Ohoho guys. Yes, another update! Hope you'll enjoy your reading. This chapter is really important but shhh...you'll see. By the way, the end of the fic is near, only a few more chapters left, so be prepared! Thanks for your support. ;) xxx
(n/a: music suggestion: Charlie Winston - She Went Quietly)
Sitting on a stretcher, Alexis Castle looked distractedly at the paramedic who was measuring her blood pressure. Her face was pale, more than usual and she seemed frozen. She had huge rings under her red eyes. Passive and exhausted, she barely reacted to the hot tea mug that her father held to her.
"Here, honey," he whispered in a protective tone. Alexis grabbed it and whispered a barely audible "thank you."
They were in the front yard of the house, next to one of the few ambulances left. Alexis had been brought here half conscious by Esposito an hour ago. The detective had carried her all the way and when they arrived, she had been laid on a stretcher. A doctor had examined her and found out she had been poisoned with a strong sedative. Thank God she wasn't sexually abused, nor physically, except for a blow on the face and the lacerations caused by the ropes on her wrists and ankles.
Rick Castle had been taken care of as well, and received about thirty stitches on his wounded arm that was now wrapped in a thick white bandage. The paramedics had drugged him with painkillers. Of course he had been told to go to the hospital for further treatments but Rick had refused to go before Esposito and Kate would bring Alexis back. He knew they were on the way and he had wanted to see her first. Now that he had found her back, he couldn't go anywhere as long as Bowers was still on the run. He wanted everything to be over.
A few meters away from Alexis, his father and the paramedic, Beckett, Gates and Esposito were gathered with other cops to try to figure out where the criminal could be.
"All right," the paramedic said as he unwrapped the armband of the blood pressure monitor from Alexis's arm. "It's really low, but considering what you've been through, i'm not surprised. You must take some rest."
Alexis just nodded in silence. Then the man let her alone with her father. She raised her tired look to him and smiled.
"I'm sorry...Actually I don't want it," she managed to say, her voice trailing off as she pointed at the tea.
"It doesn't matter," Rick replied as he took the mug back and put it on the hood of the first car he found next to them.
"Dad..." Alexis whispered again, with a broken voice. Rick stroked her shoulder with his good arm and leaned on her to kiss her forehead.
"I was scared to death," he whispered.
"Tell me about it," the young girl said.
"I'm so sorry, sweetheart. It's all my fault."
Alexis frowned and shook her head.
"Stop...it's not your fault."
Rick smirked.
"You bet it is. If I had shut my mouth, if I hadn't been horrible with the guy's writing...He would have never seeked revenge."
"It's not your fault, Dad. Crazy people are everywhere." Alexis replied as she grabbed his hand. "Don't blame yourself," she added as she gazed at him.
Rick stared at her, surprised, softened and admirative.
"How can you not blame me for all that happened to you? You went through hell."
Alexis shrugged.
"I just want to forget it all," she admitted in low voice. "But first...there's something I don't understand."
"I'm listening."
"Why...Why did he do nothing to me?" she asked, frowning. Rick's eyes widened.
"You mean beside the fact that he abducted you, tied you to a shed and set fire to it?" he said ironically, as he didn't understand her question. Alexis gave his father a faint smile and shook her head.
"No. But he didn't really hurt me. Look what he did to Gina...I mean...He spared me, in some way. And I don't get why", she confessed, troubled.
"Well, you know, according to Gates who called his doctor, he's mentally ill, unstable, and sometimes he can act violently, commits murders, but it's something instinctive, out of control. He doesn't plan anything, he just follows his instinct and his behaviour can't be predictable. That's why there's nothing logical in everything he's done until now. Except for the purpose to kill. Even though, sometimes he can give up on the idea in the end."
Alexis nodded, listening carefully to her father's explanations.
"It's weird...I mean, the illness...and it must be horrible not to be able to control anything," Alexis said.
"You're not going to pity him, are you?"
"No...but still, he's sick, and he's suffering. It can happen to anyone." Alexis added in a soft voice. Rick smiled, amazed by his daughter's cool temper and maturity.
"You amaze me everyday," he whispered before he kissed her on the forehead.
Alexis smiled at him.
"Do you mind if I sleep a little bit? I think I still have some traces of sedative in my blood."
"Go on, sweetheart."
He helped his daughter lie down on the stretcher and readjust the blanket until she was comfortably installed.
"You don't go anywhere without me, right?"
"Hell no," the writer replied with a smile. "I'll just go and check on what they're doing, okay? I'll be right back."
Alexis nodded, reassured, and closed her tired eyes.
When he walked away, Rick met a paramedic.
"You watch on her, okay?"
"Sure", the young woman replied with a smile.
Then he arrived next to Gates, Esposito and Kate. Captain Gates was leaning back on a car and listening carefully to Esposito, while Kate was finishing her third coffee of the morning, next to the latino. She really needed it.
"So, anything new?" Castle asked as he sneaked in between Kate and Esposito.
"Except that we still have no clue of where he is, nothing's new," Javier replied as he shook his head.
"We're still in touch with the patrols that are in the woods but still, nothing...The bastard is a professional in hiding." Gates added.
"How's Alexis?" Kate asked, concerned.
"Much better. Exhausted, for sure...but alive. Thanks to all of you guys. Thank you so much," he said as he gazed at Kate before he glanced at Esposito as well.
"We only did our job," Esposito replied.
"Oh Esposito, you know well, it's more than that," the writer said. "It wasn't even your job considering the fact that here is not your juridiction, and you were supposed to be on holiday."
Esposito rolled his eyes.
"Nonsense. I chose that job because I wanted to protect and save people most of all. So, I actually did my job," he said with a smile.
Rick smiled back at him and gave him a pat on the arm.
"Thanks."
Kate watched them, softened, when Gates's phone rang.
"Excuse me," she whispered as she looked at the caller ID. Then she walked away, letting the three of them alone.
"Any news of my mother and Lanie?"
Esposito shook his head.
"Nope. But they shouldn't be far from Wainscott by now," he said as he glanced at his watch.
"You can call her, tell her you're safe and that we found Alexis?" Kate suggested.
"Not now," Rick said with a smile. "Besides, I think she left without her purse, I saw it earlier in the entrance" he remembered.
"No problem, if she's with Lanie, we can call her on her phone," Esposito offered.
Rick nodded.
"That's nice. In a few minutes then...let's have a coffee first."
"I got it," Kate nodded. But Rick grabbed her by the arm.
"No wait, I didn't say that for you to..."
Kate smiled and rolled her eyes.
"You've brought me a coffee everyday for four years. I think I can return the favor at least once," she teased, grinning. "I'll be right back."
She walked away and Rick watched her heading towards the cops who had brought a coffee machine with hem. He gazed at her tenderly and Esposito couldn't help but noticed it.
He cleared his throat to catch his attention.
"Hmm?" Rick said as he turned to the latino. "Did you say something?"
"Absolutely not, dude." Esposito replied as he did his best not to grin. "So, you guys kinda got close recently considering the events, huh?" he said then.
Rick shrugged.
"Yes, I mean...we talked a lot and you know, when you chase a maniac in the woods, that sort of things can help two people to bound..."
Esposito grinned even more, amused by his explanations. Rick noticed it and frowned, suspicious.
"Oh you, you did see something..."
"Well, it's just that if you want to keep something secret, you better not do it in your kitchen, when people are around, you know," Esposito said with a knowing look.
Rick looked at him, surprised.
"You...you weren't sleeping," he said as he swallowed hard.
"Nope. But don't make that face, dude. I'm happy for you guys. As long as you treat her right...Beckett is like my sister. If you ever break her heart, I'll break your other arm."
"It won't happen," Rick promised with a sincere smile.
"I believe you," Esposito nodded.
Then Kate joined them with Rick's coffee.
"Here."
"Thanks, Kate."
"So, what were you two talking about?" she asked as she smiled at the boys.
"Nothing", they both answered at the same time, staring at each other defiantly. The brunette looked at them suspiciously.
"I see..." she replied, amused though. "I just checked on Alexis, she seemed exhausted", she said as she glanced at the stretcher where the young girl was lying on asleep again.
Rick looked at his daughter and then glanced at Kate.
"She sure is. Those damn sedatives...I still can't believe we found her safe and sound...When I think about what Gina endured..." he didn't finish his sentence, still shocked.
"Bowers is mentally ill and unstable," Esposito said. "That means he has thoughts of violence, but it doesn't mean he actually takes actions."
"Yeah, well, if you hadn't arrived on time, she would have burned alive," Castle said.
"Alexis's fine, Castle. It's the most important. No need to imagine the worst now," Kate said softly, as she stroked the good arm of the writer. Rick smiled and gazed at her hungrily in silence as she kept caressing him.
Standing in front of them, Esposito looked at them, biting his lips not to say a comment about it.
Victoria Gates came back to them at that moment, with a concerned look.
"It was the fourth patrol. They searched everywhere on the East area, and still, nothing about Bowers," she said as she glanced at all of them.
"East, you said?" Kate said. Gates nodded.
"The second patrol already said that the West part had been crossed and there was nothing either," detective Beckett said.
"Same thing for patrols 1 and 3. They checked on this side of the forest," Esposito said as he pointed at an area of the detailed map they had unfolded on the hood of the car they were standing next to.
Gates looked at the map skeptically.
"So he just vanished. There's no other option," she sighed.
"Or maybe he's hidden on a tree?" Castle suggested.
"He's a psychopath, Castle, not a squirrel," Gates said as she rolled her eyes, amused though.
"I'm sure this is not incompatible though," the writer said with humor. He was already imagining a killer squirrel spreading terror in the woods, maybe a future character in one of his novels, why not...
"Even if he was hiding, he's not on a tree since the helicopters have infrared systems and they checked on everywhere," Kate said, snapping him out of his reverie.
"So, we're 100% sure he couldn't leave the area?" Gates asked, running out of ideas.
"Sure," Esposito nodded. "There are roadblocks all around the forrest, all around the next villages and the main road. For now, no one can leave or get here," he explained.
"Dammit, where is he hiding..." Gates mumbled as she sighed.
"I'm running out of ideas too," Kate admitted, losing faith.
Suddenly, Rick frowned.
"Unless..."
Beckett, Gates and Esposito stared at the writer.
"Unless what?" Kate asked, perfectly knowing that glow in the eyes of her new boyfriend.
Rick looked at her, thinking about a new idea.
"What if he used one of our cars to run away?"
"A police car, you mean?" Gates asked, trying to understand. Rick nodded.
"After all, since all the police forces and the ambulances are here, I guess there's a lot of activities, right? No one would think about checking on a police car..." Rick added as he looked at Gates. She wasn't against the idea but Esposito shook his head vehemently.
"Nah, that's impossible. No cars left since they're here."
"You mean, no cars except for Ryan's ambulance, and the car that drove Lanie and my mother away," Rick said, with a knowing look.
Javier stared at him, dubitative.
"Well, for the ambulance, I recognized only two paramedics and Jenny," Gates remembered. "But as for the other car, I couldn't check," she confessed.
Kate and Castle shared a suspicious look, as they began to doubt themselves.
Finally, Javier let out a laugh as he watched them becoming serious. It was a nervous laugh.
"Wait, Castle. You don't really think that...Bowers ran away with them?"
"Javi, you told me they left with a cop?" Kate asked.
"Yes, but..."
"Did you see the guy?" Kate cut him off.
"Yes! I mean...no. But at distance, I saw him talking to Lanie...and then they climbed in a car but he was a cop, I'm sure...And Lanie seemed to trust him...I'm sure you're wrong," Esposito mumbled, hating the idea.
"Has Lanie ever seen Bowers's face?" Gates asked.
"I don't think so. She was still there when his file arrived but she didn't read it." Esposito replied.
"From back, wearing a cop's uniform, in the dark...he could fool anyone..." Rick said.
"Stop it...that's completely crazy!" the latino reacted as he shook his head.
"Captain Gates! Detective Beckett!"
The small group turned to the voice that had called, surprised. A young policeman was running to them, panicked.
"What is it?" Gates asked him immediately.
"We found officer Carlston, knocked out in the basement."
"What?!" Gates said, her eyes wide open.
"He said he remembered that someone hit him from behind...he couldn't see the assailant."
"When was it?" Beckett asked immediately.
"About an hour ago. Apparently, the guy who did this also took his jacket and police cap."
"Oh crap," Gates sighed as she rubbed her forehead with one hand.
"Police uniform..." Rick repeated in shock. "It was him," he understood.
"Lanie...Martha...Bowers...gone...I can't believe it," Kate mumbled in shock, as she couldn't even finish her sentence. She stared at Rick, eyes wide open, feeling hopeless.
"Oh no," the writer sighed as well. Yes, he had thought about this scenario. But he had prayed for it not to be true. However, all the clues leaded to the man who had made their weekend a nightmare. And that man had run away. With his mother.
After exchanging a long look, Rick, Kate and even Gates turned their heads towards Esposito who still hadn't reacted, too shocked by the news. This time, Rick's theory didn't seem that farfetched. He wished the opposite though.
"...Goddammit, Lanie..." he whispered as he took out his phone from his pocket. He searched for the ME's number as fast as he could, dialed it and put the phone to his ear, his hands shaking.
Stressed out, he started to pace. One dial tone. A second. A third one.
"Pick up, Lanie...Pick up the phone..." he whispered, feeling his heart starting to race.
.
to be continued...