Forty-Seven: Chapter 20
DISCLAIMER: None of these characters are mine, but they are memorable. Thank you, Mr. Marlowe.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012 – 5:47 a.m. – At the Hotel Sanctuary in Manhattan
Detective Kate Beckett awakens, startled by the intermittent chirping on her phone. It's been quacking at her for the past fifteen to twenty minutes, and initially she has mistaken it for her alarm. Getting her bearings, the first thing she notices is that she is not at home. The second thing she notices is there is a man – a fairly large man – sitting next to her on . . . yes, she has fallen asleep on a couch.
Quickly the previous night comes back to her, and she smiles, softly at first, but then it grows legs and broadens across her face.
"Damn, slept way too soundly," she thinks to herself, and then asks the natural question: "What's wrong with a good night's sleep?"
Thinking about the man half lying and half sitting next to her, she smiles - admitting that he has a great impact on her - whether she wants to admit it or not. She's fought it for so long. It's a wonderful moment.
The moment is short-lived.
She glances down at her phone and sees the text message. The phone number is completely unknown to her. That's brings her the first moment of dread. Reading the message brings the second.
"Beckett. This is . . . well, you know who I am. I gave you a little heartache last summer. And now I have your dad."
Her hands are shaking, and she stands quickly, rustling Castle awake in the process. He doesn't notice anything wrong. After all, it's not even six o'clock in the morning, and he's running on just more than a few hours of sleep and a ton of stress. He stands, looking for his phone as he hears an intermittent vibration. Someone has either called him or texted him. He grabs his phone and then glances over at Kate. Now he realizes that something is wrong. It's not the way her brow is crinkled. It's not the way she bites her lip.
It's her hands. They are trembling.
He walks toward her, approaching from behind. If she realizes he is there, she doesn't let on. So he glances over her shoulder, reading the messages with her.
" . . . I have your dad."
If blood really did boil . . . He is furious, both with Maddox, and with himself. He should have pushed harder for Kate to get her dad here with them. She had called last night, but unknown to her, Jim Beckett had turned his phone off. It had been one of those long days for him as well, and by 9pm, he was sound asleep in bed. He should have pushed her harder to go to his apartment, even though she knows how the man clings fiercely to his independence.
Kate Beckett has slowly walked toward the window, Castle taking each step with her, silently. The curtains are drawn closed, further illuminating her cell phone, and the heart-stopping message. She scrolls down, her finger trembling, reading more.
"I've heard that you are a pretty good fighter. We'll see about that, Detective."
Fear is slowly turning to anger, as she reads the bold, brash text messages from a truly psychotic man. Maybe this guy was a different person years ago when he and Javier were friends. But that man – if he ever existed – is long gone.
She reads the final text message, frowning in anger.
"If you want to see your dad again, you first have to find him. Here's your first clue. I've got him in a familiar place, surrounded by nature. Very peaceful. Come and find us."
Now, for the first time she realizes who is hovering over her shoulder, reading with her. He senses her realization and begins to move backwards, giving her some privacy. He is pleasantly surprised when she turns to him.
"Do you think he . . . how would he have found dad's cabin?" she asks him.
Castle has come to the same conclusion that she has – someplace familiar, peaceful. A place she recovered. Surrounded by nature. Somehow he has found Jim Beckett's cabin. Then again, if his goal was to take her father, then finding out about his cabin would probably be child's play.
"It appears he did," Castle agrees. "We should bring everyone in on this. Come up with a game plan that will –"
"No, Castle," Kate gently chides. "This is my fight, my life, my dad. I won't risk –"
"Kate," he interrupts, "this is the exact reason I foolishly went behind your back and made a deal for your life. Because of this right here. You will go off half-cocked, on your own, walking into a trap. No. I won't allow it. I won't stand by and let you do that."
With that, he takes out his phone, and pulls up Javier Esposito's contact information. He once again reads the detective's text message to him from a few hours earlier, and nods his head. Everyone had wondered where Javier Esposito had gone after turning in his badge and weapons – which of course, Captain Gates refused to accept. In her mind, Detective Esposito simply walked out of a hotel forgetting his equipment. She may write him up on it. She may not.
Castle, however, had a very good idea where his friend had gone. In Castle's mind, if the two men were good friends, the chances that Javier couldn't find him – couldn't call him – well, that's preposterous. No, Castle figured that Javier was having one of those 'off the books' clandestine pow-wows with his friend. That's exactly how he would have written it. And turning in his badge and guns made it a non-sanctioned event, precinct-wise.
So yeah, if Javi needs to talk, then he has found something. Something important. He punches the detective's number. Seconds later, a groggy Esposito answers the phone.
"Rise and shine, tough guy," Castle remarks, drawing a string of expletives in Spanish from the awakening detective.
"Someone better have died," Esposito replies, wiping the sleep from his eyes.
"You tell me," Castle half-whispers. "Is he still alive?"
Esposito pauses for a few seconds, confirming Castle's theory. Finally, realizing that there is no use denying where he went, he answers.
"Yes, he is. And I'm going to have to be more careful around you, aren't I?"
"Not possible, Javi," Castle snickers. "Seriously though, I need you to come here. Things have hit the fan here, and I know you said for my eyes only, but I got to tell you, Javi, I'm so done with secrets. That's why we have been so easy to fool, so easy to avoid these past years for these folks. None of us ever has the full picture. You have a piece, Kate has a piece, Kevin has a piece, I have one – and we all hold fast to our little secrets. Well, no more. Get your butt in here, ex-soldier. We've got work to do."
He then turns to Kate, who is still staring at her phone, coming up with option after option, none of which sound promising.
"Kate," he calls to her, as she turns to face him. "C'mon, let's go grab your stuff from your room and bring it back here so you can freshen up. We've got an early morning ahead of us."
She cocks her head at him for a moment, and he briefly considers that maybe he is pushing too much. He slams such thoughts out of his head. Her way hasn't worked. Time to try something different.
"I'm coming with you," he continues, trying his best to give her a stern look. "I don't want to let you out of my sight, or Javi or Kevin's sight. This could easily be a ploy to get you alone, and finish the job they started last summer."
She nods her head – surprisingly – and walks toward the door. She turns with a smile.
"Coming?" she asks. She doesn't have to ask twice. A few seconds later, they are in her suite, and Castle politely waits at the door while she gets her things. Then realizing that the whole reason he is there is to help her in case someone is in her room, he quickly walks into her bedroom and stands at the door, watching her through the open door of the bathroom.
She comes out with a bag of items and toiletries, and smiles when she sees him. She grabs a couple of hangars with clothes, and a pair of shoes.
"Hold these?" she asks, giving him the shoes. She then walk out of the room, with him following close behind. When they get to her front door and open the door, Javier Esposito is in the hallway walking past her door towards Castle's suite.
"Javi?" she asks, pleased to see her old friend and partner.
"Hey Beckett," Esposito smiles, wondering how much of his little ploy from last night he is going to have to explain to her.
"Javi's headed to my room," explains Castle. "You have things to tell him, and he has things to tell you."
The three friends walk into Castle's suite seconds later, and Kate heads straight toward the bathroom in Castle's bedroom, drawing a smirk from the writer. Pushing those thoughts away – at least for now – he turns to Esposito.
"So, talk," he tells his friend.
"We're after a senator," Javier tells him. "I don't know if it is a state senator or a U.S. Senator, but he slipped up and almost said the word. But that's what he was saying. He tried to catch himself by calling him his employer, or some bullshit. But he slipped up and said 'Sen' – as in Senator. So – I figure between you, me and Kevin – one of us gets the joy of doing a lengthy database search to find out the identity of our mystery man."
"We're looking for someone who probably held some type of political office, locally, at the time of Johanna Beckett's murder," Castle muses aloud, his mind now writing different scenarios and discarding them just as quickly.
"That's how I see it too, bro," Esposito tells him. "That being the case, my bet is at the national level, not the state level."
Castle nods, excitement growing in him at the chance of finally getting ahead of the curve for once in this matter. Then the matter of Cole Maddox pops up again. The pain in his arm is a reminder that the man is still out there.
"So," Castle begins, "the two of you sat down over a cup of tea, a couple of beers, and he just volunteered this information."
"More like a kick to the nuts, bro," Javi smiles, bringing a wincing laugh from Castle.
"Low blow, dude," Castle smirks.
"Life or death, bro," Esposito tells him. "There are no rules except survive."
Seeing the confused look on Castle's face, Javier explains himself more succinctly.
"You don't understand, Castle," he begins. "A fight with Cedrick Marks isn't your local bar room brawl, where a few guys get tanked too far and friends and fellow drinkers break it up and everyone has drinks afterward. No, a fight with C-Marks is a death match. Rarely does someone walk away. I didn't have my weapons, so the longer the fight went, the more likely that he would simply run out of gas against his friend, who had a reputation for wearing opponents down."
Esposito stops talking, offering a gaze down the hallway to make sure Alexis or Martha have not awakened. Then he continues.
"Anyway, I got what I wanted – what we needed. Information. As in who is behind all of this. We should be looking for a senator, as I said."
"Why would you want me not to tell Kate?" Castle asks. This is about her. Why would they keep it from her? Why would Esposito tell him that this was for his eyes only?
"You can – now that I have told you, and you and I have talked about it," Esposito replies. "Beckett is a consummate professional, except when it comes to this particular case, and you know it. You know she gets the tiniest lead and she will go off, half-cocked and get someone shot. We - as in all of us – need to sit together and come up with a plan – and all of us need to stick to it. Too many people have been killed by this guy – or by those he hires."
Seconds later, Kate walks back into the living room and sees her two friends standing together, looking ominous. She is – once again - relieved to see Esposito, since he had left the hotel until less than ideal circumstances hours ago.
"Kate," Javier tells her, "we need to talk."
"Understatement of the century," Castle remarks with a smile.