Chapter 81

At the Precinct, once they settled in, they found themselves in front of the white board going over the most recently gathered evidence. They had agreed to leave their differences at the door to the Precinct and to deal with it when the case was over. They agreed that if Agent Shaw sensed they were in a disagreement, it would only serve to confirm what she already believed about them. Beckett had said in the elevator that she didn't want the attention on them, that they were there to solve a crime.

As it happened, Shaw was in the bullpen in the operations room she had set up and when she saw they had arrived, she came out to provide an update. There had been embalming fluid and animal hair found on the two victims, which had the team dwelling on how may taxidermists were located on Manhattan Island.

It turned out there were only seven taxidermy shops in the city. Beckett's NYPD team were running them down while they examined whether there was any connection between them, and if so, why hadn't comparison matrix find it?

Beckett thought about Agent Shaw's question before she replied, "Maybe it's not as simple as a work relationship or going to the same gym. Like you said, Agent Shaw, it takes a mind to hunt a mind."

The third victim who had been deposited at Beckett's front door, was identified as Sandra Keller who had worked at a taxidermy shop downtown.

The connection between the killer and the deceased Sandra Keller was made by a colleague of hers who said she'd got caught up in a rather spectacular run-in with a guy who maybe matched the NYPD sketch of their supposed murderer. The man had been a customer whose Bichon Frise had been killed in the park by another dog, a Rottweiler.

According to the employer of the taxidermist, the customer had been heartbroken. Even though he had paid half up front to have his dog preserved for eternity he didn't have the balance of the fee to pay when he returned to pick up his dog.

Allegedly, when Sandra refused to hand over the stuffed dog, it was reported to the detectives, that the guy went ballistic and stormed out of the store. Two nights later, the store endured a break-in. Among the things that went missing was the guy's stuffed Bichon Frise and a crate of embalming fluid. The burglar also trashed the store's computer destroying the client database.

It explained why CSI found traces of embalming fluid at the murder scenes.

The FBI agents had interviewed all of Michelle Lewis' dog walking clients. One couple had to put their Rottweiler down because Michelle lost control of it, and it killed another dog.

Perhaps so grief-stricken, the killer blamed Michelle the dog walker and Sandra the taxidermist for the loss of his best friend and decided to get revenge.

Shaw explained to Beckett and Castle that the dog was simply the trigger point for the killer. It was raised that perhaps the killer was reading the Nikki Heat book when the dog was killed. When he snapped, he somehow blamed Nikki Heat for it.

The first victim, Peterman, had been a personal injury lawyer. According to Peterman's notes, back in January, he had met with a person named Ben Conrad regarding a lawsuit about a deceaed dog. Peterman declined to take the case, which might have hit a nerve of Conrad's.

When the team moved into the FBI's war room, Agent Shaw uploaded a DMV photo of Ben Conrad. She dragged the photo across the screen then commanded the computer undertake a search to match the photos with government authorities. Within minutes they had his address, more details and Shaw ordered the teams out to arrest the man.

Outside around the corner from Conrad's apartment about an hour after they had gathered up a squad, Agent Shaw paced along the pavement her phone to her ear.

"Yeah," she answered, "Okay, sweetie. Mommy's gotta go arrest somebody, okay? I'll be home for dinner. All right. I love you. Bye."

Beckett who followed close behind asked in surprise, "You're a mom?"

Shaw stopped and turned about, "Yeah. And you can holster your gun. You're both staying here."

Castle said, "What? No, come on. This is the final takedown." He turned to Beckett. "You can't let her do this to us, Beckett."

"No, Castle, Agent Shaw is right. I'm his target. I can't compromise the team by walking into the line of fire."

"We'll take him down." Shaw stated, "It'll still be your collar."

"Mm-hmm." Beckett gave a nod and remained with Castle as the FBI team headed towards the entrance of Conrad's apartment. When she was gone, Beckett said, "Wow. She's a mom. I never would've pegged her for that. I figured she was a career-driven woman with no time for a family."

"Well, not everybody makes that choice," Castle replied.

Beckett's cell phone rang out and she quickly hunted for it. She hit accept and put it to her ear, "Beckett."

Montgomery said, "Beckett. He's calling for you."

"Put him on, Sir." She looked to Castle and drew him in so he could hear the conversation. When she heard the connection take place, she said, "Hello?"

It was a deep voice, "Oh, you think you're so smart, don't you, Nikki? You think, what, just because you found me that you won?"

Beckett covered the phone as she whispered, "He knows we're here." She uncovered the phone. They searched the apartment building the FBI team had penetrated. In a second floor window was a man who fitted their description looking down at them. Beckett persisted, "It's over, Ben. Time to give up."

The man held a hand gun pointed at his head.

"No," he replied, "It's not over."

"Ben, listen to me." Beckett said, "You're surrounded. I need you to put the gun down."

"You know I can't do that, Nikki."

"Ben, I need you to step outside of your apartment with your hands raised."

"That's not our game, Nikki. One of us has to die."

"No one has to die." Beckett replied.

"Somebody always has to die! And since it can't be you…"

"Ben!"

The figure stepped out of the window and a gunshot sounded through the phone and from the apartment.

"Stay here, Kate." Castle ordered and put his hand around her upper arm. "Shaw's got it."

"I'll phone Montgomery. Report it in." She said. They could see the FBI team moving about In the apartment. Shaw took a moment to look down at them, then disappeared.

Beckett make the call to the Precinct to report to her Captain.

The case was wrapped up by the end of the day, and a debrief meeting was arranged with Captain Montgomery and the teams. As expected, Shaw managed the meeting. Agent Avery shouldered Shaw. Beckett and Castle were seated and allowed Shaw to fully debrief the Captain without adding any information. They would have the time to talk informally with the Captain after the FBI crew were gone.

"In summary, the gun is with ballistics, but given it's a .45, it's probably the same one he used on the other victims," Shaw said, "From evidence we uncovered, Conrad was planning something a little bit more spectacular." She cast her eyes over the brunette woman.

Castle said, "He was busy making a detonator from a cell phone."

"And to do that, Conrad had extracted formaldehyde from the embalming fluid he stole to create cyclonite."

"A near military-grade explosive, Agent Shaw," Captain said, his eyes momentarily leaving the FBI agent to scan Beckett and Castle who both seemed a little distant with each other. It wasn't something anyone else would probably notice but because he knew they were secretly dating, he also noticed when there was disturbance between them.

Castle said, "When you profiled him, Agent Shaw, you said he was probably an arsonist."

"I also said he liked to make a big scene. We found schematics of the precinct, Captain. He was planning on killing Detective Beckett, and taking the whole station with her." Shaw silenced to allow the impact of her statement to settle in to those present in the room.

"That's odd," the Captain responded, "For a person intending to make a bomb to kill another, to commit suicide so quickly."

Castle's brow creased in thought and he lightly touched Beckett's shoulder gaining her attention. They briefly communicated without speaking a word. It was something they had found odd about Conrad, why he had killed himself and they had discussed it earlier.

"I just wouldn't have profiled this guy as suicidal." Shaw responded, "But I guess once we found him, it was the only way he could control the situation."

"Well, at least Conrad saved us the trouble of a trial," Beckett commented, "No case preparation."

"Yes, that's an upside. The FBI will do the paperwork," Shaw said to Beckett, "And the best news is, I'm out of your hair."

Beckett smiled, "It was a pleasure working with you and the best news is that it's over."

"Well done to both teams." Captain Montgomery said then pointed at Beckett and Castle. "I don't want to see you two and your boys in here for a few days." He;lk pushed off the edge of the desk. Castle stood up as Beckett did.

Back at Beckett's desk, Rick sat in his old chair and for a minute or so he observed the FBI team and Beckett. It was apparent the mob of suited up FBI agents were about to pack their technology up and disappear into the evening. That would please Beckett who was busy checking her emails and pretending to not notice the agents prepping for their evacuation. As the FBI would be doing the paperwork on this case, Beckett and her team were off the hook and could go home. The boys had clocked off about a quarter hour ago.

While he watched the plastic boxes appear from nowhere, he dwelled on whether he was doing it alone tonight or if Kate was planning to be with him.

"Tonight," he murmured as a prompt, and picked up his phone that vibrated with an incoming text.

Beckett timidly glanced at him, waited for him to continue while she worked. She seemed semi curious which was a good sign.

"What's your plans?"

"A long hot bath." She replied without thought. "Once I tidy up this file." She lightly tapped the beige file.

"If you want I can do it tonight."

"Paperwork, Castle?"

"Well, sort a file into order." He slipped the file across the desk towards him. "Not paperwork."

"Thank you." She whispered.

"Alright. Well, I'm headed off home. The daughter is cooking dinner."

"Night, Castle." Kate replied and gave him a mild smile.

"Till tomorrow." He said as usual so anyone listening in understood he was going home alone.

Alone in the elevator he tapped out a text on his secret phone and sent it to Beckett. I will have Alexis make enough dinner for you if you decide to drop by.

By the time, he was outside on the pavement, she'd responded in the negative. She wanted some alone time.

Procrastination was at a peak for Castle that evening when he put everything before tidying up the NYPD file. It was the last thing he was going to do before he headed for bed. At first he was flipping through emails, evidential paperwork and then he began to sort through the photographs. Engaged, he started to spread them out and study them taking a different point of view to what he normally would.

The only thing that distracted him was his daughter who padded past him towards the kitchen.

"Hey. I thought you went to bed an hour ago." He commented as she went to the fridge.

Alexis said, "I couldn't sleep." She took bottle from the fridge.

Rick wrapped his arm around his daughter as she came to him and leaned into his body. He liked it that his favourite girls enjoyed being close to him.

She gazed over the display of photos, "I thought the case was over, Dad."

"Oh, it is." Castle said, "Wrapped up all nice and neat."

"That's a good thing, right?"

"In a book, that's a good thing." Castle said, "But, in real life, nothing is that neat. What's got you still up?"

Alexis sighed as though she had the weight of the world on her shoulders, "Gram. I can't believe she's leaving tomorrow. I mean, yeah, when she first moved in, I couldn't imagine having her around all the time. But now I… can't imagine her being gone."

Castle smiled, "Listen. It's a fact of life. People we love leave us. Unless you chain 'em to a radiator, which for some reason is illegal."

Alexis laughed.

"But, uh… Knowing her, Honey…" he paused when they heard Martha descending the stairs, then whispered, "She'll be back in six months."

Martha called out, "Oh, good. You're both up." She strode across the living room with a handful of clothes, "Darling," she said to Alexis, "I need you to help me decide on what to take. Oh, and I need to get my bags down. Richard, could you give us a hand?"

Castle repeated, "A hand." He picked up a photo showing Conrad dead on the floor.

Alexis queried in confusion, "What?"

"The bruising pattern on the second victim, the killer used his left hand. And, you see his handwriting?" He pointed at the hand writing on a sheet of paper, "Look at the slope on the four, Alexis, and the loop on the six."

Martha who peered over their shoulders said, "Yeah. So, he was left-handed."

"Well, Ben Conrad shot himself with his right hand, Mom." He tapped the photo he held, "If the man in the window was Ben Conrad, he would've shot himself on the left side. Ben Conrad didn't kill himself. Ben Conrad was murdered by the man in the window. Ben, Ben's not our killer. The real killer was just playing with us."

Alexis said, "But the evidence –"

"No," Castle cut in, and begun to think aloud. "It was planted there to lead us to Ben. He wants us to think it's over. He wants us to drop our guard. He wants to make a big scene. Nikki will burn." His eyes widened as they locked with his mother's, "Beckett. He said at his apartment it wasn't over. We missed it. Beckett's in danger."

"Oh, god, Richard."

Castle frantically searched the table for his secret phone, "Montgomery took the detail off her place. She's alone." Phone was under photos and he snatched it up to call Beckett. He hit one of the two numbers stored in that phone. Police phone or secret phone. It didn't matter. He needed her to pick up the call.

Castle said to his Mother as he started towards the front door, "Call the precinct. Tell them to get over there right away. Tell them we were wrong." He opened the door. "Tell them the killer's still alive." He pointed at Alexis. "You lock this door behind me. Don't let anyone in."

Martha was already on her phone, "Captain Montgomery, please. Yes, tell him it's an emergency."

In the elevator, Castle kept calling Beckett's two phones. Outside, contemplating whether he would run to Beckett's apartment, he caught sight of an approaching cab. He waved frantically at it and thankfully the drive pulled to a stop. During the journey he repeatedly phone her to no avail.

He paid the driver and almost tumbled out of the cab in his haste to reach Beckett's apartment building. With his cell phone stuck to his ear, calling Beckett he ran up the street. He'd call until she answered.

"Come on, Beckett. Pick up. Pick up the damn phone. Pick it up!" He rushed along the side walk directly across the road from Beckett's apartment building.

Finally, Beckett picked up. "What, Castle?"

"It wasn't Ben Conrad." Castle ran towards Beckett's apartment. "He's not the killer! The killer's still alive! The killer's still alive!"

Beckett didn't reply.

Castle desperately screeched into the phone, "Kate!"

There was a very loud explosion.

The windows of the apartment blew out.