Ch. 7 Going Nowhere Fast

Back at the precinct made Kate nervous. She really didn't want to leave him but he was right, she had to get back to work. As soon as she stepped off the elevator, Ryan ran toward her.

"Kate! Thank God you are back!" He walked with her as she made her way to her desk.

As she passed by it, she scanned the whiteboard. "Couldn't handle it without me?" She smiled as she picked up the messages on her desk.

"We got another vic with the same M.O. as Sylvia Peters. Name is Gwenie Oar. Same color hair, murdered the same way, but other than that there isn't anything similar to them." Ryan was standing right by her side when she looked him over.

"What else do we know about this Gwenie Oar?"

"She goes to Columbia. She is twenty. Doesn't have the money like Sylvia. Other than she is a red head, there are no other connections between the two."

"There has to be. He isn't hunting random women down. He knows who he wants. He picks places where there aren't witnesses, he cleans up the crime scene, and he removes the bullets from his victims. No. He knows who he kills. Somehow he knows." She stood in front of the whiteboard and placed her hands on her sides. Her elbows stuck out behind her back and Ryan moved as she turned. She stared at the board and tried to find something, the only way she could. She gave the board her full attention.

Espo came by her and scanned her over. "Nice outfit."

She snapped out of her focus and shook her head in confusion. "Oh. Thanks."

"What happened to Rick?"

"Yeah is he ok?" Ryan scooted right up to her right side.

Esposito shook his head in disapproval.

"He is better. He gets testing done today then results tomorrow. If the results are good, he gets to go home."

"I am happy for you."

"Good to hear. Real good." Ryan smiled awkwardly and Kate noticed.

"Uh, yeah. Hopefully I can find who did it." Yeah, because he isn't telling me anything.

"Whatever you need us to do, we will. Name it and we are there." Espo nodded and Ryan joined in.

"Thanks guys. But what else do we know about Gwenie? Have you contacted her family?" Kate shifted her focus to Gwenie's photo that lay rested on the board.

"Uh, the last thing we found out was what we told you. But we are combing over her financials, then we plan on notifying next of kin. Unless you want to?"

Kate wanted nothing more to meet her next of kin. "I'll do it. Go over her financials and I am going to notify the family." She went back to her desk, pushed aside her messages and found Gwenie's sister's number.

"The sister said that there is, was, only Gwenie and her, sister's name is Claudette. She'll be here in an hour. Just long enough for me to check where she was last seen."

Ryan stood up and walked Kate to the elevator. "I need to talk to you later. It's important. Ok?"

Kate had no idea what was so important that he could only tell her but she would do anything for Ryan. "Sure." As she saw relief wash across his face, she smiled.

When Kate made her way to the Dean's Office, she took in the cool, crisp air. She saw tons of students bustling around the campus and thought back to when she was in school. She went to Stanford, just to be against her mother's wishes but her father wholeheartedly supported her.

Now, waiting for the Dean, she stood and scanned over the coziness of his office.

"Hi. Sorry to keep you waiting. Detective…"

"Beckett."

"Dean Carter." He held out his hand and she shook it. "Please have a seat." He motioned to the chair she stood behind.

"When was the last time she attended her classes?" She quickly jotted down that her last class was a night one. "What class was this?"

"Creative Arts. She wanted nothing more than to be a writer. She had talent. Even won a few contests."

"Do you know of any problems she might have had?" When he shook his head no, she tried a different angle. "Anyone complain or notice anything off about her?"

"Her grades started slipping. But she just lost her good friend, we all understood."

"Who?" She quickly scribbled down, Abby Williams. "How did she pass away?"

"Overdose. Gwenie actually found her. She personally blamed herself, she thought she could have saved her. Gwenie was never quite right after that."

"How long ago was this?"

"Two weeks. She started to slip in her grades and well, you would have to ask her friends more. That's all I know."

"May I have a print out of her classes?" She graciously accepted the sheet.

"Her friends have a memorial site set up for her. You can find them there." He expeditiously sent her on her way.

When she arrived at the fountain in front of the library, her heart ached for the group of people perched around the fountain.

"Hello. I am Detective Beckett of the NYPD. I would like to say I am sorry for your loss. I need to ask you a few questions in order to find out what happened to your friend."

They all agreed and explained that the library was Gwenie's favorite place. She was always researching for her writing and if you didn't know where she was you would most likely find her at the library.

"She lived for her writing. But ever since Abby died, she started to fall apart. We still hung out a lot but she became angry a lot. She slowly started to give up on her writing. We never thought that would happen." A girl, Babs wiped her eyes with the end of her sleeve.

"Her and Abby were attached at the hip. Where one was, the other wasn't too far behind." A boy took over speaking for the group. He identified himself as Quincy. "We broke up about a month ago but we were such good friends that it wasn't awkward for us."

"Why did you break up?" She took in all six feet of him and his slender build. He wasn't scrawny but he sure wouldn't qualify for being buff. His fedora hung loosely on his head and his curly, red hair poked out from under it. His ocean blue eyes were startling.

"She wanted to just remain friends. It became too much for her. Besides she knew that Abby liked me."

"Did you date Abby?"

"No. I didn't like her like that but Gwenie felt bad. Like she had betrayed her or something so she said it was too much, I understood."

"Did they ever fight about it?" Kate was learning more about the kind of person Gwenie was and she approved. She seemed like a sweet kid that was never given the proper chance.

"Yeah. A day before Abby killed herself. I was in the hallway and I heard them fighting. Gwenie was telling Abby that she never knew how she felt about Quincy but now that she did, she wouldn't continue seeing him." Babs locked her eyes on Kate.

"What did Abby say?" Kate looked for Quincy's reaction to all of this and he seemed perplexed by what Babs was confessing.

" 'Bull shit! You just couldn't let me have one thing! Try living in someone else's shadow your whole life! How would you like that?'" Babs shook off her tears long enough to continue. "Gwenie kept telling her that she meant more than he did but Abby wouldn't have it. She accused her of being the worst friend ever. The last thing I saw of Abby was when she watched as Gwenie ran from their room crying."

"Nobody talked to Abby after that?" They all shook their head no. "Where did Gwenie go?"

"To my room." A quiet girl, Delilah, spoke up. "She said she needed to bunk at my place because she fought with Abby. She left the next morning and that's when she found Abby."

"How did she find her?" Kate was in full trust of the friends of Gwenie.

"Dead in her bed. She was in Gwenie's bed. I guess a final message. Gwenie said that there wasn't a note or anything but we just thought that she didn't want anyone to know that Abby had killed herself over her."

"When was the last time any of you saw Gwenie?"

"About two nights ago. We had plans to catch a film but she never showed up. She was at the fountain crying. She just wanted nothing to do with anything. I talked to her all night." Babs wiped her eyes and ignored her make-up that ran as streaks down her face. "She then told me that Abby wouldn't have wanted to give up on herself. So she felt better, she even decided to go see Abby's parents. That was the last time I saw her."

"Where does Abby's parents live?" After tucking the address in her back pocket, she handed her card out to the small group.

Why did Abby kill herself? Was it really over Quincy? Did she leave a note and if so, what did it say? What did she have to say to Abby's parents? Maybe delivering her note? How are Sylvia and her connected, if at all?

"Thank you for coming down here Claudette. I am very sorry for your loss."

"Thank you." Her long, blonde hair was secured neatly with a barrette. She was wearing a suit and seemed put together. But her red rimmed eyes displayed someone who was clearly grieving.

"When was the last time you talked to your sister?"

"This morning."

Kate looked up startled. "This morning?"

"Yeah. At five in the morning. She always called me at five. As soon as I woke up, she called. My days can run pretty long and we never wanted to go a day without talking to each other so we both agreed on the time."

"What did you two talk about?" Kate's memo pad rested loosely on her right knee.

"Just that things were looking up for her. She seemed in better spirits. Ever since Abby died, I worried all the time for her. So I was happily surprised to find her happy."

"Did she tell you where she was going?"

"Yes. To talk with Abby's parents. She had something of Abby's that they might like."

"Do you know what that was?"

"No. But it seemed important. I said goodbye and that was it. I never expected that it would have to be me saying goodbye to her. I wanted to go first. She was my baby sister. She was all I had left." Her deep gray eyes were coated with tears.

"Was there any indication that she was in trouble or danger?"

"No. Why? No. Gwenie was a good kid. She had the biggest heart. She was on her way to Abby's parents because I heard her walking."

"Did she always walk?" Kate was trying to paint a picture of Gwenie's last moments.

"As much as she could. Cars made her sick."

"If I have anymore questions, I will let you know. I will do everything I can to find out what happened to your sister."

"Thank you Detective Beckett. I know you'll find out who took my little Gwenie."

Kate nodded and escorted Claudette to the elevator before making a mad dash to the break room. Once in the safety and quiet, she pulled herself into a corner and slowly cried.

Ryan silently followed Kate and stopped when he heard soft cries coming from the break room. He didn't know why she was crying but he hoped it wasn't anything bad. He wanted to go in and comfort her but she would never be comfortable around him again. He never saw her cry and he wasn't about to now. He left his position and decided to wait at her desk.

Kate didn't know what came over her but every once in a while, she broke down. She felt helpless in many ways. She couldn't stop this man who was killing off these women, couldn't find out who attacked Rick, couldn't get a grasp on balancing her emotions, and to top it all off, she was slowly breaking.

She did her best to collect herself and walked back into the bull pen, knowing too well that her face would betray her. As she approached her desk, she took a step back at the sight of Ryan, perched on her desk. She then remembered that he wanted to talk to her about something important.

"Come to talk to me now?"

He turned around and smiled. "Yeah. Um, you know how our serial is killing off red heads?"

"We don't know it's a serial, yet. Let's hope we don't get to that." She sat in her roller chair and leaned her elbows on her desk.

"Ok. But, I have been seeing this woman."

Her eyebrows arched up, "Way to go. I am happy for you."

"Thanks." He nervously adjusted his tie and brushed his hair back. "Well, she is a red head. I know I can't warn her but maybe you could help me. I don't know what to do Kate." He fidgeted and started to perspire.

"Tell her that you want her to be safe. It's the best thing I can think of. If you are worried tell her but blame your worry on the job. Just don't go into details."

He seemed elated and relieved. "See, I knew you would know what to do. So what did you learn about Gwenie?"

"Just that after beating herself up over her friend's death, she finally started to feel better. She was on the way to her friend's parent's house. To give them something of hers. I think it was her suicide note. After feeling better, she gets gunned down. I want to know who, and when exactly she was killed. Lanie call?" She scanned her messages but they were all bland, nothing from Lanie.

"Said that she would talk to you later. It's getting pretty late, I was thinking of crashing."

"Did you check phone records?"

"Last call was for two minutes to her sister. But nothing out of the ordinary. There was mostly texts, nothing but casuals such as, hello and how are you? Those kinds."

Kate acknowledged him and knew that the sister's story checked out. She scanned her clock and it read 10:50 P.M. Where did the day go?

"So?" Ryan was still by her trying to recapture her attention.

"Yeah I am going to head home, just as soon as I update my board." She rose from her chair and uncapped a red marker.

"Ok. I'll wait if you want." She shook her head, it wasn't necessary. "Ok. Sleep tight. And thanks."

"No problem and night." She smiled to herself and silently hoped he didn't notice. She thought he might like her but she wasn't about to tease him.

When she first met Ryan she quickly admitted that he was attractive. And after getting to know him a little better, feelings started to arise. She dismissed them because NYPD had a strict policy of co-workers dating. She wasn't about to risk her job no matter how cute he was. It all worked out in the end but looking back, she had to laugh.

Once her board was now covered in her neat handwriting, she packed up her stuff and headed out. But she couldn't help to feel, as she was leaving, that the case seemed to be going nowhere, too fast to slow the reins. Maybe tomorrow will go smoother.

Kate tucked herself in for the night, and quickly dialed Rick.

"Hey you. I wondered when I would get to hear your voice."

"Just hearing yours is reassuring. Hard day. It doesn't help that the case is getting more deep."

"Going with serial?"

"Need three, and I hope we don't get there. But I didn't call for me, I called for you. How was the testing?" She twirled a chunk of her hair and tuned into him.

"It went ok. As soon as I get the clear, you can come get me. Satisfactory enough?" He chuckled lightly and his rich voice traveled through the phone and warmed her up.

"It will have to do. I hope I get to see you tomorrow. Well, I am beat. Get some sleep and I will kiss you tomorrow."

"Bye Kate. I love you. Sleep tight and know I will thoroughly enjoy my time with you."

"I know you are wearing that grin of yours. And I will have you know Rick, that I have great bedside manners." She knew she was teasing him and enjoying it.

"Oh, I know you do. Sleep tight and much love."

"I can't give you anything but love." She sent a kiss over the phone and was left smiling before sliding into unconsciousness.