'You're in better spirits today.'
'I'm telling you X-box, Mere's cooking and a decent night's sleep does a body good, bro.'
Ryan smirked as he followed Esposito out of the break-room, lattes in hand. He'd seen Esposito kiss his girlfriend through the curtains of her office the day before; judging how steamy even that was, he had a good idea of why Esposito was somewhat somewhat relaxed and totally focused on Friday morning and it wasn't Meredeth's cooking. 'How's she handling this?'
'Pretty calmly, but I'm just counting the days until it triggers one of her night terrors.'
They stopped at the murder board where they saw Beckett switching out the unknown assailant with a mug shot and began writing his information underneath. Ryan stopped by the board while Esposito continued over to his desk. 'What did you find, Beckett?'
'CSU pulled some saliva from one of the bottles found on scene, and this guy popped out when they ran it.'
'Shawn Raines?'
'Lab flunky at a pharmaceutical company in Hoboken, he was arrested for drug trafficking in 98 when he was twenty-six, claimed he was simply taking supplies to the testing facility at NYU but since he had no papers or anything, he was hauled in and convicted on four counts possession of controlled substances, trafficking amongst others. He lost his life savings on his legal fees along with his accreditation, his job, his fiance and did fourteen months of a three year stint at Sing Sing.'
'Well, when it Raines, it pours,' Ryan said with a grin, making Beckett roll her eyes.
'I'd thought with Castle party-planning for tomorrow night we'd be saved the bad puns, Detective. Raines also has an unsealed juvie record thanks to a judge who opposes the Young Offenders' Act. Our suspect was expelled in eighth grade for stealing science class supplies, and he spent sixteen months in a juvenile detention center where he volunteered in the dispensary as a way to show his rehabilitation was working. He went trained in applied chemistry, got the job working for the Hoboken firm when he was still in college.'
'A pharmacist would know how to mix all kinds of witches' brews, and a guy with a taste for breaking the rules probably wouldn't see it as much of a leap to go from mixing poisons to using them.'
While Ryan and Beckett debated theories, Esposito looked through the CSU report Beckett had left on his desk. He was set to copy into his own notes when his cell peep-peeped Meredeth's ring tone. He pushed the button to read the text and fought to keep his teeth from grinding.
Went into the office to work with Kristof on storyboards, having a working research lunch with Stuart Porse in IT in ten. Text me if you need anything. xx M.
He immediately hit reply - Don't leave the building without telling me. We may have caught a break. See you tonight xx J.
Fueled by coffee and purpose, Esposito stalked over to the board where he caught the tail end of Beckett and Ryan's theorizing, but was distracted by the image of Shawn Raines on the murder board. The man looked vaguely familiar but he couldn't quite place him.
'So why haven't we seen this guy in the last seven years? It's like he disappeared off the face of the earth but no death certificate or missing persons report was filed.'
'Excuse me, Detectives?'
All three turned to see a black-haired woman sporting the coat of the CSU lab techs and three inch heels that barely put her shoulders above Beckett's elbows. 'I wanted to bring over the tox report you asked us to rerun after Brandon Weaver came in.'
'Thanks Andrews. You wanna lay it out for us?' Beckett gestured to her murder-board.
Andrews walked over, her steps quick and efficient. 'First victim, Finch, stomach contents included corn flour tortilla, sauced chicken, sour cream, lettuce, soda, sodium bicarbonate, citric acid and a yellow polymer compound. Second victim, Satipo, mixed beans, rice, shredded pork, soda, and our triple threat. Third guy, Weaver, cheese ravioli, alfredo sauce, shrimp, white wine, soda and once again-'
'Sodium bicarbonate, citric acid and a yellow polymer compound.' Beckett felt the edges of a headache begin to creep in. 'In English, por favor?'
'Baking soda, lemon juice, and toner.'
'Toner?'
'Yeah, like in a computer colour printer or photocopier, so chances are your guy-'
'That's it!' Esposito exploded, leaping up from his seat on the edge of Beckett's desk. 'I knew I recognized him! Ryan, you remember yesterday when we talked to Mere at her office, that creepy tech guy came in with her laptop?' He knocked his knuckles against the board under Raines' picture. 'That's him. He's the IT guy at the Web-Zine, Inc. Building were Meredeth works. He changed his hair, maybe got some contacts to change his eye colour, but that's him, only she called him Stuart Porse.'
'An assumed identity would explain why there's nothing on Raines for so long, and who's going to look at a computer guy on the Lower West Side when the victims are all connected in Spanish Harlem?' Beckett folded her arms across her chest. 'Go downstairs and goose the computer nerds, run everything we can. I wanna know this guy inside out by lunchtime.'
'Lunchtime.' Esposito's guts went to water, then ice. 'Meredeth just texted me, she's having lunch with him in-' he looked at his watch - less than ten minutes from now '
Beckett rounded, saw the pure panic on Esposito's face. Her tone immediately went to steel. 'Did she say where?'
'Yeah, his office in the building. Said she was doing a research interview with him.'
'Alright, we need to-'
But she was talking to an empty space, as Esposito had already grabbed his coat off his chair and was all but running for the elevator, Ryan and Beckett doing their best to keep up to him; thankfully they made it onto the lift with him as he furiously stabbed the button for garage level.'
'Esposito, calm down.'
'Not a chance. All it takes is a friendly drink, a coffee, a fucking bottle of water and she's dead before we even breach the building.'
'Look.' Beckett grabbed Esposito by his coat lapels, shook him once. 'Remember your promise to me. Call her, text her, send up a goddamn smoke signal, but let her know we're coming and not to panic, especially if she's already with him. We can't tip him off and risk blowing it all.'
They piled into Beckett's ride, full sirens and lights going as they ripped through midday traffic to Meredeth's office building; Esposito tuned it out as texted her. Mere, Stuart in IT is our suspect. Don't let him know you know anything. xx J. They parked, sirens still blaring as the beat cops kept the lookie-lous out of the way. After throwing on their vests, Beckett marched into the building with Esposito and Ryan armed and flanking her. She badged the receptionist and growled, 'Stuart Porse in IT, where's his office?'
'Stuart Porse? He's in basement level three.'
They made a dash for the stairs, as the building's various workers leaped out of their way. Weapons drawn, they entered the floor's main workspace which resembled a ghost-town.
'NYPD!' Beckett hollered to an empty room, realizing the staff was on their lunch break as well. She swept through one row of cubicles, clearing them while Ryan did the same and Esposito began checking full-on offices. A sudden yell from one near the north corner of the floor had them moving silent and deadly as sharks towards its source. 'Stuart Porse! This is the police!'
At the sounds of a struggle ensuing, Beckett nodded at Esposito, who shoulder-slammed the locked door; the frame splintered into toothpicks as he trained his SWAT-grade rifle between the eyes of the mousy-looking man and felt his brain blaze when he saw he had a bottle of soda in one hand and Meredeth by the hair in the other. The front of her shirt was soaked to near-transparency and there were traces of fluid on her chin and neck, but she was alive and literally spitting mad.
'NYPD, you asshole! Get your hands off my girlfriend and get on your knees!'
'I should have known this would happen,' Stuart murmured coldly. 'It's bad enough those filthy minded twits couldn't appreciate her, but now she's gone and left me for you, and I can't let that happen.'
'Fuck you, psycho,' Meredeth snarled, crying out when he tightened his grip on her hair. 'Everyone knows you play nice with IT guys, that's the only reason I said I'd be lost without you.'
'Meredeth, you are too snippy for your own good sometimes.' Stuart sighed dramatically. 'I think someone should wash your mouth out.'
As he tipped the soda bottle towards her mouth, Meredeth twisted away like a petulant toddler refusing her vegetables, giving Beckett the shot she needed. With the cold precision of her training, she pumped two rounds of her police issue into Porse's shoulder, making him cry out in pain and stumble back. With seconds, Esposito was in the man's face, the nose of the rifle on his chest.
'You picked the wrong girl, Porse. She comes with me and I don't play nice.'
'Detective Esposito.' It wasn't Beckett who said it but Ryan, appearing at his side with handcuffs in one hand and his communicator in one hand. 'I need to restrain the suspect while we wait for medical assistance.'
It was the hardest thing he'd ever done in his life, but he knew that meant it was also probably the right thing. With a curt nod, he took two steps back so Ryan could move in and slap the handcuffs on the man. He set his weapon on the desk where he saw the remnants of Meredeth's lunch - leftover soup from the night before - and turned to her, saw she was holding the now half empty soda bottle with two fingers. Her face, which had been bright pink while Porse was manhandling her was now chalky with shock. She looked up at him, eyes slightly glassy with the beginnings of the thousand-yard stare in them but her voice was calm and flat, and God help him, still angry.
'Nearly lost all of this into the carpet. Figured you'd need a sample for evidence.'
'You did well, Mere.'
'I got your message and when I went to leave the room to call you back, I saw he'd locked the door. Everything happened so fast, and he kept trying to make me drink the soda, and I kept spitting it back in his face, or just letting it go down my shirt.'
'I see that. I'll bring you fresh clothes at the hospital.'
'Hospital? I'm fine, I'm not going to any hospital.'
Esposito took his jacket off, wrapped it around her shoulders. 'A man tried to poison you and you're in shock, which means you'll probably have a night terror either tonight or tomorrow night. You're going to a hospital.'
'The hell I am! Try it and we'll see who needs a doctor, pal.'
Ryan looked over as he heard Esposito and Meredeth bickering and began to laugh a little. They were already fighting like a married couple; he wondered if Castle really would take a wager on how long it would take them to tie the knot. He was in the mood to clean his friend out of a little cash.
R&R&Enjoy.
