Fire Burns

Chapter Six

It was late in the afternoon when Martin's description had been turned into an accurate picture – according to Martin anyway.

Kate ran the picture through the database, and put out a BOLO.

Rick couldn't tear her away from her work that night.

It was 4am when a result came through from the rendering. Kate added the details to the whiteboard, before falling asleep, leaning on her desk.

Once again, she awoke to the scent of coffee. Rick beamed down at her.

"Morning!"

"G'morning." Kate muttered back.

"You found they guy, I see." Rick said chirpily.

"Yeah." Kate stood up and stretched, stiff from the position she'd been sleeping in. She grabbed the coffee, and once she drank a bit, felt more awake. "Jason Ascot. Minor discrepancies. A few drug charges, possession, intent to sell..."

"Let me guess, that's where Jessica got her drugs."

"I'd say so."

Rick passed Kate a bag, and smiled. "Clothes."
Kate smiled, remembering the last time he'd brought clothes for her. "Thanks. I won't be long."

Rick didn't follow her this time, they had work to do, after all.

Finding Jason Ascot wasn't particularly hard. Bringing him in however...

Walking into a bar, Kate scanned the room for their suspect. Rick pointed to a man sitting in a corner.

"That him?" He asked.

Kate studied the man for a moment. "Yes. I think so."

They walked over to the man.

"Jason Ascot?" Kate asked.

The man looked up. "Who's asking?"

Kate pulled put her badge. "Detective Beckett, NYPD. We have some questions for you."

Jason frowned. "Cops?"

"Yes." Kate replied.

"I don't talk to cops." He replied. He stood up, and started to walk away.

"Mr Ascot, we really need to talk to you." Kate said, following him. "About Jessica Solomon."

That did it. Jason spun around. "What's that bitch done now? Telling more lies about me?" He spat.

"What sort of lies?" Kate asked.

"Stupid ones. Always gettin' me into trouble. As far as I'm concerned, the world would be a lot better off without her."

"Really? Is that why you killed her?" Kate asked.

With that, Jason snapped. He swung a fist at Kate, landing a punch on her cheek, before Rick jumped on him, tackling him to the ground. Grimacing, and trying to ignore the searing pain playing across her cheek, Kate pulled out her handcuffs and cuffed Jason.

"You're under arrest." She said, before leading him out of the bar.

Kate sat behind her desk with an icepack pressed against her face. Jason was in holding, awaiting an interrogation. Ryan and Esposito had just returned from searching his apartment. Rick walked over to Kate and crouched down next to her.

"You okay?" He asked.

"Yeah, fine." Kate replied.

Rick pulled the icepack away from Kate's face to inspect her cheek. He softly ran a thumb over Kate's cheekbone, and she winced.

"Sorry." He murmured, removing his hand. "It's a bit bruised, you'll have a shiner for a while." He grinned slightly.

"I know." Kate put the icepack back on her cheek. "I guess we have to talk to Ascot."

"Hey, Ryan and Esposito can do that if you want. You could go home, get some rest."

"No, I'll do it." She put the icepack down, and stood up. She swayed unsteadily on her feet, and almost fell. Rick caught her, and sat her back down.

"You can't interview anyone like this." He said.

"I'm fine." Kate insisted. "Just a little dizzy when I stand. But I need to talk to him."

"Fine." Rick said. He helped Kate to her feet, and helped her walk to the interrogation room. They were joined shortly after by Ryan and Esposito escorting Jason Ascot.

"So how'd it go down?" Kate asked. "You went to her apartment to what? Talk? Sell her some?"

"How did she react?" Rick took over. "She didn't want the drugs, and you hit her? You figured it would knock some sense into her? You didn't mean to kill her, did you? She just needed to see the truth?"

"That's not how it was." Jason muttered.

"No? What happened then? Self defence?" Kate asked.

"No. She couldn't hurt me. She was weak."

"You were there the night she died." Kate said.

"Fine, I was there the night she died. Doesn't mean I killed her." He replied.

"Actually, it does. We found the baseball bat you used to bash her head in, tossed outside her apartment. We searched your apartment too."

"Wouldn't have found anything there." Jason said with a smirk.

"Well, yes, we did."

A tiny, almost imperceptible frown appeared on Jason's face.

"The clothes you wore that night, stuffed in the back of a closet, still covered in blood and smoke." Kate smiled coldly at the criminal sitting across the table from her. "Gotcha."

Jason knew he was beat. He sighed. "All I wanted was Jessica back. The Jessica I knew, not that stupid goody two shoes she'd become. I went over there to talk to her, to make her see reason. She wouldn't listen to me."

"So you snapped? 'Cause we've seen how a simple comment can cause you to turn." Rick said.

"She had a baseball bat sitting out, I don't know why, so I grabbed it. She turned around, saw me with the bat... and I hit her. Didn't think it was hard enough to cause any damage, but then she didn't get up. And I panicked." Jason dropped his head into his hands. "Believe me, I didn't mean to kill her, I certainly didn't go there to hurt her. I just... snapped."

"And the fire?" Kate asked.

"I hoped maybe it'd look like an accident. I created a gas leak, and left a candle burning. It was alight before I left the building."

"You do realise that there were heaps of other people in that building. You killed one woman, and almost killed a lot more people in the process." Kate said.

"I didn't mean for the fire to get so out of hand. I didn't think it would spread so fast."

Kate rolled her eyes. "You're going away for a long time, Ascot." She got up and left the interrogation room. "Take him away." She said to a uniform posted outside the door.

A/N: Well, the case is closed. I didn't really feel like dragging it out anymore, however, there is still a chapter to go, to wrap up the story. I have in mind another story, it's going to be called 'Scrapbook' and focus on where Rick and Kate go from here. I hope this chapter didn't seem like an easy way out.

The next chapter will be more about Rick and Kate, which is always good. :D