Chapter 7 – UnSub.
"Good morning Detective Beckett," Castle said sounding ridiculously cheerful, as he slumped himself casually on the chair besides Kate's desk.
"Good morning Castle," Becket replied not so cheerfully, keeping her eyes on the monitor of her desktop pc, rather than diverting her attention to chirpy writer. None the less in her peripheral vision, she saw him take something from out of his jacket pocket with an exaggerated flourish, a bit of showmanship which she figured was for her benefit. An assumption confirmed when he placed the item down on her desk like a magician bringing his magic trick to a devastating conclusion.
Reluctantly she stopped what she was doing and brought her attention to him and his offering of a DVD. "What's that?" She asked raising an eyebrow.
"Put it on your computer and fast forward the video until you reach 1:55pm."
Kate grabbed the case and turned it from one side to the other, examining it with detailed attention. When she realized what she had in her hands, she turned her focus and scorn towards Castle. "Is this the surveillance footage from the photo shop? You took it home?!"
"The DVD I gave you is still wherever you left it." He shrugged nonchalantly.
Kate looked at Castle with disapproval, her lips pursed tightly together. Just as she opened her mouth to scold him he put a finger up to stop her and interjected swiftly. "This is another copy," Castle explained, "it came with the Hasselblad 500el that I bought when I returned to the store yesterday after I left the precinct. It was a promotion." Castle grinned.
Kate glared at him. "Buy a vintage camera and get surveillance footage from the store, free? I bet Curtis had a whole bunch of takers lining up for that offer," she commented sarcastically.
"You have no idea."
With a tired roll of her eyes Kate ended up caving in. "Fine," she conceded and grabbed the DVD case, opening it. Then she inserted the disc inside the reader of her computer. "What is it that you want me to see?"
Castle moved the chair aside so that he too could see monitor. He stood right beside Kate, which earned him a warning stare from the Detective. He ignored it and pointed at the screen. "Fast forward until 1:55pm."
"Yo guys, whatchadoin?" Esposito said as he and Ryan walked towards Beckett's desk. They were coming from the opposite direction from Kate's monitor, which prevented them seeing what Beckett and Castle were watching so intently.
Castle instantly saw an opportunity to yank the boy's chains a little and so quickly replied without taking his eyes from the footage. "Apparently the victim was also a porn star. We're watching one of his movies."
Ryan stopped in his tracks, while Esposito hurried towards Beckett's desk.
"Seriously? A, uh… a guy that old?" Ryan asked looking at Beckett with a disgusted look on his face.
Kate took her eyes from the monitor and looked back at her colleague. She picked up and elaborated upon the lie without missing a beat. "Oh, he may have been old, but he was surprisingly well 'equipped'. Apparently he was rather famous in the gay porn industry."
At that instant, Javi diverted with a sharp turn to the right, fixing his eyes on the information they'd collected on the murder board. "Besides that…" Espo cleared his throat uncomfortably before continuing. "Anything else new?" he asked as he took his time observing the different items fixed on the board, appearing to suddenly be very interested in everything displayed there and trying very hard not to look at Kate's monitor.
"Nope," Kate answered. Then she regarded Castle shrewdly. "Thank god you found this lead. Very well done," she said. "I guess it's just our good luck that you have such a personal knowledge and all those connections amongst the gay porn community, Castle."
The writer shot a pointed stare at Kate, who seemed rather amused and pleased with herself. Feeling his gag backfiring, he decided to bring it to a close. "It's okay boys, there's no porn, gay or otherwise," he explained hurriedly. "It's just surveillance footage from a store across from the building where the murder took place."
"I knew that," Espo smiled unconvincingly, turning towards the desk once more and trying to sound sure of himself. "I was just going along with the joke."
"Yeah, of course you knew." Ryan snorted as he joined the gang.
Castle turned to Becket once more. "My sense of humour is starting to rub off on you, Detective." He gave her a sideways grin. "I'm actually feeling very proud of you."
"Rub off on me?" Kate raised an eyebrow. "You wish, Castle. Nothing of yours will ever rub on me."
"Oh, Detective Becket, never say never. Besides, there have been many who've told me that my rubbing has been intensely pleasurable." Castle wiggled an eyebrow.
Kate rolled her eyes and replied with weary sarcasm, "You know I take it back Castle, you are successfully rubbing me - up the wrong way!" she finished sharply.
Before things could escalate any further, Ryan took steps to intervene. "So, what's so special about this footage?" he pointed at the monitor.
"I'm still waiting to find out." Beckett replied in a rather irritated tone, keeping her eyes on Castle.
"If I may, Detective," he asked and pointed at the computer's mouse and keyboard.
"All yours," Kate answered, crossing her arms in front of her chest, she leant back in her chair.
"Thank you." Castle slid both items onto his side of the desk and started to fumble with them, skipping through the recording until he reached the relevant segment. "Closely watch the guy in the dark coat, near the door of the building."
They all watched as the unknown subject in the footage loitered, apparently waiting until someone exited the building. Once they did, he took advantage of the open door to slip inside.
"So he forgot his key," Kate said shrugging off the notion of anything she'd seen had been suspicious.
"I don't believe so." Castle replied, seeming very sure of himself.
"And you know that because..." Espo asked.
"Wait for it..." Castle raised a finger and gave a few more clicks with the mouse, rewinding the footage. Then he froze the image when the same man with the dark coat appeared in front of the store's window, giving them a clear look at his face.
"Okay, who is he?" Ryan asked.
"A very good question Detective Ryan; one that the super of the building also doesn't have an answer to." Castle replied.
"Wait... What?" Kate turned her desk chair sharply towards Castle, almost making him fall from his. "You went to talk to the super without us?"
"Yeah I did, this morning before I came here." He replied in a normal tone. "I showed him the picture that I printed of the guy and he told me he had never seen him in his life. Hence my certainty that he doesn't live in the building."
"Castle, you cannot do that! You are not a police officer!" Kate's voice rose an octave with her anger, making Javi and Ryan take a step back.
"Relax Detective," Castle deflected with a wave of his hand. "It was just the building's super, it's not as if I went to talk with a hitman from the Mafia. FYI, I do in fact happen to know such a guy, should you ever need..."
"Castle!" Kate slammed her hand on her desk, making him jump from his chair, while Ryan and Espo retreated one step further. "From now on, you only talk with witnesses when you're with us. Get it?"
"Technically, he wasn't a witness when I talked with him because you still didn't know about the man in the footage..." Castle stopped talking when he noticed the virtual daggers flying from Kate's eyes, which were skewering murderously towards him. "'Kay, no talking to witnesses when you're not around. Promise." He made a cross with his fingers over his heart.
He then took the printed picture he had shown to the super from his pocket and fidgeted with it for a few seconds. "Err.. So, how can we identify this guy?" he held the paper so everyone could see.
"Well, since you like to do police work so much, why don't you use our face recognition software to try to identify the subject." Kate wiggled an eyebrow and motioned with her head towards Javi.
"You have face recognition software?" Castle asked with unconstrained enthusiasm.
"Yeah, it was installed last week." Esposito put his hand on Castle's shoulder. "Come on, I'll show you how to operate it."
"That is so cool!" Castle got up from his chair and trailed after Javi, following him towards a room on the other side of the bullpen.
Esposito opened the door and they went inside. The room wasn't very big and most of the space there was had been filled with archive cabinets lining each wall. Standing in the centre of the remaining space was a small table and a basic chair.
"There's no terminal here," Castle pointed out, while still looking around the room.
Javi snorted and opened one of the filling drawers. Then he removed a big stack of files from inside and placed it on top of the small table. "You can start with these."
"Oh, come on!" Castle whined.
"You better hurry up bro. You have the entire archive to go through." Javi gave him a sideways grin and walked towards the exit.
"Wait, you're not going to help me?"
"You uncovered the lead, you get to have the privilege of looking for the guy. All by yourself." Esposito winked and left the room, closing the door after him.
"Great," Castle huffed, "This will take forever. No wonder they have so many unsolved cases." He slumped on the chair and placed the printed paper with the picture of the unknown subject on the table. Then he reached for the file on top of the enormous pile.
He opened it, comparing the picture inside it with the one of the subject. Then he proceeded to next one. After a few more files he huffed in frustration.
As he was reaching the next one, an idea crossed his mind. His eyes sparkled with glee "Detective Beckett..." he said to himself as he took his phone out his pocket, "you probably haven't noticed yet, but I have contacts everywhere…" He placed his call. "Thai food is pleasing to the tongue," he said into his handset, then hung up. He smiled and looked very proud of himself. "Even in the CIA." He relaxed in the chair and interlaced his fingers behind his head.
Around ten minutes had passed by when someone opened the door of the archive room and after stepping inside, closed it quickly behind him. A short man wearing sunglasses and an overcoat surveyed the small space, looking totally conspicuous while trying to look inconspicuous.
Castle jumped up from the chair. "Agent Gray, how did you get here so fast?"
"That is classified, Castle." The CIA Agent replied as he took his glasses of. "If I told you I would have to kill you afterwards."
"Oh, we don't want that, do we?" Castle grinned. But his smile dropped when he was met by the unperturbed look of the Agent, suggesting that the necessity for killing him should perhaps be taken more seriously.
Castle cleared his throat and picked up the printed picture of the man in the footage that lay waiting on the table top. "I wonder if you could..."
But before he could finish the sentence, Agent Gray took out a file from inside his overcoat "This is the man you're looking for." He handed it to Castle. "You can keep it, it's a copy from the original and much larger file I have on him," he said, sounding totally underwhelmed by the whole episode.
"How… How did you..." Castle mumbled completely taken by surprise. But he stopped when he noticed the stare that said 'Are you really going to ask?' that he received from Agent Gray. "Right, it's classified," Castle said in a low voice as his eyes drifted towards the file he'd been handed.
"You have there a very intriguing character," the Agent said, walking towards the exit.
"I do?" Castle opened the folder.
"You didn't hear it from me." Agent Gray opened the door.
"By the way," he turned towards Castle once more. "The CIA does not conduct secret drug trials. And if we did ever want to cover up an assassination, you wouldn't even dream that a death had occurred as the result of one."
Mortified, Castle regarded the CIA Agent with a dropped jaw, dumbstruck and unable to mutter a sound.
Gray gave him a sideways grin and put his dark glasses back on. "Remember, I was never here." Then he closed the door, vanishing from sight.
"Are you intent on hiding in here for the rest of the day?"
Peter raised his eyes from the book he had been reading at the sound of Olivia's voice. He had been in her office for the best part of the morning, sitting on the chair opposite her desk. "I'm not hiding," he replied.
"Okay then." Olivia took her glasses off, stopping working altogether, sliding the paper she'd been writing on to one side. "You're avoiding," she asserted, with her lips quirking slightly at the corners.
Peter put the book on his lap and crossed his arms over his chest. "I'm keeping you company. We don't have a case and I thought you would feel bored and lonely here in your office surrounded by all this bureaucracy."
Olivia chuckled. "That's is so thoughtful of you Bishop." She reclined in her chair and put her right hand above her heart, in a mock gesture of appreciation. "But please, don't use me as an excuse to hide away from Walter."
Peter smirked at her. "Agent Dunham, do you really think I would need to use you as an excuse if I wanted to gain some distance from my father? You seem to forget what I was doing and where I had been before you dragged me into this freak show."
Olivia's smile faltered for a split second, but she recomposed herself in an instant. "Then I'm glad you chose to hide here instead of running off to another country. Otherwise, who would translate 'Walter' for me?" The smile that once again graced her features now seemed forced and hardly reached her eyes. She turned her attention back to the paper, which she drew back in front of her before resuming her writing.
Peter was surprised by what he had just witnessed. Had Olivia Dunham just confessed that she would miss him if he were to leave? He could also almost have sworn that he had seen a hint of hurt in her emerald eyes after he had insinuated that he was still more than capable of pulling up sticks and rolling out.
He frowned, his eyes fixed on her, observing every detail of her beautiful face. But her expression remained neutral, not giving away any further hint about her state of mind. Maybe he was reading entirely too much into it.
An easy partnership had developed between them since they had started working together. Even given the strange cases they had undertaken, which often meant they were working under very difficult and stressful circumstances, had helped them to form what Peter liked to believe may be the beginning of a solid and lasting friendship.
They were partners who trusted each other and worked well together. It was normal if Olivia expressed disappointment at the possibility of losing someone that she liked working with. There was nothing more beyond that.
Anything deeper was just wishful thinking from his part.
But perhaps the right question was, did he wish there was something else, something more?
He could rationalize all he wanted, but his increased heart rate right after noticing Olivia's reaction – even if he misread the signals – told otherwise.
Also, he had to consider the lengths which he had already gone to, several times in fact, to help her solve the cases that landed in their laps. Sometimes, even if that meant putting his personal safety at risk. As he did, when he'd walked back to the building where David Robert Jones' biological bomb was about to explode. It had been something he'd felt compelled to do, to show her that he was there for her. It was just the latest of the insane things he had been prepared to do because of Olivia Dunham.
Indulging in that particular reckless deed had been something he still hadn't processed properly, having pushed it to the dark recesses of his brain to be dealt with later. Instead he'd temporarily categorized it as just another brush with a workplace hazard.
But he had to be honest with himself; he had risked his life simply because he couldn't bear the thought of leaving her alone in that building, facing death while trying to save the lives of thousands of people with her last ditch effort.
He had been willing to risk dying along with her. That was how much he cared about her, how important she had become to him.
Enough so, that just recently, he had moved heaven and earth just to try to give her some closure about an issue that had haunted her for far too long. It was something that he had yet to discuss with her. But that was a subject he would have to deal with later. Right now there was a realization that he could no longer dismiss; Olivia Dunham had become someone very important to him.
Was she important enough that his feelings for her would evolve into something more than friendship? His gut told him that it would happen sooner or later. That was, if it hadn't already happened - at least on his part - and he was wilfully pushing this growing awareness to the back burner. However, judging by the way his heart skipped a beat when he noticed Olivia's reaction to his joke, he could not ignore it anymore.
But he had to face reality, even if he was developing feelings for Olivia that went beyond friendship, he could not pursue it. Not for the time being, at least. She already had too much on her plate. After all, her last romantic relationship had left her with deep and still raw wounds, which he was sure would make her weary of beginning another one anytime soon. Especially with a work partner.
If there were to be a possibility of anything happening between them in the future, he felt that she would have to be the one to initiate it. If he made the first move, he was almost sure that there would be a risk that she would push him away completely, perhaps even putting their friendship at risk. And their friendship was something he was not willing to compromise. So whatever he felt or may feel in the future for Olivia Dunham, he would deal with it like the grown man he was.
Olivia seemed oblivious to his contemplation and lingering stare and he wondered how much time he had spent watching her while immersed in his thoughts. She had kept her attention on what she was doing, her focus totally directed upon her work. The realization made him self-aware and he redirected his attention back to his book.
The silence that had settled on the small office was soon broken by the sound of Olivia's phone ringing. She glanced at the display and the eerie blue-white light illuminated her face. Her posture immediately changed from casual to professional, as she sat up straighter in her seat as she accepted the call. "Dunham," she answered.
Olivia nodded several times and gave a few curt answers like 'Yes, Sir' and 'okay', which implied that she was talking to Broyles. She raised her head and looked at Peter. "Yes, he's here with me."
Then she frowned, apparently surprised by what Broyles was telling her. "Okay Sir, we'll be there as soon as possible" She said with her eyes fixed upon Peter, then she ended the call.
"New case?" Peter asked closing the book on his lap.
"Sort of..." Olivia answered.
Peter raised an eyebrow. "Sort of?"
"Apparently the NYPD has requested your assistance in a case," Olivia explained.
"My assistance?" Peter pointed a finger towards himself, his eyebrows raised, almost until they touched his hairline.
"Yes." Olivia nodded.
"Not ours? Mine?" He asked once more.
"Yep," Olivia confirmed, "But I'm coming with you. Broyles instructed us to catch the next flight to New York."
"But why ask only for me? Did they say what the case involved?"
"The only information they have disclosed so far is that your name came up during a case they are investigating. They didn't specify which case it was." Olivia got up and grabbed her jacket from where she'd draped it on the back of her chair.
Peter followed suit. "My name came up?" he frowned, "You're sure it wasn't Walter's? Everything we investigate seems to somehow have a connection to my father. I wouldn't be surprised if there were other cases being investigated, by someone else, which were also connected to him."
"Nope, it was definitely your name." Olivia shrugged into her jacket. "Maybe one of your shady jobs from the past came back to bite you in the ass." She gave him a sideways grin.
"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that. I'm very well connected within the FBI and am a very valuable member in one of their teams. I'm sure they will make whatever shady thing the NYPD as uncovered about me disappear within a blink of an eye."
Olivia chuckled. "I wouldn't count on that. The Bureau has a very strict policy about the integrity of their employees. They will not tolerate involvement in criminal activities, not even of one of their consultants." She opened the door and held it open for Peter. "But don't worry, if it comes to it, I'll visit you in prison," she commented with a twitch of her left eyebrow "I'll even bring you cigarettes"
Peter snorted and stopped in front of Olivia, an amused smile on his face. "Then you better pray it doesn't come to that." He leant in towards her. "Otherwise, who would translate Walter for you?"
The group had gathered around Beckett's desk and were all looking at the file of the now not so 'unknown subject' that Castle had 'unearthed' in the archive room.
"I once spent a whole week in there looking for a suspect's file." Esposito hiked a thumb towards the archive room. "And still I came up with nothing. How the hell did you pull this out in less than fifteen minutes?"
"Call it a gift," Castle replied, not even trying to supress the smugness of his tone.
"A gift?" Beckett snorted. "I'm still not convinced about this file. This…" She held up the folder in question, "doesn't look anything like one of our files." Then she gave Castle a pointed stare. "Did you make this up?"
"Of course not," he said rather indignantly. "I swear on my daughter's honour that the file is real." He put his hand over his heart.
"Castle, I swear to you…" Kate's voice had lowered in tone until it resembled that which she saved to use with the more uncooperative suspects. "Captain Montgomery is on the phone with a friend of his from the FBI, trying to get us in contact with this man. If this file was made up by you..."
But before she could complete her sentence, she spotted Captain Montgomery as he left his office and began making his way over towards her desk. His presence came much to Castle's relief, as under the pressure of Kate's words, he had already been sinking in his chair like a frightened kid being reprimanded by his parents.
"Okay, it's set up Detective Beckett," Montgomery said when he drew close to the gang. "Your 'subject' is coming to New York to talk with you."
"Oh, look at that..." Castle straightened himself on the chair, the smugness returning full-force. "The man that I 'made up' is coming to New York."
"What?" Montgomery frowned, looking between Castle and Kate.
"Don't mind him Sir." Kate shot another look at Castle. Then she turned her attention to her Captain. "Thank you for your help Sir. Did you tell your friend at the FBI why we wanted to talk with our 'subject'?"
"I was going to mention it to Broyles," Montgomery paused, scratching his chin. "But when I mentioned the name 'Peter Bishop', he told me that this guy actually works on his team as a consultant."
"Peter Bishop works for your friend?" Becket raised her eyebrows.
"Yeah, talk about coincidence." Montgomery sighed. "So I thought, we actually don't have anything on the guy, only footage of him entering the building. We don't even know if he was in the apartment, so why raise suspicions? He's one of my friend's men and perhaps he didn't have anything to do with the crime."
"So what did you tell him, Sir?" Esposito asked.
"I told him that the name 'Peter Bishop' had come up in one of our investigations and that we would like to talk to him. I said that maybe he could help us with the case. So Broyles offered the assistance of his team. Peter Bishop and the lead Agent of Broyles' division, Olivia Dunham, are flying in from Boston to talk with us." Montgomery leaned against Beckett's desk, his shoulders slumped showing how uncomfortable he was with the whole situation.
"Perhaps you're right and the guy has nothing to do with our case." Castle put his hand on Montgomery's shoulder. "Let's see what he has to say, maybe he can really help."
"I really hope so. Otherwise, I know I would be pissed off if someone pulled a stunt like this to bust one of my Detectives." Montgomery sighed once more. "And I would hate to ruin my friendship with Philip over something like this. I first met him at an FBI conference back in the 1980's, we've been friends since then. I consulted with him a few times back in my Detective days. He's one hell of an Agent."
"Well Sir, then you better pray that your friend isn't as protective of his Agents as you are of us," Ryan said as he hung up the phone on his desk.
"How so?" Montgomery asked.
"I just got off the phone with forensics, they checked the print in the Bishop's file, the one that Castle pulled out of his ass."
"Hey! I didn't..." Castle interrupted indignantly. But before he could say anything else, Kate kicked him in the shin. "Hey! That hurt," he protested reaching for his leg and rubbing it.
"Zip it Castle." Kate shot him yet another look. Then she turned to Ryan. "Please continue."
"Thank you Detective Beckett." Ryan nodded at Kate. "They ran both prints; from the file and the partial from the unspent bullet shell found at our scene."
"And…?" Montgomery frowned.
"It's a match. Peter Bishop is now officially a suspect."
A/N
If anyone is still fallowing this, I hope you enjoy the chapter.
Enormous kudos to Crystalline Green. Her contribution with corrections and specially editing and adding where invaluable.
The chapter was so much better after her intervention. Thanks my friend, you really, really did a heck of a job with this one.
It would not be the same without your invaluable input!
To the ones still fallowing, I promise I'll really try to update this more often.
Honestly we're about half-way to the end, or maybe even less, so it shouldn't take long.