Prison of Darkness
Notes: I want to dedicate this chapter to GhostWriterLost. Your little notes have been making me smile. Thanks to everyone who has been reviewing...and to those who have the story on alert, as well.
Disclaimer: I don't own Castle.
Chapter 5
As soon as Kate got home, the weight of the day came crashing in on her. Her worry for Castle had taken its toll, and she felt as if she hadn't slept for days.
While she was changing into her pajamas, her mind turned over the strange case of Mr. Ian Woon. A thorough search of trash bins and intensive witness questionings still had not turned up the murder weapon. Kate was beginning to think it was invisible.
It was only nine o'clock when she began her nightly ritual of putting away her father's watch and her mother's ring. She could barely keep her eyes open, so she turned out the lights and crawled into bed. Her mind was still sifting through the strange events of her latest case when she fell into a deep sleep.
XXX
Kate found herself in the meadow again. She knew it was the same meadow because it smelled the same, and the same grass brushed her knees. The sun was warm as it shone down on her face, and, as she looked down, she was surprised to see the same t-shirt and sweatpants she had worn to bed.
The wind brushed her face, playing with her long hair. Kate felt herself smiling as the scene soothed her jangled nerves. The ground was hard and a little rocky, she noted as she made her way through the tall grass towards the trees. The last two times she had been here, this is when she woke. Kate was surprised to find herself drawing near her destination.
"Did you see that?"
The voice made Kate freeze. Her whole body went on alert as she analyzed the voice. It was young. Feminine.
"Of course I did. I was standing right here," another voice answered. It was also young but male.
"Hello?" It seemed the thing to say.
"Hello," the woman's voice said brightly, and a girl separated herself from the trees. She was small but athletic. Her face was round and pretty with a touch of innocence.
The young woman turned and motioned behind her. A boy, maybe nineteen, followed her out into the clearing. He was small, as well, and thin. He smiled at Kate charmingly.
"We saw what you just did in the meadow," the young woman continued.
"What I did?" Kate asked, puzzled.
"When you appeared," the young man told her. "We saw you appear out of nothing."
Kate glanced back over her shoulder. "I did?"
The girl slowly said, "Yes. Don't you remember? Where did you come from?"
Kate gestured behind her. "Over there."
"And before that?"
Kate shrugged. "I was asleep."
The two of them shared a glance. Kate could see there was something that they knew but she didn't.
The young woman searched Kate's face earnestly, and then stuck out her hand. "My name is Nahla, and this is my brother, Aizik."
The smile she gave was friendly enough, so Kate took the offered hand. "Beckett. Kate Beckett."
Nahla's handshake was strong and firm, and her hands were calloused. For the first time, Kate noticed that both Nahla and Aizik were dressed strangely. Their clothes were simply made with ties instead of zippers or buttons. Both of them wore dark shirts and pants, similarly made except for the neat embroidery around the collar and cuffs of Nahla's.
"Pleased to meet you," Aizik said with another charming smile.
He was also stronger than he looked. His hand was slender but his grip was sure.
"It's really interesting that you're here," he continued. "It's rare enough to see one Shadow Walker a generation in any given world, but for two to appear within days of each other is unheard of."
Kate had no idea what he meant. She had to remind herself that this was a dream and that her mind was probably making things up as it went along.
"A Shadow Walker?" she asked.
"Someone who crosses the boundaries while they are asleep," Aizik told her.
This didn't make things any clearer, but Kate figured the dream would reveal all when it was ready.
"Can't you see she doesn't know what your talking about?" Nahla said, elbowing her brother.
He nodded. "That happens sometimes. We just found out about it ourselves. There was a big discussion..."
Kate was getting more confused. "About me?"
"No. Not quite."
"You're just going to confuse her, Aizik," Nahla scolded. "Let's start over. Hi, Kate. I'm Nahla Swordsrunner. This is my dumb brother. We live just through those trees in Four Corners."
"I've never been beyond those trees."
"You've been here before?"
"I've had this dream twice before."
"Dream? Kate this isn't..." Aizik started, but Nahla interrupted him.
"Twice? Did anyone see you?"
"No. Why?"
She looked a little uncomfortable and didn't say anything.
"Nahla?"
"It's dangerous for you to be here," she admitted.
Kate was struck by something familiar. She turned around slowly, studying the fields and the trees closely. Then, she looked carefully at Nahla and Aizik. Nahla's voice had triggered a memory. She had heard the girl's voice before. It had been in her dream the day after Castle was shot. Everything had been blurry and out of focus, but the land had looked like this, and one of the voices had sounded like hers.
Suddenly, it seemed very important to ask, "Have you seen Castle?"
The girl's face turned white. "Castle? Richard Castle? You know him?"
"Know him? Yes, I know him. How do you know him? What is going on?"
XXX
Kate's alarm clock awakened her abruptly. It beeped loudly and insistently.
She woke with her stomach clenched and her brain whirling. At first, she couldn't remember why. Then, the memory came to her all at once. The dream was so sharp that it seemed almost real. Not only could she remember images, she could also remember sounds and smells. Her hand could still feel the roughness of Aizik's, and her face could still feel the teasing tickle of the wind.
"Holy strange reoccurring dream, Batman," she mumbled to herself as she reached over and turned off the beeping.
She felt heavy and tired, and the temptation to stay in bed almost overwhelmed her. She lay there, not moving, wanting nothing more than a little more sleep.
The image of Ian Woon's smiling face swam before her closed eyelids. His killer was still loose, and maybe he would kill again. The thought was enough to make her force her groaning limbs to move. She slowly got up, pushing thoughts of her strange dream away and replacing them with Ian Woon. Holding onto his face, she went to the bathroom to get ready for the day.
XXX
She called Martha on the way to work. Disappointment and worry mingled within her when she discovered that there was no change in Castle. More disappointment came at work when no one had any more ideas or insights about Ian Woon or the shovel that killed him.
The first bit of luck happened at about one o'clock. A witness had been found in Woon's building that might have seen something the day he died. As Kate rode over to interview him, she hoped it was the face of a man taking the stairs carrying a shovel.
For the second time in as many days, Kate found herself in Woon's apartment building. The witness also lived on the twelfth floor. As a matter of fact, he lived in the apartment beside Woon's.
Kate passed the yellow tape and knocked on the next door. She felt a prickle along her backbone as if someone were watching her. As she waited for the witness to open the door, she looked around. There was no one in view, so she shrugged the feeling off.
The door opened a crack, and Kate heard the rattle of a chain as a brown eye looked at her through the slit.
"Yes?"
She took out her badge and held it up so the speaker could see.
"I'm Detective Kate Beckett. I'm here to talk to you about Ian Woon."
There was a sigh, and the door closed. After another rattle of chains, it reopened, and Kate got her first look at the witness.
He was a man in his late forties. Small and mousy, he had a weak chin and a couple of day's worth of stubble.
"Matthew Steele?" she asked.
"Yes."
"You saw something on the night Ian Woon was murdered?"
"Well, I heard something," he said, leading her inside and motioning for her to take a seat.
Where Woon's apartment had been sparse and neat, Steele's was lightly cluttered and full of personal items. The recurring theme seemed to be dogs. There were dog pictures on the walls and dogs gazed at her from countless shelves.
"What exactly did you hear, Mr. Steele?"
She sat on the nearest chair and he took the couch beside her.
"Voices. Well, first, I heard one voice. It was loud. Someone who was very angry was beating on Ian's door."
"Yelling?"
"Yes. Yelling and beating on the door with his fist. I looked out my keyhole, but I couldn't see him. He was too far over."
"He? It was a man?"
"Yes. And I saw a glint as if the hall light was reflecting off of something metal." He looked puzzled. "It was odd."
"What happened then?"
"Ian answered the door. The guy went in, and I could hear them arguing."
"Could you hear what they were saying?"
"No." He looked at his hands. "They were loud, but not that loud. Then, they stopped suddenly. That was all I heard."
"Do you think you could recognize the voice if you heard it again?" Kate adjusted herself on the chair. It was hard and uncomfortable.
"Maybe. I'm not sure."
"How well did you know Mr. Woon, Mr. Steele?"
The man shrugged. "We saw each other and said hi and what do you think of the weather? That's about it."
"Is there anything else you could think of that would be useful to our case?"
"No. I don't think so."
Kate reached in the pocket of her brown leather jacket and drew out a business card. "If you remember anything else, please give me a call."
"I will."
This time on her way out, Kate stopped to talk to the building super intendant. He asked her how soon he could rent Ian Woon's apartment, and she asked him about any vacancies. She went away from the interview happier than he did.
When Kate got back to the precinct, she found a very excited Ryan but no Esposito. She didn't even have time to sit before he was running over to meet her.
"Guess what was found in a garbage bin three blocks from Ian Woon's apartment building."
"The murder weapon?"
"The murder weapon!" He paused. "Wait. Yes, it was the murder weapon. Way to ruin a surprise."
"Sorry. Where is it now?"
"Esposito's out escorting it to the lab."
"Let's hope it can tell us what we need to know. Anything else?"
Ryan shook his head. "No. You?"
"According to the witness, our killer is an angry male. He didn't see him, but he heard him. There was a fight. The only thing he really saw was a flash of light from something metal."
"The shovel?"
"That's what I'm thinking. Have we heard anything on the glass I found in Woon's apartment?"
"Not yet."
Kate's cell phone rang, and she took it out and glanced at it. Josh. She hadn't talked to him in days, not since before Castle had been shot. Her palms got sweaty and her stomach flipped. She had forgotten all about him. What was she going to say to him?
Without stopping to think about it, afraid she'd chicken out and let it go to voice mail, she answered quickly, "Beckett."
She walked away from Ryan to give herself some privacy as she heard Josh say, "Hey, Kate, what's going on?"
"Hi, Josh."
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah...Sorry I haven't called..."
"It's okay. I heard about Castle."
She almost dropped the phone. "You did?"
"It's all over the news. His publisher, Gina something, called a press conference."
"She did? How did it go?"
"She's a very good speaker. She played up the privacy angle and asked for the press to go through her for his family's sake." Kate was pleased with this and almost missed Josh's next comment. "So, do you want to do something later?"
She just wanted to go and check on Castle and go home. Still, it had been five days since she saw Josh last, and she knew she should connect with him again.
"What did you have in mind?"
"Dinner and a movie, maybe?"
"A movie? What did you want to see?"
"You can pick."
She was tempted to say no because she was worried about Castle and, for some reason, as tired as hell. Still, it would be nice to put Beckett away and just be Kate awhile.
"Sure. Pick me up at six."
"See you then."
XXX
When she got home, it was too late to go to the hospital, but she was unwilling to go to bed without at least checking in with Martha. Plus, she really wanted to check on Alexis. Kate had once told Castle that she would look out for his daughter if anything ever happened to him. She intended to keep that promise. She just hoped Alexis wouldn't mind a call at eleven thirty at night.
The phone only rang twice, and the young voice that answered was alert and bright.
"Hey, Alexis. It's Detective Beckett. Sorry for calling so late."
"That's all right. I don't mind."
"I didn't get to come in to see your father today. How is he doing?"
There was a heavy sigh and a sad, "About the same."
"Have they figured out what's keeping him asleep yet?"
"No. They still haven't found any trauma."
"Well, he's got to wake up and face the rest of us eventually."
Kate heard the hint of a smile when Alexis answered, "That's what Gram says."
"I'll be in to see him tomorrow morning."
"I won't be there. I'm going back to school tomorrow. I don't want to, but Gram thinks it will be good for me."
"She's probably right," she told her before asking gently, "How are you doing, Alexis?"
"I'm okay."
"Really?"
"Mostly. My Mom called, and she was all like a child on Red Bull, but it was still nice to hear from her. She is really worried about Dad and wanted to know if she should come up. I told her no because..." She stopped for a moment before saying, "I don't want to sound selfish."
"It's all right, Alexis. I don't think you're selfish."
"Well...I didn't really want to babysit her when I'm so worried about Dad. I love her, but she's really high maintenance."
"Your father might have mentioned that."
"So, I'm not a horrible person?"
"Of course not. What did your mother say?"
"Well, I told her that I knew she was busy, and that I'd call her every day, so she just said okay, if I was sure."
"She's your mother. She loves you."
"I know she does."
"Have you got anybody you can talk to?"
"Ashley has been great. He checks on me all the time, and he's there to listen every time I call."
"You know, if you can't get a hold of him, you can call me any time. I'll always answer."
"Thanks. I appreciate it."
"Well, I'd better get to bed. I just wanted to call to see how you were doing."
"Good night."
"Good night, Alexis. Sleep tight."