Chapter 11

I am no expert on how serious obsessions work, but i tried to make it sound realistic :)

Kate Beckett strode into the precinct with a determined look on her face. She was scared but she couldn't let it show. "Ryan, Esposito. Did you get surveillance on her place?"

"There are two officers in an unmarked car sitting outside now." He stopped as his phone rang. "Speak of the devil." He said and answered it.

Just then the captain poked his head out of his office and looked at Kate and Rick. "Can I talk to the two of you for a minute?" They went into his office and shut the door behind them. "Beckett I want to let you know I'm putting a detail on your building. I don't plan on letting that lady anywhere near you."

Beckett looked at Castle and he nodded. "Actually sir, I'm staying at Castle's place for the time being."

"Ok then Castle I'm putting someone at your building. I'm not taking any chances with this. Now where do we stand on bringing her in?"

"Well sir," Beckett said taking a step forward. "We have two officers keeping an eye on her, Esposito was just on the phone with them. We were just waiting for me and Castle to get here before going to pick her up. This letter was a direct threat and she had a picture so we can add stalking charges to that."

"Well then what are you waiting for?" the captain said.

Castle and Beckett nodded and went back out to see what the phone call had been about. "Everything all set to go pick her up Esposito?" she asked.

"She's on the move. Apparently she just pulled up to a Chuck E Cheese and went inside. She hasn't come out yet."

"She doesn't have any kids, what the heck is she doing at Chuck E Cheese?" Ryan asked

Castle finally spoke up. He turned to Beckett and said "Please tell me we get to go find out. I love Chuck E Cheese. They have the best pizza."

She rolled her eyes and started walking. "C'mon boys, and Castle? Don't make me handcuff you to the car again."

Ten minutes later the two cars carrying Ryan, Esposito, Castle and Beckett pulled up in front of the building. Another squad car pulled up in front of the back exit. They got out and went up to the unmarked car that held the two officers that had been watching Ms. Lincoln. "She still in there?" the men said they hadn't seen her come out and the four partners headed off in the direction of the entrance. Beckett turned toward Ryan and Esposito "spread out, but don't draw unless she gives you reason, we don't want a scene if we don't need one." They nodded and turned in separate directions.

Beckett then turned to Castle. "Can you control yourself in there and actually help out or is this going to be a problem?"

"I would like to tell you that I can act my age, but you know me better than that. Also I have a pocket full of quarters to play whack-a-mole."

"Castle" she said through gritted teeth.

"Relax detective, I was kidding. If I see this woman I'm not going to let her get away."

Kate looked at him for a moment then nodded. She turned and surveyed the area. "Great, it looks like there are three birthday parties going on here." She said as she noted the dozens of kids running around and groups of parents sitting around the edges. Ryan and Esposito were off to the left showing Kaylee's picture to some of the adults. Her and Castle set off to the right to do the same thing. After asking what seemed like a dozen people they finally got someone who claimed they saw her.

"Yeah it was definitely her." The older man said. "I was just sitting down after bringing my niece in and she was over by where you turn in your tickets."

"Was she talking to anyone?" Castle asked.

The man nodded. "She was talking to whoever was in the big mouse suit."

"Thank you" Kate said. She handed the man her card. "If you think of anything else please give me a call." They headed off to try and find someone in a giant mouse suit. She looked over at Castle and had to stifle a laugh when she saw his expression. He was standing there turning in circles looking at everything with a huge grin on his face. She snapped her fingers and he turned back to her "C'mon Castle, keep up."

He gave her a pleading expression. "One game?"

She rolled her eyes but nodded. "One. Got it?" he nodded and she continued "Ok, I'll be over at the front desk trying to find the manager and find out who was in the costume." He nodded and dashed off for one of the machines with lots of flashing lights and noises. She allowed herself a chuckle as she headed for the front desk.

When she finally got a hold of the manager she showed him her badge. "I'm detective Kate Beckett. Do you know this woman?" she showed him the picture.

He shook his head. "No, she's not one of my employees and I don't recognize her at all. Can I ask what's going on?"

"It's very important that we find this woman. She was seen here earlier talking to one of your employees in the mouse costume. Can you tell me the names of everyone who wore that suit today?"

He nodded and gave her three names. She wrote them down along with their contact information and went to find Ryan and Esposito. Once she found them she read off the three names. "We have a James Simmons, Linda Ester, and Brian Adams. I want to bring them all into the station for questioning but Brian was the last one in the suit so let's start with him. Nobody else could have had time to put it on before we got here. I'll meet you back at the precinct."

She found Castle playing the basketball shooting game with a bunch of little kids standing around him cheering. She looked over and saw Ryan and Esposito cuffing the suspect and decided she could wait until he was finished with his game. Once he was finished he turned around and saw her watching him. He smiled at her and walked over to where she was standing. "Find anything out?" he asked

She nodded and started walking back to the car. "There were three people in the suit today. The only one that would have been able to be the one talking to her was a guy by the name of Brian Adams. He is being brought to the station now." She turned the car on and pulled out.

"Then where are we going?"

"I don't know about you but after all this excitement I could use a large cup of coffee."

He smiled and reached over to take her hand. She blushed and tried to focus on the road as his thumb traced soothing circles on the back of her hand.

After their quick coffee break they went back to the precinct. She went into the observation room to stand and watch Brian for a minute while Ryan brought up his file and got her a copy. Castle stood in the doorway watching her. He was always amazed at how she handled things, even situations like this that hit so close to home. She was watching the man behind the glass closely. She turned to leave and noticed Castle. He took a step inside and closed the door. "I know we're at work and this is breaking one of your rules but…" he walked up and took her in his arms. "I wish I could go in there with you."

She let herself lean into him and take a few deep breaths. She could pretend she wasn't nervous about going in there but it would be a lie. "Esposito is going to come in with me again, don't worry."

He let go of her and smiled. "Thanks." He leaned down and pressed a quick kiss on her forehead.

Just then Ryan came in and handed her the file. "Nothing unusual. Couple of speeding tickets and a drug charge five years back but he's been clean since then."

She skimmed the rest of the file and nodded before rounding up Esposito and heading into the interrogation room. Brian looked up as she entered. "So you're the detective she was talking about." He said.

"Who's she?" Esposito asked.

"Kaylee Lincoln"

"How well do you know Ms. Lincoln?" Beckett asked Adams as she sat down.

He leaned forward. "I've known her five years or so. Met her right after I got out of rehab. I'd say we're pretty good friends. Used to have some…benefits too if you know what I mean, but not since she got hooked on that writer."

Esposito shot Beckett a glance and asked the man "Did you know about Ms. Lincolns' obsession with the author?"

Brian chuckled a bit "It was kind of hard to miss. It didn't start out crazy, but she had a tendency to obsess over things. There was always something she was going on about. This started out normal enough. She picked up one of his books in the store and loved it. She even convinced me to read it. It wasn't half bad either. I don't remember which one it was though.."

"Are you going to make a point Mr. Adams?" Beckett asked.

"Yeah, she wasn't all crazy when I met her, like I said. But then she read this book, and loved it, so she went out and read all the other ones. Then it started getting weird. She would say she saw him in the store, or heard him on the radio. This was worse than her other obsessions. Finally she started saying that she was going to marry him someday. That's when we stopped spending so much time together. She told me she couldn't be with me anymore because she didn't want to upset him."

Esposito and Beckett looked at each other. "When was the last time you saw Kaylee?" Esposito asked.

Brian hesitated for just a fraction of a second before saying "oh I don't know, last week sometime I think."

Beckett noticed the slight hesitation and jumped on it. "You think? I need you to know. When was the last time you saw her?" she looked him in the eye and watched him closely.

"Last week."

Beckett smiled a little bit. "Then why is it your manager said you were the one in the Chuck E Cheese suit talking to her today?"

"That wasn't me!" Brian said, starting to get nervous.

"Brian, he told us you were the last one in the suit. Nobody else would have had time to put it on before we got there. Now I'm going to give you one more chance to tell me the truth before you get in a lot of trouble."

"She likes getting people in trouble" Esposito chimed in with a grin. "So you had better do as she asks."

Brian looked back and forth for a second, unsure of what to do. Beckett stood up to leave and he made up his mind. "Ok, ok, I did see her today. She came in and I was wearing the costume." Beckett sat back down and he kept going. "She told me she was in trouble. Said she knew she had been acting odd lately but missed me and needed my help. She didn't tell me what was going on. She asked if she could borrow my car and I gave her the keys. I don't know where she took it."

"You just gave her your keys without asking questions?" Esposito asked skeptically.

"Oh I asked, she said she would find me when I got off work and tell me what was going on. I assumed she wasn't going too far if she was going to come and find me."

Beckett took a deep breath and stood up. "See, telling the truth wasn't so hard was it? Now instead of getting in a lot of trouble you're only in a little bit." Her and Esposito got up and left him sitting by himself in the cold room. Castle met them at the murder board. She added a couple of things to the timeline then turned around and faced the three men that were watching her intently. "Guys, we need to find that car. Ryan, I want all patrol cars alerted to the make and model and keeping an eye out. Esposito, send out an APB to all the other stations in the state, it might be a bit much but just in case. After you guys get that done you can go home. It's starting to get dark so I doubt we will find anything tonight."

"And what about you detective?" Castle asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm going to stay here a bit longer and…"

"No way Beckett." Esposito said. "if you send us home first you will end up staying here until you fall asleep."

"I will not."

"Yeah Beckett, we know you've done it before." Ryan said with a smile. "Besides, the past couple of days have been hard I'm sure, you need to get some rest."

She looked at Castle then at Ryan and Esposito. "You guys aren't leaving until I do are you?" all three of them shook their heads and she sighed, knowing she was defeated. "Ok, you guys get that stuff sent out and then you can leave." She put her coat on and turned to the writer. "Castle, let's go home."