Chapter Four
He and Alexis spend the afternoon on her science project. They give the planets their protective layer and put the solar system together. It all takes more time than he expected, but he's okay with that. It takes his mind off of Kate.
Just as he's thinking that and placing the Millennium Falcon somewhere between Jupiter and Mars, there's a knock on the door.
"Just let me get that," he mumbles to Alexis, "I'll be right back." He kisses her head before he walks to the door.
He's a little surprised to find the two detectives from yesterday in front of him again, but quickly recovers. "Detectives," he says, "come in." Detectives Ryan and Esposito nod at him and walk past him and into the loft.
"Daddy?" Alexis's voice sounds from the living room at the sight of two strange men in their home.
"It's okay, Pumpkin," Rick reassures her. "I just have talk to these two gentlemen for a second, is that okay?"
Alexis looks up at the detectives with big eyes, as if she's trying to figure out if they are good or bad guys. Her eyes pause at the badges that are visible at their belts. "Are you policemen?" she asks Detective Ryan, who looks a lot friendlier than his partner.
"Yes, we are," Ryan responds kindly. "And we need your Daddy's help to find a friend of ours, is that okay?"
"So he's not in trouble?" she asks and Rick's heart melts at the question.
Ryan laughs. "No, he's not. We just need his help."
"Okay," Alexis says and smiles at the cop. She seems to have won his heart already, because there is still a smile playing around his lips when Rick leads them into his office.
"How can I help?" he asks.
"Well," Detective Esposito begins, "you seem to be the last person to have spoken with her." He holds up his hand when Rick's about to protest that he didn't kidnap her. "We know you didn't do it. We just have some more questions for you."
"Okay," Rick says.
"Do you know where she lives?" he asks and Rick suddenly feels very hot.
"I – uh – yes," he answers honestly. "I googled her address after you came by and did some digging for myself. I didn't get anywhere, though."
Detective Esposito nods. "The doorman told us that someone has been by," he says. "Just checking."
"You said that she told you that she had just had a bad case. Did she tell you anything about it?" Ryan asks.
Rick frowns, trying to remember. "No, she didn't. I remember that I asked her about it, but she muttered something about it not being closed yet, so she couldn't talk about it. Why?"
"We think that her kidnapping might have something to do with our last case. We've retrieved the security footage from in front of her building and we have found a shot of the kidnapping," Esposito tells him. He wonders why they're sharing all this information with him, but he's not complaining.
"Was anything else visible on the video? A licence plate or tattoo, or something?" Rick asks. He's said it before he realizes that he has. It thrills him to be talking about an actual case with actual cops.
"The van didn't have any plates and the kidnappers wore hoodies, but one of the kidnapper's sleeves slid up his arm while they carried her to the van," Ryan tells him. "There was a gang tattoo on his arm. An Italian mob tattoo."
Rick blanches. The Italian mob? What the hell was she into if those guys wanted to kidnap her?
"Our case, the tough one, was about a guy called Layton Hayes," Ryan says, as if he sensed Rick's thoughts. "The mob tortured him for information, he died protecting it."
"Why would they want to kidnap Kate?" Rick asks.
"We believe that Beckett somehow figured out what the information was that Hayes was protecting. She suddenly had an insight and we arrested the killer, Lorenzo DiVarco. We think that that is what got her kidnapped."
"And you think that they're torturing her right now for that information?" Rick asks. The two men don't even have to answer him, their faces say enough. "Why are you telling me all this?"
"You wrote a book on the Italian mob, once," Ryan says. "We were wondering if might still be in contact with those people." It sounds almost shy coming from the detective.
"Perks of being a writer," Rick mumbles. "We have a guy for everything. I could give him a call."
Detective Esposito nods. "That'd be great, man."
For the first time, Rick notices how tired the two men look. They must be running themselves ragged to find their friend. He can now see how much they care about her.
"Can I get you guys anything in the meantime? Coffee? Lunch?" he asks.
"Coffee would be great," Detective Ryan says.
"Okay, follow me," Rick says and he leads them out of the office and into the kitchen. While the coffeemaker is puttering in the background, he makes his call.
The line rings for a minute before he gets the guy's voicemail.
"Hey, man! It's Rick Castle, how are you doing? I have a question for you, call me back when you get this!" he says energetically into the receiver before he hangs up.
The two cops look disappointed, so he says, "That's how the contact works, I leave him a message and he calls me back on a different phone."
"Okay, here's the thing," Detective Esposito says. "You can't let him know about everything we know. You have to be discreet."
"Don't worry, I can be discreet."
He's just finished his sentence when his phone rings. "Rick Castle," he answers. Detectives Ryan and Esposito share a doubtful glance, but seem to trust him for now.
"Ricky!" the man on the other end greets him. "How's my favourite author?"
"I'm good, man. I'm good! Hey, listen. I'm writing this new book and I'm having some trouble with the details."
"Lay it on me, Ricky," the man says.
"Okay, so my lead gets kidnapped by the Italian mob, right? He has some information that the mob wants, so they torture him. What torture would we be talking about exactly? You know, I want the details to be right."
"Torture, Ricky? There are much more effective ways to get information out of someone and you know it. But say that the kidnappers are impatient and don't want to deal with the more efficient ways, there'd probably be some waterboarding involved. That always works pretty well. Electricity also does its job, but if they really want the information, they'd use the combination."
"Combination?" Rick asks. He thinks he's going to be sick.
"Yes, much more effective if you want quick information. But it can get messy if they use it."
"How long would someone survive that?" he asks, trying to sound nonchalant.
"Well, if they really want the information, they won't go as far as killing them. Just far enough for them to think they're going to die. After they've talked, it just depends on how much they've pissed us off. But you probably want your guy to escape, right? So you don't have to worry about that part."
"Yeah, no, you're right. One more question. Where would you keep him? Hypothetically speaking, I mean," Rick says.
"Ah, somewhere without any foot traffic. You know, an old hangar or warehouse," the guy tells him.
"Right, got it," Rick says.
"I have to go, Ricky. I have work to do," the guy says.
"Yeah, of course. Thanks, man! Talk to you soon," Rick says and he can feel the gazes of Detectives Ryan and Esposito on him when he hangs up.
"Well?" Detective Ryan asks. Rick can see Alexis's curious gaze on them from the living room.
"Let's go back to the office," he mutters and takes the two coffee cups with him.
As soon as the door of the office is closed, the guys are on him.
"Good news first," he starts. "She's probably not dead yet."
The relief is obvious on their faces, shortly followed by concern. "What else?"
Rick tells them what he's learned from his guy and it leaves them baffled and silent for a minute.
"Well, that's not much to go on," Detective Esposito says. "We could start by searching for every empty warehouse or hangar in the city. But checking them all… that would take days. We don't have that much time."
"Have you tracked her cell phone?" Rick asks.
"Yeah, we did. Didn't give us anything. The phone must be off."
"Her battery was probably dead, too," Rick says. "She didn't charge it here and my phone is dead after a day and night without charging it." He explains, seeing the guys' blank stares.
"Right," Detective Ryan sighs.
"Have you checked with the suspects from your last case? Searched for property in their name? Or on the name of anyone close to them?" he asks, ideas now flooding his mind. "If I were writing it –"
"This is not one of your novels, man," Detective Esposito cuts him off.
"Let him finish," Detective Ryan says. "We haven't checked for property in the name of anyone close to the mob."
"If I were writing it," Rick continues, not paying attention to Detective Esposito's interruption, "I'd have the bad guy own a building where he takes care of his business. But not in his own name, that'd be too straightforward. That way he too easy to find. No, I'd have him sign the name of his mother, or aunt or cousin. Someone who's not involved in the mob."
"That's a good place to start looking for possible places where she could be," Detective Ryan says to his partner. Detective Esposito nods.
"You're right," he says. "Sorry about cutting you off, man."
"That's okay, I am just a writer, right?" Rick tries to joke, but it falls flat. They're all too worried about Kate to be laughing around.
"Okay, we should be going. Start looking for family with old and empty warehouses in their possession," Detective Esposito says. "Thanks for your help, Mr. Castle."
"We'll call you if we find anything," Detective Ryan says with a little smile.
"Thank you." Rick sees them out before he joins Alexis again in the living room.
"What was that about, Daddy?" Alexis asks him.
"They've lost a very dear friend of theirs and they needed my help. Because of my job, I know a lot of people and I had to call someone for them in order to find their friend," he explains. Alexis's eyes grow big.
"Are they going to find their friend now?" she asks him.
"I hope so, sweetheart," he says and he kisses the top of her head.
"Do you know their friend, too?" she asks and he wonders how he should respond.
"I've met her once, yes," he says. "I really liked her."
"Can I meet her? She must be really nice if they're going through all this trouble to find her," she asks and again he doesn't know how to respond to her question. She's so perceptive, but he's never had to answer these kinds of questions before. He always keeps his love interests away from her until he knows that it's actually serious, which is hardly ever. He actually can't remember the last time he introduced one of his girlfriends to Alexis.
"If they find her, I'll see what I can do," he tells her eventually. "Now, shall we finish this awesome solar system? You've done very well on your own I see!"
"Dad!" she sighs, sounding exasperated. "It's a two person job, I've hardly done anything."
"I'm sorry," he says.
"Don't worry," she tells him and puts her small hand on his shoulder. "You were helping those two men to find their friend. That's more important than my science project."
Rick pulls her in for a hug and holds her close for a long time, before she starts to struggle and tells him that they really do need to finish her project before tomorrow.
