The Rookie

Disclaimer: Don't own Victorious

Chapter 12 (The Connection)

It wasn't often that Beck would have multiple cases swirling about his brain at the same time; but in this instance he couldn't help himself. A person of interest in the Jacoby case, Todd Williams, was missing and it seemed suspicious as hell. Then there was Mr. Sikowitz, a man Beck once looked up to and thought he knew well was likely somehow involved in the kidnapping of his friends.

Then finally, there was Cat. Freshly discovered in the worst possible way, he couldn't erase the image from his mind; but it did confirm that for whatever reason she'd been kept alive. However, it also added fuel to the fire of what many cops would chalk up to a runaway disappearing for years. Had she been in captivity this entire time? If so, he questioned the implications of it.

Beck shut his eyes, willing himself to focus on the light rain hitting the black umbrella he held in his hand. He stood among a crowd of people in silence. To his left, a young man consoled an older woman who was weeping on his shoulder. To his left, a man just a few years older than he was stood behind a wheelchair bound elderly man. The younger man had shades covering his face, but his hands gripped the wheelchair handles with such force that veins were starting to bulge and his knuckles were right.

Graves surrounded them, but it was the one they stood before that they came to see. The casket rested on a platform as the preacher spoke his words to lay Catherine Valentine to rest.

"I'm sorry," Beck whispered aloud. The service had been an open casket; and the embalmers had done great work on bringing Cat to life in some way. Cat had been wearing a scarlet blouse with puffed sleeves, the blouse had been neatly tucked into dark blue jeans that were cuffed at her ankles. A pair of red heels adorned her feet. Her hair had been done as well, washed and made to rest neatly on her shoulders. If nothing else it had been the one dignity afforded to the girl in the last decade, but Beck still felt it wasn't enough.

A tremor came over him as they began to lower the casket. The elderly woman nearby wailed, echoing against the rain. Tears slid along his cheeks and he drew in a raspy breath. "I wish I could've saved you. I'm sorry." He raised his eyes to the sky, his nostrils flaring. "I'll never understand."

The old man next to him reached his hand over and Beck was startled by the brush of his frail fingers on his wrist. "Thank you." His chest grew tight and he peered down to meet the man's brown eyes hidden behind wispy thin white hair. "Thank you for bringing her back to us." Choking back a sob, he blinked several times before bowing his head.

"I couldn't save her. I couldn't save any of them. But…If I brought you any closure at all…" He wasn't sure of his words. Finding Cat wasn't closure for him, at least he didn't feel like it. At least the family did have closure in the sense of being able to finally bury their daughter. No matter how hellish it was, it was better than never knowing.

Then there was the guilt and the anger. He thought of it only while standing there with her family, that perhaps he shouldn't be there at all. None of his friends' families expressed anger towards his survival, though he thought maybe Trina was upset that Tori was gone and he managed to escape just by being absent.

As time passed, each person at the cemetery said their goodbye to Cat, leaving Beck at the end. He knelt before the fresh grave, his knee freshly soaked from the wet grass. He placed a small rose amongst the bed of flowers at the base of the headstone. He then reached into his blazer and removed a photograph he had framed. It was of the friends in high school, with Cat posing in the center.

"I'll never forget." Placing the photo against the headstone, Beck wiped his eyes and pushed himself to his feet. His gaze drifted to the cairn on top of her gravestone and he smiled sadly at the stack of stones. It was said that in some traditions people would stack stones on graves to protect the spirit from animals. "Those monsters will never have you."

Turning away, his eyes scanned the cemetery and his mind wandered to his conversation with Lane. He remembered the man discussing Jason's grave, but it had been the last he truly thought of him. He'd been shocked to learn both Jason and his sister had been buried here in California rather than Texas; but there must have been a reason they were staying with their uncle and that the man was so protective.

Moving slowly along the graves, he stopped at a familiar stone. Gazing at the words, he thought of his old friend. "I'm trying to find them, Andre. I wish I could've saved Cat." Andre's picture was engraved on his headstone, a masterwork in Beck's mind as he always thought it was Andre himself staring back at him. "I don't suppose you have any clues to give."

Reaching into his coat pocket, he fumbled around for a second before removing a small piano figurine. "I did bring you a gift." Placing the figurine on Andre's headstone, he smiled fondly. He had to wonder if Andre were still around, would he have been a musician? He was sure Cat would've gone into singing.

Just because there was never any way to know, it didn't stop him from imagining. His smile grew as he pictured Andre masterfully playing the piano while Cat leaned against the piano, microphone in hand, singing amidst the glitz of the stage.

Wiping a tear from his face, he continued along his journey, sighing until he reached a larger part of the cemetery. It was then he saw it in the distance, and his heart stopped momentarily. A marble statue of a man performing some MMA stance, and it was well kept. "Shit, it does exist."

He made his way to the grave and peered down, studying it intensely. "Jason." He frowned and tilted his head at the grave markers. There were several markers lined up alongside of his own, and Jason's plaque had a fresh bouquet of flowers and was adorned with fighting medals. "I see someone's still bringing you gifts." He smiled sadly, remembering how Lane told him Jason's entire family was basically gone.

Erwin's grave was a few paces behind his nephew's. When Beck saw it, he shook his head and crinkled his nose. "I'm on to you old man. I don't know what you did, I don't know how you did it or why; but I know you're the reason they're gone. The truth won't stay hidden forever."

Peering at a marker to Jason's left, he frowned. It was of a woman, similar in age. "Must be your sister." Closing his eyes, he thought of his own sister and how alone he'd be if his sister was gone. The thought was painful to think about, especially because she was a big part of why he was recovering from so many vices.

Looking up from the grave, he spotted a woman in the distance. She was wearing a black blazer with black slacks, a large hat rested on her head and a mourning veil shielded her face from view. He could see a pair of aviators and took note of the woman's chocolate brown hair enshrouding her shoulders. In her hand was a cigarette, freshly lit.

Was the woman watching him? He shook his head, figuring his mind was playing tricks on him. Looking back to Jason's marker, he was startled to see a marker for an infant beside the stone. The marker read 'Rachel Tyler' and the death was not long after Jason's own. The birth was the same; so Beck could only imagine it was a miscarriage and Jason was the father, yet another sign of the man's girlfriend it would seem.

He took note of the marble slab which the plaque lay, it was built for two. His gaze traveled to the plaque which joined Jason's and a paralyzing sensation overtook him. The marker was for one Katrina Vega, there was no death date because Beck knew well enough she was still alive.

"Holy shit."

Nearly collapsing from the shock, Beck found a nearby bench to sit as he studied the grave. His mind was wild with various thoughts, confused and saddened that Trina must have suffered all this loss. Even if he wished to help her, he knew she still wasn't willing to cross the line and allow a friendship to start.

Even then he knew what the child's grave meant, and never would he have imagined Trina had gone through such an ordeal.

"Why did you die, Jason? You were the one the Chief was talking about…" He knew there was a violent car accident involved, but for some reason he suspected there was something more to it. There had to be, because of how Mr. Sikowitz reacted. Furrowing his brow, he clasped his hands together and narrowed his eyes. "Are you the smoking gun? The trigger? No. That can't be, because Sikowitz is dead and buried." He shuffled his hair with his hand and groaned. "This doesn't make any sense. What did Mr. Sikowitz do? Why did your grave appear in my nightmares? Jason Tyler, just who the hell were you?"

He remained at the cemetery for half an hour longer, collecting his thoughts before visiting Cat's grave one final time. Leaving the cemetery, he thought on the suspect of the Jacoby case, still unsure why the man had taken off. It wasn't as though Beck had been planning an arrest, the man was only wanted for questioning.

Entering his car, his cell phone began to chime. Raising an eyebrow, he pulled his phone from his pocket and raised it to his ear. "I'm not on duty at the moment."

On the other end of the call was the forensics specialist, a woman with a slightly high-pitched voice that made her sound excited every time she reported something. It was unsettling at first, but he'd grown used to it.

"You're going to want to hear my findings. It's about the Jacoby case." Glancing back to the cemetery, he saw the woman from earlier strolling among the graves. With a sigh, he started up the vehicle. "Oh, and also regarding Valentine, sir."

His pulse quickened. "What do you have?"

"Well, first of all, your suspect is already in the police system. Assault and battery from a domestic case a few years back." Beck leaned back a bit, humming at the thought. What did Todd being in the system have to do with this, unless his DNA was in fact found on Renee. "So, the DNA recovered came back to a match with Todd Williams."

"Okay." His heart sank, now he had to ramp up the search for this guy. At least, he'd need to secure a warrant and launch an investigation into the man. "So what do you have about Cat?"

"Believe it or not, his DNA was also found on her."

If Beck had been driving at the moment those words were uttered, he would have crashed and joined his friends in the afterlife.

Some stuff to unpackage there, any thoughts at all?