Fate's Surprises
Chapter 13- The Case
The robbery-homicide involved a known thief, one Paul Finch. He had been active for many years. His past crimes included bank jobs, B&E's, art thief's, and the like, but he had dropped off the radar for years now. Word on the street had it that he had given up his life of crime to please his wife. Despite, Finch was found dead in the vault of a major bank, containing safety deposit boxes. Finches body laying next to an open box. Alpha had used a NYPD photo app available by cell in identifying Finch as the victim.
When Tom Demming the robbery detective got to the crime scene a discussion breaks out with him and the other Alpha team members.
"So Paul Finch, huh? He's one of the few guys on the island who could've taken a score like that", says Demming
"So, what do we have, a couple of pros tunnel into the vault, drill open a safe deposit box, leave nothing behind except a dead body that happens to be one of the preps", Johnston is puzzled by the scene."
"Finch couldn't have pulled this off on his own, could he?", Johnston queries Demming further.
"Nah, it's a 2-man job at the minimum. There's definitely another player floating around out there", replies Demming.
Hearing the discussion between the Robbery Detective and Johnston, Castle offers his take on the matter, "Or maybe the partner turned on Finch after the robbery, decided he didn't need him anymore".
"The question remains", says Willis, lead Homicide, "what was taken that is so valuable that the one prep now becomes a murdered Vic himself? Like Castle said, maybe Finch was no longer needed, or maybe the missing partner wanted it all".
"Seems like a lot to do for whatever was in the box. Also, they left some heavy cash behind in the box, almost $100k by my guess", replies Demming, as he'd just finish looking at the crime scene with more attention to the details.
"Well this wife, whom Demming says Finch left his criminal activities for, she would know something, let's bring her in", says Willis the continues, "Let's make it a joint team for the pickup, Beckett, go with robbery on this, I'm off to brief the Captain."
Normally partnering with Beckett, Castle asks,"Where do you want me Willis?"
"Pair up with Karpowski for now and do the witness interviews. Johnston will hit the streets and see if he can scare up any of Finch's associates... maybe anyone that he's taken scores with in the past or people that Finch owes. These assigned pairings makes for a senior more experienced partner for each of our two probationaries. Beckett with Demming and you with Karpowski, that should balance the expertise for our case team structure for the present."
"Why not Johnston and Demming?", asks Castle hoping to change the assignments.
"No, Beckett and Demming have worked together before as undercover so it helps Demming, as this is his first joint case, to be with someone he has worked with before. Johnston also knows the streets and has some good CI's that might give us clues, let's stick to the present pairings."
Rick had tried, but could not change the partnering of Demming with Kate. He resigns himself to it and having been given their work pairings and their tasks assignments, they now all head out to complete their jobs.
As the case progresses, Demming and Beckett are paired together for various other taskings. Tom had been attempting to get more closer to Kate since the start and more so once they began the 'serious' dating he'd proposed to Kate. This to convince her of his growing resolve for a more exclusive relationship with he.
Rick feels uneasy over the pairing of Kate with Demming. But he knows that Karpowski will benefit from his past case experiences, so to take his mind off his concern, Castle gives Karpowski his full attention as he mentors her. He assumes it will be the same for Kate with Demming, strictly professional. Rick is a little put out by all this, but Willis was wise in assigning each of the probies to more experience partners. Castle rationalizes it is just for this case and he will be back with Kate afterwards.
Demming on the other hand is thrilled with being partnered with Kate and being mentored by her. Even if it's only for this one time, he will take full advantage of the new dynamic with Kate. Demming is happy with it. For Tom Demming his pairing with Kate is perfect, just what he needed to make more progress with her and to make a more aggressive move on winning her heart. Demming had been troubled when he learned that Castle was following Kate on her cases.
What better way to take a relationship to the next level?
Tom wanted the daily work contact for a better chance to build on closer ties with Kate as a partner. He had the ideal situation for cultivating more professional and personal contact with Kate . Demming knew that Castle was doing the same in his 'research' with Kate. But now it seemed Demming would have his chance during the case to be with Kate daily and to also strengthen his rapport with the gorgeous Kate Beckett.
Demming now made it his goal to maximize his time with Kate to the exclusion of Castle. When they picked up the wife of Paul Finch for questioning Demming had suggested to Kate that they do the interview together. Since he is the robbery expert he told her he would take the lead and she should follow his lead as they interview. Kate had suggested Castle be brought in as he always had an out of the box view that proved helpful in the past.
"Castle may know homicide from his research and past experience working with you Kate but he is out of his element for a robbery. I have that expertise and he'll just be a distraction. Also, he not even a real cop."
"That well may be, but no one from Alpha will deny that Castle has helped to raise our case closure rate, he has contributed to obtaining that high number."
"I think you're biased here Kate as he is your baby father. So you tend to see him favorably, and that is why he is still around and that is the current talk going round about him."
"Are you questioning my professionalism and objectivity here Demming?"
Demming sees the steel in her eyes from his comment and then tones it down a bit, "Not at all, they are stellar, except when it comes to Castle. He's too close to you and is a distraction, but you are not seeing it."
"Really, how do you explain how our closure rate has soared since he has been with Alpha?"
"Easy Kate, you came to alpha around the same time he joined. You are the main reason for that rise and Castle has been riding it. You just give him more credit than he deserves and have convinced the rest of Alpha about it."
Kate is about to object again, but Demming, not being convinced about Castle, tells Kate, "Look Kate, let's leave him out on this one and see where it goes. I think you'll be surprised. If you still feel that way after this, then I will agree to him being included for other interrogations."
Kate, sees that she has not convinced Demming on Castle's value to the case and decides to agree with Demming. Let Tom judge the results. She's sure that Demming will see Castle differently, when the interview with Finch's wife does not come out as he wants it. She is certain that the 'see for yourself' approach will win over Demming.
Little does Kate realize that Demming will never see Rick's value as a fellow investigator. He would have to admit Castle is a better man than Tom has made him out to be with Kate. Castle is his competitor for Kate's heart and Tom will never admit to Castle being a better man. Before he came back into Kate's life, Tom had been the only man to be with Kate and had told her what he wanted for them. There were many of their male co-workers who were interested in Kate but were intimidated with Kate's beauty those men feeling she was out of their league. She also came as a pair with her daughter since up till Castle's arrival, she was a single parent. For many men Kate's daughter was a hinderance to a relationship so they avoided getting into a romantic liaison with her.
For Tom, he viewed Castle as an obstacle in his efforts to gain Kate's affections. Knowing as he did that Kate was not the kind who did one night stands. Kate did not fall easily and Tom knew the fact she had been intimate with Castle, meant that Castle had a connection to her. Tom needed to convince Kate he is the better man, more worthy of her than Castle. So for Demming, Rick Castle would always be portrayed as the heavy in his pursuit for Kate. But the Robbery Detective knew that there was something Kate had for Castle. Even as Kate denied that Castle had no advantage with her simply because they had a daughter together. No, for Tom Demming, Rick Castle would always remain the heavy. Tom would forever be the one more worthy of her and not Castle. Despite, Tom knew Rick Castle was a grave threat to what he wanted with Kate.
Their joint team finally did close the case and caught the murderer, Finch's partner. The content of the safe box was indeed significant. It was black mail material that could have put mob members in jail. Finch's partner needed it to have the mob excuse his fumbling of a job that cost the mob millions. But some of the names on the black mail material were people Finch knew were vengeful and that he would be sought afterwards for his part in the black mail scheme. His partner's plan was to escape to another country with a promise from the mob to not come after him. This in exchange for not releasing the black mail material to police. But Finch knew the mob would come after both of them.
Finch knew the mob would find a way to make the black mail material go away and kill them in the process. So Finch would not go along with the thief and black mail. As a result of his not going along with the blackmail, Finch had been killed by his partner for it. As much as Finch owed his partner, who had called him out of retirement just to help on the heist job, Finch knew the plan would not work. Crossing the mob like this put him and his wife in danger of an all out retribution from the mob. In the end Finch was right. His partner was convicted of his murder and sent to prison where he was later killed by mob factions there. The black mail material was never recovered, it's whereabouts remaining a mystery.
So Kate and Demming had indeed gotten much closer as a result of their case partnership. There is now a more familiarity between the two and an easy manner not there before the case. Kate deserved to have a choice of who she wanted to be with despite having given a daughter to Rick. Castle desired nothing more than Kate's happiness and if it happened with another man, he would accept it. He would however always be there for her and his daughter. He would be there to catch Kate if things fell apart with Demming, or any man she chose to be with. The old Rick Castle would have dropped her without remorse once he realized the situation, but things were different with Kate. As much as Rick wanted Kate, if in the end it was not to be, Rick needed to be around for even if chose another. It was not about him, it was all about her!
What Rick did not know was that for some time now, Kate had been thinking about them. She had realized that Rick was the one she wanted. Her case assignment with Demming had indeed got them closer, but that had not changed Kate's renewed feeling for Rick. For Rick, deep in his heart of hearts, he hoped it would be him she ultimately chose to be with in a lasting union. Fate always had a way of making course corrections and Rick prayed that was in the stars for him with Kate.
After the team assignment with Demming, Kate was left even more hesitant to bring up the matter of a breakup with him. She wanted to end it with Tom but the question was how? They had been good friends since Academy days and Tom had always been there for her. But Kate could no longer deny her feelings for Rick Castle. She had decided just before their joint case that she would end it with Tom. But being teamed with Tom for this case had presented a bump in the road for her toward that goal.
She would not bring it up while they worked the case, it may well hinder the joint team's efforts on the case. Still now that the case had been solved, Kate was pondering how to go about ending it with Tom, but still keeping their friendship in tact. Kate needed to proceed as cautiously and carefully as she could on this matter. She asked Fate to make it a good outcome.