The Children's Corner
Chapter 27
"Do you believe it?" Esposito grumbles. "Beckett and Castle take down a suicide bomber, and we're chasing trucks."
"We can chase more than that," Ryan announces. "I came in early and got the report on the van Tori spotted. That truck was supposedly stolen a year ago. And I checked more video. I found other vehicles that met up with the big rig. They'd all been reported stolen. And guess who reported all the thefts."
"Elise Truman."
"Got it in one."
A smug grin covers Esposito's face. "I knew she was in on the whole deal. And those vehicles connect her directly to Evan Seegar's murder."
"Then what are we waiting for?" Ryan demands. "Let's go pick her up!"
Esposito holds up the keys to their unit. "Already ahead of you."
"Damn!" Rick dumps a charred waffle into the trash.
Wrapping her arms around him from behind, Kate rests her cheek against his shoulder blade. "Still thinking about last night?"
"More like obsessing. If things had gone south, Lily and the twins would be orphans. They wouldn't even have a big sister or Broadway's premier acting couple to take them in."
"They would have had my father, Aunt Theresa, and Cousin Sophie. I'm pretty sure they would also have had your brother, John. And Lanie is their godmother. They'd have a circle of love and care. But that's not all that's bothering you, is it?"
"No," Rick admits. "When you're on the job, and when I'm with you, we know we could be walking into a dangerous situation. But last night was just supposed to be a little family fun. Still, the world could have exploded in a nanosecond. It always can. And no matter how many zombie apocalypse survival kits I buy, we're never prepared for that. I feel like I can never let my guard down again."
"That's how many cops feel, which probably accounts for the large number of cop bars."
"And cop suicides," Rick adds darkly. "So how do we learn to live with knowing everything could end in the next moment? How did you?"
"Turn off the waffle iron and come sit with me. The boys are back to sleep, and Lily will be playing for at least a half-hour before you have to take her to school. Look," Kate begins, leading Rick to the couch, "after my mother was murdered, I only wanted one thing, to escape the pain. It was the same for my father. He attempted to do it with a bottle. You know that. I tried to do it by becoming a cop. Neither way worked. I believe my father managed to get sober not for himself but for me. And he stays that way for the family and all the clients he helps fight the system. But at the time you and I met, I was always the first one through the door. I think I went charging in because somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew that might be the final solution. If I died, my pain would die with me.
"After I met you, all that began to change. Slowly, I realized that living was worth more than dying. And when Lily was born, I knew there was no way I could willingly abandon her. But I also understood what every cop knows, that the choice isn't really in our hands. The most innocent situation can instantly become deadly. I believe that's what came home to you last night. And you might want to talk to someone, a professional, about it. I did. It doesn't make the awareness vanish, but it helps you push it to the back of your mind."
"I've done therapy before," Rick admits. "Being raised by Mother, I could hardly avoid it. But I always found the pen mightier than the couch. I created my coping mechanism on the page, a character strong enough to deal with anything."
"Derrick Storm."
"Right. But if Ted Ketesky had decided to push that button, there wouldn't have been anything Derrick Storm or anyone could have done about it."
Kate's voice drops to a husky whisper. "But it wasn't Derick Storm that kept Ketesky from setting off that bomb. That was one hundred percent Richard Castle. There will always be situations we can't control. But you have to keep faith that there are a lot of them that you can. Hold on to that as tight as possible."
Rick pulls her close. "And I'll hold on to who gives me faith as tightly as I can."
"Kate smiles up at him. "I can live with that."
"You know I want to help find Evan's killer any way I can," Elise claims, "but I don't know what else I can tell you."
Staring across the table in Interrogation, Esposito flips open a file. "You can start with the vans you reported missing a year ago."
Elise pales. "How could they have anything to do with Evan's death?"
Before passing it across the table, Ryan holds up an 8 X 10 of a license plate from his own file. "Because this belongs to a van in the vicinity of the warehouse when your boyfriend was killed. It's from one of the vans you reported missing."
"That has to be a coincidence," Elise claims. "There must have been lots of vans in the area."
"There were," Ryan agrees. "But that one stopped to drive into an eighteen-wheeler. That semi also picked up other vans, all reported stolen by you."
"That still doesn't prove anything," Elise argues.
"But right now, the cops in six states are on the lookout for that big rig," Esposito reveals.
"And what do you think the driver will tell us?" Ryan chimes in.
"I want a lawyer," Elise demands.
Ryan nods. "Smart move."
"Are you feeling better?" Kate asks as Rick hunches over his laptop in his office.
"A bit. I've been writing a scenario for Rook. I don't even know if I'll put it in a book. But I've got him stumbling onto someone who's gunning for Nikki. Unfortunately, she's due to arrive any second, and he's trying to figure out how to disarm the guy before she gets there."
"You've worked on scenes like that before. Rook threw himself in front of Nikki and took a bullet meant for her."
"Exactly. And I didn't have him even consider the risk to his own life. I've never had my heroes weigh that risk. I haven't explored the more-far reaching effects of any of my characters' deaths, other than the death of Nikki's mother. And I only did that because of the impact Johanna's death had on you. And then I wanted to fix it by bringing back Cynthia Heat. But it wasn't that simple."
"Things never are. But it sounds to me like all of this is leading up to something. So what mice are you chasing in your brain?"
"Just one mouse that's been nesting there for years. I've always thought about writing a book that would be considered literature. But I never figured out how I could make that happen."
"And now you have?"
"Perhaps. The books I write are very limited in scope because they explore the effects of my characters' actions from a narrow angle. For example, Derrick Storm finds the yellowcake, which keeps the evildoers from building bombs. End of story. But what about everyone Storm encounters on his adventures? How are their lives changed? How does Carl Storm view his son constantly having a target on his back, particularly since Carl lost his wife? Those are the human stories I've largely avoided. But those are the stories that touch the psyche and the heart."
"And that's what you want to write?"
"I'm not giving up on Storm and Heat. Investments aside, those books keep the Castle family economic engine running. And I have fun researching them, especially Heat. I'm not giving up on The Children's Corner either. But somewhere in the midst of all of that, I'm going to try."
Kate bends over for a kiss. "Good for you. And if there's any way I can help, just ask."