Hello guys! :) Wow, a quick update! What's happening to me? lol Well, your feedbacks made me want to hurry and post faster than usual :D So here is the next chapter. Hope you'll like it! Thanks to all of you! xxx
"What was that?" Alexis said as she swallowed hard, still sitting at her chess table.
"Just power cut, honey", Lanie replied to comfort her.
"The fuse must have blown out because of the storm…I'll go to the basement, to check it out", Rick said as he grabbed his jacket.
"I'm going with you, Castle. I've got a super high tech flashlight in the car", Esposito added as he grabbed his keys on the console table.
"Thank God I have tons of candle lights…" Martha sighed as she started to search them out in the kitchen.
"Let me help you", Lanie offered as Jenny followed her a few seconds later.
When Rick opened the entrance door, his face was immediately drenched by the pouring rain. He blinked, as he didn't expect the weather to worsen that fast.
Royal suddenly rushed to his feet and then exited the house, running away in the direction of the woods.
"Royal!" Alexis called, concerned as she headed to the door. She watched him disappear into the forest, helpless.
The rain was pouring, the night was falling, and he was now completely out of sight.
"Dad, what's wrong with him?" she asked, worried.
"It's a dog, honey…He'll be back", his father reassured her, stroking her long red hair.
Then he stepped outside, followed closely by detective Esposito who closed the door behind him and Alexis who seemed desperate.
After they took the torch Esposito had left in his car, Rick and Javier headed to the manor's basement that was located underground but that they could only access from outside. There was the circuit breaker. Esposito was lighting up the path the best he could while Rick was leading the way. They had walked around the manor and were now standing in front of stairs, in the backyard. Some stone stairways leaded to the basement's door. It was a wooden door, drenched by the rain…and half opened. Rick frowned.
"What the…?"
He climbed down the stairs and leaned on the door's lock.
"What's wrong?" Esposito asked as he kept lighting up the way. Rick turned to him and pointed at the lock.
"Usually there's a padlock here, because I didn't have time to fix it yet…Whatever. The problem is, it's not there anymore, and the door was half opened."
"Are you sure about that?"
"Absolutely sure…" the writer nodded. Esposito took a deep breath. It wasn't the moment to freak out. Especially for him, as he was the cop here. So he just came closer to Rick and pushed the door. The wet wooden door creaked in a scary way. Javier walked ahead to light up the way and protect Rick in the worst case. But there was nobody.
When he found the circuit breaker, Esposito turned to Rick. This time, his look was more than serious.
"We've got a problem here, man?" he said, pointing at the circuit breaker. Rick came closer and raised his eyebrows.
He felt a shiver down his spine.
Yes they had a problem. The plastic box in front of them had burnt and melted, and there was an unpleasant smell of burnt detergent in the small space. Added to that, the few electric wires that were out of the box had been cut.
"What the hell…" Castle stammered, searching for Esposito's look.
/
In the mean time, Martha, Lanie and Jenny had placed some candle lights everywhere in the living room, where the small group was gathered. Ryan was stroking Jenny's hair, as she was tenderly nestling on him on the couch, while Lanie hadn't stopped cheering Alexis up since her adopted dog for the weekend had run away. Kate was pacing in the room, waiting anxiously for the boys to come back.
Esposito was the first to push the door. His face was drenched and his look was abnormally grave, which Lanie noticed immediately.
Right beside him, Castle's look was also serious. He closed the door behind him while Esposito glanced at his friends who were all concerned.
"So? What about the circuit breaker?" the Irish asked. "Still no electricity?"
"You guys look terrible", Lanie said after a few seconds as she stared at her ex boyfriend in particular.
Castle and Esposito didn't reply and glanced at each other.
"What's wrong?" Kate asked, looking at them. Their silence was unbearable.
"I think we've got a problem", Esposito managed to say as he glanced at Kate, then Kevin, and finally Lanie.
"What," detective Beckett asked, almost gasping. She hated how bad the events had turned. She hated their looks, the way they hardly spoke. She had felt it for long minutes. Something was wrong.
"I think the circuit breaker has been damaged intentionally," Castle explained then, instead of Esposito who was staring at Lanie.
"Damaged intentionally? What do you mean, Richard?" Martha asked in a worried tone.
"What are you talking about?" Alexis stammered as she frowned.
"It's burned, and the wires were cut", Rick replied as he stared at Martha. His look was deep, grave. Martha knew her son by heart. He never had that look.
"Burnt?" the red haired young girl asked as she came closer to her father. "Dad, are you sure it's not because of the thunder or…"
Rick interrupted her.
"I'm sure, honey. Plastic can't melt like that. It is not the thunder."
"I agree", Espo added. "This is a professional work. And we can't fix it. At least, not like that, not without tools…or new equipments."
"You gotta be kidding…" Kevin sighed, still in shock.
Kate ran a hand through her hair and started to pace again.
"I told you, something's wrong here…" she stammered. Rick looked at her. He would have liked to come closer, take her in his arms. But it was the wrong place and the wrong time for it.
Alexis felt a shiver down her spine.
"You think this has something to do with the silhouette you saw earlier?" Lanie asked Kate.
"I don't know", she replied in a barely audible voice as she bit her lips. "I'm just wondering…and now I'm pretty sure it wasn't an animal."
"It's horrible!" Jenny said, pale as ever.
"Don't worry baby, I'm sure there's a logical explanation for that", Ryan replied quickly as he took her hand in his. "Are you sure somebody damaged it on purpose?" he added as he glanced at Castle and Espo. His buddy nodded.
"No doubt, bro… but wait, there's something else," the detective added, more solemnly. All eyes were on him after that. They were all holding their breath. Even Rick could barely look at his family as he already dreaded their reaction to what Esposito was about to reveal.
"Before I tell you, I want you to promise you won't start to panic. As Ryan already said it, maybe it's nothing…" he added in strange serious tone that didn't look like him. Kevin stood up from the couch, concerned. He stared at his best friend, waiting for the news.
"Javier, what are you…" Lanie whispered. She couldn't finish her sentence and frowned.
"I didn't pay attention at first, when I took the flashlight in the glove compartment…but when we came back from the basement, then I realized…" Esposito started to say as he ran a hand on his cheeks. He was searching for the best way to announce it.
"Espo, spill it," Kate said impatiently, almost aggressive.
"The tires of my car, of our cars...They're flat. All of them", he finally said.
The news was a bombshell.
"All the cars?" Lanie asked. Javier nodded in silence while Kate searched in her pocket.
"We need to call the police", she ordered as she put her phone against her ear. But there was no signal.
"Dammit, why do I have no signal?" she growled, irritated.
"Calm down. Maybe it's nothing", Esposito said as calm as possible. He had certainly learned to stay calm in emergency situations from his former experience in the army.
"But maybe it is serious", Kate protested. "And why the hell can't I have any signal?"
"I didn't have any either outside. I already tried to call a repair man and the cops…" Espo replied as he shook his head.
"I don't have any signal either", Kevin added as he hung up his own phone nervously. "It was working before, right?" he wondered as he looked at them.
"Yes, there's a good signal here usually", Alexis said.
"Maybe it's because of the storm", Martha guessed.
"Whether it's the storm or not, I don't like that…" Lanie sighed as she started pacing as well.
"Listen, the best we can do for now is stop panicking…Maybe it's just a bad joke," Esposito tried to comfort his friends.
"Yes, if it's a joke, it's a very bad one. Really bad…Even yours are better, dad", Alexis added slightly, making some of the others smile softly.
"I'm glad you admit it", Rick replied.
"Seriously...Why would somebody break the circuit breaker and burst our cars' tires?" Martha asked, worried.
No one answered the question. They didn't want to, because all the elements put together leaded to the same bad conclusion.
"Simple, mother", Rick replied finally. He took a deep breath. "Someone who doesn't want us to escape…"
After Castle's announcement, a deafening silence fell upon the room.
.
to be continued...