Disclaimer: I don't own Castle... the characters of this amazing show belong to the genius Andrew Marlowe and ABC. :P
A/N: *slides in the thread* I think I have enough time before I have to go to my Organic Chem lab to update this little beauty. I'm not sure what day this weekend, I'll be updating, so keep your eyes peeled. I've got enough homework this weekend to go around. *rolls eyes* Anddddd, I have an embarrassing confession to make: when I was splitting up the stories into chapters, I was a little tired and I jumped from 9 to 11... completely skipped #10, so in actuality, this story is only a prologue, 14 chapters, and an epilogue... *is embarrassed* To make up for it, this chapter (9) is about 6 and a half pages. That means there isn't that much more to go.
I hope you guys enjoy this next chapter. It has a little bit of a cliffie at the end, but not too bad. Let me know what you think!
Previously in Habeas Corpses...
"What do your boys have for me?," Shaw nodded towards Ryan and Esposito making their way toward them.
"Some video footage from Castle's loft when he was kidnapped," Beckett replied, "Our equipment isn't advanced enough to get a clear picture on the guy, not to mention that he never really faces the camera to get a clear view in the first place."
"If he's on record, we'll be able to find him," Shaw nodded. As soon as Esposito and Ryan made it over to the two women, Shaw didn't even let them speak, she just immediately gave them an order, "Go into my people's war room and give them that footage to see if we can't clear it up at all."
"Right," Esposito nodded and left to do as he was told with Ryan, as always, on his tail.
"I've got some other information for you too," Lanie spoke up.
"Tell me all about it," Shaw led Lanie into the war room.
Beckett remained frozen by her desk and turned her head to Castle's empty chair. She let out a long sigh and whispered to no one, "Where are you, Castle?"
Now in Habeas Corpses...
Chapter 9
Unknown Location
"Johanna Beckett?," Castle raised an eyebrow, "I have no idea of whom you're talking about."
"Do you really think it wise to play dumb, Ricky?," King asked, "Especially when there is a gun being pointed at your head."
"If you wanted me dead, I would've been killed back at my loft," Castle replied wisely. He licked his lips and continued, "So, clearly that tells me that I mean more to you alive than dead."
"Clever boy," King nodded. After a second, a smug expression crossed across his face, "Though, I do have alternate ways of finding out with or without you and I'm not the sort of man to play games with… so tell me what you know about the murder of Johanna Beckett."
"All I know is she was killed a little over ten years ago," Castle said, "And the case was closed… the detectives on the case folded everything into a nice little box and just attributed it to gang violence."
"You're lying," King took the safety off the gun, "You know more and if you don't tell me what you really know, the world is going to lose one of its best-selling authors."
Castle's eyes widened and gulped.
12th Precinct
"Good and bad news time," Ryan said when Kate entered the war room.
"What's the good news? I could really use some right now," Beckett sighed.
"The good news is that we were able to get a better look at Castle's kidnapper," Ryan nodded his head toward the screen.
Before Beckett could ask what the bad news was, Shaw let her know, "The bad news is that this guy isn't on any of our records. He's not coming up on any of our facial recognition software."
"You don't need any," Beckett was looking up at the screen.
"You know him?," Esposito furrowed his brows.
"That's William Johnson," Beckett said and turned around, "That's our victim's law partner."
"And to think, we already had him in the station," Ryan shook his head.
"A dirty lawyer," Shaw shook her head. She turned to her partner Avery, "Bring up all info you can find on this Johnson and bring up what we've got on Nick King on this screen."
"Wow, you're right," Beckett walked up closer to the screen with her arms folded, "He really is an all-around kinda guy."
"Drug-trafficking, shootings, robberies," Ryan started reading them off, "Sounds like a fun guy."
"Oh yeah," Shaw picked up on his sarcasm, "And he never leaves any evidence behind. Every time anybody can get near him, he's got a solid alibi and he never leaves prints anywhere, but all these jobs are his doing."
"How's he on record then?," Lanie asked.
"Parking ticket," Shaw grinned.
"That's gotta be frustrating," Esposito joined the conversation, "You know this guy is responsible for all of these things, but you can't nail him."
"Tell me about it," Shaw empathized, "The only reason we've never been able to get him is because he's never done the dirty work before… now it seems like he's found something we can finally catch him in. He's been flying under the radar for so long, we've finally got a trace on him. How did you even get this guy's name in the first place, Beckett?"
"Anonymous and trustworthy source," Beckett replied.
"I'd want to remain anonymous too if I could survive knowing this guy," Shaw replied, shaking her head in disbelief. She turned back to her partner, "How's the info on Johnson coming, Avery?"
"I've gone all the way back to elementary school and it looks like this guy's clean," Avery said, "The worst thing he ever did was jaywalk."
"How does a guy like that get involved with King," Shaw remarked, "Cross reference everything you can about the two… see where they could've met up."
"Didn't we learn last time that they could've met up somewhere other than on the record?," Beckett made a point, "Dunn met with Ben Conrad at a bar randomly. For all we know, the same thing could've happened again."
"It's not like we can go to every bar in New York and across the country, showing a picture of both men and ask if they've seen them before," Shaw said, "Right now we'll just have to work with what we have."
"Castle seemed to think that the connection wasn't between King and our victim," Lanie finally spoke up.
"What did he think?," Shaw turned to the ME.
"While he and Kate were investigating the murder of his partner Charles Sullivan, Castle discovered that Mr. Sullivan was investigating another murder," Lanie told her.
"Another murder?," Shaw's interest was immediately piqued, "How many bodies has this guy been racking up? What murder?"
"My mother's," Kate took a step forward, "Our victim was looking into the ten-year old case of my mother's murder."
"A cold case?," Shaw didn't understand, "Why would he be investigating that?"
"Last year, we had another case involving the Westies," Beckett started to explain, "Jack Coonan was killed and we later discovered that his little brother Dick Coonan did the killing."
"Loving brother," Shaw commented.
Beckett continued her explanation, "Anyway, we also found out that Dick Coonan was the man that… killed my mother… and…"
Esposito saw Kate struggling to continue and acting as the big brother he saw himself as to her, he finished for her, "And we learned that he was just a hired hand. Apparently it was just a hit and before we could find out the name of the man who put the hit on her mother… Coonan drew a gun on Castle."
Ryan took over, "Castle butted Coonan in the nose with the back of his head and before he could shoot Castle, Kate shot Coonan… killing him."
"Castle seemed to be under the impression that our mystery man aka Nick King is really the untouchable man that ordered the hit on Kate's mother," Lanie finished the explanation.
"All the more reason to put this guy away," Shaw stated. She paused and walked up slowly to Kate, "And if he's interested in your mother's murder then we have to know all about it too… can you handle this?"
"If it means getting closure on my mother and bringing Castle home safely all at the same time," Beckett nodded, "I can handle anything."
"Good," Shaw gave her a small smile, "Then, I'm going to need everything you have on your mother's murder."
"I'll get the file," Esposito volunteered.
"We'll get him, Beckett," Shaw assured her, "Don't worry."
"I know," Beckett nodded, staying strong, "Nick King is going to finally get caught in the act and we'll be there to take him down."
"I wasn't talking about King, Kate," Shaw gave her a knowing glance as she followed Esposito to the file room. Kate bit her lip and looked up, fighting back tears. She could really use Castle's shoulder at the moment.
Castle's Loft
"Gram?," Alexis peeked her head around the corner to the entrance of her dad's office, "You in here?"
"Right here, darling," Martha was looking through an old album.
"What are you looking at?," Alexis came up from behind her.
"Just some old pictures," Martha looked up, "Is there any word on your father yet?"
"I just left the precinct," Alexis replied, "Detective Beckett said she'd let me know when they had more information, but right now all they can do is research the suspects before they can find him."
"He's going to be okay, you know that, right?," Martha lifted Alexis' chin up with her thumb and forefinger.
Alexis let out a shaky breath, "The last thing he said to me before we hung up yesterday was 'Love you'… he needs to be okay."
"He will," Martha replied, "Kate and her team are doing everything they can."
"I know, Gram. It's just that he promised me that nothing would happen to him and now…," Alexis left the thought trail off.
"Oh, honey," Martha wrapped Alexis in a hug, "He didn't know this was going to happen. With everyone on the case, Richard will be home safe and sound sooner than you think."
"Yeah," Alexis sniffled into her grandmother's blouse, "They even brought the FBI into the case."
"See?," Martha pulled her out of the hug, "We have nothing to worry about."
Alexis nodded, letting a small smile poke through the tears. She let her eyes drift to the old album Martha was looking at and one particular photograph caught her interest, "Gram?"
"Yes, sweetie?," Martha was oblivious to her granddaughter's next statement.
"That man," Alexis took the picture out of the album, "He looks like the man from the sketch that has dad."
"Sit down, sweetheart," Martha braced herself for her confession once again. There was no point in keeping it from her any longer.
Unknown Location
Castle just finished telling Nick King everything he knew about Coonan killing Kate's mother down to the rectangular bruising the knife left on her body. Though, he left out what he knew about somebody ordering a hit on her, "And that's all I know."
"Do you really expect me to believe that you don't know about me?," King cocked his head to the side. Castle tried his best to keep his face expressionless, but Nick caught the fear in his eyes, "Ah, I see I'm right."
Rick sighed and closed his eyes. There was no going back now, "Why did you order a hit on Johanna Beckett?"
Nick let out a throaty laugh, "I see the author really does have an incredible insight into the criminal mind. It was nothing personal, she was just something that had to be taken care of."
Castle didn't even let it faze him that King knew that he knew the truth and most likely he wouldn't get out of this predicament alive, so he decided to go for broke and let everything out, "Taken care of? She had a family, a life, and you just took it away without a second thought!"
"Brave words there, Richard," Nick replied. His tone of voice implied that Castle was skating on extremely thin ice.
"What happened, Nick?," Castle cocked his head to the side, letting out all his anger, "Did she get too close to exposing you? Exposing your little crime organization?"
"Something like that," Nick remained emotionless.
"How would you feel if somebody took your mother away? Your daughter? Or your son?," Castle started getting emotional, tears threatening to fall, thoughts of Kate running rampant through his mind, "How would you feel if somebody you loved that much was taken away from you? If someone that close to you was going through the pain?"
"You're in love with her, aren't you?," King knew.
"What?," Castle was caught off-guard.
"You're in love with her daughter, right?," King looked smug, sitting back in the chair, and got closer to Rick, "You're in love with Johanna Beckett's daughter."
"You leave her out of this," Castle grew protective over her.
"Uh-oh, Ricky," Nick said sarcastically. He stood up and walked over to the single table in the room. Ripping a piece of duct tape, he put it over Castle's mouth, "Did I hit a nerve?"
All Castle did was give him a death glare. If looks could kill, Nick King would be on the ground dying in agony. As Nick walked towards the exit, he said something Rick couldn't believe, "You know, I don't always get my way… if I did, Kate Beckett would've been dead a year ago."
Castle's Loft
"You used to know this guy?," Alexis asked as she sat on the edge of her dad's desk. Martha was sitting in Castle's chair, looking up at her granddaughter.
"You could say that," Martha replied.
"Are you the anonymous source Beckett got his name from?," Alexis figured it out.
"Yes," Martha nodded, "I knew him years and years ago, long before he turned into what he is today."
"What happened to him?," Alexis sat at the edge of the desk.
"To make a long story short, he fell into the wrong sort of crowd and it corrupted him – committing the unspeakable," Martha replied.
"How did you know him? Do you think you might be able to figure out where he could've taken Dad?," Alexis got hopeful.
"I don't think I'd be of any help, Alexis," Martha said, "He's been out of my life for a long time. It took me everything to leave."
"What do you mean it took you everything to leave?," Alexis furrowed her brows, "Were you two together?"
"Yes," Martha nodded, her voice soft.
Alexis looked to the picture at the young Nick King and her grandmother. It took her a moment, but she managed to put two and two together to get, "Is he… is he my grandfather?"
Martha's look said it all. Alexis couldn't believe it, "Does Dad know?"
"No," Martha shook her head, "You and Kate are the only two who know."
"You've gotta tell Dad," Alexis echoed Kate's words from earlier, "especially if he's got him."
Martha let out a long sigh, contemplating what to do, "I will… once he's settled at home back with us."
Unknown Location
Castle sat in isolation, bound to a chair in the center of a dim and musky room with a new added feature – he had duct tape over his mouth. He tried to loosen the ropes around his wrists, but all it got him was some rope burn. Trying to figure a way out, he noticed that the table had a sharp edge where some wood had splintered off of it. Beneath the tape, he managed a small smile and decided to hop over to it.
Thankfully the chair wasn't bolted to the floor, so he was able to move it, "Come on, Castle, you can make it. Something tells me if I stay here much longer, Nick is going to kill me. I want to know more of why he ordered the hit on Kate's mother, but I won't do much good if I'm dead."
He made a couple of more hops successfully, silently hoping that the noise he was making wouldn't attract any attention, "One more should do it. Come on, Rick, just one more – just a little farther."
Rick let out a breath through his nose and made one more hop. He failed to notice a divot in the floor. One of the legs of the chair landed directly on it, knocking his balance totally off, and once again, Castle found himself tipping head first into the table. Unlike the last time, the table wasn't as sturdy and it broke in half with a loud crash, knocking the author unconscious. A small line of blood ran down Castle's forehead from his newly formed gash.
TBC
Oh, Castle... See? Now that wasn't too evil of a cliffhanger, was it? :P For those of you who didn't see the author's note up top, I'll reiterate it down here. I made a mistake when splitting this story up into chapters. It's only a prologue, 14 chapters, and an epilogue. I'm sorry for the miscommunication. I was a little tired when I split them up. That means there's 5 chapters and an epilogue left! I hope you all are stil enjoying this story and I hope I've maintained the flow of an episode. ;) Please reply/comment/review and tell me what you think! I love to read them all. :)
Thanks to those of you who are just reading. I appreciate you too! :D
Clois and Caskett Forever! :D