Forty-Seven: Chapter 14
DISCLAIMER: None of these characters are mine, but they are memorable. Thank you, Mr. Marlowe.
Tuesday, March 27, 2012 – Now 9:18 p.m. at Mr. Smith's Home
"Well isn't this just peachy," Richard Castle mutters under his breath as he stares at the writing on the wall. There is no misunderstanding the meaning, the message. It is a warning, pure and simple, and it is aimed at one person in the room.
That person stands with her hands on her hips, now glaring at the message, all but daring her tormentor to show himself.
"Hide while you can, bastard," she whispers to herself, just a fraction too loud, so that the tall man next to her hears it clearly.
"We'll get him," Castle says softly to his . . . his . . . whatever the heck they are right now. Kate? She's not so sure.
"How, Castle?" We don't know who he is. We don't know where he lives. We don't know what he looks like. We don't –"
"That might not be entirely true, Kate," Kevin Ryan tells her. He is pointing to a small spy-camera. It is well-hidden, well disguised within the plant in one of the kitchen corners along the counter. The only reason he knows this is because – in one of his uber-protective moments – he acquired a few of the little buggers for Jenny in their home. Just as a precaution.
As he pulled himself out of the shocking remains in front of them and began morphing into 'detective mode' at the scene of this crime, he came across the camera and immediately recognized what it is.
Esposito follows the eye line of sight of his friend, and hones in on the object of Kevin's attention.
"Is that what I think it is?" he asks his friend.
"Yep," Detective Ryan replies, then transfers his look to Kate Beckett. "It's a spy camera. We just have to find the server it feeds.
Kate allows herself a small smile, then a quick frown as Castle leaves her side, walking to the front door.
"Where are you going?" she asks, wondering what would prompt him to leave. He's obviously looking for something.
"If he has a camera inside the house," Castle muses aloud to the group, as he opens the door, "then chances are there is one outside as well."
Esposito nods, and Kate is once again reminded of her great fortune to have this group of men as her teammates. Each of them, in their own way, has done much to take care of her, watch over her, even though she abhors the idea of needing someone to watch out for her.
Meanwhile, Kevin Ryan and Esposito are now on the hunt throughout the house – guns drawn – making sure the rest of the house is clean. There is always a chance that the perp who has murdered Mr. and Mrs. Smith is still here. It's a big house, with two floors. If he is not still here, then their search for the server and monitor becomes easier. If he is still here – watching them – well, they're all in great danger then.
Kate stares at the bloody message on the wall again.
"What kind of monster does this?" she thinks to herself as she picks up her phone and begins dialing dispatch, to bring an ambulance to the residence. As they answer the phone, Kate recites the address and calls for a wagon.
"It's a pick-up," she tells them, indicating no one is alive. "Two bodies."
She hangs up as she hears her colleagues in the back of the house.
"Clear!" she recognizes the voice of Javier Esposito upstairs. A few seconds later, Kevin Ryan chimes in from a different room still downstairs.
"Clear!"
This goes on for another half minute, until she hears Ryan call back to her.
"Kate, back here," he yells loudly. Kate is walking toward the back hallway to get to the room where Kevin Ryan is now sitting, at a desktop. A minute later she is in a den near the end of the hallway. She hears Esposito walking loudly back down the steps after his thorough sweep of the upstairs rooms of the home.
"What do you have, Kevin?" she asks, as she settles in, standing behind the detective who is peering over a computer monitor.
"Searching . . . for . . . searching . . . for . . ."
He pauses another few seconds before smiling, pumping his fist in the air in victory.
"Got it!" he exclaims, as she watches him open a folder, giving them a live feed from the kitchen area. He slowly starts to rewind the video, gaining speed as he is looking for the timeframe of the 'event'. They spend the next minute or so watching blurred images speed past their eyes.
Quietly, Castle walks back into the house and follows the sounds of small chit-chat between Kate and Ryan to the den. He stays quiet, watching Ryan as he enters the room, knowing immediately what the detective is doing.
"Find him yet?" he asks. Sure, it's an assumption that their perp is a 'he'. But given the state of the victims in the kitchen, it's also an assumption he's willing to run with.
"Not yet," Kate replies for both of them.
"When you're finished, we should check another folder," he replies calmly.
"For what?" Ryan asks, as he watches the images continue to whisk by.
"There's another camera, far side of the front porch – pointed at the street," he smiles.
"License plate?" Kate asks excitedly.
"If we're lucky," Castle admits. That's what he's hoping for. Another half minute goes by, as he is now standing next to Kate, gazing over Kevin's shoulder. Esposito stands next to him.
"Getting crowded in here," Castle smiles.
"Shut up, Castle," Esposito teases, trying to break the tension. Suddenly, a gasp is heard from Ryan as he slows down and has to back the cursor up. There it is. Their man. He looks mean. He looks tough. Castle feels Javier Esposito tighten up. He glances at his friend as the words leave his mouth.
"No fucking way," Esposito exclaims. Not the kind of language he uses in front of Kate Beckett, and for that reason, all heads turn to him.
"What is it, Javi?" she asks, and quickly notices the anger on his face, a face that has suddenly gone ashen. Veins are sticking out. It's not a pretty sight.
"Javi?" she asks again.
"C-Mark," he breathes.
"Who?" Castle asks.
"Cedric Marks," Esposito replies. "C-Mark. Special Forces. Good . . . dammit . . . he was a good man."
"Not anymore," Castle reflects aloud, as the foursome force themselves to watch a gruesome scene play out in front of them on the screen.