Aftermath Chapter 9

And now the moment you have all been waiting for.

I still don't own Castle.

The first thing he notice was the smell. Antiseptic, he'd know that scent anywhere. The second was the sound of heart monitor on his right hand side. The third was the fact that Martha and Alexis were sitting on the small couch near the window. He could also see Kate's father pacing back and forth in the room. Then suddenly everything came rushing back to him at once; Caleb Brown, the shootout, him and Beckett bleeding and reaching for each other.

"Kate" quietly says, it was loud enough to get Jim Beckett and Martha's attention which had them running to his bedside.

"Richard, Richard, can you hear us?" Martha grabs Castle's hand and waits for him to open his eyes. Alexis barely moves in her seat, still staying near the window.

"Where's… Kate" He doesn't know where he found the strength to speak but he needed to know that Beckett was alright.

"She's here. She's alright. Everything going to be alright now." Martha let out a breath of relief, hoping that the worst part is over.

Castle looks over and sees his wife laying in the bed next to his. Pale as he has ever seen her. His mind flashed back to the last time she was shot.

"I'll get the doctor." Castle heard Martha say as he laid back down as she tried to relax, at least knowing that Beckett was there next to him. It brought some small comfort

Martha walked in with the doctor, who came right up to her bedside. "Well, hello, Mr. Castle, How are feeling?" He didn't have the energy to roll his eyes at the question. Why would anyone ask that question to a gunshot victim? How exactly did he want him to respond?

"I've been better." he figured at least he would be able to give him some sort of an answer for the time being. The Doctor did the usual checks, made sure the incisions from the surgery were healing nicely and asked a series of questions.

"Well, you seem to be out of the woods, I want to wait a little while longer before I take your wife off of the anesthesia." The doctor explains to Castle as he all he could do right at the moment is sit and listen. Everything hurt he suddenly realized. His shoulder from where he was shot, his back from when he hit the floor. The pain was dull, but it was there and it was throbbing. It was enough to make him uncomfortable, but not enough to have him in agony. He barely heard the doctor, "I'm going to go ahead and let you get some rest, I'll be back in a couple of hours." He groggily watches the doctor leave the room and sees his mother walk over to him.

"Richard, what happened?" Martha practically whispers the question to him, but her demand of an answer was clear. She wanted his version of events, from him and not from anyone else. Castle looked back at his mother, and Jim Beckett standing behind her next to the wall, he just laid there thinking of what had transpired over the last couple of days. He took a breath and did the best he could to tell her and Jim what had happened.

"We didn't know he was there." Castle told them. He went through the morning over and over in his mind. Trying to figure out how they missed the fact that Caleb Brown broke into their apartment. He wondered if they should have spent more time trying to figure out how he had broken in the first time instead waiting in anticipation of the call from the cell phone he gave them. Or maybe that was the point. Brown had them distracted to not ask follow through on the how and just had them focused on the why. "I was thinking… about why Mason would have left Caleb's charred remains to be found… if he had a incinerator in his basement." Castle took another breath, "Next thing I knew... I was on the floor, bleeding and he was standing over me...I remember… Kate shooting...Crawling towards...I thought it was over." All Castle wanted to do was close his eyes and reach out for Beckett's hand. Castle opened his eyes again and looked over a Beckett. Her face was still ghost white and hope that she would be able to wake up soon. He then looked over and spotted Alexis at the window.

Alexis, with tears in her eyes, stared back at her father. Relief just washed over her and she knew that somehow, that he was going to be alright. That they were all going to be alright. Castle motioned for her to come over to the bed and take her hand.

"Dad." was all Alexis could say. She wanted to say so much more, but couldn't find the words. It was his disappearance all over again. She never wanted to worry about if like that ever again.

"I'm still here, Alexis. I'm still here."

Back at the 12th, Ryan and Esposito were looking at the murder board with the picture of the unknown woman in the center of it.

"So what do we know so far?' Esposito states as he walks up to the board. He looks at the photos of the victim, the crime scene, and the women who looks the subject of the suspect's obsession.

"Well, we got a dead guy, with no name, in a parking garage. A bloody apartment for a crime scene, and a woman who is a potential target and we have no idea who she is either." Ryan stated in a frustrating manner. There was usually more to go on by now and there were a lot of prints that were currently backlogged and they were wondering how long it was going to take before they got a hit on anything.

"I've got an ID on our mystery woman." Ellis says as she walks out of the tect room. She has a folder in her hands. "Marlene Saldana, age 27, she is a social media personality. Once I put her image through the search engine, she wasn't that hard to find. I might have ID'd your dead guy in the process." Ellis puts up a photos of Saldana's profile photo and another photo of Saldana with the victim. "From what I've gathered his name is Victor Young. He was Saldana's boyfriend." Esposito took the file from Ellis and looked through it.

"She has an arrest from 2012 for drunken disorderly and assaulting a police officer. Other than that she's clean. Do we know anything about Young?" Ellis handed him another file.

"Another social media influencer, but this guy has a clean record which is why his prints didn't come up in system. I have both of their accounts up on the screen." Esposito nods as he and Ryan walk back into the tech room. Some of the photos on their online accounts matched some of the photos that were all over the suspects wall.

"Some of these were on the wall at the crime scene." Ryan states. Esposito begins to look at the more recent photos that were on their timelines.

"How recent is that last photo?" Esposito asks. Ryan thinking that he knows where he's going with it. Ellis brings up the last photo and enlarges it on the screen. Ellis also brings up the timestamp and location of the photo.

"This was taken this morning on Bedford Street." Just as Ellis was relaying that information another photo of Marlene pops up on her social media feed. A photo of her standing in front of an apartment building smile with the caption '#Victor'smissingout'.

"Wait, can you track where this is coming from?" Esposito asks, Ellis is about to answer as Ryan interrupts.

"She doesn't need to, that's Bedford and Grove. She's in front on Monica and Rachel's apartment building." Ryan grabs the radio. "Have local units put her in protective custody until we get there. Ellis nods as and relays the information to dispatch and Ryan and Esposito are out the door.

"Who's Monica and Rachel?" Esposito asks as the enter the Elevator. Ryan looks at him in shock. Ryan turns to him as the elevator doors close.

"You're kidding, right?"

Ryan and Esposito exit the car and walked towards the other squad cars that were parked. Ryan continues to look at Esposito in disbelief.

"I can't believe that you've never seen an episode of Friends. That's just not possible." Esposito was doing his best to ignore his partner's statement.

"I had better things to do at time. Besides, who would actually remember the streets signs of an apartment of a TV Show?" Esposito, in a way, was not really surprised that Ryan knew that little bit of detail. It just might have saved Marlene's life.

"That piece of information got me first place at trivia night a while back." Ryan says happily. He won three hundred dollar that night. Both detectives walk towards the uniformed officers.

"Excuse me, Miss Saldana? We're detective Ryan and Esposito. We were hoping to ask you a few questions in regards to Victor Young?"

"Victor? I haven't seen him all morning." She starts to say when Ryan's phone chimes. He takes the phone out of his pocket and reads the email that he was sent as Esposito continues to talk to the victim.

"I'm sorry Miss Saldana, but Victor Young was found dead this morning as a result of a homicide." Esposito begins to explain.

"Homicide? I just talked…" A slight sob escapes her mouth as she tries to take a breath. "What...happened?" The words are almost a whisper outside on the street, but Esposito and heard the phrase a thousand times to know what she's asking.

"That's what we are trying to determine at the moment. Can you think of anyone that might want to hurt him? " Is the next question Esposito asked.

Marlene take a few slow breaths before she answers the question. "Where do I start? We're on social media. We get threats and complaints all the time. People just like to be trolls and talk trash. We never really take any of them seriously." Ryan turns back to Esposito and Marlene and hold up the phone to the two of them.

"Got a hit on the prints in the apartment." Ryan says. He show Marlene a photo on the screen. The picture of a thirty-something-year-old male with a discolored birthmark on the right side of his face. "Do you recognized this man?" Marlene looks at the picture on the phone. Almost willing herself to remember, knowing she has to push aside her grief for a moment and do what she can to help.

"He looks familiar…" She starts to say, blinking back tears. She stares at the picture again, knowing that she's seen this person's face before. That's when it hits her. "Wait… that's the guy that bumped into us at the Museum."

"Are you sure?" Ryan asks. He then pulls up the information that Ellis sent him. His name is Toby Wilder he goes by the username '4orce2love37'." Marlene's eyes widen at the sound of the username.

"Does that name sound familiar to you?" Esposito asks. Trying not to show too much relief that they are finally catches a break.

"I got a lot of messages from this guy and Victor and I just blocked him. He somehow got around them. We reported him to the site and they deactivated his account." Marlene tells them. Wondering if this guy would really go that far?

"We found evidence of foul play in his apartment earlier today. Miss Saldana, I think it would be in your best interest if you're in protective custody." Ryan tells her. They already have a BOLO out on Toby Wilder and it would only be a matter of time before we apprehend him. Marlene nods as the detectives begin to usher her to their car. As the walk closer to the vehicle, Ryan talks to Esposito. "We need to start a canvas of the area before-"

The next thing they hear is a gunshot and the back window of a squad car is shot out. With guns drawn, Ryan and Esposito turn and see Toby Wilder, who is armed with a high powered rifle.