Wednesday 1:57 pm

12th Precinct

Esposito walked into the bullpen, grabbed his chair, tapped Ryan on the shoulder, and approached Beckett's desk, where Castle, Beckett, and Demming were still trying to come up with a combination of 3rd precinct personnel that had the means and opportunity to commit the robbery. Esposito sat down with a grunt, and then shouted "Alright! Who screwed with my chair?".

Castle said "That would be LIEUTENANT Douchebag to you!"

Esposito frowned at Castle, then the grinning Ryan as he slid up. "Whatever."

Beckett looked at the clock and inquired, "Traffic?" Esposito was normally punctual to a fault.

"Nope. The vultures are out. Some idiot let the press know about the robbery, and told them we are the lead investigators. They must be 10 deep out front, and every satellite truck in the country is setting up on the street."

Beckett took both her hands and rubbed her eyes. She looked around. "Great. We are still on track with our theory of the robbery. Esposito, what did you guys find out at Red Hook."

"Well, the first thing we found out is they have been a mess since Super-storm Sandy, and have been playing catch-up ever since. A lot of evidence was destroyed. Their inventory has been moved around and moved around again, so they always have to look in a couple of spots to find anything."

Esposito waved a piece of paper. "Here's the list of everything checked in as evidence from the National Guard Armory robbery, and about half of it was checked out the Saturday before last to get ready for court. Naturally, there's no court case pending."

Beckett asked, "Was it who we thought it would be?"

Esposito nodded. "Yep."

Demming sat up. "Who you thought it would be? Do you have a suspect? Are you guys holding out on me?"

Beckett looked at him. "Yes, No, and Yes. Esposito, do you want to do the honors?"

Esposito shrugged. "Sure. Last Saturday afternoon late a Detective, supposedly from the 3rd Precinct Robbery Division, pulled up to the Red Hook facility in a white cargo van. He was described as white, tall, and fit, with brown or black hair. It was a Saturday evening, so he only dealt with one guard at the warehouse, who is so antique he's a doctor's visit away from being ruled too old to work. The disk for the security system for last Saturday is missing (of course), so we don't have a picture or good description. However, they do require everyone to show their badge, and they record the number. They also require them to sign the log. All of the armament and ordinance was checked out by badge number 40693, Thomas Demming."

They all looked at Demming. Demming looked disgusted. "Seriously? Why is it every time I work with you guys, you accuse me of something?"

Beckett maintained, "This time we're not accusing you. We know you didn't do it. In case you've forgotten, you were getting married last Saturday."

Ryan turned to Demming and said, "From one married guy to another, it's a REAL good idea to remember that date. You might want to write it down or something."

Demming was puzzled. "So why did you think I'd be the one in the log?"

Castle spoke up. "It was your computer that shut down the cameras in the warehouse district yesterday morning. You were somewhere over Oklahoma at the time. The techs called earlier today."

Demming said, "Wait a minute. Actually, this is good news. It means we can eliminate a lot of the suspect tree, including only those people who had access to my computer yesterday morning."

Beckett nodded, "Also eliminate anybody who attended your wedding service. But Demming, how did someone get a hold of your badge?"

He shook his head. "Nobody could have. I always have my badge."

Castle asked, "At your wedding? During your honeymoon?"

"Yep."

Esposito asked, "Little game of Cops and convicts with the new wife, bro?" Everybody stopped and looked at him. Espo smiled and added, "Too soon?"

Beckett asked, "What about your rookie badge before you made Detective?"

Demming nodded. "Top drawer of my desk at the precinct, like everybody else. Unfortunately, lots of people know it's there, and I keep it unlocked. Lost the keys months ago. Actually, I think the manual says we're supposed to keep it there."

Beckett nodded. "Yes. Locked. We'll send a tech over to your desk to see if we can get fingerprints, and just to get black powder over all your shit, to teach you to lock your desk drawers."

"Good one, Beckett." The other teammates fed Beckett's 'bird'.

Beckett looked at Kevin. "Ryan, how close are you?"

Ryan said, "Getting there. Down to the sweet sixteen. I need to get into the hall of records and check the remaining properties."

Castle volunteered. "No problem, Kevin. I'll just call my guy down there to access their system. He can scan in every building we need if it hasn't been digitalized yet."

Demming asked, "You have a guy at the Hall of Records?"

Castle responded, "Demming, I have a .."

The three homicide detectives groaned in unison ".. guy everywhere."

Castle smiled, scrolled through his contact list, pushed a button, stood, and retreated out of earshot to Ryan's desk.

"Okay, Kevin, before you and Castle start on the sweet sixteen, let's hear what we are up against. What do we know or think we know these guys got from the warehouse, Esposito?"

"It's bad, boss. One M40A1 recoilless rifle with two ATW and two anti-personnel rounds, an M16 with 8 clips of ammo, a dozen Semtex-10 shaped charges, a box of H&K MP7 submachine guns with two boxes of 4.6×30mm Hollow Point cartridges, and four Atchisson AA-12s with a crate of regular and frag rounds."

Beckett asked, "What was that last one? An AA-12?"

Esposito shook his head. "VERY bad news. A fully automatic 12 gauge shotgun with a short barrel. Four of those can take out an entire village in three seconds flat. Also fires grenade rounds."

"They've invented an AUTOMATIC shotgun? That's just freaking great." Beckett rubbed her eyes again. "Okay, Demming and I will work on the bad cop list. Ryan, work with Castle and let's find that armored car. We have one more hour before the minimum time for the bad guys to breach the internal safes. Esposito, I need you to give a heads up to your old boss at ESU. Make sure he knows the quantity and type of weapons in play here. Then look around the five state area and see if any of these weapons have turned up, either for sale by a collector or in a crime. Let's get it done, people!"

Everyone scattered to their appointed tasks. Demming retrieved the files from Karpowski's desk and slammed them on Beckett's desk. He sat and opened the top file.

Beckett barked, "No temper tantrums, Demming! Why so surly? We were confidant it wasn't you. Plus, most of your good friends should have been at your wedding, so it probably wasn't a close friend."

"That's not it. I don't know. More than anything, it's jealousy."

"Jealous? Of what?"

"Of you, Beckett!"

"Pardon me?"

"Kate, do you have any idea what you have here? Your little team here, you and your two musketeers and your goofball writer? I joined the force two years before you. Since getting my gold shield, I've been on the same team as Esposito at ESU and three separate robbery teams. In the twelve hours I've been here on your team, I've had more fun than I've had the last two years combined. Totally stressed, but fun, you know?"

He moved the top file off the pile, and handed it to Beckett. "Might be him, he wasn't at the wedding and has access to my desk." He opened the next file, and continued. "I know you three are top cops. I think Ryan is VERY impressive, Esposito has always been sharp, and everyone knows you're the best. I know Castle is really smart. I know you guys are the top team in the city." He placed the folder on the floor, and opened the next one. "It's just; you guys make it feel like I'm intruding on your family." He put that file on the floor too, and looked at Beckett. "At least you didn't get rid of me like Lieutenant Douchebag." He opened the next file.

"If we made you feel unwelcome, it was totally unintentional." Beckett grinned and added, "unless it was Esposito, who makes everyone feel unwelcome. But you are absolutely right, Tom. I've been so blessed with these guys. Esposito has been offered his own team each of the last three years, and Gates hinted that Ryan will get bumped this year and offered a team. Are you applying if there's an opening?"

"I guess I am. Your hours are a lot worse than Robbery, and your job's tougher because we already know the motive at all Robbery crime scenes, but I'd trade that for this kind of team." He handed another file to Beckett. "Why didn't Javier take on his own team?"

"Well, he says it would be like leaving the 98 Yankees or the 93 Chicago Bulls. I think he's chicken, and would miss us too much." Beckett squinted at Demming. "If you value your life, you won't repeat that."

Demming dropped two more files on the floor next to his chair. "Never. Do you think I could work with Castle?"

Beckett grinned. "You might not want to. When Castle first started, he used to correct Esposito's reports like they were homework assignments. He was unmerciful. He finally stopped when Espo threatened to drown him in red ink. Castle also used to win money from Ryan every day or two. He'd bet Ryan he'd be faster in research using only his cell phone, and he beat him consistently." Beckett received another file from Demming. "Of course, Esposito's reports are now flawless and are used as an example for new detectives, and Ryan is a world class researcher who could get a job at any university."

Two more files hit the pile on the floor, followed by a third. "I invited most of Robbery to my wedding." Another file went. "What does Castle do for you?" Demming handed over a file with an embarrassed smile. "Besides the obvious."

"Truly? He pushes me out of my comfort zone. Always has." She looked up at Demming and explained, "I've loved his books since college. When he showed up six years ago, my vocabulary instantly doubled, my thinking became clearer and more intuitive, and I became a better cop procedurally. Most importantly, I started to have some fun."

Demming handed her two files. "That's the last ones. How many do we have?"

"Nine suspect cops left. Three from Robbery, five from IAD, and a Lieutenant from Administration. That's too many for probable cause, and if we pull any into interrogation they'll just clam up and get their union rep. Could you please find out which ones had last night and / or today off?"

Demming smiled and said, "Yes, boss" and took the remaining files to Karpowski's desk. Beckett put all nine cops pictures on the murder board, then wandered over to Esposito's desk. When Esposito finally hung up, she saw his look and asked, "What?"

"We are on our own for a while. There is a nut with a gun in a restaurant across from the University. Lots of student hostages. Could be a very long stand-off. There's also an ongoing gang fight between three separate groups in Hell's Kitchen, and a major bust of a huge meth lab scheduled tonight. ESU is tapped out."

"Damn! Nothing is easy on this case. Okay. You taught me your search and destroy motto from special ops. Find them. Fix them. Finish them. Let's see if we found them." She looked at Ryan and Castle, who were in a low voiced argument at Ryan's desk. "Gentlemen?"

Ryan looked up. "Castle thinks we only have two possible sites for the armored car, and I think we have a third. The first two are a trucking company that had a small fire and the other is a food packaging company that went bankrupt after a robbery. I also like an import-export warehouse that got shut down for smuggling, but Castle thinks it's too busy of a street."

"Are you kidding me?" Beckett was ecstatic. "Three sites possible out of seven hundred buildings! That's outstanding!" She lifted her forefinger to her lips, one of her 'thinking' poses. After a minute, she started pacing. "If we do this, we need to do it right. Esposito, do you think Hernandez is still available?" At Esposito's nod, she raised her voice to include Demming, who was coming over from where he'd been using the phone. "Okay. New teams. Javi, you're with Hernandez, Ryan's with Demming. We'll each take a building. Each team will have a fiber optic camera for snooping in windows and under doors."

"We are up against professionals who know our playbook, have lots of firepower, and are going to be super paranoid. So, no drive by. They know our cars. Look for cameras and lookout posts, and avoid them at all costs. Everybody change their clothes. You need to look like you belong in the Warehouse District in the middle of a Wednesday afternoon. No loitering. Have a warrant ready to go for your property. If you find ANYTHING, back off and call in the warrant, then call the rest of us. Cell phones only. Demming?"

The Robbery Detective walked over to the murder board, and re-arranged the nine cop pictures. "These nine are our main suspects. Of these, the top three are enjoying a day off today. If you see any of these 3 cops, bail out and call the rest of the team."

Beckett looked around. "Any questions? Okay. Good Luck." The meeting broke up.