For the People Chapter 42

"So we're sure about this," Kate checks one more time as she picks up her cooler at the loft's door.

"Kate, it's fine. Well, not great, but OK. I've managed a lot more with a lot less help," Rick reminds her. "I know it's against the grain for control-freak Kate Beckett, but don't push yourself any harder than you have to. If someone else can do the work, let them."

Kate sighs. "I'll try."

"And keep me current on your schedule so I can plan around it."

Kate stretches up for a kiss. "That I can promise. And I think I'll just be working out what evidence I want to present to get an indictment, so it shouldn't be that long a day. But I'll let you know."

Rick leans in for a parting peck. "I'll be here." He turns as the door closes behind Kate and walks softly into the nursery. Lily is awake, but not crying, just staring in fascination at a mobile above her crib. "Do you like watching things? Do you want to watch Daddy work? I can put you in your carrier on my desk, and you can see me desperately trying to write something instead of making goofy faces at you."

"Ooh," Lily responds.

Rick smiles down at his daughter. "I'll take that as a yes. Then maybe later if I put out enough words, we can go to the market. You can look at all the pretty boxes and bottles deviously designed to lure impulsive purchasers."

"Ooh," Lily repeats.

"Fine, then it's a tentative date. Just you and me, kid," Rick adds, doing a bad Bogart.


"I'm in," Kate states simply from the doorway of Shapiro's office.

The DA looks up from the file he's reading. "Good. I'll be putting Itzen and Vu on it as your co-counsels. You can have Garcia, Cambridge, and Green as your paralegals. For the duration of this case, use Conference Room B as your command center. I've already had copies of Gates' files delivered there, so your team should be all set to get to work on the indictment."

"Yes, Sir. I'll get right on it."

"And Beckett, I know your husband can keep his mouth shut about active cases. Tell him that if he wants to put this one in a book, he can, but nothing not presented in open court gets out until the jury returns a verdict."

"Yes, Sir. That's always been pretty much SOP with us. It was the same when I investigated murders for the NYPD. No comments on open investigations."

"And tell him I already owe him a bottle of – whatever it is he drinks."

Kate allows herself a smile. "He likes single malt scotch."

Shapiro nods. "I'll keep that in mind."


Rick double-checks that Lily is strapped snugly into her carrier and it's secure in the basket of his shopping cart. He could just order the groceries delivered, as he did during the first couple of months after Lily was born. Back then it was pretty cold to take her out more than absolutely necessary. But now the temperature is reasonable, and the world is full of things wondrous to a baby, even if her father has seen them hundreds of times. And when he tries to see through her eyes, he often notices something new in the most mundane places.

The produce aisles are a no-brainer array of sensory experiences, with scents and colors, but the other aisles have their moments too, particularly the grooming products. Who would normally notice that shampoo bottles would come in so many shapes? Some of them are suggestive, but Rick has years before he has to worry about Lily picking up on that – at least he hopes so. Lily suddenly freezes before letting out a wail at a floor-shaking boom.

Rick's unfailing curiosity urges his feet toward the sound, while simultaneous warnings go off inside his head to protect the baby. He joins other shoppers peering through the plate glass at the front of the store at a sanitation truck in flames outside. An accident? A bombing? Terrorists? Theories hiss through the crowd as Rick hears sirens in the distance. Those will be from both the NYPD and the FDNY. Whatever happened, they'll be on it. And the market is well within the jurisdiction of the 12th Precinct. With any luck, Rick can get the story from Ryan or Esposito later. But for now, he's going to check out and get Lily away from the scene ASAP.


Kate's watch says six-thirty as she closes her last file for the day while Garcia, Cambridge, and Green stow previously examined documents in banker's boxes and Itzen and Vu go over their notes. "Beckett, do you need us for anything else tonight?" Itzen asks. "If I leave now I can make sure my daughter gets to her homework instead of staying glued to social media."

"How old is she?" Kate asks.

"Fourteen, but she thinks she already has all the wisdom of the world. Unfortunately, that doesn't include the foresight to put her education ahead of accumulating likes."

Kate adds her file to one of Garcia's boxes, silently wondering what she'll have to tear a teen-aged Lily away from someday. "Sure, everyone get out of here. I already have more than enough to convince a grand jury that crimes have been committed – lots of crimes. We'll just have to decide on our list of charges before I go in. We can put our heads together in the morning when we've had time to process all of this."


Kate arrives at the loft to detect the characteristic aroma of lasagna warming in the oven and overhear Rick on the phone with Ryan. "That's right, Kevin. I had Lily at the market with me when we heard the explosion. I wasn't about to keep her at what might have been a crime scene. But I'd appreciate anything you can tell me about what happened. Is the driver all right? Was anyone else hurt? Why would a garbage truck blow up? Did someone bomb it?"

"It's Reynolds' case, Castle, so I've only heard what's been floating around. The driver was conscious, but the paramedics thought he had a concussion. They took him to the hospital for observation. Some drivers in nearby cars were shaken up but had no serious injuries. And it probably wasn't a bomb. There weren't any threats, and there was no sign of a detonation device. The FDNY thinks that someone put hazardous substances into a dumpster, and they reacted with each other and exploded. So the lab has to dig through all the crap that's left and try to figure out what chemicals were there. Then Reynolds will have to trace where they came from."

"People sneak stuff into dumpsters that shouldn't be there all the time. Alexis used to yell at people she saw dumping paint and stuff," Rick recalls. "Reynolds could be looking at an impossible job."

"He might," Ryan acknowledges, "but the lab analysis could narrow down his suspect list. I wish him luck."

"Yeah, me too. Oh, Kate's home! I want to greet the love of my life before Lily latches on. She drinks the pumped stuff, but she's happier getting it straight from the source."

"My kids were the same way," Ryan commiserates. "Tell Kate I say hello, and Espo does too."

"Will do."

Rick shoves his phone into his pocket and grabs his wife. "Ryan and Esposito say hello. So how was your day?"

"Too long, still, not as bad as I expected. But it sounds like you and Lily stumbled into something."

"No stumbles, I was pushing her in a shopping cart. However, she's a chip off both old blocks. She was within earshot of her first possible crime scene."