American Crime Stories

Arc three, Chapter thirty

"Did you guys get anything?" Castle asked when Shaw and Esposito walked back into the model home.

"Well, I think that something was off with Baker, but don't know what yet," Shaw replied.

"Yeah, and we're pretty sure that the killer has some sort of tech background. He modified a garage door opener to open any door in the community," Esposito added.

Castle who had been standing in front the white board, added the information to it.

A few minutes later, Fischer and Ryan came back too. Their interview hadn't been fruitful. They updated each other about all new information. They had a timeline, and various information about the victims and their families.

"So, what's next?" Ryan asked.

"I think we should try and get as much people together into one room and look at them together. Is there a place we can call a town meeting tomorrow?" Shaw asked Chief Isbecki.

"The Town Hall is big enough. Do you want me to call a town meeting?" He asked.

"I do. And while you're doing that we can narrow down the list of suspects," Jordan said.

Esposito poured himself a cup of coffee. "Bro, this is good. Did you make it?"

"No, that was Deputy Ross."

"Who's that?" Esposito looked around.

"Oh, he's not here at the moment. He's getting us something to eat. He should be back soon."

"Great, I'm starving," Ryan said.

"Yeah, me too," Fischer agreed. At the same time Ryan yawned.

Shaw saw this and checked her clock. She saw that it was late. "Alright. It has been a long day. Why don't we stop for the day? Let's have dinner and call it a night."

The next day, Shaw and her team worked through the files and the interviews. Some of them also went out for some additional interviews. In the afternoon, they assembled in the Town Hall, facing a large group of the community. Most of the people showed up and like Castle had predicted, they didn't have much in the way of diversity in the community. That didn't mean that the group was all the same. Castle told so to Ryan and Esposito who were standing next to him. "What do you mean, bro?" Esposito asked.

"Look at them. Don't look at the similarities, look at the differences."

"Don't know, bro. All I see are rich white people."

"What do you see, Castle?" Ryan asked, knowing his friend often saw things others didn't.

"I see rich white people and white people trying to look richer than they are," Castle told them.

"Huh?" Esposito asked intelligently.

"Guys, look at the front row. The family to the right is one of the richer families. All of them are wearing clean, expensive new clothes. The kids wear brand new sneakers. The wife is wearing diamonds and the husband has a Rolex. Now look at the family behind them. They, too, are wearing clean and expensive clothes, but if you look closely you can see that those aren't brand new. And the adults aren't wearing expensive jewelry. They are still wealthy, but are trying to look richer than they really are. Even in a group like this there are haves and have not's."

"Yeah, you're right, Castle," Ryan said and looked around. "Now that you've mentioned it, I can see the difference."

"I'm betting our killer is one of the have not's," Esposito told them.

"I think you're right, Espo. Can you imagine living here and still not having enough? Your neighbor goes out and buys the newest car every year and you're still driving the model from two or three years ago? Your wife is complaining to you about the woman next door and how she just bought a new pair of diamond earrings. That can become grating after a while and then you start killing the haves," Castle said.

"Damn, Castle. That's sounds reasonable."

"Thanks, Ryan," Castle said, but didn't really pay attention to them. Something both Esposito and Ryan noticed.

"What is it, bro?"

"Something is bothering me for a while, but I can't put my finger on it," Castle said sounding frustrated.

"Don't worry, bro. It will come to you. It always does," Esposito said, referencing to their past work together. Castle had often come up with some obscure detail or idea.

"Yeah," Castle said, but stopped when he saw a family walking into the Town Hall with a big golden Labrador running in front of them. When it saw another dog, both dogs began to bark at each other, until the family wrangled the dog away.

"Dogs…" Castle exclaimed.

"What about dogs?"

"Well, not only dogs, but pets in general. Most serial killers don't have them. They grow up killing pets, not taking care of them. But what do you see around this room?"

"A lot of families with dogs," Ryan said, instantly understanding what Castle meant.

"Exactly. It's part of the whole stereotype. You know 2.5 kids, a dog and white fences. Well our killer won't have that. It's something we forgot to add to the list," Castle said frustrated.

"You have to keep cool, bro. Losing it won't help you or us."

Castle sighed. "I know, but it's frustrating. We don't have much until the next killing, but we're not much closer to him."

"That's not true, Castle. We just spoke about two things that will help us to narrow down the list of suspects," Ryan said and Esposito nodded.

For the next two hours, the members of the VCTF answered questions. Castle kept mostly in the back to not draw to much attention to him. During his time shadowing Beckett he had learned that in one to one interviews his celebrity status wasn't that much of a problem. He had met some people who recognized him but it seldom had been a problem. Talking to groups however had been problematic. Normally, there were one or two people who recognized him and would try to question him. Unlike in one-on-one situations, you seldom could control that. So, he had started to avoid such situations as much as possible. Working with the VCTF, that wouldn't be possible. After talking it over with Shaw and then with the rest of their team, they had decided that Castle would try to stay in the background and use that opportunity to read the people. That's what he did most of the time anyway, and he was very good at it.

A short ride back to the model house and they were all standing around the table looking at the stack of files.

"Do you think that the killer was at the meeting?" Isbecki asked them.

"It's possible," Ryan answered.

"Castle, did anybody stand out to you?" Shaw asked

"Sure, there were lots of people with lots of problems, but nobody stood out for being our killer."

Shaw sighed. "It would have been too easy anyway. We need to start from the beginning again," Jordan said putting the list on the table.

"We should check that list against pet owners," Castle said.

"Why?" Deputy Ross asked.

"Most serial killers don't have pets. They tend to grow up hurting and killing them," Castle repeated what he had said during the meeting.

"How do we get a list with names of all the families that own pets?" Fischer asked

"New owners have to list their pets before they move in. Deputy Ross here can give it to you," Isbecki said and Ross nodded and walked away.

Fifteen minutes later, everybody was back at the table with a fresh coffee to drink and something to eat.

"Let's look at the list of all the men that were at the meeting tonight and cross them off the full list. Then work it backwards from there," Jordan said.

"Chief, is this the complete list of all men living in the community?" Castle asked Isbecki, waving a piece of paper.

"Not exactly. There are several men missing from the list. Like men with solid alibis, some elderly who are not fit enough to be our killer," Isbecki said. Castle nodded, that made sense. "Anybody else not listed?"

"I think we didn't put down my deputies," Isbecki answered. "Although, I did check them myself and verified their whereabouts. And before you ask, I had two of my deputies independently check my alibis. One of them was Deputy Ross here," Isbecki told the group. The agents nodded impressed. Despite their earlier misgivings and his own words, Isbecki had been very thorough in his work. He actually did know what he was doing, but wasn't too arrogant to call in help.

"Uh, Chief?" Ross asked.

"Yes, Deputy?"

"We also cut the husbands of the victims from the list," Ross said hesitantly.

"Why did you that?" Isbecki asked surprised. That was the first time he had heard about that.

"Uh, shouldn't they be eliminated? I mean, normally the husband would be our prime suspect. And we did check out Mr. Townsend. But after the second murder it was clear that we're looking for a serial killer. So, we eliminated them from the suspect pool," Ross told the group chagrined.

Isbecki sighed and turned to the agents. "I apologize, Special Agent Shaw. I didn't know that."

"Don't worry about it, Chief. Let's check out the husbands again," Shaw said to her agents. "Start with Mr. Baker."

"Why him?" Isbecki asked surprised.

"Something felt off when I talked to him," Shaw said. "Chief, a community like this is like a small town. What do you know about the Baker's?"

Isbecki silently thought about it for a moment. "I think that their marriage was on the rocks. Rumor has it that she started seeing a therapist. That's all I know. What about you, Deputy? You're patrolling the community regularly."

"I think that the rumors were true. Mr. Baker started running during the morning, and sometimes a second time in the evenings. He also participated in several other sports."

"It could be so they didn't have to deal with each other?" Ryan asked.

"Possible."

"Does the family own a pet?" Fischer asked. Ross checked, "No, they don't."

"Alright, let's go through his witness statements," Shaw ordered.

"Here it is," Fischer said. "According to him, they get home at six. They had dinner at seven. They all went to bed around ten…"

"What? That can't be right," Deputy Ross interrupted her. He apologized, but Fischer waved it off. Instead she asked him why it couldn't be right.

"The Bakers are night owls. As I said, Mr. Baker regularly runs in the evening. I have also caught Emily, their daughter, many times sneaking out to her friend's house way after midnight."

"Then that means that she could have been awake when her mother had been killed," Ryan said. "That could be the reason something felt off when you spoke to him, Shaw," Fischer said. "He may be be afraid that he killer could realize that his daughter had witnessed the murder. And that could be the reason he's packing her up and taking her out of here as fast as possible."

Shaw thought about that. "It's possible."

"But you don't think so?" Isbecki asked.

Shaw thought about that for a moment. Then shook her head. "No, not really. But at the same time, I don't know what is bothering me!" Shaw said frustrated. "You know, I've been doing this for a long time. I've met some disturbed people, some you realize it after a short time. But I didn't get the feeling with Baker. I don't think he's a sociopathic killer." There was a short pause.

"What if he's not, but is our killer nonetheless?" Castle asked. He had been silent for a moment. HE had read through Baker's statement again and compared that to their working profile.

"Huh. What do you mean, Castle?" Shaw asked.

Castle turned to Ryan and Esposito. "Guys, remember our first case together? The Tisdale case?"

"Sure, bro. But what does that have to do with this case?" Esposito asked.

"Well, due to the fact that there had been several killings with the same signature, Beckett initially thought that there was a serial killer lose," Castle told the group. "However, it turned out that the killer just wanted to kill his sister to get the inheritance. The other two murders were supposed to hide his motive."

"You think Baker killed the first two victims to hide his intended target?" Shaw asked.

"His own wife?" Isbecki asked surprised.

"Yeah. Why not. If I were to write that story," Ryan and Esposito began to smile. 'Storytime' with Castle was always interesting. Sometime his theories were bat-shit crazy, most of the time he had it right, though. "My killer would be dissatisfied with his marriage. He could feel trapped in it. She comes from money, so she is used to a certain lifestyle without having to work for it. Nevertheless, she is highly educated. Probably because her parents insisted on it. However, she stopped working when their first child was born and just enjoys life now. But when the economy hit, they lost a good chunk of their money and she has trouble adjusting to that. In fact, she thinks it is her husband's fault, because he managed their money. And she lets him know that she thinks that he's at fault. The husband on the other hand thinks he's very smart, smarter than most people around him. Especially his wife. He works very hard to provide the money to keep their lifestyle as similar as it was before the crash. But despite his best efforts, it doesn't happen. The wife is angry and disappointed and lets him know that. She is constantly criticizing him for one reason or another, really punishing him for the loss of their earlier lifestyle. Especially as she is forced to start working again, even if it is part-time. Maybe she even starts having affairs. And of course he catches on. He's very furious but in the end can't really do anything about it. Because their marriage contract clearly stipulates that he would only get a low sum if they divorced for whatever reason. As successful as he is now, he hadn't been so when he first started dating his wife. Back then, he didn't have the money to hire a lawyer who could protect his interests against the high priced lawyer his step-father had hired to write the marriage contract. In other words, he can't divorce his wife. He can't even get a girlfriend on the side because there is a fidelity clause in their contract – his fidelity of course. After months and months, maybe years, of constant snipping, his wife's affairs and bad marriage all around, he finally snaps. So what does he do? He decides to kill his wife and goes through his options. Option one is making it look like an accident. Although he thinks he is smarter than most, he also knows that even he could make small mistakes. Mistakes that could lead back to him. He decides against that option. Option two is hiring a professional. However, finding one who is reliable is not that easy - even for him. Also, in the end, even professional make mistakes. Mistakes that could lead the police to the killer and through the killer to himself. Again, that's not an option either. Anyway, the last option, personally killing his wife and having it look like a murder, is his favorite for several reasons. First, he really wants to kill the bitch himself. In fact, he has fantasized about doing so many, many times. Shooting her. Stabbing her. Poisoning her. There are so many possibilities. But what he really wants is to do is put his hands around the bitches' neck and squeeze the life out of her. Yeah, he likes that scenario. He works on this fantasy. He has a lot of time, running around the town. Then one day on one of hi runs, he has an epiphany. He could show this community that he is in fact smarter than them. Especially the bitches' friends. Oh, he really hates them. Always looking down on him, gossiping about him. Making him feel inadequate. Yeah, they will pay, too. So, option three it is. And voilà, here we are."

There was a silence as people looked at Castle.

"What?" He asked.

"Your mind is a scary place, bro," Esposito said.

"You just realize that now, Javier?" Ryan asked.

"But he's not wrong," Shaw said. "Everything fits so far." Shaw inwardly smiled. She had decided to remain as silent as possible for now. Not only did she want the members of her team to work together, but more importantly, she wanted Fischer to see that Castle would be able to hold his own, that he was qualified to work at the VCTF. Despite her confidence in her partner, a small part of her wanted to make sure, too. She was determined to never show that part on the outside, hoping to never sow doubt in Castle's ability or making him think that she didn't trust him.

"Where does he work?" Fischer asked.

"Baker works as an IT consultant," Chief Isbecki said.

"So, his marriage was on the rocks, he's athletic, has the necessary height and is tech affine," Ryan summarized.

"Yeah bro, sound like we have our guy," Esposito said.

"So, what do we do now? Do you think he left already," Fischer asked.

"It doesn't matter. We'll issue a bolo. He won't get too far away," Shaw replied.

"I don't think that he'd left already. I saw him earlier today. He told me that Emily was at a friend's house, saying goodbye," Deputy Ross said.

"We have to be careful. His daughter is with him. I don't know how he'll react," Shaw said.

"What do you mean?" Fischer asked.

"If we're right, it's possible that Emily could be a witness against him. Obviously she could ruin everything for him. And if Castle is right, Baker might decide to rectify that situation," Shaw told the group. "Also, I haven't seen her when I visited him. He told me that she was with a friend." The group needed a moment to let that sentence settle.

"Everything that we learned about the Baker's doesn't point to a close relationship between father and daughter. They don't spent much time together," Castle pointed out. "That's why I think that he won't care too much about hurting her to get away."

The rest of the group grimaced as they realized the truth of Castle's statement. Not only were they looking for a man who had killed three women in cold blood, including his own wife. The same man had a daughter who could potentially identify him.

He heard cars screech to a halt out front. He swore violently as he instantly realized that the FBI was here for him. He turned to his daughter and hit her. Emily fell to the ground, crying. "You had to be late, hadn't you? You never do what I tell you. Just like your mother, the bitch. And look what happened to her," Baker angrily told his daughter. He grabbed a knife and walked to his daughter. He grabbed Emily, walked to the front door and opened it just enough to be seen. Holding a knife to Emily's throat, he ordered them no to come any closer.

A few seconds ago:

Out front two SUVs and two cop cars had pulled up. Castle and Esposito were the first ones out. The first thing they saw was Tom Baker standing in the door, holding a knife to the throat of his daughter.

"Don't come any closer," he ordered.

"Mr. Baker, there is nowhere for you to go," Shaw said as she made a step towards him.

"I said, don't come any closer. You come near the house and I kill her." He pulled her back and closed the door.

"Alright people, set up a perimeter. Make sure that there is no way out for him," Shaw ordered.

"Sure, boss."

"Esposito?"

"Yeah, Castle?"

"I think it'd be a good idea to bring out your rifle," Castle said without looking at him. He was looking straight at the house. Esposito looked at Shaw who simple nodded.

"Alright," Esposito said. He put away his hand gun and walked to the back of one SUV. He opened the back door, grabbed a back and got ready.

"So, what do we do now, Jordan?" Castle asked.

"I don't think we can storm the house. You saw how agitated he is. I have no doubt that we'll get him, but I'm also pretty sure that he'll kill his daughter first."

"Yeah." Castle was silent for a moment.

"Somebody has to go in there and talk him into surrendering," Shaw said. She mulled over whether to send Fischer or go in herself.

"You mind if I go in there?"

"YOU?" She asked surprised.

"Sure, why not?" Castle asked without looking at her.

"No offense, Rick. I know that you're very capable, but you're not trained for that," Shaw told her partner.

"I know, but who is the alternative? You and Fischer can't go in there, because you're women in high profile jobs. And Baker in there really doesn't like women like you at the moment. We need Espo out here. The local cops can't go in there because he doesn't think too highly of them. We're also the higher authority. It's got to be Ryan or me. And I think I'm the better choice. I know a little bit of this world. I'm also a father myself."

Shaw sighed. Shaw thought about what he'd said and realized that Castle was right. That didn't mean that she liked it. She looked at Fischer and Ryan who nodded reluctantly. "Okay, but be careful."

Castle pulled his gun and handed it over to Shaw. "Here, keep it save."

"You want to go in there unarmed?" Shaw asked surprised.

"I have to. You know that as well as I do."

Shaw sighed again and simple nodded.

Castle turned around and walked to the side. "Can you hear me, Espo?" Castle asked to check his ear microphone.

"Yeah, Castle. I can here ya."

"Alright, I'm going to go in there and try to talk Baker down. If that doesn't work, I'll try to move him so that he will be in front of a window. Don't shoot before I give you the signal."

"Alright."

Castle turned around again. He slowly walked into the drive way. "Mr. Baker, my name is Richard Castle. I am a consultant with the FBI. I'd like to come in and talk to you. Find a way to solve the situation to your satisfaction. Can I come in? I'd be unarmed."

There was long silence, before Baker replied. "Alright, but only you. If I see anybody else moving, I'll slash Emily's throat."

"Don't worry, nobody is coming near the house." He slowly walked to the door.

"Stop right there and turn around. Show me that you don't have any hidden gun!"

Castle turned around, showing that he didn't have a gun stashed in his back. He began walking and stopped again before the front door. "I'm coming in," Castle said. He took a deep breath and opened the door. He saw Baker using Emily as a shield with a knife at her throat.

"Move and she dies," Baker said coldly.

"Daddy, please, don't do this!" Emily said crying.

"Shut up!" He ordered, digging the blade into her neck.

The sight angered Castle, but he outwardly remained calm. "Hi, Emily. My name is Richard Castle, I'm a consultant with the FBI. You can call me Rick. The same goes for you Mr. Baker. Is it alright if I call you Tom?"

"I know who you are, Rick. I have read some of your books."

"That's good. I always like meeting fans," Castle said, stepping into the role of the famous writer for a moment.

"Oh, I'm not a fan. I think that your books lack depth and are filled with countless factual mistakes. They do however help pass the time as one could read them without thinking too much," Baker said.

"I'm sorry you think that way," Castle said. "Anyway, I'm here to help you, Tom."

"Help me with what?"

"Help you to solve this whole situation peacefully."

"And what? Go to prison?" Baker scoffed.

"Perhaps."

"You think I'm stupid?" Baker asked.

"No, but maybe a good lawyer can get you free. Or, if worse happens, shorten the sentence."

"I'm not going to prison!" Baker exclaimed angrily.

"But what's the alternative? You want to die, Tom? Because we both know that that's the only alternative you've got here. The FEDs won't let you get away!"

"So, if I have to die anyway, what's stopping me from killing the little shit here first?" Baker asked furiously, squeezing his daughter. Emily was crying heavily, frightened for her life. "You know, she is nearly as bad as her mother. Disrespectful, never listening to what I say."

"You know, Tom. I understand why you did it."

"Really?" Baker asked sarcastically. "Mr. World-Famous-The-Women-Throw-Them-At-Him thinks he knows how I'm feeling? Are you kidding me?" Baker shouted angrily.

"You said that you had read some of my books. Did you perchance read the first one?"

"I don't know," Baker asked surprised at the question.

"It doesn't matter, but let me tell you a story," Castle said and slowly began moving. "The plot of my first novel is basically one of my many revenge fantasies against my first ex-wife. Obviously, people know that we're divorced, but there are not many people who know the real reason for it. Oh, there are a lot of speculation, but nothing concrete. It wasn't too long after my daughter was born that I found my ex and another man in our own bed. As you can imagine, that was a severe blow to my ego." Castle slowly moved while talking and Baker was unconsciously following him to keep him at a distance. "Obviously, I left her. But now I had to care for my baby daughter alone. Then one day, I think it was winter, I got a really bad cold. It got so bad that my mother had to come and stay with us. Anyway, one night I had a fever dream. It was so real, it scared me," Castle made a dramatic pause, gauging Bakers reaction. He saw that the other man was listening to him intently. "I dreamed that I snuck into my ex's new apartment and stabbed her. Again, and again, and again. It felt so satisfying to see the blood of the bitch drop from the knife and drain out of her," Rick said gleefully. He silently thanked his mother for his acting lessons. Castle saw that his words had an effect on Baker. "I see that you understand, Tom. Who was it?"

"The fucking pool boy. Can you believe that? The young and good looking pool boy? What a cliché…"

Castle shook his head, acting like he understood Baker's anger. "Why didn't you kill him, too?"

Baker scoffed. "I would have, but he had left before I could. So I killed Taryn and the other stuck up bitches. They all had been fucking that pool boy and his brother, you know. I once overheard a conversation when they were actually talking about their experiences, comparing their 'cleaning sessions', as they called it, with him. That's how I learned about the affair," Baker told him. "And that little shit here knew it, too," Baker exclaimed pressing the knife deeper. "I read it in Taryn's diary that one day, Em here came home early just to see them together. She wrote how they had spoken about it, how it was my fault. The bitch has an affair and it is my fault?" Baker yelled. "The stuck up bitch couldn't do anything on her own. Her whole life she had people catering to her every whim. And when we lost most of our money, we had to lay the staff off. And in the end we had to move here. She'd never let me forget that. Always nagging and complaining. Day in, day out. I couldn't do anything right. I was working my ass of while she was screwing the pool boy. The nerve of that bitch," Baker ranted.

"You know, I can relate to some of that, too. I don't know whether you read that my second ex-wife was killed earlier that year."

"Yeah. Sorry?" Baker said sarcastically.

"Oh, don't be. She didn't cheat on me, as far as I know anyway. But she was a bitch, too. She was my editor, you know? At first it wasn't a problem, but after a while, it became one. She was always moaning about deadlines, how I was supposed to write, go to this meeting, that reading. How I wasn't allowed to go out with my friends, because I was late with a chapter," Castle ranted out loud, silently asking Gina for forgiveness. 'Though what he said was true, he didn't like to besmirch her memory. He moved a bit more, inwardly crowing that Baker was mirroring him.

"You know, it got so bad that I met with my good friend, Javi. We got talking about what I liked to do to Gina and talked about some my fantasies. You know, me stabbing her, too. Maybe poisoning her. You know, as a writer, I have fantasied about hundreds of ways to kill somebody. The good friend that he is, he played along. It could also have been the alcohol." Castle said, shaking his head. He saw that Baker had loosened his hold on his daughter. He had lowered his hand away from Emily's neck. The knife in his hand was now pointing to the ground. "Anyway, I remember it like I had the conversation with him only a few minutes ago," Castle said. "'Javi', I had asked, 'why don't you SHOOT HIM'!"

As soon as Rick had said those words, a shot rang and Baker dropped like a sack of bricks. Emily was crying and shouting incoherently. Rick immediately grabbed her as her whole body started to shake. He turned her so that she didn't have to see her dead father. A few seconds later, the door was opened and the cavalry rushed in. "Clear," he shouted out. When he saw the others, he immediately pushed Emily into Fischer's arms. "Please, get her out of here immediately." Fischer just nodded and steered the crying and shaking girl out of the house.

"What the hell, Rick?" Shaw asked angrily.

"I had to get him to take the knife away from Emily's throat. If someone had shot him while he had a knife to her throat, she could have been injured. One twitch and he could have severed her carotid artery. I figured I could talk to him long enough to loosen his grip and get the blade away before Esposito took the shot."

Shaw sighed, trying to calm herself down. "You did well, Rick."

Castle was silent as he took a look at Baker's body.

"You okay?" Jordan asked.

"Yeah," Castle said solemnly.

"Really?" Shaw asked unconvinced.

"You mean Baker? You know that it's not actually my first time that I see somebody shot in front of me, even with a rifle. I know that it was the only way, I could see it in his eyes. He wasn't about to surrender. He was going to slash his daughter's throat and go out by suicide–by-cop. So, I'm fine with that. Well, that's not right. I'm not feeling guilty about his death and my role in it. That man killed three women. And he would have killed his daughter, too," Castle said solemnly. "Anyway, can we go home now? I really like to hug our girls."

Our girls? Jordan thought. I like the sound of that.

"Yeah, let's go home," she replied. Castle smiled. "But first we have a bit of paperwork to do with Chief Isbecki."

Castle groaned. As a consultant, he actually did have to fill out paperwork now. Shaw just chuckled.

A/N: Hey all. I hope you're doing well! I just wanted to take some time to thank all those who have read and/or reviewed ACS. I appreciate it!

Some of you have asked me to give an update on Beckett. At this moment, she is working at the 22nd Precinct and doing fine. I don't have any plans to include her in this story any more than that. Maybe, I'll put her in ACS II, should I actually write that. While I do have some ideas for a sequel, I'm currently working on two other stories that I have started to work on again after several years. Those take priority.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed my conclusion of this case. Stay safe!