Despite her words, there was a lump in the pit of Beckett's stomach, and she feared the worst. She feared that there was a serial killer loose in her city. The MO was too specific to be a random coincidence, and the fact that the murders had occurred just a week apart raised the hairs on the back of her neck. But until she reviewed the previous kill and investigated the victims, she wouldn't know.
The bullpen had overheard the exchange between her and the boys, however, and the air was brimming with the sound of speculation. Regardless of whether or not it was a serial killer, there were two victims who'd been killed, potentially by the same person, so they needed to solve it. Fast.
"Okay everyone, listen up," she said, teams of detective and uniforms turning at the sound of her voice, memories of Montgomery setting up the precinct in a too-similar way flitting through her mind. "As you all know, we have two murders that may have been committed by the same person, but I don't want this to affect your ability to do your jobs."
She paused, turned to let her gaze drift across Ryan and Esposito, Castle leaning against the wall near her office door, fear shining in his eyes. He was afraid it was serial, as well.
It hadn't ended well last time this happened. They would make sure this time was different.
"I understand that this can be stressful," she told everyone. "But for now, you will all still be handling individual cases. If that needs to change, I'll let you know."
They nodded, and she waited until she was no longer the center of attention before turning towards the elevator, its doors sliding open to reveal a pair of uniforms, Garrett Brewer sandwiched between them.
"Ryan, Esposito," she called to them, "you guys get as much as you can out of Brewer. I need to get the other file from the 54th."
The boys nodded, turning towards where a uniform had escorted Brewer to the break room before walking in that direction, perfectly in step, ready to solve this case.
Catch a potential serial killer. Get it over with. Leave it behind them the way they hadn't been permitted to last time.
Her shoulders sagged, head falling forward as she sighed, and Castle reached to wrap an arm around her waist.
"You okay?" he breathed.
She nodded. "I will be, as soon as we catch whoever did this."
Brewer seemed completely uninterested when Ryan followed Esposito into interrogation, drawing his jacket tighter around his body before sitting in a chair. Esposito planted a chair on Brewer's opposite side before sitting down.
Ryan opened his mouth to speak, but Brewer beat him to it.
"She dead?" he asked, paused to glance around as though realizing the alarm bells set off by his disinterest. "Lora, is she dead?"
Esposito leaned forward, elbows pressed against his thighs, hand laced together between his knees. "She is," he told Brewer. "She was found, murdered, earlier tonight. How did you know?"
Brewer shrugged. "This is the homicide floor, and I'm in interrogation," he said. "Lora's the only person in my life whose murder I would be informed of."
"You sure that's how you know?"
Brewer jerked upwards in his seat at that, eyes going wide, hands landing heavily on his knees. "You think I killed her?" he asked. "'Cause I didn't."
Esposito shrugged, leaning back in his seat as Ryan leaned forward instead, switching roles. Brewer's gaze flitted from one detective to the other, his hands tightening around his knees,
"Do you know Antonio Chavez?" asked Ryan.
"Never heard of him," answered Brewer, fingers drumming against his kneecap, eyes still darting between the two detectives. "Why?"
Ryan ignored him, drawing a notepad and pen from his jacket and making a show of scribbling on it. "Do you know if Lora knew an Antonio Chavez?"
"She didn't," answered Brewer.
"You sound very sure of yourself," piped up Esposito, his glare pointed, sharp with insinuation.
Brewer simply shrugged, disgust welling in Ryan's chest at the blatant indifference.
"Do you know of anyone who wanted to hurt Lora?" asked Ryan, glancing back at his notepad when Brewer failed to look at him.
He shrugged, again.
Esposito leaned forward once more, gaze locked with Brewer's, a challenge. "Do you know anything about your girlfriend, Garrett?"
The man in question barked out a laugh. "I know everything about her," he promised, voice steady with that same indifference. "Including where she was before she went missing."
"Where?"
"Casing out a place." He paused, grinned at the surprised look on Ryan's face. "What? She's dead. It's not like it matters that she was a thief now."
Ryan swallowed, looked away, forced himself to remember that the chances of this man being their killer were so very slim.
How could he forget? They might be dealing with a serial killer.
"Where was this place?" asked Ryan.
Brewer's smile widened. "Give me a piece of paper and I'll write down the address," he promised.
So Ryan handed over his notepad.
Beckett was gentle and quiet from the moment a uniform escorted the wife of the first victim, Antonio Chavez, to her office door, her earlier determination faded to sympathy. Castle watched her lead Kristina Chavez to the couch in her office, settling on the cushion opposite the grieving widow.
"I'm so sorry to ask you back here, Mrs. Chavez," said Kate, voice even and laced with sympathy. "I know you've already answered many questions, but we have a few more."
Mrs. Chavez nodded. "Anything I can do to help find the man who killed my husband," she whispered, a slight Hispanic accent clipping her words.
"We appreciate your cooperation," said Beckett. "Now, I know you already told Detective Harding when the investigation began, but I just want to make sure. Did you know where Antonio was going the night he died?"
"Not exactly. I knew...he was going to buy...drugs, but he never told me where," answered Mrs. Chavez, punctuating the sentence with a whimper. "Antonio always kept that part of his life a secret from me."
He watched Beckett nod, the forced quirk of her lip. "I'm sure he was just trying to keep you safe and happy." She paused, allowed Mrs. Chavez a moment to blink away the tears shining in her eyes. "Do you know if your husband knew a Lora Burton?"
"Not that I know of," said Mrs. Chavez, shaking her head. "Why? Do you think she killed him?"
Kate swallowed thickly. "No," she promised. "We actually suspect that they were killed by the same person."
Mrs. Chavez's eyes went wide, hands scrambling to grasp at the couch. "The same person?" she breathed. "Like a...serial killer?"
And then she broke down crying.
"Yo, Beckett."
Castle turned away from the closed elevator doors, having just escorted Mrs. Chavez from the floor, to see Kate walking over to the murder board. Esposito slapped something on it, secured the page there with a magnet before stepping away to allow all to see the grainy traffic image.
"Traffic cam footage confirms Lora's location before she was taken," he continued. "And Brewer's alibi is solid."
Beckett shrugged. "I figured he wasn't our guy. Did he know Chavez?"
Esposito shook his head. "Never heard of him. You?"
She returned the gesture, paused as she turned to face the murder board once again. "So far our only link is their recent arrests." Another pause. "I spoke with the arresting officers. Both victims had a psych eval when they were arrested."
"Do you know what they said?" asked Ryan. "And why they had the evals?"
"Not yet," answered Kate. "I'm still waiting for them to be sent over, but in the meantime-"
"You want us to go over and talk to the doc?"
She nodded.
Ryan and Esposito were brushing past Castle, towards the elevator, before he could think of something to say.
Esposito flashed his badge at the desk clerk before explaining the reason for their visit. He told the woman behind the counter the names of their victims and what they needed, and both he and Ryan watched her nod as she promised that the files would be drawn and doctors paged immediately.
It was only after she had turned away that Esposito noticed his partner staring down one of the halls that led to numerous doctors' offices.
"You okay, bro?" he asked.
Ryan nodded, shoved his hands into his pockets as he turned towards Esposito. "Yeah," he breathed. "It's just been a while since I've been here, you know?"
Espo nodded.
"Since Tyson and Nieman took Beckett," added Ryan, almost as an afterthought.
Esposito nodded again, pretended not to see the pain etched across his friend's features, not to know how difficult his last visit had been.
They'd all seen a shrink after their last encounter with Tyson, had needed to be cleared for duty once more. Esposito's own visit had been fairly easy, the damage done by Tyson and Nieman almost slight compared to Castle, Beckett, and Ryan.
He didn't know the details of Castle and Beckett's struggles. They'd never really spoken of that day except for brief exchanges ensuring the other was okay. But Ryan-
Ryan had gotten so caught up in his guilt. Sometimes, Esposito thought his partner still suffered under the weight of it.
"This won't end up like Tyson," he promised. "We're going to catch this son of a bitch before he can hurt anyone else, okay?"
Ryan blinked away the haze in his eyes, offered a shaky smile, but nodded all the same.
"Okay."
Kate found Castle standing before the murder board, hands shoved into his pockets and gaze locked on the grainy traffic image of Lora Burton. The bullpen was bustling with officers when she stepped from her office to stand next to her husband, but she didn't hesitate to reach for his elbow and draw him from his trance.
"Come on, babe," she whispered.
He followed her back to her office, lingering in the center of the room as she closed the door and drew the blinds. And then she only waited a second before stepping towards him. Her arms looped around his waist, locking at the base of his spine as she pressed her head against his chest.
Castle's arms closed around her, too. He pressed his nose against the top of her head, sucked in a steadying breath, and his grip around her tightened.
"I can't stop thinking about how you briefed the precinct," he confessed, words muffled in her hair. "You sounded so much like Montgomery with…"
With Tyson. She couldn't blame him; it felt the same, too.
"This time will end differently," she told him, hoping her voice didn't crack with uncertainty.
He swallowed, his chest heaving with his next breath, next words. "I have this dread in the pit of my stomach. It doesn't feel like a coincidence, it has to be the same killer. We can't find a connection between the vics besides the psych evals. You don't think…" His words trailed off, and Kate just tightened her arms around his waist.
The phone rang before she could offer her halfhearted answer.
"Detectives?"
Ryan's head jerked up at the greeting, Esposito turning away from the spot on the wall he'd been staring at.
"Yeah?"
The secretary smiled, tilting her head in direction of one of the halls. "The doc-"
Ryan's phone rang right then, and he winced, mumbling his apology as he reached for the device.
"Ryan," he answered.
"Hey," said Beckett's voice in his ear. "We found another link between the victims."
From beside him, Espo nudged his shoulder, motioned with a jerk of his head to where a single doctor stood in the hallway.
"The psych evals were done by-" continued Beckett.
"The same person," he finished for her, swallowing thickly before speaking again. "I know."