Title: The Collector
By: greygoose70
Chapter Seven
Next Morning, Westchester County Hospital, ICU
The moment Castle heard her stir he was up out of his seat and by her bedside.
Ashley Morgan struggled to get her eyes open, when she did the bright neon glare caused her to instantly close them. Castle rushed over to the wall panel turning them all off letting the illumination of the hall lights being the only light into the room.
"It's okay now Ashley, you're safe," he told her taking hold of her hand.
"Wh-wh-who…"
"Don't try to talk. Let me get you some water," he grabbed the large cup off the tray rushed to the sink to fill it then capped it before inserting the plastic straw through the hole provided for it. He then held it for her as she drank. "Take it slow Ashley."
She pushed the straw out from between her lips and once again went to speak being more successful this time "whe-where am I, who…?"
"I'm Richard Castle and you're at Westchester County Hospital; let's get the doctor in here, okay." He then pressed the red call button.
The elevator doors slid open the moment he removed his finger off the call button. If he hadn't been paying attention he would have bumped directly into his daughter. "Alexis" he spouted surprised she was here this early.
"Dad" she spouted in return just as the elevator door was beginning to close. Rick stuck out his hand stopping its progress and stepped aboard. "Six please," he said.
Showered and in clean clothes the trio of Beckett, Shaw and Castle joined the rest of their group in the cafeteria for breakfast and preliminary instructions. They had interviewed Ashley Morgan prior to coming down, spoke with the Frazer boys immediately upon their arrival and lastly conferring with the Sheriff before setting down to eat.
The Crighton Watershed
He parked his truck in the thicket at the base of Katoonah Ridge from there he headed south for the short trek to the Cross River he would follow the river trail till he came to the co-ordinates Cass sent him years ago.
Cass, short for Casanova is all he has ever known him as just as he himself is only known as Vats, short for Vatsyayan. They first met through an obscure website that catered to observing young college girls, learning their likes and dislikes, habits, et cetera. But then five years ago things changed Cass posted pictures on the website they created of a young dark skinned woman saying he loved her, that she was to be his for eternity. When asked what he meant by that was told he captured her heart and body would be his for as long as he wished.
What Cass had done intrigued him. He had posted numerous photos to their site but never labeled one as his forever, so he went looking. It took him almost a year before he found her, another before he knew everything about her and then do something about it. Snatched her off campus, delivered her to Cass who took her to his underground castle. Since then they have added five more but now two of them have been found dead and he has learned he is a 'person of interest'.
Westchester County Hospital, the cafeteria
Sheriff Burgess stepped up in front of the group produced a map and spread it out on the table. He then went on giving them some basic knowledge of their location and the area they needed to search. "We're in what is known as the Crighton Watershed" he began "covers an area of 360 square miles. Fortunately for us we won't need to cover all of it. The Crighton River is the main waterway, has four tributaries that feed into it, the Croton, the Titicus, the Muscoot, and the Cross. The Croton and Titicus intersect farther upstream. With what we have learned from Ms. Morgan she can only recall one, the one she initially leaped into which from her description I believe is where the Cross and Muscoot merge with the Crighton, so that is going to be our starting point. Any questions?" When no one said anything Burgess rolled up his map said, "let's roll."
Crighton Watershed, the Cross/Muscoot Waterfall
The three team started off on their assigned routes, the team of Curt Frazer, Ryan, Esposito and Lanie on the north side of the Cross River; the team of Burt Frazer, Castle, Beckett and Alexis on the South side; and the team lead by Sheriff Burgess that included Jordan Shaw, LT and Hastings on a route farther south. Each team had a two-way in order to keep in contact with the others.
They have been working their way through the sparsely treed forestry for about an hour when Burt brought his team to a halt telling them they were coming up on the much denser Hudson woods where visibility could become a problem that they should close their side spacing. He then got on the two-way checking on the other two teams location.
They hadn't gone more than 150 feet into the woods when Castle heard it. It was faint but it was definitely a gunshot. "Did you hear that" he yelled as he pulled his 9mm Sig Sauer from its holster. "Yeah, I did," Beckett shouted taking out her 9mm Glock.
"Burt, check with the others see if they heard it also," he ordered; "Alexis, stay behind me; let's go Beckett," he then headed off in the direction from which the shot came.
Hudson Woods, the Caverns
Jonas Miller, aka Vats had four of the remaining five girls tied to chairs. The lone exception being Judith Jones who was seated facing them her violin lying in her lap Vats standing behind her telling her to play. "I'm only allowed to play for Mr. Casanova," she told him.
"Well, today you're playing for me," he yelled then fired off a round from the 9mm Smith & Wesson MP2 he had with him.
Castle was moving along so quickly he almost missed it… the camouflaged entrance.
TBC