Shared Obsession Chapter 46

As Kate unpacks equipment from the trunk of her unit, Castle reaches in for a bag. "I saw you put that in there. What is it?" Kate asks.

Castle pulls out a police-style Kevlar vest with "WRITER" printed on it. "I ordered this when we started working together. And last night Alexis confided that when she'd been called to the principal's office at school, she was afraid I'd been shot. So I told her I'd make sure I was wearing this if there was a chance of gunfire."

"Castle, it would be better if you stayed out of range entirely. You could wait for us out here."

"Come on Kate. You've already been using me as an extra set of eyes. If Baylor isn't in there, maybe I can pick up on some weird clue like in Jackson's Bible."

"All right, Castle. But I want you to stay behind the team. And if bullets start flying, get your writer's ass out of there."

"Understood."

Doing his best to move stealthily, Castle follows the advancing squad. Suddenly his phone emits desperate yells of "Dad! Dad! Dad! He grabs it from his pocket to see 911 on the screen, a message Alexis would only send if the loft was on fire or she was being pursued by a horde of muggers. Or maybe, Marlowe Prep is the edifice engulfed in flames.

Castle runs for the exit. "I'm here, Alexis. I'm here, Baby."

"It's not Alexis," Meredith admits. "I just used her emergency signal to make sure you'd answer."

"Meredith, what the f***? You nearly gave me a heart attack. And we're right in the middle of going after the bad guy. You could have screwed up the whole operation." A dark-colored SUV speeds away from the warehouse before Castle can shift his attention fast enough to get a license plate. He shouts back into the building. "Guys! Car! Getting away!"

Esposito and Ryan run out. "Where, Castle? Where?"

Castle points down a now-empty alley, before realizing he still has his phone in his hand. "Dammit, Meredith! You probably did screw up the whole operation. What do you want, anyway?"

"Richard, my dinner partner last night put me onto the most adorable apartment. It's perfect, with flattering light, and only a million-six. I just need you to co-sign a loan for me."

"Meredith, we're divorced. I'm not co-signing anything for you."

"But it's for Alexis too," Meredith argues. "It's only one bedroom, but you want her to be comfortable when she visits."

"As if you'd give up your bedroom for Alexis. Sleeping on a fold-out couch is hardly comfortable. As usual, you're thinking of yourself, not our daughter. And if you did move to New York, you could see her at the loft, where I can make sure you don't drag her off to some fashion event. She's a teenage girl, not some toy you get to play with whenever you get the urge. Anyway, I have to go. Beckett is trying to capture a very dangerous Nigerian drug lord." Castle ends the call before Meredith can protest.

"Castle, what do you mean you didn't get the plate?" Esposito demands.

"I thought Alexis was in trouble, but it was Meredith and – never mind. It was an SUV. From the sound of the motor, not the kind meant to be used in rough country, but just to look cool in the city."

"And how would you know that?" Ryan queries.

"Alexis and some of her friends like to go camping. I have to rent appropriate vehicles."

"So it was an urban SUV. Did you get a color?" Esposito questions.

"Black or dark blue. It happened too fast for me to see."

Ryan points to Castle's black shirt. "What color is that?"

Castle grimaces. "Very funny. Damn! As a writer, I'm trained to notice things. I always thought I'd be a better witness."

"There can't be too many dark SUVs pulling away from here within the last couple of minutes," Beckett jumps in. "Ryan, order the traffic cam footage. Maybe we'll get lucky, and it captured the plate. Castle, come back into the warehouse and see if you can notice anything in there. Maybe this won't be a total washout."

"I'm sorry, Beckett," Castle apologizes, "If I'd stayed outside, that call from Meredith wouldn't have made Baylor rabbit."

"You don't know that, Castle. The way things echoed in there, he could have heard us coming before your phone went off. Or he might have had a hidden camera outside. We can check. But right now, keep your head in the game. Baylor might have left something behind that could lead us to his next target."

Castle points to red flannel laid out on the warehouse floor. "Oni wasn't the only one trying to summon the spirits."

Ryan holds up a batch of flyers from yoga studios. "Looks like he was covering his bets. He was into yoga, too."

"And the camera from the video store is still here," Beckett points out. "Maybe there's something on it we can still use."

As Beckett runs the recording, Castle points excitedly at the screen. "Look at that woman buying a bag from Jamal! She's carrying a yoga mat! Baylor had the yoga stuff to try and find her."

"If he hasn't already," Kate adds grimly. "But look! She put down a coffee cup when she paid for the bag."

"The color of the band is right for Java Hut," Castle notes. "And people don't usually carry cold coffee around. It must be from the nearest one to the stall."

"And the yoga studio could be the closest one to the stall too," Beckett notes. "Everyone capture her image on your phones. Let's work outward from the stall, covering yoga places and Java Huts until we strike paydirt. Hopefully, we'll get to this bargain hunter ahead of Baylor."

At the reception desk of Fourteenth Street Yoga, Beckett holds up her phone to the receptionist. "Do you know this woman?"

The receptionist nods. "Yes, Diana Edwards. What's she done?"

"Why?" Kate queries.

"Because you're the second cop that's come in here looking for her."

Kate swipes to an image of Baylor. "Was this him?"

"Yes. He just left a few minutes ago. Is something wrong?"

"He's no cop, and Diana's life could be on the line. I need her address, now."

Grasping the hastily scribbled information, Kate sprints for the exit with Castle at her heels. "Gumball and siren?" he asks.

"You know it. Hopefully, that will get us to Diana Edwards before Baylor tracks her down."

Kate bangs on Diana Edwards' apartment door. "Open up! NYPD!"

Diana opens the still-vibrating portal. "Take it easy. This is supposed to be a quiet building. What's going on?"

"Is everything OK?" Kate asks.

Diana stares, confused. "Fine, why?"

"We have video surveillance of you purchasing a copy of a designer bag on Canal Street two days ago," Kate explains.

Diana leans against the doorframe. "Look, I know you guys are cracking down on knockoffs but…."

"Where's the bag?" Castle demands.

Kate and Castle rush in as Diana points inside. "Over there. Hey, excuse me, but what's going on?"

"You are a very lucky lady," Castle tells her, retrieving a passport from the lining.

"I don't understand. Am I in trouble?"

"No," Castle assures her, "but from now on, always buy retail."

Kate pulls out her radio. "Detective Beckett. I need a unit at Ninety-first and Broadway. Apartment 3G."

"ETA five minutes," the dispatcher responds.

Footsteps pound in the hallway. "Hide. Lock yourself in your bedroom." Kate commands Diana. Kate slams and locks the door and presses transmit on her radio again. "Beckett. Armed suspect on site. I need backup now."

Baylor crashes through the door pointing a large pistol. "Give me the passport!"

Kate motions Castle to crouch behind a kitchen island and raises her own gun. "Put your weapon down, Baylor."

"Give me the passport," Baylor repeats.

"Baylor, any minute now this place is going to be crawling with cops," Kate claims, hoping it's true. "Don't make it any worse."

"Give me what I want, and I will walk away," Baylor claims.

"Beckett, I've written this scene about a hundred times," Castle whispers from behind the island. "We give him what he wants, and it ends badly. And by badly, I mean with us dead."

"Just stay down," Kate orders.

"You get down too," Castle hisses.

As Baylor fires off a round, Kate takes cover next to Castle. "Damn! I can't shoot him from here."

"He can't shoot you either," Castle points out.

"He could go after Diana, and use her as a shield to come after us."

Baylor fires another round, knocking chips from the island's butcherblock counter, and continues to shoot, moving slowly toward Diana's bedroom. Kate returns fire. "It's no good, Castle, I can't locate him well enough from here to hit him, and my clip's almost empty."

"How many rounds do you have left?"

"Two."

Castle grabs a bottle of Champagne from Diana's wine fridge and pulls out his phone. He raises it above the counter and snaps a picture. "Good. If you fire one more time, I can use this to determine his next position. Then I'll set the pick, and you take him out."

"Set the pick, how, Castle?"

He begins to untwist the wire cage above the cork. "I was considering having Storm try this once. I ran the scenario five times in my kitchen."

"What happened?"

"I ran out of Champagne. And cellphone cameras weren't as good then. But this one is working fine. So just get ready."

Kate fires. Castle snaps a picture and shows it to Kate. The crack of Baylor's gun follows the loud pop of the cork. Kate checks the screen of Castle's phone and takes aim. Baylor falls to the floor. "Got him! Castle I..." She looks down to see Castle holding his arm. Blood soaks his sleeve from where a bullet penetrated when Castle's forearm stuck up briefly into Baylor's line of fire.

"F***, Beckett! On TV the hero always brushes a thing like this off as a graze, but it hurts like hell. And it's bleeding a lot too."

Kate grabs a dishtowel from near the sink to apply pressure to the wound. "That's no graze."