"Senator Bracken is hosting a fundraiser this afternoon - would she go after him so publicly?" Ryan asked, checking the Senator's schedule that had been emailed through to his phone.
"I don't know, man." Esposito surrendered. "I can't believe you just let her walk out of here." He turned to Castle, who was pouring himself a glass of water, and giving his best attempt at trying not to care anymore.
"I'm not her keeper." he stated, keeping the flurry of emotions at bay.
"The hell is wrong with you?" Espo shrugged, frustrated by the developments of the past few hours.
"It's not his fault." Alexis snapped, coming to her fathers defence.
"It's okay, Alexis." He tried to calm her, but failed.
"It's not okay, Dad. She's making a huge mistake... and you tried to stop her but, still, they're trying to make you the bad guy. She's the bad guy. She walked away."
His daughter had grown quite fond of Detective Beckett over the years. It pained him to see her so upset - he had wanted to keep her as protected from all of this as possible. Losing someone is hard enough... but knowing that it is coming and not being able to do a damn thing to stop it... that's something he had hoped she would never have to experience.
"No one is blaming your dad," Ryan, the voice of reason, spoke up. "Right, Espo?" he encouraged his partner to drop the attitude with nothing but a shift of tone in his voice. Espo looked at him... he hated being called out like this.
"Right." he followed his partner's lead, knowing that tensions were high enough without placing blame on anyone. But his short confirmation wasn't enough for Ryan, who raised his eyebrows, signalling for further communication. Espo looked toward the teen, who was furiously glaring in his direction. "Beckett is a grown ass woman... she doesn't listen to anyone. It's not your dad's fault." he finally surrendered.
Alexis continued to glare - she inherited her temper from her mother's side. Castle had convinced himself of that, anyways.
"Don't you have an assignment to finish?" Castle reminded her, placing an arm around her shoulders and passing her a glass of water. When she looked up at him - surprised he would think she was even capable of focusing on that right now - he gave her a gentle and reassuring smile. "I got this." he whispered. Alexis hesitantly headed upstairs, checking back over her shoulder several times before she finally disappeared from sight.
"I didn't mean to upset her..." Esposito had finally calmed himself down.
Castle shook his head. "It's not you. She knows too much of what's going on... and when Beckett left this morning -" he stopped, not knowing exactly how much to say. The two detectives waited patiently, eager to hear whatever information Castle was about to share with them. "Well, she obviously felt the need to make sure no one was going to try to go after her."
The boys didn't need any more information... they had worked with Beckett for years, and knew all too well what she was like... especially when it came to her mother's case. She would push, push, push until there was no one left.
"Alexis cares for Beckett - I mean, all of you are a part of her life now... but she's bonded with her..." he shook his head, trying not to let his emotions break free. "I never should have let that happen."
"Richard Castle, you have many talents, but foreseeing the future is not one of them. Stop beating yourself up! No one could have possibly known that we would be here, in this situation, right now!" his mother's voice was a mix of anger and sadness.
"She did. The second she found out her mother's death wasn't gang violence, she was preparing for a fight." he had seen it in her eyes, the fire that burned uncontrollably within her. At the time, he had contributed it to the anger she felt toward him for reopening old wounds. But now he could see that that fire had never left... that it fuelled her preparation for this very moment.
"I hate to leave you like this, but we should probably head to the Widmark... see if we can find her." Ryan said, apologetically.
"I'm fine." Castle smiled. "Good luck."
The detectives where about to head out, when there was a knock on the door. The four adults still in the room all froze, looking around at one another.
"You expecting anyone?" Castle asked his mother.
"No... but I don't think professional killers usually knock." she stated, sarcastically.
"We aren't about to take the chance..." Espo headed toward the door, hand resting on his holster, ready. He peeped through the hole on the front door, then looked back at Castle, confusion crossing his face. "Thought you said she was pissed at you?"
Confusion crossed the faces of the other three, as they stood in silence. Esposito opened the front door.
"Where the hell have you been?" he asked, frustrated, as Beckett walked through the door.
"Out." her eyes found Castle's immediately, as Espo muttered a frustrated obviously. Castle was about to say something... probably along the lines of why are you here? when Jim Beckett stepped into view.
"I apologise for showing up, unannounced... again." Jim politely started.
"I was going to call... but my phone died." She offered, apologetically, trying to ignore the again part of what her father had said. She moved to the kitchen counter, where she had accidentally left her phone charger, and plugged it in.
"Can I help you with something?" Castle didn't want to be rude, but his guests were definitely unexpected.
"Katie was just trying to explain to me... well, this current situation and I just can't wrap my head around how you know who is behind this but you don't have any evidence. It must be the lawyer in me... but I just don't understand how that happens. So Katie offered to show me what you've got so far."
"I didn't offer." She wasn't sure if she why she was bothering to clarify... it's not like it mattered right now.
"Uh... sure." Castle waved his hand to the side, gesturing toward his dining area where they had set up their investigation. Beckett and her father moved across to the table, followed by Ryan and Esposito - who were ready to go through the findings if Beckett found it too difficult. But everyone knew to take her lead - she wouldn't want her father to know everything.
She opened the file that contained her mothers case notes. She knew he had read through this file many times over the years - probably almost as much as she had. But this particular copy had all the additional facts she was able to contribute over the years. She pulled out the documents, placing them on the table.
Jim picked up the photograph of Dick Coonan, studying it carefully. He recognised the name - Kate had told him a few years back that this was the man who had fatally stabbed Johanna... but he had never seen the man's face.
"He doesn't look anything like I had imagined him." Jim managed to say, his voice vulnerable and shaky.
He placed the photo back down on the table, averting his eyes, not able to face the man... or even just a photo of him. Kate didn't hesitate, placing her arms around his waist and tucking herself in under his arm. He melted into the embrace, not wanting to take his daughters comfort for granted, not even for a second.
Castle watched on as Beckett began to go through the evidence they had - starting with Montgomery, McCallister and Raglan's mistakes, all the way up to Smith receiving the file and keeping her safe. He noted that Jim seemed appreciative of his attempts to protect her - much to Beckett's dismay.
"These piles here," she started, pointing to the shredded paper at the other end of the table, "are all that remains of that file. We've been slowly putting it back together... but we will never have the complete file."
"You work crazy hours... how have you managed to put aside time to piece this all together?" Jim asked, taking in all the fragments of documents that had been carefully placed together.
"Castle has the patience of a saint!" Ryan praised the man, proud of how much he had been able to accomplish. Beckett and her father both looked at him, before the elder man's eyes fell back to his daughter. She avoided his gaze, but nodded in agreement.
"Castle has been piecing it together..." she trailed off, knowing that if she thought too hard about everything he had done for her throughout their partnership, particularly regarding this case, she would crumble.
Sensing that his daughter's struggle, he took it upon himself to thank the writer. He walked toward Castle, placing his hand out, offering it. "Thank you, Rick."
Castle took his hand, shaking it firmly.
"I just wish I could have found something more... solid." He said, modestly.
Finding her courage, Beckett stepped forward to join her father again. "Don't sell yourself short, Castle. I never would have gotten this far without you. I wouldn't know who started all this..."
"Yeah... call me selfish but that doesn't seem that bad right now."
Jim's brittle laugh brought everyone's attention back to him. He smiled at Castle, the warmest smile he could manage. "I tend to agree with you, there."
"Dad..." she started, but was interrupted.
"So, something in these scraps of paper has told you who is behind this?" Jim questioned, eager to focus on something other than the despair that filled the air.
"There's a money order... well, part of a money order. Montgomery said that the person behind this found out about what they were doing and demanded the money." Beckett explained, taking a deep breath.
"So you have proof of a payoff... but only from Montgomery's word..." he was processing, piecing bits of information together.
"Once people find out what Montgomery was involved in... well, the word of a disgraced cop doesn't mean much." Espo filled in.
"Who was the order made out to?" Jim asked Esposito.
Esposito hesitated, looking to Beckett, silently asking permission. Jim noticed, and while he appreciated the detectives respecting his daughters boundaries, he wanted an answer.
"I came here to find out who ordered my wife to be killed and I'm not leaving until I have an answer." His voice was firm, reminding Beckett of her teenage years - bending and breaking rules to rile up her parents. Her father would rarely yell... but when he spoke in such a firm tone... well, she hadn't missed this.
"Castle managed to recover an account number, that we were able to trace." She caved.
"And?" He pushed for that final missing piece of the puzzle.
"It belonged to William Bracken." She bitterly surrendered the name.
Martha's eyes widened, instantly recognising the name. Castle shook his head, silently pleading for her to stay out of this.
"William Bracken?" He asked, and Beckett nodded her confirmation. "As in...?"
Again, Beckett nodded. "The one and only."
"You we're going to take a run at senator Bracken. Are you insane? He's constantly surrounded by security... you think he's going to have a friendly chat about all this in front of them?"
"I just need to get him alone." She justified.
Jim had given up on hearing her out. He knew that he wouldn't be able to talk her out of whatever it is she was planning... and given the all the information they had presented to him today, she obviously had to do something in order to survive this. But he was too overwhelmed by everything to think clearly right now.
Kate continued to stare at him. A part of her was waiting for him to continue this argument... he was a lawyer, after all. But, instead, he just rubbed his hands over his face and through his hair.
"Well, we should go over the plan, then." Castle's voice pulled her focus - but not before she noted the angry look her father shot in his direction.
"I... uh. What?" She frowned, thrown off by the sudden change in Castle's demeanour toward her.
"Your plan." He said, slowly. "If none of us can talk you out of it... the least you can do is reassure us you have a half decent plan."
"I have a plan." She matched the soft tone in his voice.
"I figured... what I want to know is if it's a good plan." he walked toward her and instinctively placed a hand on her waist. He could feel her hesitation, but he didn't pull back. "Don't do anything stupid, Kate."
She could pretend to be annoyed, or offended, that he would think she hadn't thought this through. But given the situation, it really wasn't an unlikely possibility - especially when you take into account all she had done to push him away... to 'protect' him. So, for her fathers sake - and Castle's - she went through her plan. Everyone seemed to agree that it wasn't a great plan... but it was the best option available right now. Risky... but she couldn't really afford to wait much longer. Together, they made a few tweaks to the original... and once she was able to muster all the confidence possible, they all parted ways.