Chapter 9

Stupid school and work getting in the way of my Castle obsession. Lol. Anyways, here is a new chapter. Hope you enjoy it

DISCLAIMER: I used a quote from the episode Knockdown: season3 episode13. This quote does not belong to me, it belongs to the wonderful writers of the show and they deserve full credit for it.

Also I updated the timelone for those of you who read it :)

Half an hour later there was a patrol car watching every exit of the five block radius that was their best bet of finding Lanie. Kate was checking off the streets on the map as officers radioed in that they were there. Ryan and Castle were watching her in silence, with the occasional glance over at Esposito, who was sitting at his desk fidgeting almost uncontrollably. They could all tell he just wanted to screw the interrogation with the car thief and just go find where she was being kept.

Captain Montgomery poked his head out of his office. "Can I see you guys in my office for a minute? You too Castle."

The four of them exchanged nervous looks but followed the captain into his office and shut the door behind them. They stood in a line in front of their superiors' desk and waited for him to say something.

The captain leaned back in his chair for a second and looked at the team standing in front of him. Every single one of them looked tired, worn out and anxious. "What have you got?" he asked.

Kate spoke up first. "I interviewed the kid that was working at the bakery when Lanie was taken, but he didn't know anything. He said that the door was blocked by an isle but that it was unlocked because they had just gotten a shipment in."

Esposito spoke next. "In the last video this wacko sent us Lanie managed to get us clues about where he was getting her food from, and we put those places on a map along with the two places he sent the video from. We got a radius of where she might be." He looked over at Castle. "The part about putting the places on a map was Castles' idea sir."

Montgomery looked over at the writer that was standing a step behind Beckett and to her right. He raised an eyebrow questioningly.

Castle took a step forward and after getting a nod from Beckett began to talk. "Well sir, I was doing research for my first Derrick Storm novel and I found out that kidnappers don't usually leave the house while they have someone. But if they do, they will only go about 10 miles or 15 minutes away, tops. With the points on the map we were able to figure out a probable hiding place."

The captain nodded with an impressed look on his face. "That's good work Castle. You've all done good work. Now what are you waiting for in getting over there and starting the search?"

"Well sir," Kate said. "There is one more suspect I'd like to interrogate. It's the man that we got on video stealing Lanie's car. When he took the car he just got right in and drove off, which means he probably had the keys."

Captain Montgomery nodded. "Good, get on that and then I want all of you in that area with backup doing everything you can to find out where she is."

The team nodded in unison and headed back to the bullpen. "Alright guys, let's go pick up Sam Harris and see what he can give us." Beckett said as she grabbed her keys and they all headed for the elevator.

Ten minutes later the two cars pulled up in front of a rundown apartment building. There was an alley next to the building and Beckett pulled her car up so it was blocking the escape. They got out of the car and surveyed the scene in front of them. Beckett turned to the writer standing next to her. "Any chance I can get you to stay in the car?"

"No way." Castle said, putting his 'Writer' vest on, and the three detectives did the same.

Kate sighed. "Alright, but you stay behind me, no matter what."

"Got it."

The four of them walked up to the front door. Beckett knocked and called out "Mr. Harris? This is the NYPD we have a search warrant, open up!" There was no answer and Beckett signaled for Esposito to go around back. She kicked in the front door and her and Ryan went into the front hallway in front of Castle. The two detectives swung their guns from side to side, quickly clearing the front few rooms, the kitchen and a bedroom. Castle waited in the front hall until Beckett gave him the ok to come in farther. They were in the kitchen looking around when they heard the sounds of a struggle from outside. There was a door to the back yard in the kitchen and Beckett flung it open, gun raised. Castle was a step behind her trying to see what was going on.

Esposito had Sam Harris up against the side of the building and they had knocked over a trash can and an old bicycle in the process. Beckett holstered her gun and went to help him out. She read Harris his rights as Esposito put the cuffs on him. Castle watched from the doorway as everything happened. Ryan and Esposito each took an arm of their prisoner and brought him around to the cars, shoving him in the back of the nearest one. Beckett nodded to then and they got in the front seat of that car while her and Castle took the other one. They all headed back to the precinct.

Beckett was quiet on the way home and Castle was starting to worry about her. He knew everyone was taking this case hard, but he also knew she was prone to pushing people away. "What's going on?" he asked quietly, almost afraid that she wouldn't answer.

"Hmm?" she said, looking over at him. It was obvious that she had been off in her own little world.

"I asked what was going on. You've been really quiet today. I mean I know this case is…beyond difficult but I just…you don't have to deal with this by yourself." his voice trailed off as something passed over her face that almost confirmed his suspicions. She glanced over at him again quickly, but by the time she turned back to the road whatever had flown across her face was long gone.

She took a second to say anything, and when she did he could tell her voice was slightly strained. "I'm not pushing you away Castle, I…I'm glad you're here. None of us would have thought of plotting the points on a map."

Something in her voice faltered and he caught the underlying meaning in her words. Was she hurt that he had come up with the idea before her? He had helped out like that on plenty of cases and she hadn't seemed offended. Maybe because it was Lanie? He wasn't sure what to say, or if he could say anything that would make her feel better. Thoughts starting whirling around in his head. Maybe he should stop helping out on all the cases, maybe he should stop hanging around the precinct so much, what if she was having second thoughts about moving in with him? He made himself stop and focus on the problem at hand. Things would be ok when this was over, he told himself. They had to be. Because now that Kate Beckett was in his life he knew he wanted her to stay there.

They pulled up to the precinct and Castle and Beckett watched as Sam Harris was dragged upstairs and directly into interrogation room one. Kate picked his file off her desk and skimmed through it, refreshing her memory. She took the picture they had printed out of his getting into Lanies' car off the murder board and stuck it in the file. She looked over at Esposito and he nodded back at her, going over to open the door to the interrogation room. Castle looked at her with his head cocked to the side.

She looked over at Castle and was caught off guard by his almost hurt expression. "I…I'm sorry Castle, we really need to break this guy and…I need Esposito in there with me." she stammered. She watched as Rick put on a smile and nodded, then turned around and walked through the door Esposito had opened for her.

After the door had closed behind her Castle took a deep breath and sat down in his chair by her desk. He noticed Ryan staring at him. "What?"

Ryan narrowed his eyes. "You ok man?"

Castle thought about lying for a second but decided against it. Ryan would know if he lied anyways. He was a trained detective. "That makes two interrogations she hasn't let me in on. It's unusual is all."

Ryan leaned back in his chair and looked at the writer. "You think she's ditching you?"

"I don't know, I think she's trying to put too much of this case on her shoulders. This is hard enough on everyone without her doing that."

Ryan got up and moved a chair closer to where Castle was sitting. "You know, sometimes I don't think she can help it. I think every time her mom's case comes up, and still isn't solved, it just makes her want to work harder at everything."

"I just care about her," Castle said. This wasn't a side of him he normally let out in public, but he knew he could trust Ryan, and also knew that he had to talk to someone about it. "I don't like seeing her wound so tight. I wish I could make her see that she doesn't have to do everything herself. She has you and Esposito and me all here for her."

"She's always going to be like that to an extent. It's in her nature." He regarded the writer with a wary glance for a second before continuing. "She was a lot worse before you came around you know. Since you guys got together, even before that, she's changed a lot. She smiles more, and makes jokes, she's a whole new detective." Castle raised an eyebrow and Ryan hastily added "in a good way of course."

The writer laughed a little bit. "Thanks Ryan."

The both of them lapsed into silence as they waited for Beckett and Esposito. Castle thought of all the hints people had made over the years about how Beckett had been before he came along. He gathered that she had been depressed after her mom's murder, which was natural. He had also managed to figure out that she had come really close to completely losing herself in her moms' case after she became a cop, and before he had come to the precinct she had been even more wound up and by the book than she was now. He hoped that one day she would tell him the full extent of everything but knew enough not to ask until she bought the topic up.

To Ryan and Castle the interrogation seemed to take forever. After their conversation about Beckett they didn't talk much but sat in a semi-comfortable silence, broken only by trips to the break room for coffee. Finally the door opened and the two detectives stepped emerged, looking worn out. Castle immediately got up and gave the mug of coffee he had just filled to Beckett. She took it and smiled with gratitude. Looking over at Ryan she said "I want a surveillance van out in the blocked off area with audio equipment. Give them a map and the sketch and have them start ruling out some of the houses. Maybe we can narrow down our search a bit. They can rule out any house that has kids. This guy isn't from around here so pay special attention to anything that seems out of place, maybe a rental car, or houses where it looks like nobody is home. They can turn on the dish and listen for anything suspicious too." She sat down and looked at the other two men standing in front of her.

Esposito took over explaining how the interrogation went as Beckett began the process of draining the contents of the mug in her hands. "Harris confessed to taking the car, but he didn't have any direct contact with the kidnapper. Not today at least." Ryan and Castle gave him a questioning look and he began to clarify. "Harris shared a jail cell with our mystery man almost six years ago. Harris was in for skipping out on traffic court and according to the story he was told, our kidnapper was in for drunk and disorderly and resisting arrest. They were both in for two months but Harris got locked up a week and a half earlier."

Ryan spoke up. "Well that's good right? If they shared a cell Harris can give us a name."

Beckett looked up from her almost empty mug and shook her head. "The only name Harris was ever given was a nickname. 'Gun' was what the kidnapper went by, he never gave any other name."

This time it was Castles' turn to speak. "If he didn't know his cell mates name then how did he have contact with him now to get the car?"

Beckett drained the cup in her hands and stood up, going over to the white board and writing things down as she spoke. "When Harris got out he left his number with our guy. Told him to call if he ever needed a place to stay in the area. Our kidnapper took him up on the offer once or twice in the past five years, but still never gave another name. When he got another call yesterday morning Harris assumed he was going to ask if he could stay again, but this time he told him that there was a set of keys taped underneath a trash can lid behind this little bakery and that he could have the car they belonged to as long as he kept quiet."

"So we're back at square one." Ryan said, rubbing his face with his hands.

"We still have that area blocked off." Castle chimed in hopefully.

Beckett nodded. "Yes we do. Ryan and Esposito, you guys head over there. Meet up with the surveillance van and help them narrow down the houses. We don't have time to search them all. Castle and I will update the captain and meet you over there."

The two male detectives nodded and raced off. They knew the clock was still ticking and didn't want to waste any time. Beckett looked at Castle and motioned for him to follow her to the captains' office. She knocked and poked her head in the office. "Captain? We have an update."

He beckoned them in and they closed the door behind them. Beckett told him what had happened in the interview while Castle stayed silent.

"So where are Ryan and Esposito?" Montgomery asked.

"I sent them to meet up with the surveillance team while we talked to you. We're going to meet up with them in a few minutes, I just had to ask you something." Castle looked over at Beckett with curiosity in his eyes. It wasn't every day that she asked a favor of the captain.

"Whatever I can do to help Detective." He said.

"Sir, I'd really like to get out in the field as soon as possible to help narrow down possible houses and then search the rest, but if we can get the records from when Harris was in jail and see who his cell mates were we can get a name. I don't know if it will helps us find the guy, but we need to know who he is at some point."

Captain Montgomery nodded. "Sure thing Detective, I'll look that up and get the file, but then I'm meeting you in the field. Nobody takes one of our people and gets away with it. I'm going to help you take this guy down."

"Thank you sir. I'll call you if we get anything before you get to us."

The captain nodded and Beckett spun around and walked back to her desk, grabbing her coat and keys. "You don't have to come you know Castle, I signed up for this when I put that badge on, you didn't. We're going to be going all night, I understand if you want to go home."

"Kate, if you're there then so am I. I'm not letting you do this alone."

She pursed her lips for a second and then nodded. "Ok, but there are some ground rules."

"Whatever you say."

She was surprised at his answer but didn't pause. "You wear your vest at all times and you stay behind one of us if we have to check a house. If any of us tell you to do something you do it without hesitation or asking any questions. This is different than anything we've done before, and it's not a scene in one of your books. This is a very real situation and we can't afford any mess ups. Got it?"

"Understood." He turned and started walking to the elevator, knowing they had to get going, but Beckett called him back.

"And Castle? I want you to take my backup gun, just in case."

He nodded and walked back to where she was standing and holding the weapon out. He let his fingers touch hers as he took it from her. "I'm not going to let you guys down Kate."

Kate had put a lot of walls up since the start of this case and she knew he could tell as she made eye contact. She tried to force a smile as she said "I know" but wasn't sure how it came out. Before either of them could say anything else she turned and walked away, leaving him staring after her, wondering if things were going to be ok.

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Ok so what did you think? I really do love reviews, either good or constructive so please leave them, it lets me know people are still reading. Also this is the longest chapter I've ever written so yay for that :D next one will be up soon I promise