Disclaimer: I don't own this, clearly, I'm just putting my spin to the story.
Previously: A strangled groan startles her out of her musings and she turns to find Castle staring at the line with tears welling in his eyes. When he notices her looking at him with concern, he points to the fourth in the line, turns and strides out of the room. She knows his struggling to keep his emotions underhand, the stiffness in his shoulders give it away. Wondering what had set him off ( yes child cases are particularly hard but he has dealt with it before) she looks back toward the line, ignoring Esposito's questioning look. What she finds is a girl of about 12 with the exact same hair as Alexis and the same vivid blue eyes. Conflicted over whether to follow or give him space, her decision is taken from her as Lanie walks in. Kate turns into full cop mode and asks where she has been; she's usually halfway through the observation by the time Kate turns up to the scene. Lanie responds with a "Girl, don't even get me started or we will be here all day." And starts forward toward the line. Her face softening as she sees horror in front.
Kate turns her attention to the forensic team who have meanwhile gotten started on the grueling task of documenting the scene. And once she sends Esposito and Ryan to canvassing the area for cameras and witnesses she her self heads downstairs to where Mrs Harriett Francis is waiting to have her statement taken.
Mrs Francis turned out to be a sprightly little old lady who had opened the orphanage some 50 years ago and totally adored kids. She was quite devastated to say the least.
She, however, wasn't to keen on giving any information and Kate was getting increasingly annoyed. Just as she was about to try another tactic when Castle walked in and suddenly it was a whole different story, she was talking non-stop about this and that. Sadly, very little of it was relevant to the case. Looking across at Castle; thankful that he seemed to be better, she coughed lightly. It got the desired effect and Castle started asking her about the kids upstairs, whether she had noticed anything out of the ordinary and other of the usual questions.
Just as Castle was finishing up, Kate took the opportunity to ask about the missing photo. At first Mrs Francis was confused about it but once Kate had shown her the wall above the staircase, she got a wide eyed like and burst into tears. Through her sobbing Kate managed to get the message, Amelia the girl in the photo had been with her since her adoption had failed to go through 16 years ago and of utmost importance she had been home at the time as far as Mrs Francis was concerned. It also wasn't like she would leave as she was a very responsible girl and was often left in charge. Kate was pretty sure that she had been taken by however had committed the horrendous crime. When asked whether there was another photo of her the answer was negative; Amelia had never liked photos and would always destroy the ones she found. She had finally given in the day she got her scholarship to Stanford, unbelievable for one so young and the only copy had been the one on the wall.
Kate could tell by Mrs Francis' body language that any further questions would have to wait for another time. Getting up, she thanked her for her time and cooperation and asked her to give her a call if she thought of anything that might help whether it be about Amelia's whereabouts or potential suspects.
The drive back to the 12th was silent and somewhat awkward, and Kate had no idea whether or not she should breach the subject of the Alexis lookalike. Once again the choice was stolen from her when Castle opened his mouth muttering "I'm fine, it just scared me a little, you know, she looked..." He broke off, chocked up.
"Castle, I get it, you don't have to explain it to me.." She didn't have a chance to finish the sentence as the had arrived at the precinct and Castle all but jumped out of the car, tripping as he went. Following suit Kate got out and rushed around to see if he was okay and help him up. He ignored her held out hand and stalked off brushing the back of his pants as he went, totally oblivious to Kate's somewhat hurt expression; which she had failed to keep off her face. Thankful he didn't see it, even though it hurt her even more that he didn't even bother to turn around. She promptly shook herself, pulled her thoughts back and settled to let him get away with it.
As soon as she stepped out of the elevator, she was called into the tech-room where Esposito, Ryan and Tory were waiting with surveillance from an ATM across the street. Castle was once again camera footage showed no one entering or exiting the building other than Mrs Francis on her way to the shops, however there was evidence of tampering. Even Tory looked impressed by the work that had obviously been done to hide the evidence. There was however one piece that clearly gave the footage away as being tampered with and that piece was a still shot of what Kate could only assume as being Amelia with a blind covering her facial features and the words "Find me Kate!"
AN: Sorry for the short chapter, I'll try make the next one longer; no promises though.