AN: 2 chapters left after this... Thank's to everyone for following, favouring, and reviewing this story. Here's the next chapter everybody, enjoy. Don't forget to Review. :)
Disclaimer: I do not own Castle or it's characters.
Bait
Aunt Kate finally moved back in with us, which I'm thrilled about. It's been kind of lonely in here without her, but at least I had Castle around to keep me company. But having us all back together again, under one roof, makes me happy, and I could see that it makes them happy too.
I was currently on the couch, flipping through dozens of boring tabs that I had on my tablet. I had no clue what to do, and it was only going on ten o'clock in the morning. The front door opened, and my aunt and Castle came waltzing in from wherever they were.
I sat up on the couch and asked, "Do we have a murder yet?"
"Well, hello to you too," my aunt said with a small chuckle.
"Ugh, I'm so bored right now. I want to solve a mystery, or something… I need some excitement."
"Sorry to disappoint you Em, but it's been relatively slow at the precinct as of late. So, I doubt there will be anything of interest to get you out of your boredom."
"Great…"
"How about you head to the park?" Castle suggested.
"I did that yesterday, and the day before that."
"That small arcade you like?"
"I did that a few days ago, and they're trying to renovate the place. You can hardly concentrate with all the background noises going on, so I decided to steer clear of the arcade until they're finished."
"Did you finish your school work Em?" my aunt asked.
"Yes, I did all my assignments for today. I even did a few for tomorrow as well."
"Well, I don't know Emily. Maybe you can play your guitar, or some video games. I'm sure you'll figure something out."
Just then her phone started ringing, and she answered it with a simple, "Beckett."
I walked over to her, as she made quick conversation with the person on the other line, and as soon as she hung up, I said, "Please, tell me that was a murder, and we have a case to solve."
"As morbid as that sounds, I'm right there with her," Castle said as we continued to look at my aunt with hope shining in our eyes.
She sighed as she looked between the two of us, and said, "Yes, there has been a murder. Are you two happy now?"
"I know I am… Even though I feel bad for the person who had to die to make this happen," I said.
"Yeah, and apparently it was a teenaged girl. We'll know more though when we get to the crime scene."
We went to the crime scene, which happened to be at an old abandoned building. When we walked into the creepy looking structure, we found Lanie examining the body, and Esposito and Ryan were talking to someone about what happened. We walked up to Lanie and my aunt asked, "Do you have anything on our victim?"
"Nothing much, I just know that she was pretty young, and it looks like she was strangled. Besides the large bruising around her neck, she also has some bruising around her wrists, so she was more than likely tied up," Lanie said.
"There was nothing on her?" Castle asked.
"Nope... No ID, cash, or anything."
"She could be a run away. Hopefully we can get an ID on her, and notify her next of kin," my aunt said.
"Yeah, and once I have her back at the morgue, I'll be able to find anything else that I may have missed."
"Okay, keep us posted Lanie."
"Will do."
They started to move the body, so we made our way over to Esposito and Ryan who just finished with the man they were conversing with.
"Did you get any information?" aunt Kate asked them.
"Unfortunately, not much. The security guard happened to be making his rounds early this morning, and found her like this," Esposito said.
"Yeah, and he hadn't seen anyone else in the area either. So, it's possibly a body dump, or the killer knew his way around this facility," Ryan said.
"Okay… Are there any surveillance cameras in the area?" Aunt Kate asked them.
"Nope, this whole area is pretty barren. There aren't any surveillance cameras for at least several miles," Esposito said.
"Well, it looks like we're going to have a pretty rough time with his case. Let's see if we can find anything on this girl, and hopefully, the killer."
We were back at the precinct, and everyone was gathered around the investigation board trying to figure out this case. All that was on the board as of now, was a picture of the victim, and the name Jane Doe. We didn't know anything, and that made this case way more difficult than most of the other cases we've solved.
"I feel terrible for the parents who are going to find out that their little girl is dead," Castle said as he looked at the picture.
"Yeah, it's never easy when we get a case like this. I don't know how they could do this to anyone this young, someone who still has their entire lives ahead of them," my aunt said.
"I wouldn't know what to do if this happened to Alexis, or Emily. And the worst part is, the creep who did this, is still out there, and could be looking for his next target."
"Hopefully we'll be able to track them down before that happens."
Aunt Kate's phone started to buzz, and she checked the text she just received.
"Lanie has something for us."
We went down to the morgue, and were greeted by Lanie, as she was finishing up on our Jane Doe.
"So, what do you have Lanie?" my aunt asked as she looked over the young girl.
"I checked her finger prints and dental records, and it turns out she was a 15-year-old high school student named, Amanda Zypher. She lived in Long Island, and apparently she's been missing for a few days," Lanie said.
"Okay, at least we're getting somewhere with this case. I'll text Ryan and Esposito, and see if they can get in contact with her parents, and find out some more about Amanda."
Aunt Kate started to text the boys, and Lanie said, "Besides her identity, I also found something else."
"What?" Castle asked.
"She was assaulted…"
"Sexually?" my aunt questioned her.
"Yeah… He wasn't easy with her either, she has bruises all over her body."
"That's horrible… How could someone do that to someone else, especially a young teenager?" Castle said whilst shaking his head in disbelief.
"I don't know… I ask myself that question every time I get a case like this. It's truly disturbing."
"So, did you find anything that could help us identify him?"
"Sadly, I couldn't find any other DNA on her. I have a feeling he's done this before, because he didn't leave one piece of trace evidence."
"Great… Hopefully, her parents could help us identify anyone that might be of interest."
"Actually, I did find one more thing," Lanie handed over a picture to aunt Kate, which showed a mark of a horseshoe on the girl's upper back, "I found this branded into her skin. I don't know if this means anything, but I'm guessing he's leaving his mark on his victims."
"All right, I'll go see what I can find on this. Thanks, Lanie," my aunt said.
"No problem, I hope you find him."
We headed back to the 12th, and tried to figure out this new information we were given. Castle helped update the investigation board, while my aunt tried to learn more about the horseshoe on Amanda's back. A little while later, Aunt Kate came out of her office, and Esposito said, "Hey Captain, we called Amanda's parent's and apparently they reported her missing a few days ago when she never made it to school."
"Did they mention anything else?" she asked.
"No. They had no clue what had happened to her, she just vanished. Apparently, they live in a small neighborhood, and nobody saw anything."
"Well, I have some news of my own."
"What is it, Captain?" Ryan asked.
"The horseshoe that was branded on Amanda's back, belongs to a serial killer, dubbed as the Horseshoe Strangler. There have been three murders in total that has been linked to this killer, and they span from New Jersey, to Pennsylvania, and now New York."
"That means the FBI is coming in," Esposito said with a sigh.
"Yeah, I gave them a call, and they're on their way."
"Do they have anything else on this serial killer?" Castle asked.
"I don't know, they didn't tell me much over the phone."
"Looks like this case just got a lot more difficult."
Eventually, the FBI arrived at the precinct, and everyone was currently gathered around the room while being briefed on the case at hand.
"This so called, Horseshoe Strangler, has hit three states in the past four months, and we're not going to let this happen again. We need to track this man before he can strike again. He's been targeting his victims from about 13 to 16 years of age, and has been branding them with some kind of horseshoe symbol. The only lead we have so far, is that every girl uses this app," the FBI agent, Morgan Yates, wrote down the name of the app and placed a picture of what it looked like on the investigation, before speaking again, "It's called Trapeze, and is a place where people can chat and meetup with strangers."
"Is there any info on the guy in the App?" Ryan asked the agent.
"No… Once we get ahold of the victims' phone, and get into the app, most of the information is gone. From what we can tell, he's been using aliases to lure the girls in, and pretending to be around 15 to 16 years old."
"How do we know he's not?" Esposito questioned the agent.
"We don't, but from the small amount of evidence we happened to gather, we have deduced the possibility of our killer being under the age of twenty-one."
"So, other than that, you really have no leads?" My aunt asked him.
"We do not, but I'm hopping with your help, we'll be able to track this guy down."
"We'll do anything we can to help your investigation."
"We appreciate that."
I raised my hand, and the FBI agent looked at me questioningly. My aunt gave a small sigh and asked, "What is it Em?"
"Can't you guys pretend to be a young girl? Like, To Catch a Predator, or something like that. We already know he uses that app, so why not go in and get him?" I asked the man.
"It's not that simple. This guy is very intelligent, and has dodged us every time we get close to nabbing him. He'll see straight through our fake profile, and flee just like he's done before." Agent Yates answered.
"So, you haven't tried it yet?"
"No, and we have no intentions to do so. Just because you see it work on TV, doesn't mean it'll work in the real world, at least not for every case, especially high-profile ones like this."
"Can't you have someone go undercover? Like a teenager?"
"Emily, don't even think about it," my aunt said.
"It could work."
"You are not going undercover. You'll get yourself killed."
"I have to agree with Captain Beckett here, I wouldn't want to put you, or any young teenager into harms way. This man is dangerous, and we can't afford to let him get away, and hurt anyone else."
"This could be our only chance to catch this guy. What makes you so sure, you'll be able to obtain enough evidence before you have another victim on your hands."
"We are done discussing this."
"Castle take Emily home. I don't want her involved with this anymore," my aunt said.
"Come on, Em," Castle said.
I glared at the two people at the head of the room, before I followed Castle to the elevator, so we could leave. Just because they're kicking me out, and not wanting my help, doesn't mean I can't take matters into my own hand. Even if I get into a whole lot of trouble, in more ways than one.
Castle and I were currently stuck in traffic as we headed back home. I wasn't planning on going home though, so I decided to try my hand at swindling Castle into being my right-hand man for the undercover scheme I plan on doing. I was already creating a fake profile on Trapeze, and trying to figure out a way to peak the killers interest.
"Hey, Castle," I said, trying to get his attention.
"Yes, Emily," Castle said.
"What do you think is a better name? Riley Fields, or Kiley Baker…"
"Um… Why?"
"I'm creating a fake profile on Trapeze."
"Oh… Wait, no… You're not supposed to be involved in this case."
"I already am."
"Please tell me you didn't finish up that profile…"
"Okay, I won't."
"Emily Marie Beckett."
"Wow, you never used my full name."
"That's because I'm angry with you mini Beckett. Why don't you stay out of things when we tell you to?"
My shoulders sagged as I slumped in the passenger seat of the car, "I don't know. I just wanted to help."
"I know you want to help Emily, but all you're going to do is get into trouble. What if one day you don't get lucky, and we find don't find you in time? You can die Emily…" Castle said as we moved up to the light.
"I'm aware of that, but I guess… I just don't think about it when I'm in the moment."
"I understand, but you really have to start thinking before taking action."
"Since I'm already on this app, and set up my profile, maybe we can stop by your office and look into the case. I'm sure Alexis and Hayley will help us."
"No, Emily… I'm not putting you in harms way, your aunt would kill me if I agreed to this."
"Since when do you turn down a case?"
"When you can get hurt."
"Castle, I promise I won't get hurt. We can solve this case, I know we can. Do you really want another girl to go missing and wind up dead?"
"Of course not, but the FBI and the 12th precinct are on top of it."
"Oh yeah… They seemed to know a whole heck of a lot."
"Emily…"
"If you don't help me Castle, then I'll do it myself."
"You wouldn't' dare?"
"I think you know me well enough to answer that yourself."
Castle glared out the window as he drove down the street, letting out an aggravated sigh. When the car stopped again, he looked down at me and said, "All right, fine… But I'm made aware of everything that's happening between you and the potential killer."
"Welcome aboard, Uncle Rick."
"I'm so gonna regret this."
"Oh, we all are."
We were at Castle's PI office, and currently waiting for Hayley and Alexis to arrive. I was sitting in Castle's chair, and going through potential suspects, as they followed me on the app. As I crossed off several different profiles from being our suspect, Castle, Alexis, and Hayley walked into the room.
"Emily, are you in my seat?" Castle asked me.
"Well, it's my plan," I said.
"Up…"
"Fine," I said as stood from his chair.
Castle took a seat, and I said to the women in front of me, "Please, take a seat, ladies."
Alexis raised a brow, and Hayley gave me a small smirk, as they took a seat in front of Castle's desk.
"What's going on?" Alexis asked.
"Yes, do tell. I'm thoroughly intrigued," Hayley said.
"I have a proposition for you two," I mentioned to them.
"Emily, your making this sound way sketchier than it is," Castle said.
"I figured it be more entertaining this way."
"Just get to the point."
"All right, all right," I looked to the ladies in front of me and said, "We need your help in taking down a serial killer called, the Horseshoe Strangler."
"The Horseshoe Strangler?" Alexis questioned me.
"I heard about him… Aren't the FBI looking into him?" Hayley asked.
"Yes, but they are nowhere near catching this guy. I think we can take him down."
"How can you be so sure?"
"One, because we're good at this. Two, we have a secret weapon."
"What's that?" Alexis asked.
"Me."
"You?"
"Yes… The guy is going for teenagers from 13 to 16 years old. I fit that profile, so he might pick me. So, if he takes the bait, and I lead him into a trap, boom we have our guy."
"I'm usually all in for things like this, but this seems a little… A little to risky. You could get hurt," Hayley said.
"That's what I said," Castle mentioned to her.
"Oh, come on guys. Don't give up on me now. We can do this."
"I don't know, Emily," Alexis said with a sigh.
"Do you have a plan?" Hayley questioned me.
"I have part of a plan, you can say. I put myself on the Trapeze app, we monitor the people I connect with, and try to figure out who the killer might be. Then we go meet up with him, and um… I'm not so sure after that," I said.
"You can't go and meet with him," Castle said.
"How else are we going to know it's him? Besides, you all will be there with me. Maybe I'll say to meet up at a small café, and you three will be hidden around the area, blending in. Castle at the counter drinking a nice cup of joe. Hayley and Alexis sitting at a table by the window, chatting and having their own coffee."
"Hmm… It could work. If we work out the kinks, and figure out some more things about the case," Hayley said with a small shrug.
"Can't I go undercover instead?" Alexis suggested.
"He'll see right through you Alexis… You look like a college student," I said.
"She's right, Alexis. He'd probably figure it out as soon as he sees you," Hayley said.
"Yeah, I guess so. I just don't want you to get hurt," Alexis said to me.
"I know, but I trust you guys. You'll keep me safe," I said, trying to reassure them.
"I'm in, if you guys are," Hayley said.
"Yeah, me too," Alexis said.
"Sure… I just don't want you going off and trying to take him down yourself," Castle said reluctantly.
"Great… So, let's get started," I said.
Hayley, Alexis, and I, were currently in the backroom of Castle's PI office, and I had my phone hooked up to the large touch screen we had, so they could go through the profiles with me. We sent Castle back to the precinct, to see if he can get anything new off of Aunt Kate, Esposito, Ryan, or the FBI.
"How about his guy? Carlos Suarez, 15 years old, likes video games, YouTube, and baseball," I said as we looked at our fifth profile.
"Seems normal to me," Hayley said as she looked over his page.
"Yeah… He checks out, I ran his picture and name through the database, and he seems legit. He has a Facebook page as well, and he looks like an average 15-year-old to me," Alexis said as she looked on her iPad.
I decided to follow him anyway, and Hayley asked, "Did you just follow him?"
"He's cute… Once this case is over, I wouldn't mind chatting with him," I said with a shrug.
"Stay focused here Emily," Alexis said.
"All right… Next one."
I flipped to the next profile, and Alexis read it out loud, "Gregory Thomas, 16 years old, likes reading, writing, and painting. He also wants to apply to Harvard next year, and attend their law school program."
"Well, the picture certainly screams that he would indeed be into those things, but it could be fake," I said.
"I'm checking the database now…"
"He looks fine to me. I can't see any discrepancies within his profile and bio," Hayley said as she continued to look through his profile.
"You'd be right. He has a Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook account, and they all pretty much matchup with what he says."
"Welp, onto lucky number seven, I guess," I said as I swiped to the next one, "Hmm… Connor Washington, 16 years old, likes to horseback ride, play sports, and read graphic novels. He's been riding since he was seven years old, and loves to hang out with his friends on the weekend."
"He likes to ride horses," Hayley said.
"Could be a red flag there."
"I checked his picture, and it came from a photo gallery on Claremont Highs website. There's also no search results for anyone named Connor Washington in this general area," Alexis said.
"Looks like Connor could be our suspect."
"It looks like it. He's online too, maybe we can chat with him and see if he is the guy we're looking for," Hayley suggested.
"Sure, I'll open up a chat with him."
I followed Connor, and pulled up the chat portion of the app. I typed in his name, and then wrote him a quick little message to see if he would respond back.
"Hey, what's up? This is Connor," he replied back.
"It's nice to meet you Connor. What you up too?" I said back to him.
"Nothing much, just chilling at home… How about you, cutie?"
"Eh, I don't know abut you guys, but I'm already getting a creepy vibe off of him," I said.
"It's not just you Emily… He seems like a creep whether he's 16 or not," Alexis said.
"Write back, he might get suspicious if you take too long," Hayley said.
"What do I say?"
"That you're doing the same, or something of the sorts."
"Same here… Just listening to some tunes, as I scroll through here," I wrote back.
"Tunes?"
"That's what came out as I typed."
"Okay."
He typed back and said, "Ah… That's cool. You have any hobbies?"
"Just playing the electric guitar, and I'm into skateboarding as well."
"Nice, I just picked up the drums. I've been planning on playing it for a while."
"Sweet… I see you like horseback riding, what made you get into that?"
"My family owns a ranch in New Jersey. They bought it when I was seven, and I've been riding ever since."
"New Jersey…The first victim was found in New Jersey. It can't be a coincidence," I said to them.
"No, I don't think it is. It can be any number of them though, so we have to figure out a way to narrow it down," Alexis said.
Castle walked in and said, "Hey guys, find anyone that could be of interest?"
"Actually, we did. His new alias is Connor Washington, and he likes horseback riding, his family owns a ranch, and it's located in New Jersey."
"Sounds suspicious to me."
"Yep… So, how about you? Did you get any information at the precinct?"
"Sadly no… They're keeping this case pretty tightlipped around there, and it doesn't seem like they have much anyway."
"Great, so we're pretty much on our own."
"We technically shouldn't be investigating this anyway."
"Details, details… Anyway, what should I say to him. I don't want to scare him off, or sound uninteresting, and then he moves on to the next girl."
"It seems like he's writing back to you anyway," Hayley mentioned as she looked on the screen.
"Hey, uh… I know we just started talking and all, but I'd like to meet up with you. I usually don't ask this for a while, but you seem like a cool girl. It's easier face to face anyway," Connor messaged me.
"What do we do?" I asked.
"We might not get anywhere if we decline his invite. He might just move on if we do," Alexis said.
"Alexis is right… As much as I hate for you to be doing this, it might be our only opportunity to at least identify this guy," Castle said.
"Tell him to meet you at Mancino's Café, it's small enough for us to see you, and big enough to stay hidden," Hayley said.
"Okay, I'll tell him where to meet," I said and started messaging him.
"Sure, we can meetup at Mancino's Café on fifth around ten in the morning. They have some great bagels there."
"I think I know that place. I'll meet you there at ten… And I'll be wearing a blue shirt, so you know it's me," he texted back.
"Okay, I'll see you there. And I'll be wearing something purple."
"Cool… See you then."
"I have a bad feeling about this," I said.
"Now you're having second thoughts about this," Castle said with exasperation.
"Kind of… I just want to catch this guy."
"We all do, we just have to make sure you stay safe tomorrow."
"Right…"
"I say the three of us arrive at the café around 9:45… It'll give us a good amount of time to set up, and be on the lookout for our suspect," Hayley proposed.
"Sounds good to me," Alexis agreed.
"Yeah, sounds good to me as well," Castle said.
"Let's go catch our killer," I said.
The next day was upon us and it was time to meet up with this teenager named Connor. We were pretty sure that Connor was our mystery suspect, but we still need to make sure that it really is him. Castle, Alexis, and Hayley went to Mancino's Café at the time they agreed upon, and while they went inside to take their positions, I decided to hang across the street. I kept a close eye on the time, to make sure I wasn't too early, yet not to late, that he decides to bail on me.
When it reached 10:02 a.m., I decided to head over to the café and wait for 'Connor', if he wasn't there already. I didn't see anyone matching Connor, so I took a seat at one of the middle tables in the café, which gave me a perfect view of everyone on my team, and I figured that they'd have a similar vantage point.
A few minutes went by, and there was still no sign of him anywhere. I decided to text the little group chat that Castle, Alexis, Hayley, and I created earlier today, as we went over the plan again.
"Do you think he's going to come?" I asked.
"Who knows… Just keep an eye out," Castle texted back.
"Yeah, we don't see anyone coming as of yet," Alexis said.
"Okay…" I said.
Another few minutes went by, when I saw the reflection of someone outside the window. I looked over to see two people come into frame, and it wasn't people we wanted to be here right now. I stood the menu up in front of my face to hide it from view, and quickly texted the group.
"What's Aunt Kate and Agent Yates doing here? Did you tip them off, Castle?" I asked him.
"No… I have no clue what they are doing here," he said back.
"Maybe, they got a tip or something," Alexis suggested.
"We better brace ourselves, because they're about to come in," Hayley replied.
I heard the door chime, and my aunt asked Yates, "So, he was supposed to meet someone here today?"
"Yes, someone named Riley… Riley Fields. She's fourteen years old and is supposed to be wearing purple," Yates answered.
I tried my best to stay down and hide behind my menu, but I have a feeling that they'll see me in no time. Just then, my menu was taken down, and laid flat on the table in front of me. I looked up and saw a very angry aunt Kate, glaring down at me.
"So, uh… You came to get brunch here too?" I asked with a sheepish smile.
"Emily, are you supposed to be Riley Fields?" my aunt asked me.
"If I say yes, on a scale from 1 to 10, how much trouble am I in?"
"Eleven…" she said as she pulled me from my seat, "I told you not to look into this."
"I know, but I had an idea… so, I thought I'd run with it."
"Castle, you were supposed to watch her. Not get involved."
Castle made his way over to us and said, "I'm sorry Kate, but I thought she was on to something. She also said she'd do it on her own without our help, and I didn't want her doing something like this alone."
"Our help?"
Castle pointed to Alexis and Hayley, who waved awkwardly over at us.
"Why don't we all head back to the precinct and have a little discussion," Agent Yates said with frustration in his voice.
We all went to the precinct, where we got chewed out by my aunt and agent Yates for investigating a case we were strictly told not to get involved with. After we explained everything that we've done, up to the very moment that they ran into us at the Café, they dismissed us. Hayley and Alexis went back to the PI office to hold the fort down, while we stayed at the precinct. Staying at the precinct wasn't optional either, they demanded us to stay there, so they could keep an eye on us, and make sure we don't jeopardize this case any further.
"Hey, Castle… Do you think he would've came if they didn't show up?" I asked.
"I don't know, Emily. There's a possibility that he might have, but I have a feeling he knew he was being tricked," Castle said.
"I guess, but something doesn't seem to add up…"
"What's that?"
"How did he know?"
"Like they said earlier, he's smart. He knows how to avoid the FBI and police."
"That's true… But how did they even get the information on his whereabouts."
"They probably hacked into his phone, or something of the sorts. It's the FBI Emily, they have their ways."
"Maybe that's what they want you to think."
"Where are you going with this?"
"I think someone in the FBI is the Horseshoe strangler."
"That's a large accusation, mini Beckett. You can't go accusing the FBI, especially if it's false."
"Come on, think about it Uncle Rick."
"Well, I guess you do have a point. They did seem to get a lot of information for each case pretty fast, and around the time each girl wound up dead. So, the only possible way to get away each time is for the main suspect to give off tips after the crime has already been committed."
"He must have known something was up though. That's why he didn't meet up with me, and wound up tipping off Yates and the precinct."
"What if it is Yates?"
"Hmm… I don't think so."
"Yeah, he seemed a little too out of the loop when he saw us…"
"It's gotta be someone else."
Aunt Kate walked into her office and asked, "What are you two discussing? I hope it has nothing to do with this case."
I walked over to aunt Kate and said, "Hear me out…"
"No…"
"Please."
She looked over at Castle, and he said, "She might be on to something."
"Okay, fine. Five minutes…"
I told her everything that I could come up with, to help prove my point that one of the FBI agents was our killer. She nodded a couple of times and when I finished, she said, "It's a possibility, but we have no actual evidence to prove it."
"Prove what?" Yates asked as he walked in.
"Emily believes that one of your men is the Horseshoe Strangler."
"That's ridiculous. I've worked with these men for years, and none of them would do such a thing."
"Then how'd you get all those tips?" I asked him.
"Our main IT guy is very good at his job. He can find almost anything by scouring different databases, and hacking into certain ones, to help gain pertinent information pertaining to this case, or any other case, for that matter."
"I won't deny that your IT guy is probably very good at what he does, but there's still something fishy about it all. Did he take any vacation time recently?"
"Why?"
"Just to rule him out."
"He took vacation time a few months ago… His mom was sick, so he went to visit her."
"Where?"
"At his families… ranch."
Everyone raised a brow at that and my aunt asked, "His family owns a ranch? Where?"
"New Jersey…"
"Ah-ha… I knew it," I said.
"We still don't know for sure, but he was in the same area as our first victim, and around the same time too," my aunt said.
"I guess you're right. We should have a talk with him," Yates said with a sigh.
Aunt Kate and Agent Yates went to fetch his IT guy and brought him into the interrogation room. Castle and I decided to watch from the observation room, so we could find out if he really is our guy.
"Devon, you visited your mother back in New Jersey a few months ago, did you not?" Yates asked his IT guy.
"Yeah, she got a bad case of pneumonia, so I went to help out my dad," Devon said.
"On his ranch?"
"What's this all about? Are you accusing me here?"
"We're just chatting… So, does your family own a ranch in New Jersey?"
"Yes, we do… Near Branchville, we've had it since I was seven years old."
"That's about an hour away from where our third victim lived and where she was found dead."
"I thought you weren't accusing me."
"We aren't, but you were in that area during the time of the first murder, it can't be a coincidence Devon," my aunt said to the man.
"It can be, and it is… I had nothing to do with those girls' murders, I promise."
"Does your family have a signature branding logo that they like to use… So, if we compare it to the ones found on the victims' backs, it wouldn't be a match?'
"Go ahead, I have nothing to hide. They won't match anyway."
"Why not?"
"Because I didn't do it."
"Calm down Devon… If you're not the killer, then you're not the killer. We're just following up on some leads," Yates said to his man.
Ryan walked in with some papers in his hand, and whispered to Yates and Aunt Kate, before handing over the new info. Aunt Kate thanked him, and Ryan stepped out of the room once he was done relaying the message.
"What's going on?" Devon asked.
"Do you own your own ranch, Devon?" my aunt questioned him.
"Yes, I bought it about a year ago. I'm still trying to fix it up."
"It's located not to far from here, is that right?"
Devon ran a hand through his hair, and said nervously, "I guess it's about a two-hour drive, depending on the traffic."
She slid one of the photographs that Ryan gave to them a few minutes ago, over to Devon, and said, "Is that the signature brand you use?"
"I… I…" he stuttered.
"If I were you Devon, I'd start telling us the truth," Yates said.
"Okay… I'm the Horseshoe Strangler. It wasn't supposed to be like this though. My mom was sick, so I got bored on the ranch quickly, and one night, I happened to stumble upon this app. Valerie, the first girl, didn't have her age on her profile, and her picture made her look like she was legal. We got to talking, and she was helping me cope with my mom being sick, and having to work extra hard on the ranch. I confided in her, then one thing led to another, and I asked if she wanted to meet me. She agreed, so I picked her up, and took her back to the ranch."
"What happened after that?"
"Well, I have a separate place a couple of acres away from the main house. I brought her there, and we chatted, just like we did on the app. Then she mentioned how much she hated high school, and I panicked a bit. I told her how old I was, but she didn't care, she said she liked me."
"Why'd you kill her then?" my aunt asked.
"I wasn't going to kill her… It was an accident. We went a little to far that night, and I asked if she was okay with… with being tied up. She was nervous, but she eventually said she'd try it. Things got rough and I went too far… Next thing I know she's passing out… suffocating… I tried my best to revive her, but despite my efforts, she never woke up."
"You couldn't call anybody because you were sleeping with an underaged girl, and you accidently suffocated her to death."
"Yeah…"
"Why'd you mark her?" Yates questioned.
"That was… That was the spur of the moment, really. I don't know why I did it. I figured it'd throw off the cops, and us, if I used it. I was looking into getting a new brander before you figured it out."
"Why the other girls? Why not stop with Valerie, especially if it was an accident?" my aunt asked.
"Honestly, it felt good. It felt like I was letting everything go when I killed her. Of course, there was guilt, but it felt great, and stress relieving. I wasn't going to do it again, but after a couple of weeks, I craved it… If you want to put it that way. The local police were getting no where with the case, and I felt like I could take on the world. So, I went back on the app and found Lesley. Then I met with her a week after we started chatting, and I did the same thing I did with Valerie… Only this time, it was on purpose. Then I found Amanda, and since I had my own ranch in New York, I thought it'd be perfect, and easy… Which it was, but I didn't expect to be caught."
"Why didn't you meet with the new girl you were talking to?"
"I'm an IT guy, I always do my research when I meet a new potential victim. Especially, since the FBI was tracking me, I knew I had to be cautious. When I found out that the phone was linked to your niece, I decided to send you two instead, pretending I had a lead."
"Well Devon… It looks like you'll be going away for a while. I had high hopes for you too. You were one of the best on my team, but now, not so much."
After Devon's confession, he was escorted away by uniformed officers, and Castle and I were talking with Aunt Kate and Agent Yates.
"You know, I hate to do this, but I have to congratulate you, miss Beckett," Yates said to me.
"Really!?" I asked with shock.
"Yes… You were right about a few things, and helped us catch our killer. I would have never come to the conclusion that it was one of my men, at least not anytime soon."
"Well, I was happy to help. I knew that my plan would work."
"It technically didn't work, Emily," Castle said.
"Okay, it didn't work exactly as I intended it to, but it still lead us to our killer. If he didn't cancel, and send them to our meeting spot, then we wouldn't have come to the conclusion that the killer was in the FBI."
"I guess so."
"Anyway, my team has to get going. It was nice working with all of you. And I have a feeling that you, Emily Beckett, will be where your aunt is standing, in the very near future," Yates said.
"Wow, thanks… I hope I can be as cool as her someday," I said.
"I'm sure you will."
Yates gave a small wave before he headed out with his team, and my aunt said to me, "You think I'm cool?"
"Yeah… I kind of always wanted to be like you when I grow up. It'd be awesome to be the captain of my own precinct."
She pulled me into a sideways hug and said, "I'm sure you will be one day. Just stay out of trouble."
"I will…"
They chuckled at me, and just then my phone buzzed in my pocket. I took it out and replied to the message that was just sent to me.
"Who's that?" Castle asked.
"Carlos."
"Who's Carlos?" Aunt Kate asked me.
"One of the guys I met on Trapeze… He's fifteen, a freshman in high school, and wants to try out for the junior varsity baseball team next year. Plus, he's hot."
"How do you know he's not like Devon?"
"We checked him out while looking for our killer. His profile checked out, and he only lives a few miles from us."
"How long have you been talking?"
"Since I friended him, so a little less than 24 hours."
"Well okay, just be careful," my aunt said.
"I know… But I have these guys to back me up if he does turn out to be a creep," I said, hitching a thumb behind me at Ryan and Esposito.
They nodded as they stood as straight as they could, with their arms crossed in front of them, looking like two guys you don't want to mess with. My aunt and Castle chuckled, before my aunt said, "Believe me, if he turns out to be someone completely different than what you expected, then he won't have to worry about them."
"Why?" I asked.
"He'll have to answer to me first."
"Fair enough… I know I'd be intimidated."
"We all would mini Beckett… We all would," Castle said.