As the sun rose and dawn cracked over New York, so did the elevator doors to the 12th precint. Inside stood Kate, coffee in hand. As she stepped off the elevator she felt like she was in the twilight-zone. Usually the first to the office, today it seemed she was the last. As Kate walked in quiet confusing, Ryan spotted her and jogged to meet her. "Hey Beckett, how about we go to the lounge and grab some coffee?"
Ryan grasped her elbow and pulled her behind him in to the lounge, where he immediately drew the blinds, hiding the murder board from Kate. "Uhhh Ryan? I'm all set." She said with a mocking smile, raising her cup to her lips.
"It's for me Sherlock" the words quivered from Ryan's lips, and his hands shook as he attempted to make himself another latte. Kate didn't need a detective's intuition to tell something was off.
"Let me do that" Kate took the coffee pot out of his hands and began making a cup of coffee for him. "What's going on here Ryan? You look like you haven't slept, and weren't you wearing those clothes yesterday?" Kate had finished pouring his coffee and took the seat across from him at the table.
"That's because I did, and I haven't. Look, Kate, we didn't want to call you until we knew more, or could confirm, but something seriously weird is going on here" Beckett chuckled at the obvious nature of the statement Ryan had made.
"I should call Castle, weird is his thing." Kate plunged her hand inside of her purse, trying to retrieve her phone to call her someday husband, but was stopped. Ryan placed his hand over Kate's.
"Yeah, it's weird, but you can't call Castle yet."
"Seriously, Ryan, you're starting to creep me out. What's up?"
Ryan wasted no time, and dove into explanation. "OK, well it started last night a little before one. I was packing up, and I was almost out the door, that's when Javi's extension starts ringing. He was off getting a cup of joe so I answered it. The guy on the other end of the line tells me that a motel room on the New York Connecticut boarder needs to be secured and swept by a CSU team, and that he has a present for us. It was cryptic, but he sounded dead serious. That's when Espo and I both got these text messages." Ryan retrieved his phone and handed it to Kate. She scrolled through the messages, lips moving with the words but making no sound, when she reached the picture she squinted; then looked up and handed Ryan his phone back.
"There's no way. He's dead."
"I know, Castle emptied a clip into the guy's chest, but we never found the body. And that's him; I'd recognize those crazy eyes anywhere." The words left his lips carefully, and in a comforting tone, as if the words themselves knew of Kate and Tyson's past collisions. Kate started to wrap her mind around the possibility Tyson was still alive, but was interrupted by Esposito barging into the lounge.
"That was the team in Connecticut. They're almost done with their sweep. They confirm signs of a struggle, and said there was a lot of stuff that they didn't know what to make of; pictures and report should be here any second." The three detectives made their way to their respective desks. Kate took notice of the empty chair aside hers, and for a moment was amazed at how often Castle was right, even when it didn't make sense; and then she smiled and chuckled, she could see the words "I told you so" coming in her near future. Kate stuck her fingertips into her hair, teasing and then sweeping it back; a sort of secondary wake up call. "Ok, so what do we know so far?" Esposito jumped in while Ryan gulped down the caffeinated tar in his cup.
"Not much, call to my desk came from the motel, texts and pics were sent from a burner, but as far as tech can tell, the pics are legit; time stamp and everything."
"Did we track the cell?"
"Can't" Said Esposito in frustration, "the phones GPS isn't active"
"So it's either off or been destroyed …" Beckett trailed off, trying to make sense of what little they knew so far, when Esposito's computer chimed. Detective Javier Esposito thumped his desk with his fist.
"Damnit, it's our guy. It's Tyson." He spun his monitor around so that Beckett and Ryan could see what he had. The crime scene photos that the Connecticut police had taken were on the screen; and were all too familiar. Next to the bed, pinned to the wall were dozens of documents and photos. Schedules, maps, notes, address'; it was Tyson's prep material. Also a broken wooden chair and a cut zip tie lay between the bed and the door.