Beckett Behind Bars
CHAPTER FIVE
A/N: From this point on italics will be used to represent the English translation of the characters speaking in Russian. Kind of like this message is being translated from Russian.
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Knowing that she still had some time before everyone was to be back in their cells, Kate wandered along the walkway making a glancing observation of the typical cells. For the most part, they were kept neat. She didn't notice stuff left on the floor. Only the beds showed much variation from cell to cell. And mostly it was just in how the thin blanket was handled.
On most beds, the blanket was merely draped over the sheet and mattress without any concern or effort to tuck in the corners or smooth it out. Kate wondered how often they were given new clean sheets and pillows, since the pillows had no cases because pillow cases were a suffocation danger.
She stared over the walkway's railing and watched the inmates milling around the gym area. She glanced over toward the library but couldn't see enough through the doors to tell if anyone was there.
She notice that every other division between the cells had a schedule on it. They really like their schedules around this place. As she turned back toward her new home away from home, she noticed that her shower time tomorrow morning was at six fifteen. Didn't' want to start the day all dirty.
While she had wandered around she passed several inmates. Some she passed by and some were in their cells. She couldn't be sure but she thought that she recognized a couple different women who passed by her on the walkway, but no one gave her a second look. It made her feel more confident that no one would connect Katya Koslikov to Kate Beckett.
She finally made it back to the cell with only two guards giving her the eye as they passed.
She pulled one of the chairs out and sat down, letting her mind just wander. She had decided not to make any move toward the bed until she was sure which bed Valeria actually did sleep in.
Soon there was a lot of traffic using the walkway. Inmates were walking both directions toward their destinations which she could only assume were their cells. Kate could also hear the noise created by those moving about one level up.
Kate looked at her wrist, only to realize that she wasn't wearing her father's watch. She had been smart enough to leave that, along with her mother's ring, back home. Belmont was good enough to provide the cell with a wall clock that was clearly wired into the system.
She grinned. Couldn't have the inmates screwing up the sacred schedule by not knowing what time it was.
Her attention was pulled away from the clock by the shadow of someone entering the cell.
"Who are you?" The words didn't flow easily from the heavily accented voice.
Kate looked up. "Hello, Valeria."
Kate allowed her eyes to follow from her feet up to her head. She was a thin girl. Easily 10 to 15 pounds under weight. She had decent hips, and a full bosom that would look better if it was better supported with a bit more meat around her middle. She had a cute face, which at the moment was scowling at her, and pale blue eyes. Which were glaring at her. It was obvious what her main selling point was. She had long light blonde hair which was naturally voluminous as it flowed from her head down over her shoulders and her back.
Kate knew something about how much work, a mass of hair like that could be. Obviously she didn't curl her hair as it hung straight down to the middle of her back.
Kate stood up and gave the young woman a smirk. "My name is Katya Koslikov, but you can call me Kat. I'm your new roomie." Kate reached out her hand. Valeria ignored her hand.
The young Russian paced back and forth in front of the bunk. "You are not supposed to be in here."
Kate held up her hands. "It's not like I had any choice in this. The Warden put me with you in the hopes that I could teach you a little English."
Valeria kept pacing, while Kate sat back down in the chair and just stared at her with a wry smile on her face.
"You don't understand. They arranged for the other woman to be moved out of here. I'm supposed to be alone in this cell."
"Why? And who's they?"
They were then interrupted by a couple of women coming by the cell with looks of expectation on their faces. Val just shook her head and surreptitiously pointed to Kate. Val hadn't wanted Kate to see her motion, but she had. There was more going on.
The two women walked away quickly with angry looks on their faces. Suddenly over a loudspeaker that Kate wasn't aware of came an announcement.
"Doors will close in five minutes, get back to your cells."
Kate knew she had to find a way to gain Valeria's confidence. Obviously there was more going on than just protecting some information of a drug shipment that Val may or may not even know about.
She noticed how the young Russian kept glaring at her. In Val's mind just Kate's presence was disrupting what she felt was supposed to be the status quo.
Kate wasn't sure if Val would be able to get her moved out of this cell even though the Warden supposedly arranged it. But she knew she had to stay. She needed to win Val over and if she was correct there would only be one way to do it.
"By the way, Kristoff says hi." Kate allowed herself a smirk. Val stopped her pacing and whirled to face her.
"What did you say? Are you saying that you know Kristoff?"
Kate leaned back in the chair. "I can't say I know him all that well. We were never what you'd call close. Well, not as close as you two were."
"What do you know about me and Kristoff?"
Kate rocked her chair while she studied her nails. "I know that he sent me here to keep an eye on you." Kate let the chair thump back to the floor. "But I'm not sure if I'm supposed to protect you… or watch you. He wasn't too clear about that. So for now, I'm going with the pseudo body guard explanation."
Valeria sat down hard on her bed. Both suddenly flinched when a bell rang out and the cell door automatically rolled shut and locked.
"Lights out in fifteen minutes." Blared forth from the speakers overhead.
Val waved one hand absently toward Kate. "You'd better get ready for bed. We've got the second shift at the showers tomorrow. We will talk when we get back from there. We'll discuss exactly what will happen going forward. I have to give this some thought."
Kate stood up and began to strip down to her underwear. "Fine, I've had a rough few days myself. I can use the rest."
Kate gave Val another smirk. "Oh, and if you wish. You can speak English. I know you can if you want to." It had been a guess, but Val's reaction confirmed her intuition.
Kate quickly climbed up to the top bunk and grabbed the pillow and punched it into shape. She then pulled the thin, worn, excuse for a blanket over herself. She leaned partly over the edge of the bed.
"Goodnight Valeria. Pleasant dreams." Kate chuckled.
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The lights coming on and the noise of the cell door opening jolted Kate awake. She wouldn't have been able to sleep any longer if she'd wanted to.
Basically she and Val went down to the showers wearing yesterday's underwear, which they had also slept in. They stood around waiting their turn. While most of the inmates carried on conversations while they waited. Val chose to ignore Kate.
After they had showered and made it back to their cell. They each put their old underwear in the dirty clothes box, after putting on a clean pair and a clean change of shirt and pants.
Their breakfast was served a few minutes after they'd got back from the showers. Kate's cash card was with it.
On her first morning waking up in prison, Kate was greeted by a Styrofoam plate with two pieces of buttered toast and a quarter slice of a peach. She had obviously opted for the coffee over the juice. It was almost as bad as the precinct coffee had been before Castle had saved them all with his fancy gourmet coffee machine.
After eating, and dumping the refuse in one of several large trash cans placed at intervals along the railing of the walkway, they did a little picking up after themselves. Kate let Val use the sink first since she had seniority in residence. Kate relieved herself, then used the sink after Val was done.
It was about 7: 20 when everything was tidied up and she was faced with her first 'what do I do now'. She knew that from 7:00 until 10:00 was free time.
Kate turned to Val. "So what's the plan for this morning?"
Val's mind was clearly not made up yet about her. "We need to discuss how things work around here and how you will or won't fit in."
Kate stared at the cell, then at Val. "Do you just leave the cell open so anyone could come in and take whatever they want?"
Val laughed out loud. "The doors are on an electronic timing. They open and close per the schedule. There are guards walking along at random intervals… truthfully, what do you have in here that you're worried about getting stolen?"
Kate shrugged. "Someone could take our clothes?"
Val shrugged. "Why? They're just the same as the ones they have. If it happens you just report it to a guard and they will make sure whatever was taken is replaced."
Val pointed to one of the myriad of cameras located along the walkway. "Also, they can review the tapes and be able to find out who might have snitched your underwear." She laughed at Kate's expression. "There are no cameras inside the cell, we get that much privacy."
"So where are we going?" Kate followed along as they made their way down the metal walkway.
"We're going to go outside so we can have a conversation."
Valeria just continued on so Kate followed. She wouldn't mind getting out for a while anyway.
They made it down to the main level and walked across the gym area, then reached the wall that was part of the library. They jogged around that and took a small hallway to an open door which Kate could see sun shining through.
She saw the shops off to the right as they passed by. In no time they were outside.
Kate followed where Val was leading as she took in the outdoor recreation area. There wasn't a whole lot there. There was no pavement to dribble a ball on or hoops to shoot at. It was mostly just green grass, and small clumps of trees and a scattering of benches here and there.
Kate would say that the whole thing was about the size of half a football field. They weren't obvious at first, but if you looked for them, you could see the first ring of fencing through the trees.
She assumed that at least one other fence line existed beyond the first one. Or maybe it was the outer wall already. If that was so, she would imagine that the first fence would be electrified.
Even this early there were a lot of women out walking around, or sitting on benches chatting. Kate didn't know if the early morning cool breezes would bring out more inmates to enjoy nature, or the warmth of the afternoon would have more affect. Kate could definitely see herself outside as much as possible if she were actually incarcerated for a long time.
Valeria had managed to find an empty bench under a couple of overhanging branches and sat down. Kate sat next to her, but they didn't look at each other.
Val looked around. "Okay, so why did you want me to speak English?"
Kate grinned. "I just wanted to prove to myself that you could. I wouldn't think that anyone who's been in the states as long as you were… working, would be able to function without knowing the language. At least passably well."
Val stared straight ahead. "Well I don't want to make a habit of it. I want to keep the guards thinking my English is very broken and I don't like to use it if I don't have to."
Kate nodded. "Makes sense, but what about your interactions with the other inmates? I'm pretty sure not many of them would understand any Russian, and I got the impression from those two gals last night that you had something for them. At least they seemed peeved that you shooed them away."
Val clenched her hands together. "I try to be careful. It's too easy to slip. So I only use as much English as I have to in order to communicate what I need to."
"And what exactly is it that you have to communicate with other inmates." Kate gave it a few heartbeats before she continued. "I would think that once they knew the pricing that very little would need to be said."
Val's head snapped around. "What are you talking about? What were you told?"
Kate chuckled. "I don't claim to be some great mind reader or anything. But I'm not stupid. If I'm tasked by Kristoff Anitovich to watch over somebody who's in the joint. That tells me she's important to him. Now we could assume that Kristoff is concerned about your safety, but we both know that he's about as sentimental as a cash machine. And we both know what he does as his business." Kate glared at Val. "So don't bullshit me. I have to believe that somehow you are selling product to your fellow inmates."
Kate knew that she was gambling on something that just came to mind. Something that made sense to have Valeria being in here.
Val rolls her eyes. "And how would I do something like that? I know you are new here, but this is a prison. Not exactly your typical backroom full of junkies."
Kate spread her arms out in a gesture of dismissal. "Dammed if I know, but I do know Kristoff well enough to imagine that he'd find a way." Kate stared Val in the eyes. "Even if it meant letting his girlfriend take a fall so she winds up behind bars as his pusher."
Kate reaches over and grabs Val's hand. "Tell me. Did he set this up with you beforehand, or did he just let you take the fall and decided to take advantage of the circumstances."
She glared at Kate some more. Finally she seemed to deflate right in front of Kate. "You don't understand. He loves me, but after I messed up that delivery he felt we should take advantage of the situation. He told me he'd only have me doing this for six months. Then he'd arrange for someone else to take over." She gave Kate a hard stare. "Is that going to be you?"
Kate leaned back and laughed. "Not hardly. I'm pretty much just extra muscle. I have no clue about any of that drug bull crap."
Valeria glared some more at Kate. "You are tall, and pretty fit looking. But you are hardly what I'd call muscle bound."
Kate laughed again. "Believe me girl, if you are ever in trouble you don't want one of those bloated weight lifters. I'm fast, and I'm trained. Trust me, I'm your best option should things ever get ugly."
Val turned away and stared at the ground. "Why should I trust you at all? Who are you? How can I assume that you are who you say you are when I've never seen nor heard of you?" She turned her head toward Kate. "Your showing up now, spouting Russian and looking like you've been in more than a few tough situations in your life, just seems too convenient."
Kate pulled her knees up under her chin. "Look, I get it. You don't know me, yet here I am claiming to be sent in by your shot calling boyfriend to help you with the task he's set for you." Kate gave Val a weak smile. "I don't blame you, so if you don't want my help. If you don't need me, I'll just sit back and be your silent roommate. I won't hang out with you I'll give you your space."
Kate grinned. "But I do have this deal with the Warden that I'd try to help you learn English. And if I did, she would look into my case and see if there would be anything that she could do to help me out." Kate chuckled. "So I'd appreciate it, from one expatriated Russian to another that you not try to get me transferred out of our cell. And if you wish, you could actually help me out by pretending to learn more English."
Val turned back to face Kate. "Where are you originally from?"
Kate smiled. "I grew up in Kiev."
Val nodded. "I visited there a few times. It was a beautiful city."
Kate allowed a look of recollection come over her face. "I haven't been back there in over 10 years, but I do have many found memories."
Kate went on to mention a lot of the places in Kiev that made an impact on her when she was there that one semester in college. She made sure to mention places that Val, as a young visitor might have memories of.
"Yeah, it was a nice place." Val let her shoulders slump. "I grew up in Leningrad."
"I'm sorry." Kate immediately responded. Val looked up at her, then after a couple of seconds they both broke out laughing.
They had been sitting there, just staring off into the distance, not speaking for about a half an hour when the two women that Kate saw out in front of their cell the night before appeared in front of them. They didn't seem all that happy.
The smaller of the two got right up near Val's face. The larger one, with the stupid look on her face, just stood back waiting for her cue. Kate knew this was going to be possible trouble, and it could be the perfect time for her to strengthen her position.
"Where is our stuff?" The short one hissed into Val's face.
Both Val and Kate glanced around to note where the guards were currently. Then Val leaned back on the bench they were sitting on.
"There's been delay in delivery." Valeria fell back into her broken English. "I have it before dinner. You can get after."
The short one snarled back. "You'd better, if you know what's good for you." The larger gal reached out and grabbed Val by the shoulder. Before anything else could happen, Kate quickly reached out and grabbed the woman's wrist and pressed down hard on her pulse point with her thumb.
Kate glared at the woman. "Let go of my cell mate… now."
The big gal pulled away from Val's shoulder trying to shake some feeling back into her hand.
The shorter gal's eyes blazed. "Who's this," she nodded her head toward Kate. "Your bodyguard or something."
Valeria allowed herself to slowly let a smile form on her face. "She's my English teacher."
Kate reached out her hand. "Katya Koslikov, but you can call me Kat."
The two women scowled at them and stomped away.
A couple minutes later one of the roving guards stopped in front of them. "Is everything okay here? I saw those two giving you some grief." The guard nodded toward the direction their two recent visitors had taken.
Kate smiled. "No trouble, just a disagreement whether the Mets or the Yankees were the best ball team."
The guard let one brow raise, shook her head and turned and walked away.
Val shook her head, her long hair swinging back and forth. "Well, it looks like I have my own henchman whether I want it or not."
Kate rolled her eyes. "It's henchwoman. You have your own henchwoman."
They both broke out laughing.
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Rick Castle was up and in the process of making himself a cup of coffee. He chastised himself for the slight ache in his chest when his coffee maker signaled the cup was ready to drink. It just seemed wrong to him to just be making only one cup in the morning.
It's not like Kate had been living with him, exactly, but even though it had only been less than a couple months, if felt like that was the way it should always be. He should be able to roll over in bed and put his arm around her, or she would roll over and place her head on his chest.
He shook his head as he took a sip of his coffee. They hadn't been an acknowledged couple for very long, but it actually hurt when she wasn't there when he got up every morning.
He smirked at himself for already having a substantial low fat sugar free vanilla supply for her coffee in the morning.
He couldn't remember the last time he'd been this happy. Maybe when Alexis was born. Still, his happiness at present was tempered by the knowledge that she wasn't here because she was undercover at a women's prison trying to get some possibly critical information about an incoming drug delivery.
Damn, why did Kate have to be fluent in Russian anyway? Who speaks Russian other than other Russians?
He put his now empty cup in the sink and was standing there trying to figure out a good, well believable, excuse to not write. Suddenly his phone chimed.
He crossed his fingers as he picked it off the counter.
"Yes!" He smiled as he saw Ryan's name come up on his screen.
"This is Richard Castle, presently available consultant speaking."
There was a slight chuckle on the other end. "Hey Castle, we've got a body. Wondering if you are interested in tagging along? I know neither Espo nor I have legs like Beckett but what better offer have you got?"
"None, I'm in."
"Okay. I'll text you the address.
Castle got out of the cab and could see the M.E.'s van, and a black and white with its cherry still lit next to it. Castle finally located Espo and Ryan's cruiser a little farther up the street.
He walked briskly toward the alley where all the action seemed to be happening. Luckily the uniform was someone he knew by sight if not quite sure of his name. Castle nodded at him as he approached. The uniform nodded back and stepped aside as Castle walked by.
Another piece of good fortune was that Dr. Lanie Parish was the M.E. on site. Castle strolled up behind her.
"Good morning, Dr. Parish."
Lanie jerked in surprise and turned her head around and up toward Rick.
"Castle, what are you doing here? I hear that your partner, the lovely Det. Beckett isn't around presently."
Castle shrugged. "Just trying to hold up my end of things."
Lanie nodded. "Ah huh. So where is the absent detective? All I could get from the boys was that she was on some assignment. Something that no one is talking about."
Castle nodded. "Yeah, that's what I've heard too."
Lanie gave him a cold glare. "I should slap you for saying that." She gave Castle an exasperated sigh. "You do know that she talks to me almost as much as she talks to you, don't you?"
Castle held back a smirk. "And you don't know?"
"In about two minutes, I'm going smack you." Lanie squinted her eyes. "I may be her best friend, but I'm not the one sleeping with her."
Castle's eyes got big. "She told you!"
Lanie broke out laughing. "No, but now you have confirmed it for me."
"Crap!" Castle looked around. "She's going to kill me. She wanted to keep it to ourselves for a bit yet."
Lanie nodded. "I can understand that when it comes to Heckle and Jeckle over there." She pointed over to where Ryan and Espo were talking to people in the area. "But I'm her best friend." Lanie noticed the look on Castle's face. "Okay, I'm her best girlfriend and she should be sharing those kind of things with me."
Castle shrugged. "I don't know what to tell you Lanie. As I'm sure you assumed. She's in control of any time table."
Lanie chuckled. "Now that I'd believe. So where is she? I'm guessing you know where she is?"
Castle shook his head. "I can't tell you, Lanie. I'm not supposed to tell anyone. It's for her safety."
"So she's doing something dangerous?"
Castle shakes his head. "Lanie, she and the boys do something dangerous every day. I wouldn't consider this all that much more dangerous." He bent down to her level. "She's working an undercover assignment. As long as her cover is intact she shouldn't be in any unusual danger."
"You promise me that, writer boy?"
Castle smiled. "I promise, Lanie, and its writer man." He winked at her. "Just ask Kate."
That brought her glare back out.
"What have we got, Doctor?"
She stood up and looked at her clipboard. "His license says his name is Dimitri Chekov."
Castle smirked. "I wonder if he was related."
Lanie looked over at him. "What?"
Castle waved her off. "Never mind, sorry for interrupting, continue."
She shook her head. "He was 28 years old, and it says he has a place over in Little Odessa. He died from a single gunshot to the chest, I don't know the caliber yet, but he bled out fairly quickly. That's all I have until I get him on the table."
Castle realized he'd pushed Lanie's patience enough. "Thank you, Lanie. I'd better check in with the boys."
Castle quickly located Espo and Ryan and filled them in with what Lanie told him.
"Anyone see anything?"
Ryan shook his head. "Same old thing. No one saw nothing."
"Sometimes I wonder why we bother." Esposito grumped.
They all walked back toward their cruiser. Esposito was driving, Castle allowed himself to be shunted to the back seat.
Ryan spoke to Castle over his shoulder. "So the kid was a Russian? I wonder if he's one of Anitovich's guys.
Espo piped in. "There are other Russian gangs you know."
"Yeah, but Anitovich has been becoming much more relevant in that world. He's lately moved up to the being the number one shot caller in those communities."
"Mostly drugs and girls is what I hear." Esposito added.
Suddenly Castle had a very uncomfortable feeling come over him. Might this murder somehow lead back to whatever Kate was doing cozying up to that Russian girl serving time in Belmont? He had to get a hold of himself. The Russian gangs shot each other up all the time. Just because of the timing didn't mean it had any relevance to Kate's case. But it couldn't hurt if she knew… could it?
Once Castle got into the precinct, he rushed into the break room as he pulled out his phone. He checked his recent entries and found the one that Kate had given him. It was a Lt. Walters who was in charge of the Gangs Task Force.
He was jittery as the phone kept ringing. Just as he was mentally composing a message to leave a voice came over the phone.
"Walters."
Rick quickly swallowed the lump in his throat. "Lt. Walters, This is Rick Castle from the 12th precinct."
Rick noted the edge of wariness in Walters's voice. "What can I do for you, Mr. Castle?"
"I didn't want to bother you, but I work with the 12th'homicide unit and we've just come back from a murder scene that I thought you might interest you."
"You're Beckett's partner. The writer who shadow's her for research, aren't you?"
Castle nodded, which made him feel stupid. "Yes, and I do consider myself as her partner."
"Okay, what can I do for you Mr. Castle?"
"I just came back from a body drop. The victim was a young Russian man named Dimitri Chekov."
Walters jumped in. "Did you say, Chekov?" Castle wasn't able to answer before Walters was back talking. "Could you give me a basic description of the young man?"
Castle gave him the description and the initial circumstances of the shooting.
After a pause Walters came back on line. "Thank you for that information Mr. Castle."
Castle didn't hang up. "I take it from your response that you are familiar with Mr. Chekov. Can I assume that Dimitri worked for, or with Kristoff Anitovich?"
"You will find out along with your investigation, so yes. He was muscle for Anitovich, the fact that he was murdered could be worrying."
Castle wasn't sure he would answer but he had to ask. "Do you think this might have some backlash with what Kate is doing?"
He heard Walters sigh. "I'm not stupid so I'm not going to ask how much you know about Beckett's assignment, but even if this is some sort of turf war breaking out. I doubt it will reach to where she is and what she is doing."
Castle nodded, then blushed because his head nod wouldn't be seen. "I've checked up on Belmont and I know I could send a letter as some long forgotten relative, but it would take days to get to her, and I don't want to step on anything you have already set up."
"Thank you for that Mr. Castle. I would rather you not make any communication of any type. Part of Beckett's protection is her having no connections that someone might try to utilize. If something comes to light over this I will send in the lawyer we have set up for her and he can give her whatever information that she'll need." Castle had known about that through his own contacts.
"Okay, and thank you for understanding."
"Not a problem Mr. Castle, we all were very taken with Detective Beckett the short time we met with her. We won't let anything happen to her."
"Thank you. " Castle broke contact. Why wasn't he comforted by his conversation? Why wasn't the head of the Gangs Task Force not aware of the possible beginning of a gang war?
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