AN: I hope you are enjoying the story. The writing is going very well and I already have Chapters 5 & 6 out to LEM (my Beta) for review. We are going to soon see a few layers of the onion that maybe even Rick didn't realize he had. Enjoy!
Chapter 4
"The question is...why?"
Kate looked at him. "We know that Tim Hough was discharged from the Army due to his hitting on a male superior officer, so we can safely assume he is gay. He ended up working at a gay bar in the city where he was arrested a couple of times for solicitation. The picture we have of the female shows an Adam's apple, indicating that most likely the person is a transsexual."
Rick looked up at her. "Daniel Hough won't talk about his son and we have matched .32 caliber bullets from Derek's case and Henri's case. The only common denominator appears to be..."
Kate and Rick grinned as they completed the sentence at the same time. "...the weapon!"
Lexie looked at the two of them. "That was creepy." They all laughed.
Rick looked at Lexie. "Can you see if any of the Houghs have registered a handgun?"
She looked up at him. "I can tell you that they have quite a few. Daniel is a collector."
Kate nodded. "Can you see if he has any registered .32 caliber pistols?" Lexie nodded and left to check the files.
Rick leaned over and put a hand on Kate's. "Something is bothering me about all this. And I have a feeling it has to do with what happened to Derek." He sat there for a moment and pulled out his phone. He hit a quick dial button. "Jordan? Are you in the office? Good. Can you do me a favor and find anything you can on the following people? Derek Hough, that's H-O-U-G-H; Also Daniel, Tim and Natalie Hough. Thanks. I'll call you back later." He hung up the phone. "Looks like we may have to stay in town tonight."
Kate looked at him. "I better call Montgomery."
TCOP3
They pulled up at the hotel Rick had reserved. The Lone Tree Inn was an older inn housed in a two story Colonial building with several small cottages on property. Kate smiled as she and Rick entered the lobby. He led her to the front desk, holding her hand. The front clerk looked up and smiled as Rick took out his wallet. "We have a reservation under the name of Rodgers."
The clerk picked up a folder and opened it. "Ah yes, Mr. Rodgers. We have you and Mrs. Rodgers upstairs in Room 201. I'll just need your signature." Rick signed and grinned when he felt Kate poke him when she heard 'Mrs. Rodgers'. "Excellent! Dinner will be served until 8 PM in the dining room. We hope you enjoy your stay." He handed Rick the folder and the keys.
Rick smiled at him. "Thank you." They turned and headed for the steps to go upstairs. Kate reached back for the key.
When he handed it to her he chuckled. "Here you go, Mrs. Rodgers."
"We'll talk shortly, Mr. Rodgers." Rick smirked.
After they entered the room she turned on him. "It's a good thing we're engaged or this could have been painful."
Rick grinned. "Yes, dear."
Kate burst out laughing. "Doofus! Let's get cleaned up and get some dinner. You'll have to perform your husbandly duties later."
TCOP3
Natalie met the female in the Hough's pool house. "Ricky is here with some detective from the city. They cornered Dad earlier and you know that they will be back. You need to leave before they find you."
"You know I can't do that, sis. Ever since the funeral I knew something had to be done. And since I realized that I was a woman trapped in a man's body, I have come to grips that they need to know the truth. What happened that night will haunt us forever until we tell someone."
Natalie reached over and tucked an unruly strand of hair behind the other female's ear. "We'll be ruined; you know that."
"I do know that the family's reputation will take a hit. But the truth will free us from the shame that we have carried by not letting the police know what happened the night after the disappearance. Nat, you know that Dad will never forgive me and our brother...well he is not in a place where we can get his forgiveness either. I'm tired of pretending." Tears began to fall. "I'm sick of hiding who I am and I can't be silent about what happened much longer."
"I know...we'll need to be careful around the others though. There's too much for them to lose and you know how they react when they are cornered." At the other's nod, she hugged her 'sister'. "Now...go. Get some sleep and we'll find Ricky tomorrow. He'll help us."
They both left the pool house via different doorways, headed to their respective beds to find some rest.
TCOP3
Kate woke to the ringing of a cell phone. "Beckett."
"Ms. Beckett? This is Natalie Hough. Is Ricky there?"
Kate answered positively before handing the now awake Rick the phone. "Hello?"
"Ricky, it's Nat. We need to talk."
"Okay, Nat. Are you OK?"
"I'm as good as can be. We need to meet somewhere. I have some information that could be helpful to you."
Rick glanced at the clock to see it was just before eight AM. "How about 9ish at the school?"
"Nine works...but can we meet somewhere else? The school is too public. How about the woods near where Derek went missing?"
Rick raised an eyebrow. "Okay. Then let's make it half past nine then."
"See you then." Click.
Kate raised an eyebrow, "What was that about?"
"I'm not sure." He handed her phone back to her and picked up his. "I think we may have a lead. Natalie wants to meet us in an hour and a half where Derek went missing."
"Isn't that a bit remote?"
"Yeah, but we won't be alone."
Kate looked inquisitively at him. "What do you mean?"
"I know a guy..."
TCOP3
After Rick made a few calls and they got dressed, they had a quick bite to eat and then checked out. They had just gotten into their car when Rick's phone rang. "Rodgers." Rick listened to the call and his smile grew. "That's great Shawn! Next time you're in town let me know. We'll get together and have some fun! Thanks, man."
"What was that all about?"
Rick grinned. "That, my dear Kate, is a friend of mine who is an RC hobbyist. You'll know more shortly." Rick pulled out and headed to meet with Natalie.
As they pulled up to the school grounds, Rick grinned as he passed a brown panel van. He glanced in his rear-view mirror and smirked as he watched the van pull out to follow. He pulled over, rolled down his window and let the van catch up. It slowed and pulled along side.
"Ricky!"
"Hey Shawn! You have everything?"
The man chuckled. "I've got the toys you wanted. Want to suit up now?"
Rick nodded and turned to Kate. "Come on, love. I want to show you something." Kate nodded and they both got out and followed Shawn to the rear of the van.
He opened the door and started handing a few things to Rick. "Here you go...button camera, wireless audio transmitter, earwigs...oh and tracking coin."
Kate's eyes widened. "What's all this?"
Rick grinned. "Just in case, Shawn is outfitting us with some things to capture what goes on. He will also be flying a drone copter with a camera above us to provide overwatch."
Kate shook her head as she started to put the items on. She would never admit to Rick that she felt safer with them. "Okay. ready?"
Rick nodded. "Okay, Shawn. We'll head over and you can follow. It's about a mile down this service road, so you stop short and we'll get this moving. Oh and here is some contact info just in case." Rick handed him a business card, which he tucked in his pocket.
They both checked their weapons and got back in the vehicle and drove off to get some answers.
TCOP3
They drove for a couple of miles and then Rick pulled off to the side of the road. There was a car pulled off just in front of them. Rick took a picture of the license plate and sent it to Esposito to find the owner's name. He looked at Kate and spoke to Shawn via the wireless microphone. "Shawn, buddy, you hear me?"
"Loud and clear Ricky. Detective Beckett, can you hear me?"
Kate grinned. "I hear you, Shawn."
Rick looked at Kate and leaned over to give her a peck on the lips. "Okay. Let's go see what's up."
They both exited the vehicle and headed to where Rick remembered it was reported that Derek had been last seen entering the woods.
They followed the path cautiously. About twenty yards in, the path led to a small clearing. In the center of the clearing was a body lying on the ground. Rick hurried over and went to check the body for a pulse when he felt a sting and everything went black.
Kate watched as Rick grabbed his neck and fell over just as she felt a sting and fell over, unconscious.
TCOP3
Ryan was sitting at his desk when the phone rang. He picked it up automatically. "Ryan."
"Detective Ryan, this is Shawn Judson. I'm a friend of Rick Castle...he gave me your number to call if something happened..."
Ryan stood up and waved Esposito over. "Shawn, I'm going to go into a conference room and put you on speaker." He placed the call on hold. "Javi, can you get the captain and meet me in the conference room?"
Ryan watched as Javi went to the captain's office before he went into the conference room. "Shawn, I've got you on speaker. I have a couple of people joining and then I'll get the story from you on what happened. Okay?"
"Okay, but hurry. I'm not sure what to do and we have to be quick."
Ryan was soon joined by the others. "Okay, Shawn…go ahead."
"Okay. Ricky called me earlier to request some things and had me meet him and Detective Beckett at Sedgewyck. We met and I gave him some tech…earwigs, button cameras…stuff like that. He was meeting with Natalie Hough and he said something didn't feel right about it, so he wanted some insurance. Well, they drove off and I followed as he asked and stopped about a half mile back from the meeting place.
"They stopped and we did a mike check. He said something about sending a license plate to someone."
Esposito interrupted. "Yeah, that was to me. The plate belongs to a Greg Killarney. Mr. Killarney works for Daniel Hough."
Shawn cleared his throat. "Well, that makes sense. The tech is still working, but Ricky and Kate are unconscious. I think they got hit with a tranquilizer dart of some sort. I watched as a couple of guys grabbed them and carried them to a van, then drove off. I have their location plotted on a GPS, but I think they are still out of it. I can hear people talking in the background, but no voices I recognize."
Roy leaned forward. "Shawn, this is Captain Montgomery. Is your equipment recording?"
"Yes sir."
"Good. Do you have a number where we can reach you? We'll be en-route shortly and will need a way to find you."
"Sure…I can email it to Detective Ryan."
"Good. We'll be there soon. Keep monitoring."
"Yes sir."
Roy got up and left the room. Once in his office, he picked up the phone and dialed a number. "Mr. Mayor? This is Roy Montgomery. Rick Castle appears to be in trouble…"
TCOP3
Ryan shook his head as he looked out the front window of the chopper. He had never ridden this far on one before. He saw the airfield up ahead as the helicopter started to descend. There was an SUV parked next to the helipad.
When they landed and got out, they were met by the local sheriff.
Roy walked over and introduced himself. "Sheriff? I'm Captain Montgomery. We spoke on the phone."
"Captain, I'm Lexie Rogers. Let's get you guys out to meet Shawn and we'll get an update. Here are the keys to the SUV; follow me please." She handed him some keys and walked towards her car which had not been visible from the chopper.
He handed the keys to Esposito. "You two follow us." He walked over to Lexie. "Mind if I ride with you?"
"Not at all. Hop in." He nodded and got inside. She pulled away slowly, making sure that the others were following. "We're still trying to find out exactly how things went down. Shawn has some video to show us and is going to meet us back at the station before we head out to where we think they are being held."
"Sounds good; do we know why they were taken?"
"Not completely, but we have someone who just might waiting for us." Roy nodded and they rode the rest of the way in silence.
TCOP3
The four entered the station together and everyone turned to look at the strangers. Lexie rolled her eyes. "Where is Shawn?" One of the deputies motioned towards a door in the back. "Thanks, Carl. This way, guys."
They entered a room to find a young man sitting staring at a laptop. "Hi Lexie. I have it ready to view." They all introduced themselves before moving around to get a better view of the screen. "I have it queued to where they enter the clearing." They watched as Rick moved to the body while Kate covered him. They saw as he grabbed his neck and fell over. Then Kate's camera tilted as she was knocked over. They saw the men come over and drag Rick away before coming back to get Kate. One of the men laughed and rolled over the dummy that they had used to draw them in. They left it and put Kate in the back of a van next to Rick.
Roy looked over at Lexie. "So one of those men was identified?"
She nodded. "Killarney had parked his car behind the van and Ricky had sent it for ID. He was the taller man in the video."
Ryan looked over at the Captain. "So what's our next step, sir?"
"I think that would be talking to me." They all turned around to see Natalie Hough standing in the doorway.
