"I still think we should have arrested them."
"On what grounds, Castle?", Beckett fired back, the irritation from the previous day straining her voice, "All we have is circumstantial evidence at best. Without something better to tie them to the crime scene, it will be next to impossible to indict them. The best I could do was to station an unmarked unit nearby to keep an eye on them."
As they exited the elevator, she was greeted by the familiar frenzy of the busy bullpen. In the back corner by the murder board, Kevin was standing alone, holding a steaming cup of coffee close to his chest as he stared at their findings.
Even though his expensive outfit was finely pressed and fit him to a tee, it did nothing to hide the exhaustion radiating from every pore of his body.
With a brief glance, Beckett excused herself, hoping for an in-depth one-on-one conversation with her detective who seemed to have slept as poorly as she did.
"Making it an early morning…or late night?", she asked quietly, surprised when it took Ryan a few moments to snap out of his deep concentration and blink at her sheepishly.
"Both…I guess…", he replied with a weary smile and used his coffee cup to point at the murder board, "I understand why Castle thinks there is a connection to our killer and the Hughes', but I also see how it is hard to envision Peter driving the Camry and doing the deed. Javi said this was somebody skilled, somebody who knew what they were doing. And that the killer knows us. But when we…when we apprehended Peter yesterday, he really did look freaked out, like he had no idea what was going on."
Pursing her lips, she took a sip out of her to-go cup and nodded.
"That's what's been keeping me awake too. It makes sense but it doesn't. We ran their financials and there wasn't enough money to hire a killer, even if that was the case. Heck, they can barely afford the next mortgage payment. Jeffrey reminds me of a regular hard-working widower who is trying to keep his son on the straight and narrow. This…none of this fits."
After a long pause, Ryan nodded in defeat.
"I am going to run everything I have on them once more, especially the connections to Michigan, see if there are any ties to Collins."
She nodded, then reached for his elbow, squeezing it tightly.
"Are you and Jenny holding up ok? I know that was a close call…"
"We're fine.", Kevin answered too fast, then opened his mouth a slit as he considered a more fitting answer, "I just told her to keep the apartment locked at all times. Not to let anybody in but myself. Windows are locked as well. Now I just wish the nightmares would go away."
"Nightmares, hm?"
"Yeah…they're horrible. Always about this guy snatching Jenny before I can save her. It's been keeping me awake for days."
"I understand…", she said, receiving a genial nod in return, "Don't forget that we stand between him and this town. And he's about to have a hell of a fight on his hands."