A/N - Hey everyone! Thanks for the comments and follows and favs. 3 TorontoSun, hfce & Mouserocks-Nerd. I hope all my American followers had a wonderful Thanksgiving and for all the rest-that your week was wonderful as well, turkey notwithstanding. I hope you are satisfied with the progress of the story. As I get deeper and deeper into this, I'm finding that the procedural needs a lot of detail, doubling back and reiteration. Stick with me. It will be worth it. Cheers! :-)

The Castle Wall

Chapter 12

Implications

New York City was experiencing a beautiful autumn day. The air was crisp and clean. The city was ablaze with color, both on the trees, which stubbornly refused to relinquish their leaves and the free brittle brown leaves that swirled in the gutters and streets. The sky was a deep azure blue with the occasional white puff of a cloud drifting by on the constant breeze. A perfect Sunday afternoon for being out, walking, enjoying the city.

Patricia Stoddard breathed deeply as she made her way down 156th Street, enjoying her stroll back to her apartment from the market. She turned the corner, humming a tune and nearly ran into a crowd of people who had gathered on her street. She stopped to try to see what kind of commotion was happening now and caught a glimpse of a police cruiser parked down the block. She rolled her eyes; police activity was not unheard of in her neighborhood. There were always drug busts or the vice squad would crack down. It was hardly an occasion to gawk. She made her way deeper into the crowd to get a better look at the activity. She broke through the throng carrying her grocery bags to the barriers, which had been erected around the police perimeter. There were more cruisers than they normally sent out for a typical drug bust and she could see plain, unmarked cars as well. Her heart froze as she realized that the epicenter of the activity was her building. She wondered who the sicko was that had been sharing a building with her.

She assessed the hooker on her left and then the workman on her right. He was wearing a Con-Ed uniform. He seemed to be the better candidate for information. "Do you know what's going on?" She asked him in her most neighborly voice.

"Nah, just a whole bunch of cops went into that building about twenty minutes ago and haven't come out yet."

"Not a drug bust?"

"No lady, jeez, I got no idea, okay?" Ah, New Yorkers, she thought as she turned to the hooker.

"Do you know?"

"Nope honey," she answered as she smacked her gum, "just that there were detectives and cops. I was standing across the street in front of Mike's Bar over there," she pointed out the local hangout, "and they pulled up, quiet, no sirens, or lights. Really scared the shit out of me." She clasped her hand over her heart for effect and continued, "They opened the front door and some of 'em went around back. I think they're looking for someone, not just a random bust." Patricia considered her words. She stood for a few minutes, trying to decide what to do. She could not get into her apartment with her groceries. Damn police, she thought, always in the friggin' way. She had decided to walk back to Martino's Grocery; maybe Joe would let her keep her bags in the walk-in there. Movement at the front door caused her to stop and stare. The detective was coming out of her building. She was barking orders, as usual, to the cops. God, Patricia hated her. Why was she all the way up here? Oh, my God, she thought, if she was here, was Richard? She craned her neck to see if she could get a better view of the front door. Her heart was racing. If he was here, she was not prepared for him, she was just out getting groceries, not dressed or made-up, and she never went to see him looking like this. She kept staring at the door. Maybe he wasn't with her. Maybe he had finally understood that he did not need to be with her. She had just finished convincing herself that he wasn't at the scene, when she saw him. Her eyes were riveted to him. What was wrong? He looked pale and unsteady. This was not her strong confident writer. He kept his head down and there was sadness in his eyes. What had the detective done to him? He made his way over to one of the unmarked cars and got in the front passenger seat. She could see him clearly. He looked down for a moment and then held his cell phone to his ear, absently looking around at the crowd as he spoke. His gaze swept past her, but then stopped, he said something and stood up out of the car. He looked directly at her. Her heart skipped a beat. He called to a cop and pointed in her direction. Patricia panicked. He would not see her like this. She turned and melted into the multitude of gawkers.

"Beckett." Ryan's voice reached through the cacophony of color on the walls. He was standing by a door. It appeared to be the closet, but the door was locked with three deadbolts.

"Who puts deadbolts on a closet?" Espo asked.

"Someone who wants to hide something," Kate supplied.

"Let's find out," Ryan said as he stepped closer. He had called out to a uni for the bolt cutters. They let the cop do his job and then he and Espo removed the destroyed locks from the door. Beckett and Espo held their side arms up and ready at the door as Ryan opened it. The door swung out and temporarily blocked Castle's view of the interior.

Kate was first through. It was dark. There was a dark computer monitor on a small table, shelving, and boxes. There were things on the walls. In the light from her flashlight, Kate could see it was pictures, framed and unframed pictures of Castle. Her heart dropped into her stomach. As much as she wanted to solve this, she also was keeping a small hope alive that they would not find this; evidence of a warped mind, targeting Castle. She sighed and reached for the string attached to the light bulb hanging from the ceiling. "Clear," she called. Espo came in next, whistled, and said, "Holy crap."

"What is it?" Castle called from the bedroom. "Kate?"

"Castle just stay out there." She knew she couldn't protect him from this indefinitely, but she needed a minute to digest what he was seeing for herself.

Ryan picked up on her tone, as did Castle and the two men exchanged a look that said that they agreed to wait. A full minute passed. An eternity for Castle. "Beckett, my imagination is probably ten times worse than whatever is in there. You're killing me."

Kate emerged, took a breath, her eyes conveyed her trepidation and uneasiness to Castle. He started toward the door; she put her hand on his forearm. "Come on, it can't be that bad." He tried to lighten the mood, as he always did.

"Just," she began, "just know that we will get her." He nodded and entered the closet. She turned to Ryan, "Where are we with CSU?"

"On their way. Beckett, what if she comes home? There's a crowd outside now."

"Make sure the perimeter unis have the sketch. Let's do a canvass of the area. I want to know everything about Patricia Stoddard; where she works, who her friends are, what bar she goes to, where she gets her groceries, the works."

Ryan, curious now, asked, "What's in there?" Hooking his thumb at the closet.

"It's like a Castle museum. There are pictures, multiple copies of his books, there's a computer, you'll have to see it for yourself to get the full impact, speaking of which, I need to get back in there with him." She pointed at Rick in the doorway. "Get going."

"On it," Ryan said as he walked out of the bedroom.

Rick stepped over the threshold of the closet and Espo stopped him by putting a hand on his forearm. "Bro, are you sure you want to see this?"

He gave his friend a comforting smile. "Can't defend against it if I can't see it. I'll be fine. Remember? I see all kinds of crazy in my fan mail all the time." He stepped past Espo, giving him a reassuring squeeze on his shoulder. Esposito stood to the side. Castle stopped just inside the doorway to take in the whole picture. The closet interior was a rectangle about ten feet deep and eight feet wide. Not a bad size for a walk-in, Rick thought. The door was adjacent to the right hand wall and the rest of the interior opened to the left. On the wall directly to the left of the doorway was metal shelving, the kind you might purchase from a Lowe's or Home Depot for a garage or workshop. The shelves were lined with his books: paperbacks and hardcover editions, multiple copies of each. He estimated there to be around a hundred individual books, all arranged, it appeared, by release date. The far end of the closet held what looked to be a worktable. There were pictures, newspapers, and magazines stacked in piles, scissors, and a paper cutter with an impressive and menacingly sharp cutting edge. A magnifying light was clipped to the edge of the table. There were four stacking in and out boxes in the upper right hand corner of the table, each one had a different label: Richard, With Martha, With Alexis, With Others. Rick suppressed a cold shiver. He decided not to disturb the photos in the boxes yet and continued with the overall assessment. On the wall opposite the doorway was a smaller table holding a computer monitor, he noted that the computer was under the table. He stared at the gray screen for a moment. There was a label plastered to the middle of the top of the monitor case, it read 'Hallway'. He took a deep breath, ran his gloved hand through his hair, and continued. There were shelves over the computer table attached to the wall. They held DVD cases. He snatched one down at random and opened it. It had a label affixed to the cover, perfectly aligned in the center. It read 'October, 2012. He put it back in its place.

He turned to his right. The wall from the doorway to the back right hand corner of the closet was completely covered from floor to ceiling with a discordant array of pictures, notes, articles, letters and various other items. Rick saw there was even a bag with hair, labeled last week. It occurred to him that that was the last time he got his haircut. He took a shuddered breath. He explored the wall some more. She had every part of his life on the wall. There were receipts and even dry cleaning tickets. He noted that she had numerous autographed pictures from several different years: one from college, right after In a Hail of Bullets was published. Next to it was the stuffy one he hated that Gina made him take to 'update and make him appear classier', then there was the one he had taken to replace the 'classy one', it was his cover shot for Storm Fall. The last was the current cover shot from the Nikki Heat series. He was looking at the section labeled "Candid" when Beckett returned. He looked over at her. "Hey."

"How are you doing?"

"Well, it could be worse; she could have kept my toenail clippings." He quipped, but she saw through it.

"I don't think any good can come of you looking too closely at this." She reached for his hand, but he pulled away.

"Kate, I need to know how bad this is. I need to find out if Alexis or my mother are in any kind of danger." He stopped and looked at her. "Alexis…I need to get them protection."

"Already, done," she interrupted. I called the captain, she put a detail on both of them, and she ordered a cruiser to remain outside of the loft, as well."

"Okay, thanks." He gestured toward the wall, "Did you look at this? She must have been collecting stuff for a long time. The things that are on here is mind-boggling. Why would anyone want the inserts for my shoes?"

"She's totally obsessed with you and your life, Castle." She watched him carefully.

"I mean there's junk on here from twenty years ago, from college. Crap, here's an exam from sociology; hey, I aced it." He smiled at her. "Kate, you can stop waiting for me to break down, it's not…" he stopped talking. She looked at him and then over to what had caught his interest. It was a small pink and purple backpack nailed to the wall. It was open and he was removing a piece of paper. Kate came closer to stand to his right. She looked at his face; his color drained and his breathing was ragged. She watched his Adam's apple bob in his throat as he swallowed. She looked back to the paper; it was newsprint paper. It was a child's artwork. It had a sun in the corner, a bright blue sky, not unlike the sky today. A rainbow over a grassy area with flowers of various colors and two vaguely human shaped stick figures, one tall enough to brush the bottom of rainbow with his dark brown hair, bright blue eyes and red smiling lips, the other not much taller than the flowers with bright orange hair, the same blue eyes and red smile. It was entitled 'Me and Dad'. The artist's signature was in the corner, it read, 'Alexis' in a childlike scrawl.

Kate could see the implications of finding this, here, weighing down on her partner. "C'mon, Castle, that's enough." He did not argue with her. She led him to a chair in the bedroom and he sat. Espo shot her a questioning look and she shook her head.

He sat in her bedroom, his thoughts racing. He had to do something. Anything. It had to be productive. Alexis. Oh my God, how long had she been in danger? How did he miss this intrusion into their lives? How could he have been so cavalier? It was always a joke, the crazies, the letters, the wanna bees and the fans who would creepily stare. It was all a part of it. It never mattered. How long had she been watching them? Had he ever noticed and carelessly dismissed any concern? He thought he had taken the proper steps to protect her. He kept her out of the public's eye. He sent her to private school. What the hell happened? How did this psycho get Alexis' backpack from kindergarten? He remembered comforting her when she lost it. It was just before school let out for the summer and she said her Father's day gift was in it. She was heartbroken when they couldn't find it. It was a whole weekend of searching, ice cream, and coloring for consolation. He stood back up and walked toward the closet. Espo and Beckett were in there going over the wall. Esposito looked like he had eaten something sour and Kate was shaken. She was looking at a picture of the two of them in the park, yesterday. Castle walked back in and over to the bookshelves. He looked for any copies of Heat Rises. There were two hard cover copies and a paperback. He picked up one of the hard backed books. He opened the cover and first page and read the signature, To Patty, Thanks for waiting. ~ Richard Castle. He picked up the other copy, opened to the same page; it was where he always signed his books if he opened them, otherwise, he signed the cover. He read, 'To Kate, Hang in there. With perseverance, you will get whatever you set your heart on. ~ Rick Castle'. His heart skipped a couple of beats.

"I remember her." He looked up at Kate and Esposito. "Kate, she was there yesterday." He held out the book. "I remember this conversation." He closed his eyes to help him picture it. "She was pale. I asked her if she was okay and she said she was fine, but was working on something that she needed to finish. She said that there was always something getting in the way." He opened his eyes and focused on Kate. "She told me that her name was Kate."

"That's enough." There was no mistaking the authority in her tone. "We'll be outside, Espo. Wait for CSU and I want to see that video footage as soon as they're done."

"You got it, boss." To Castle he added, "Don't sweat it bro, we got this." Espo held up his fist to his friend and Castle bumped it with his own.

"Thanks," he answered, "I know, I just can't believe it's been going on so long."

Kate left the bedroom and Castle followed. When she got to the hall, she paused to wait for him. He came out a couple of minutes later. He had realized he was still holding Alexis' drawing from fourteen years ago and he had returned it to the backpack. It was all evidence now. He caught up with her in the hallway. They descended the stairs in silence. Kate stole a glance at him when they reached the landing; he was studying his feet. They walked down the final flight of stairs and she bumped her shoulder into his. He raised his head and smiled at her. "It's okay, Kate. I'll be okay. There's just so much to take in."

"It's a matter of cataloging everything and time now, Castle. There's no way she will escape."

"What if she's been back already and seen the activity?"

"Hey," she spun around to face him, "We will do what ever is necessary to get her put away. You can count on it. C'mon." She headed toward the outside door. "You coming?"

"Yeah, just give me a minute."

She tenderly looked at him, "Okay," that was what she said, but she desperately wanted to make sure he understood that she would take this nutcase down. That he didn't have to worry. She turned back to the door and exited. He heard her giving orders to waiting unis. He collected himself. God only knew who could be out there; reporters, fans, other psychos. He took a steadying deep breath and headed out.

To his surprise and great relief, no one was waiting. They had not gotten wind of the contents of the apartment yet. Good, he thought. He walked to Beckett's cruiser and sat in his seat. He thought for a moment and took out his phone. He dialed Gina. She was released from the hospital this morning and he wanted to make sure she was home safe. He absent-mindedly looked at the crowd, once again wondering why these people were here. They had no idea about what was really happening. Every time he came to a crime scene, there were onlookers. Didn't these people have lives, jobs, families? It confounded him, everytime. Gina answered, "Rick, hi."

"Hey, Gina. I was just calling to check…oh shit…it's her, oh my God, it's her!"

"Rick?...Rick?" She heard him speaking, but not to her. "Jeff?" He motioned for the officer on the sidewalk to join him at the car. "See that woman? She's wanted in this case." He pointed directly at a face in the crowd. He looked at Jeff to make sure he had eyes on her and when he looked back, she had gone. "Dammit," he swore.

"Rick? Richard!" Castle remembered Gina on the phone and picked it up in time to hear, "Richard Edgar Castle," screamed at the top of Gina's lungs.

"Whoa, Gina, I'm back. Sorry, I saw the suspect in our case in the crowd." He was still searching the faces for another glimpse. "I…I'm just calling to see how you're feeling," he waited for her answer.

"I'm sore, I'm mad as hell, but I'm fine."

"Do you need anything?"

"No Rick, honestly, I'm just banged up. It could have been so much worse."

"Is anyone there with you?"

"I don't think that's any of your…"

He cut her off, "Gina, I'm concerned for your safety, not your love life. Now, is anyone there?"

She relented, "Yes. Jonathan is here." Rick raised his eyebrows. She hadn't mentioned any new boyfriend to him.

"Good. You should also know that the ninth precinct has a black and white out front of your building."

"Richard, what is this all about?"

He sighed and shook his head. "Gina, I can't talk about the specifics, but it looks like you were attacked on Friday because you were with me. Some psycho snapped and is…look I just need you to be careful and aware of the people around you."

"Rick, am I in danger?" He could hear the panic rising to the surface in her voice.

"No…I don't think she'll come after you again. Just keep, uh, what was his name?"

"Jonathan."

"Yeah, Jonathan, just keep him close," he closed his eyes and screwed up his face, "I mean keep him with you, oh God, you know what I mean."

She did, but enjoyed hearing him get flustered at his own unintentional innuendo. "I do, thanks, and Rick?"

"Mmhm."

"You be careful, too."

"You bet, take care Gina." He hung up the phone just as Beckett got in the car. He turned to her, "Kate, she was here."

"Who?"

"Patricia. I saw her in the crowd. I think she saw me, because after I pointed her out, she just vanished. Jeff Thompson and a crew of guys are canvassing."

"I saw the activity. Are you sure it was her, Castle? There are a lot of people to just pick one out."

"Kate, did you ever get the feeling that someone was staring at you?" She nodded. "I just did, I scanned the crowd, and my eyes found her. I didn't believe it at first either, but then, like I said, she was gone."

"Okay, Castle. She could not have gotten far. Let's get back to the precinct. I want to go over those videos as soon as CSU is done with them. I also want to find any other letters, either from Patricia or similar to the other one. The one you received this morning."

"Right." He was dialing his phone as she was speaking. "Hi Pumpkin. How's the visit with Brooke? Good. I need to tell you something."