island and the report paperwork is now finished. I'll inform my C.O. about my appointment with you in the morning. It shouldn't be an issue so I'll see you then."
"Outstanding. Goodbye Detective Ryan.
"Good night sir," Ryan responds.
TBC
A/N: To the guest reviewer to whom I can not reply to, you jumped the gun a little. Kate is not a first-grade detective. She is starting out on the bottom rung of the ladder as a third grade detective like everyone else would be.