Chapter 13
Castle took a half-hearted bite of his breakfast sandwich, but found the food tasted unpleasant in his mouth, so he dropped the sandwich back into its wrapper and pushed it away, even though he'd only eaten about a third of it. He begrudgingly chewed and swallowed what was in his mouth, then reached for his coffee, but thought better of it. How could he drink coffee when he had no idea where Kate was? It just…didn't seem right.
Though it was barely six a.m. his daughter had ordered the sandwiches for them all, thinking something in his stomach might help his still-pounding headache. He knew her heart was in the right place and that she was just trying to take care of him, but he just couldn't stand the idea of food. He was far too stressed and worried about the state of Kate and the baby.
When Esposito returned to the apartment, Castle shot to his feet and asked, "Security cameras?" even though he knew the answer Espo would give.
"Nah…they were all turned off, but the good news is that from all our previous searches of the area, we already know where all the cameras are that give us the best viewing angles in every direction away from here, so all we have to do is wait for that footage to come in."
"But it's barely dawn; that will take hours and by then…"
"We have every available officer working on this. We're going to find her—them," he corrected. Then, he reached out a hand to pat Castle's shoulder before hurrying back out the door.
With Esposito gone, Ryan approached with a more tentative expression. Castle gazed at him pleadingly. "With each passing hour…he's going to take the baby—you know he's going to take the baby. And then-"
"Hey, stop." Ryan placed his hand atop Castle's shoulders and looked him in the eye coaching him through some breathing exercises. "Deep breaths. In…hold…now out. And again. We all know what's at stake here, Castle, but we all have to keep our heads together, okay? I know it's hard but try not to work yourself up over things we don't know are happening yet. Do…do you want Jenny to come and sit here with you? She offered…"
Castle shook off the kind offer, knowing that more people around would just cause him more stress, as he would feel obligated to entertain them while his mind would still be focused on figuring out a way to outsmart Tyson. "No, no. Um, I…should I go to the twelfth, maybe? Be in the center of it all for…in case news comes in."
"If you want."
"Yeah, I think that would be best. It's…" He hesitated as he looked around his apartment, which still had about a dozen agents million around inside, making phone calls, taking notes, and checking for evidence. Despite the space being full, he felt her absence in every fiber of his being. It was a hollowness that scared him, for if she didn't return to him, he wasn't sure how he would live with the pain—and the guilt. "It's hard to be here without her."
"I understand. I'm finishing up here in a little bit so I can take you with me downtown."
"Okay."
"Um," Ryan stepped back and flicked his gaze downwards. "You probably want to put some clothes on first, though."
Castle gazed down at himself and let out a breathy sound; he was still in his boxers. "Oh. Right. Sure. I think I'll shower quickly as well."
Ryan nodded. "Take your time; I'll be waiting for you when you're done."
"I got something."
Upon hearing Esposito's words, Castle jumped to his feet so quickly that he nearly flipped the chair he'd been sitting on. Like an overzealous puppy whose owner was approaching with a treat, Castle rushed the detective so aggressively that he had to hop back and hold his hand out to keep the writer at an appropriate distance. "What? What did you find?" Castle demanded, hardly acknowledging the restraint Espo was trying to apply.
"I had a hunch and decided to review all the 911 calls made overnight. At one fifty-seven a.m. a 911 call came in and a woman reported that a black van was speeding and slammed into a car parked near the corner of 3rd Avenue and Twenty-ninth Street. The van didn't stop so she tried to see the plates, but she only got the first two letters. She did, however, say she was pretty sure there was a woman driving."
"3rd and 29th," Castle repeated as he mentally reviewed that area of the city. "Headed towards the Queens Midtown Tunnel?" he guessed.
He had assumed all along that Tyson's main base of operations was not inside the city. Given where she had been dropped off, it seemed likely that Kate had not been held captive for those forty-two days inside of city and while Tyson may have had a local hideout of sorts in order to keep tabs on the two of them, he very much suspected the main base was elsewhere. He also thought it was likely that Tyson would return Kate to the location he'd taken her the first time as he was clearly comfortable in that spot given how long he'd held her there the first time. Still, that route did not entirely make sense. Kate had been found upstate and thus it seemed likely that Tyson's hideout was north of the city. If someone wanted to travel from Castle's apartment to somewhere north of the city, the most direct route would be to take FDR Drive, though he supposed that traffic wasn't much of an issue at nearly two o'clock in the morning.
"Maybe; we're looking for cameras in the area now."
"It has to be them." Castle spoke with determination feeling the smallest glimmer of hope come to life inside of his chest.
"It might not be," Espo cautioned.
"Yeah," the writer acknowledged, "But it's the only lead we have."
For the next ten minutes Castle paced the area beside Ryan and Esposito's desk. When Ryan called out his name, he practically levitated on his way to rush to see the detective's computer screen. "You got it? The van?"
"Yeah, but the footage is grainy. I don't know if we can get plates."
Castle grumbled and ran his hand back through his hair. "Plates won't do you any good. It's either a stollen van or registered under a pseudonym. There's just no way the registration of that van takes you to their hide out; Tyson would be smarter than that. The best chance we have is to trace their path."
"The path of a black van driving through the city in the middle of the night?" Esposito asked, skepticism evident in his tone.
Castle threw him a look over his shoulder. "It's not good plan, just our only one."
"Okay, okay, I think I have something." Castle turned back to Ryan, who now had his tongue clamped between his teeth and was furiously clicking his computer mouse. "There, how's that?"
Castle bent down to find that Ryan had taken a still shot from the video camera footage and had zoomed in intently on the face of the driver. The image had become so pixilated, Castle could barely tell the driver was female, let alone recognize her in any way. In reality, even if the image had been high resolution in clarity, Castle wasn't sure he could have recognized the woman he only recalled from his many flashbacks—particularly since she'd been wearing a surgical mask in those.
"Ah…I'm sorry I really don't think I can say one way or the other. The image is so small and I only saw her with a surgical mask on," Castle admitted sadly.
"It's okay, man," Ryan said comfortingly. "We knew it was a long shot."
Continuing on the discovery path, Castle asked, "Does that next frame show plates?"
Ryan clicked his mouth several more times. "Ah…no."
"Keep trying all the lights—all the way up to the tunnel," Espo said.
"Hell, just try the tunnel," Castle suggested, knowing that the tunnel itself probably had excellent video surveillance, especially in the wake of 9/11. "It would take…approximately five minutes to the entrance at that time of night. Give or take."
For several tense minutes Ryan clicked away, muttering, "Okay, no not that, yes…okay…," until he finally gasped, "There! Plates we have plates!"
"On it!" Esposito said, as he worked in tandem to type in the newly pulled up license plate into the appropriate database, which was pulled up on his computer. "It's owned by a rental company."
Castle nodded as this made sense. It would still require them to present ID in order to procure the van, but then the van in no way could be linked back to them or their hideout. Despite the fact that he was certain they would have used fake IDs to rent, it was the best lead they had so Castle said, "Then let's call them."
Phone in hand, Espo said, "Already on it, bro!"
Despite his anxiety being at an all-time high, Castle couldn't pace the bullpen to work it out—he wanted to stay close enough to hear Esposito's phone call. For several frustrating minutes the detective got the run-around while trying to reach a manager, but eventually he was directed to the right person, and they started making progress.
"Are you sure that's right? Okay. Okay. And…yes, okay. Yes, I'll send an officer down to take your statement."
"What? What?!" Castle demanded. Esposito put his phone down, looked up at Castle and smirked. "WHAT!" The writer shouted.
"The name used on the licensed used to rent the van? It's Nikki Rook."
Castle felt an electric jolt at the base of his spine. "You're shitting me!"
"I am not. Guy said the lady wanted to pay cash, but they require a credit card on file per their company policy. He says he remembers her specifically because she got flustered when the employee insisted she provide a credit card. She then asked to speak to the manager and the manager, Joel, repeated the policy to her and ultimately she handed over a Visa card with the name Kelly Nieman."
"On it!" Ryan proclaimed. Castle scurried back over to stand behind him as he searched. "Kelly…Kelly Neiman…Doctor Kelly Nieman?"
"That's it!" Castle said, doing a little jump up into the air as well.
Ryan clicked on the link provided along with the name and found it was to a practice called Manhattan Cosmetics. "Looks like she is a plastic surgeon."
"Well plastic surgeons still go to med school." Castle rationalized. Then, he leaned over and skimmed the web page. When he found what he was looking for he snapped his fingers then pointed. "Employee bios. Click there! Click there!"
Ryan did so and they found themselves viewing a page that had small paragraphs written about each of the practice's employees. The listing was in alphabetical order by last name, so Ryan scrolled down until he found the doctor they sought. Reading her bio aloud, the detective said, "After considering obstetrics in med sch-"
"That's it! That's her! That has to be her."
"Slow down, bro. right now all we have her on is being the renter of a van that side swiped a park car last night. Even if that is her…we don't know where they are. Something tells me it's not at her apartment."
"But you'll send officers there to check just in case?" Castle asked.
"Of course. We'll search all her owned and rented properties once we get her real driver's license number." Then, clapping his hand on Castle's shoulder Espo added, "We're close, bro."
"I know I know. I just…" He threw his hands out to the side as words failed him. He had no idea how to express the frustration he felt with every cell in his body. Yes, they had a solid lead now. It was very likely that Kelly Neiman was the doctor woman he remembered from his flashbacks, but it was unclear whether or not that would help them find Kate and, considering it was after eight a.m., they had to find Kate—and fast.
"Hey, uh, why don't you go get us some coffees from the breakroom? Something to do with your hands," Ryan added in a soft tone.
Castle nodded. "Yeah, good idea; thanks." Then, he walked off towards the break room, hoping he could get his hands to stop shaking long enough to pour coffee into mugs.
"Okay…credit card transactions for the last twelve months for Kelly Neiman's Visa and AMEX."
Castle looked at the stack of paper Ryan dropped onto the desk in front of him, then back up at the detective, and back down to the pages. He'd taken up residence at Kate's desk while they waited for more information so that neither Ryan nor Esposito felt he was hovering over them which might hinder their progress. Castle had been the one to make the decision to sit there, not realizing until he actually sat just how hard it would be to be in that space without her while also not knowing where she was or if she was okay. Thankfully, things seemed to be moving in the right direction, if not a surprising one at that moment.
"Credit cards? I thought we were going by the book on this?" he asked, knowing that historically it took at least a day for credit card companies to authorize records being released.
Ryan gave him a pointed look. "You want us to go by the book or you want us to find her?"
Castle didn't hesitate for a second. "I'll take the Visa." Ryan picked up the AMEX packet and returned to his desk. Castle then opened the top drawer of Beckett's desk and grabbed a pen and a pink highlighter so he could sift through the data and mark any reoccurring charges or anything that stood out as significant.
For over twenty minutes he worked in silence, feeling more and more frustrated the deeper he got into the charges without finding anything reoccurring. When he turned to the final page of transactions his heart sank. He knew that he could go back through them just to be extra certain, but he truly hadn't seen anything out of the ordinary. All of her reoccurring transactions were for the normal things: internet service, cell phone, utilities, rental on a parking spot for her personal vehicle both at her apartment and at the complex for her place of work. Most of the other charges were from restaurants or shops. He supposed he could go through them to see if any were an unusual distance away from her home or business, but even one or two out in Queens or Brooklyn wouldn't be too out of line for her regular New York City lifestyle.
Just as he was about to start over from the beginning of the list, he heard Ryan call out, "Here—I got something. Ten times in the last few months she's purchased something at the same gas station at Broadway and 57th."
"Broadway and 57th?" He echoed with confusion. That intersection was one of the busy ones just before Columbus Circle. It had a Nordstrom's not a gas station.
Ryan looked up from his paperwork and said, "Not in Manhattan—in Woodside."
Castle gasped. "That's in Queens!" AKA the destination one reached after going through the Queens Midtown Tunnel!
"Yeah, Queens—and probably not a neighborhood in which a Manhattan plastic surgeon would live."
Castle punched the air with triumph. "So that's it—that's the hideout?"
Esposito grumbled from where he sat a few feet away. "It certainly could be, but…there are tons of buildings in that immediate area."
"God!" Castle groaned and raked his hands back through his hair. "Okay, okay…"
"We're getting close, Castle," Ryan said reassuringly.
"I know, I know," the writer said, skimming his hand down and over his mouth. They were close, almost tantalizingly so, yet they were still so far away. Even if they categorically knew that Kate was in a five-block radius of that gas station—which they absolutely did not, but even if they did—that would be hundreds of possible locations. Not only did they not have the manpower to search that area at any rate of speed they wouldn't get the warrants for it either.
"I'm pulling up traffic cameras for last night in that area," Ryan said. Castle paced the spot behind his chair impatiently for about seven minutes until Ryan said, "Okay…okay that's definitely a black van. Can't see the plates from this angle, but the timing seems right if they came right off the Queens Midtown. Checking the next camera…No. No, they didn't come through the next light so they must have turned onto 57th, but we don't know if it's north or south. Let me see if there are more traffic cameras."
"Espo, do you have the satellite up of this area?"
"Yeah, yeah over here."
Castle walked to the other man's computer, and they scrolled through the area together. "South," Castle concluded after looking. "It's more industrial so that seems more likely to be desolate at night."
"But we don't know for sure," Espo said. Then, rolling his chair towards Ryan's desk he asked, "You see any cameras?"
"Negative. No more traffic cameras are online in the area we want to look. It's possible that individual businesses have street view security cameras we could see, but we'd have to check…"
"Then let's go check," Castle said as though the task were as simple as walking down to the mailroom and checking a few boxes.
Espo's brow wrinkled. "You gonna bang on every door in Woodside, bro?"
Castle set his jaw. "If that's what it takes."
Shaking his head the detective reminded him, "You can't spin your wheels like that."
"It's not spinning wheels if you find something worthwhile!" the writer retorted stubbornly. He turned to leave, but Espo grabbed his arm. Feeling a burst of anger, Castle shoved him away. Espo's nostrils flared with anger, but before the situation could escalate Ryan jumped in between them.
"Hey, woah—stop. Stop. This isn't how we do this."
"It's my fiancée that's missing. My child and my fiancée. We have to do what we have to do!" Castle's voice boomed across the precinct as his hands begin to tremble with a mixture of terror and rage. If banging on every single door in all of the five boroughs was what it took to get Kate and Jake back, he would do it, no question. There was nothing he wouldn't do to have them back with him.
"Hey," Ryan said, his tone soft and calming. "We know, Castle, and we love them, too, but a wild goose chase does not help anyone. Yes, it looks like the van turned north or south on 57th, but what does that tell us, really? We don't know she was turning towards a final destination. She could have been turning there to throw us off. Maybe the actual location is six blocks from there. We just need a little more time and then…yeah, we'll help you knock on all the doors if that's what it comes to. Just a little more time," he added pleadingly.
Castle gazed into Ryan's watery blue eyes wanting to fight back, but when the reflected kindness washed over him, he relented and rasped out, "Yeah, okay. A little more time. I'm, ah, I'm just going to go down to the street and get some air. Call me if-"
"Of course," Ryan said. "Just go…take a little walk. We'll let you know when we find something."
Grunting in response, Castle turned and headed towards the elevator. He needed to do at least one lap around the block to cool off, but he very much doubted he'd be able to calm down even if he walked all the way to Woodside and back.
"Kaaaaate. C'mon Kate. Why don't you wake up and join us?"
Kate opened her eyes and gasped to realize that the nightmare she was having had not been left behind in a dream world, but instead was very much her reality. Her eyes focused on the villainous face of Jerry Tyson and immediately her jaw clenched, and her fingers tightened into a fist.
"Oh, there you are—hello Kate; welcome back."
He stepped up beside the table she was strapped to, and she snarled, "Stay away from me, stay away from my baby."
Tyson smirked at her. "I think you mean our baby."
As defiance boiled to life within her, she hissed out, "'s my baby. Castle's baby." Kate only realized as the words came out that her tongue felt rather thick and heavy. She knew that Tyson and his partner Dr. Neiman were pumping her full of god only knew what kind of drugs. She was worried for her baby, but as it seemed they were intent on getting him out sooner than later, it wasn't her foremost concern. More than anything she was worried about what would happen to him once he was out of the safety of her womb.
"But you don't know for sure do you," he said, adding a nauseating wink at the end. Then, he reached out to put his hand on her belly. Kate tried to squirm away from him, but she was tied down too tightly. Her only defense at that point was her voice.
"Don't touch me."
"Don't worry, Kelly will do the delivery. I'm just here to watch the miracle of life," he said, rubbing his hand all over the swell of her stomach.
The fury inside her boiling to the point where she half expected steam to start coming out of her pours, she spat, "I said don't fucking touch me."
Tyson laughed as he lifted his hand away from her stomach. "Oooh now is that really necessary? We were even going to let you hold the baby before we left, but" he sighed woefully as he glanced at the doctor, who had returned to Kate's limited range of vision, "I don't know if she deserves it."
"Maybe we should see how she handles the delivery first," Kelly said with a sickening sweetness. Then, she stepped forward with a syringe in her hand and reached out to grab Kate's IV line. As she injected the liquid into it, she smiled a terrifying grin and warned, "Get ready Kate, this may hurt a bit…"
A/N - sorry the stress has to continue for another chapter. There are 15 in total so we're nearly done :) but i do appreciate everyone's reviews!
