Author's Note. Here is the latest chapter. No beta this time so all mistakes are my own. I am also working on an original story for Holliday that I am doing research on and I hope that there are a few people out there show would be willing to read it.
Again I do not own Castle. I wish I did.
Aftermath chapter 3
Holliday marches into the 12th with a mission on her hand; get as much information on this Caleb Brown as she can get. If there is any connection to Mason Wood on paper she needs to find it. And her first stop is to the tech room and enlist the help of the tech support staff.
As she walks down the hall towards the tech room she sees the looks that the other officers are giving her. She wonders if word has spread about her arrival already. But after seeing the looks that the other detectives are giving her at the moment has her thinking that they have no idea what the hell is going on.
As Holliday continues down the hall until she gets to the room that she's looking for; the tech room. Holliday enters the room and find that only two people are in the room, Vikram Singh and Tory Ellis. As the door closes, Tory looks up from her computer station and stares at Holliday leaning against the door.
"Vikram Singh?" Holliday asks as Vikram jumps and looks behind him. Tory slightly chuckles when he does. She knows that it's probably not the best thing to do but, considering the day that they have had so far, she needed something that resembled a laugh. No matter how small it maybe.
"Yes." Vikram replies. He's jumping out of skin these days. He knows that he should have nothing to worry about any more. Then Beckett and Castle got shot. He doesn't know what to believe anymore. Holliday looks at Tory.
"And you must be Tory Ellis." Tory nods. A look of concern spreads across her face.
"And you are?" Tory asks. Holliday holds up her badge.
"Lt. Holliday. I'm taking point on Captain Beckett's shooting. Are you going over the security footage of Captain's apartment?" She figures that she should start asking the questions as quickly as possible. She can clearly see that this guy is on edge.
"Yes. So far I haven't been able to find out how the hell Caleb Brown was able to get into the apartment." Tory is the first to speak. Vikram looks over at Tory trying to figure out why she would willing give the Lieutenant that information. But he's been having a hard time trusting people lately.
"How about you, Vikram? What can you tell me about Caleb Brown?" Holliday asks him as he jumps again. The poor guy is just completely agitated.
"Just that he was working at a Corporate Law firm before he started at a Public Defender's Office." Vikram finally says, realizing that he is not going to get anywhere if he stalls so he might as well tell the Lieutenant what he knows.
"So what do we know about the law firm?" Holliday asks the two techs. She makes it known that she is going to need all of the information on Caleb Brown that she can gets her hands on.
"Not much at this point. That it was upstate. That it's an extremely successful firm with ten senior partners, twenty junior partners, and thirty-five associates and staff." It was really all that Vikram had on the firm. He wonders if that information would help the Lieutenant somehow. Holliday looks at the information that Vikram had just pulled up. She knows that it's a long shot but she also knows that she needs to cover all of her bases.
"Okay then. Ellis, I need you to look up any and all information on everyone that works or worked at that firm. See if they have any connection to Mason Wood or William Bracken." Holliday tells Tory. Tory nods and gets back to work. Looking for the information to tie this whole thing together. Holliday turns back to Vikram who sits at his work station.
"Vikram, pull up all the information that you can on Mason Wood. I'm having the M.E. runs some test on a hunch. I want to know if we can gather any bit of information that we can. I want to know when and where this guy was born, where he went to school, all of it." Says Holliday, as she reaches for a card in her pocket as Vikram gets her attention before she leaves the room.
"That might be a little difficult, a lot of the intel that available was redacted. There's only so much information that I can get." Vikram replies. He wants that information as well, but he keeps getting road blocked. That's when Holliday leans in and gives Vikram the card in her hand. Vikram looks down and see a password written on it.
"What is this?" He asks. Even though he knows exactly what it is, but feels the need to ask.
"Consider it a free pass to the information super highway. Hopefully you'll get everything you need." States Holliday. She's lucky that she doesn't have to explain where she got the password. Vikram nods and gets to work. As Holliday stands and turns to leave, Vikram asks one more question.
"What if someone asks what I'm doing?" Vikram continues to work as Holliday turns back around. She shows a little smirk as she notices Ellis listening in on the conversation.
"You mean 'what if Detectives Ryan and Esposito come in asking questions?'" She knew that was the question he wanted to ask and by the look on Tory Ellis' face, it was a question she wanted to asks as well.
"Tell them that you are looking for information on Mason Wood. And that the two of you are using all available channels." Was Holliday's response. "I'm not shutting anybody out of the investigation, guys. I'm new to the city, I'm going to need all the I can get at this point." And that was the truth. Holliday has never really spent a lot of time in New York before this. And she's done a lot of map reading as of late just to get around the city. She knows that she has a lot to learn. And she needs to learn quickly if she's going to get anyway on the investigation.
Her phone starts to ring and she reaches into her coat pocket and see the M.E.'s number on the screen. She answers the phone and lifts it to her ear.
"This is Holliday." Tory and Vikram listen in on Holliday's side of the conversation. "Dr. Pearlmutter. Yes. Okay. I can be there inside of an hour." Holliday nods with the phone in her hand. "Okay, I'll see you-." Holliday doesn't get to finish her sentence Holliday as Pearlmutter hangs up on her. Holliday hangs up the phone and looks at the two techs in the room. "Is Pearlmutter always so cheerful?"
Tory makes a small chuckle and Vikram just shakes his head. Tory looks up at Holliday.
"Pearlmutter has always had that way about him. Just make sure that his personality doesn't rub off on you or anyone else."
"Good to know. He has some test results for me. I want to see if a hunch plays out. I'll keep you updated on that and the two of you keep me updated on this." Says Holliday as she walks out the door. Vikram and Tory nod and continue their assignment.
Holliday walks out the door and into the hallway. She just passes Beckett's office when the phone begins to ring. She looks around the room and sees that no one is really paying attention, so she walks in and answers the phone.
"This is Holliday." Was the Lieutenant's response. Trying to figure out who would be calling on the captain's phone.
"I was hoping that you would be the one to answer." Were the first words out of the Deputy Chief Victoria Gates' mouth. The sound of the Deputy Chief voice sends Holliday standing straight up even though she's in the room. Holliday realizes what she's doing and sits down in the chair. "I was hoping for an update on the case." Holliday hear the urgency in the Chief's voice. She wants answers and she wants them now.
"I was about to head down the Medical Examiner's office for an update from Dr. Pearlmutter." And the sooner she got down there for that update, the better. Holliday looks out the window and sees the other detectives and officers looking in and looking away. For a bunch of detectives and officers they weren't very subtle.
"I want that update, Lieutenant." Gates tells her. She needs to brief the commissioner by the end of the day and she needs Holliday to gather the intel and close this case. "I Hope I haven't put faith in the wrong person, Lieutenant. I would to tell the Chief of Department and the Commissioner that I sent in the wrong person for the job." Holliday smirks as she knows what Gates is trying to do.
"You will have you update, Chief. And I guarantee that I will have this case closed by the end of the day." Holliday tells her as she looks out the window of the Captain's office and see Detectives Ryan and Esposito walking into the Bullpen. She also notices Hayley Shipton walking in with them. Holliday looks both surprised and confused to see her since she hasn't seen her in a while.
"That's a tall order, Lieutenant. I hope you can fill it." Gates knows that she has the right person for the job, but she still needs the reassurance. Her Captain and her husband were shot in their home. And as much as she dislikes Mr. Castle, she has nothing but respect for him. And with everyone else breathing down her neck, she needs this case closed fast.
"You've seen my record Chief. You know I can." Holliday tells her "I'll keep you updated."
"I expect nothing less. Good day, Lieutenant." And with that, Gates hung up. Holliday hangs up and leans back into the seat, closes her eyes and takes a breath. She knows that she's making progress, but it's slow as molasses. She knows that she will do everything that she can to keep the promise to the Chief and close this case quickly. She opens her eyes and looks out the door and sees Ryan and Hayley standing over Esposito's desks as he shows then something on his computer. Holliday gets up from the desks and walks over to the door.
Holliday stands in the doorway and catches Ryan's attention. Hayley looks up and sees Holliday for the first time in a few years. Hayley gives Holliday the once over and saw that this is not the same young, hopeful, inexperience intelligence officer that she encountered ten years ago. She looks like she has grown into someone that knew what she doing. Hayley realized that Deputy Chief Gates picked the right person for this job.
"Detectives. Hayley." States Holliday as she walks up towards Esposito's desk. Esposito finally looks up from his desk and finally looks at the Lieutenant. And he doesn't like the fact that she walked toward them from Beckett's office. HE knows the Lieutenant means well, but it didn't mean that he had to like it.
"How are they?" Holliday asks. She sees the concern look in Hayley and Ryan's eyes and see the anger in Esposito's. Ryan's the first to speak.
"Doctor says that they'll pull through, but that they have a long way to go." Esposito looks at Ryan, still couldn't believe that he would just offer up the information like nothing. Ryan looks back at Esposito and sees the look on his face. Holliday notices the silent communication between the two of them and so does Haley. Esposito looks over to the Lieutenant and remembers what Hayley told him. If she can trust Holliday than so could they. But he also remembers that it took him a while to trust Hayley as well.
"Doctor also said that it the Captain was in worse condition that Castle. We won't be able to talk to them until tomorrow evening at the earliest." Esposito tells her. "So we figure that we try to find some sort of link between Mason Wood and Caleb Brown."
I already have Vikram and Detective Ellis on that, you can make sure you guys can dig up everything you can as well. But I do consider yourselves on call. So if another homicide comes up I want the two of you to take it." Holliday tells them. She knows how important it is for them to finish this up and she wants to give them that opportunity. But she also knows that there is no rest for the justice of others and that these two need to be out there for the greater good. "And Hayley can be the go-between." Holliday add in. She figures that they would keep each other in the loop. Hayley is about to say something when Holliday starts for the elevator.
"I'm heading to the Medical Examiner's office for an update. And I will update the three of you when I get back." Holliday doesn't even give the three of them a chance to respond as she already walks out the door. She continues on her mission to close this case as soon as she can. She walks towards the elevators and the three of them watch. Ryan and Esposito both stunned while Hayley looks on in amusement. Holliday may have been a rookie when she first met her, but that confidence was always there.
The elevator doors open and Holliday steps inside. Just before the doors close, Holliday looks back at the trio and locks eyes with Hayley. Both realizing that they have a lot of questions that need to be answered, silently communicate to each other that they will talk late. They both subtly nod to one another and the door closes on Holliday.
