A/N: I hope I managed to thank everyone who signed their reviews last chapter – your continued enthusiasm and support mean the world to me.
Chapter Eighteen: Just show me the way and I'll meet you there.
Esposito smiles at her. "So what you're saying is that we need to start digging up everything we can about the dearly departed Detective Slaughter?"
Kate nods, smiling back broadly. "Yeah," she says, excited. "That's exactly what I'm proposing we do."
They bring what they've learned so far immediately before Captain Gates, and as they slowly go through the novel – and all its clues – with her, it becomes obvious to the three of them that their boss gets progressively more and more impressed with each new clue.
By the time she's been as brought up to speed as they can get her, she's eyeing Beckett and the manuscript both - with something akin to wonder painted across her usually stern features.
And Kate can't help but think her boss is a far prettier woman when she allows herself smiles, downright lovely in fact.
"So how are you intending to proceed Detective?" Gates inquires, once everything they've learned thus far has been presented to her.
Kate looks eager and she smiles. "Actually we came to ask you for your advice sir," she says. "Castle's clues are clearly warning us to be very careful what we do, but at the same time they also indicate that Slaughter's death was in fact a homicide and that his disappearance is directly linked to it. Obviously I want to investigate that homicide, but first we need to establish corroborating proof that it really was one."
Gates nods her head slowly, her dark intelligent gaze turned momentarily inwards; so Kate and the boys wait patiently for her to reach a decision.
At length the Captain makes one. "I concur with your findings Detective. Taking into consideration that Mr. Castle has no reason to even be aware of Detective Slaughter's demise; the fact that he's included such thinly veiled blow by blow account of it in his book is enlightening. And while Ethan Slaughter might have been a rather nasty piece of work – he was still one of us, and the murder of a cop will not be ignored."
"No sir."
Gates stands and returns Kate's copy of the manuscript. "Get a court order to exhume Slaughter's body. That novel might be pretty flimsy as 'probable cause' but Slaughter had no family and there won't be any opposition. Once you have that Detective, let's play this as close to the chest as possible – you should ensure Dr. Parish conducts the autopsy."
Kate nods, standing too. "We'll get right on it, sir."
"And Beckett," she calls, when Kate's already opening the Captain's office door. Kate turns back.
"Yes sir?"
Gates is smiling again. "Really impressive work Detective, now let's solve this thing - bring our missing team member home."
Kate can't help but be touched as Gates includes Castle this way.
"You got it sir," she says happily.
Back in the bullpen Ryan and Esposito look at her waiting for instructions, which Kate issues as she picks up the phone to call Judge Markaway. "Esposito, pull Slaughter's jacket – I wanna know everything we can possibly learn about his record. Who he arrested, every partner he ever had, every single person he might have managed to piss off on the job," she tells him.
Espo doesn't manage to contain the half smirk, half grimace that stretches across his handsome face.
"You know that's gonna be an awfully long list right?"
She shrugs. "I know," she says, agreeing with him. "Ryan. . . "
"Yes boss?"
"I need you to start looking into Slaughter's life away from the force. Financials, romantic entanglements, family background – everything. We're going to have to take his life apart piece by piece guys so that we can solve this thing. If we can do that – I think we might just make it okay for Castle to come home."
Ryan nods.
And as her partners leave her desk to go and begin, Kate's call to the courthouse goes through.
"Judge Markaway, please," she tells the clerk with relish. "It's Detective Kate Beckett calling. . ."
Esposito is the first one to get back to her with information because pulling Slaughter's records is the fastest thing to do. With Ryan still putting in requests and running the usual background information, Kate and Javi set up shop in the conference room.
They divide the work up. Kate takes Slaughter's arrests history and Esposito gets his official police employee file, lengthy complaints history and his four run-ins with IAB included.
"How was this guy even still on the force?" He exclaims, looking completely disgusted as he reads the IAB file through.
"Hmmm," Kate says looking up.
"I mean I knew about him Beckett. I worked the gang task force, and I'd seen him around – even been in on a few busts with him while putting in my time there. But man, IAB investigated this guy a bunch of times. There are accusations of bribery and corruption, excessive uses of force, even alleged jury tampering," he says appalled. "You name it; Slaughter seems to have been accused of it at some point or another. But beyond getting busted down a pay grade a few times for some minor infraction they could actually prove, no-one seems to have been able to make anything stick to this guy."
Kate makes a face.
"Yet his arrest history is – and I hate admitting this – but it's impressive. At least on the surface it is – and maybe that answers your question Espo, despite his questionable methods he got things done. What makes me uncomfortable reading this is that we know first hand – from Castle's experiences with him – that Slaughter just wanted to nail a bad guy, and having them actually be guilty of what he could nail them for didn't appear to matter to him. So now all these arrests seem suspect to me, I find I can't that sense of conviction that should be there about any of them," she says wearily.
"Makes for an endless list of suspects too," Javier adds. "We're gonna have to check release dates for every one of those people, because guilty or innocent they could have had a beef with him."
"What does his jacket say about his partners?" Beckett asks.
Javi frowns. "That he had way too many of them," he replies. "And they either ended up dead, or immediately filed a request for a transfer away from him."
"How many of us did he get killed?"
The Latino detective's eyes darken. "Five," he answers. "Yet another reason right there why he should have been fired. I mean, how does IAB ever justify a cop being that careless about the lives of other cops assigned to work with him? Stone cold man – that's just stone cold . . ."
Beckett looks over at her own partner with compassion. "You're right," she says. "You're right. But Javi, if we're correct and he was murdered, the relatives of every single one of those dead partners are going to have to be brought in."
Espo mumbles something about 'justifiable homicide' under his breath, and Kate doesn't really disagree with him, but they have a much bigger purpose here.
"For Castle's sake," Kate tells him, and Esposito looks back up from the file.
"You have to remember all of this is not really about Slaughter here," she pleads quietly to him. "While I don't hold with resorting to murder - not for anything, this is entirely about Castle for me. We are doing all of this for him."
Javi nods.
"Yeah okay," he responds, smiling again now. "For Castle I can do this," he says, and dives right back in.
Judge Markaway signs Kate's 'Order of Exhumation' that afternoon. He doesn't ask any questions, doesn't refer to Castle in any way, but he smiles a sincerely gentle smile at Kate when he sees her.
"Hang in there Detective," is his departing remark as she's exiting the door.
The body is in Lanie's expert hands by morning, and it's only hours later that the team at the Twelfth get the call.
"I've got interesting information for you," Lanie tells her after Kate answers.
"Just tell me it was murder Lane, that's all I'm asking for," Beckett replies anxiously. "You tell me it was a murder, and I've really got a place to go – a real chance that if I can solve this, the end result brings Rick home."
Dr. Parish doesn't waste any time.
"Oh it was definitely murder alright Kate – of that I'm a hundred percent sure. Now grab those two boys I know are listening, and get your skinny asses down to my morgue. I've got ballistics re-running the slugs that were pulled outta your boy here – but there are some interesting details about the shots that killed Detective Slaughter that I'd rather show than tell you," she says.
"We'll be right there," Kate replies, before she hangs up the phone triumphantly. She then turns a happier smile on her partners than they've seen in five months, and the resultant relief that washes over the guy's faces is just amazing to see.
They have a case now.
"Castle was right," she tells them. "Slaughter's death is undoubtedly a homicide – Lanie says she can prove it and she wants us down at the morgue, says there's something compelling about the shots that killed him that we need to see."