235. Chapter 235

After Probable Cause, Again

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: I probably did not create Castle. Um, that is, I didn't. Rating: K Time: See above

"Is this really worth the time and effort?" She asked.

He smiled at her, causing her heart to beat faster. "Of course it is."

She smiled back. "I know what he means to you. I know he's important on some level, but don't you think we'd be better advised to use our resources elsewhere? We don't have infinite resources, you know. We're in this by ourselves. No one else can, or will, help us."

"We don't need any help, although we could get some if we had to." He reached out and ruffled her hair. "This is something I have to do."

"Why?" She asked. She loved him, but she worried about him. "He's just one man."

"He's the only one who's ever figured out who I am. All those other cops were just nameless, faceless drones, trying to out think me with no success. He figured out that it was me, and not Marcus Gates." Jerry Tyson laughed. "If he just could have kept his mouth closed until that other cop was ready, Richard Castle would be known as the man who caught 3XK."

"He'll never catch you. Why keep them under surveillance?"

Tyson laughed. "Why? Because I have something I lacked before. I have an opponent worthy of me. And I have an audience. Someone who can observe my work and appreciate it. Before all I had were some dumb ass cops who couldn't even see that I'd been killing for years. Everyplace I've been, they all thought I was their own serial killer. Now I have someone who can understand my genius."

"I understand your genius, Jerry." She said.

"But you see it from the inside. He has to find the clues, put them together, discover the pattern. Do you think that any of the NYPD's so-called homicide detectives, even the great Kate Beckett, could have figured out that I did all of this for no other reason than to escape? Only Castle was smart enough to figure it out. It's a shame he's so constrained by conventional morality. Think of what we could do together."

"We'll do great things together, Jerry." Kelly Neiman said, sliding her arm around him. She hated it when he used partners. She should be his only partner. And she hated the way he talked about other women. Even those he killed. But most of all, she hated Detective Kate Beckett. The way her lover, her partner talked about her, it was like he wished he had her for a partner, instead of her being Castle's partner. She longed to have that bitch on her operating table. She dreamed of it.

"Hey! The bug is picking up something." Tyson said happily.

"Yes! I told you so. Castle is having Beckett look at everyone involved in the Tessa Horton murder, hoping to find something. If they're good, and they are, they can find someone who saw Tessa and me when we went out. Oh, he is good." Tyson smiled. "But I'm better."

"Shouldn't we leave soon?" She asked. She hated this waiting and doing nothing interesting.

Tyson thought for a few minutes. "Yes. Finding some waitress or busboy who saw Tessa and me at dinner won't present much of a challenge to Castle, or give him much to work on. I need to give him a real challenge. Something worthy of him. And of me, of course."

And of me. Kelly thought.

"I think we need a change of scenery and a change of MO." Tyson said.

Kelly smiled happily.

Detective Ray Owens of the Oklahoma City Police Department slammed the newspaper down. "Look at the damned headline, people!" He said to his assembled homicide squad. "The Red Wig Killer Strikes Again! Dammit! That's three young women killed by this bastard in nine days and we're no closer to catching him than we were after the first. Can't we find any connection between the victims?"

Detective Luis Olivos shrugged. "He has a type. All under twenty five, all blonde, all good looking, all single with no steady boyfriends."

"All like having a good time." Detective Alice Gordon added. "In fact, they were pretty much sluts."

"Christ!" Owens barked. "Alice, don't use that word. The damned papers will say we're blaming the victims."

"He has an MO." Someone said from the back.

Alice nodded, happy to be able to get back on Owens' good side. "He drowns them in their own bathtub after drugging them. Then he puts a cheap red wig on them."

"And he leaves no evidence behind." Someone added.

"There must be a connection between the victims." Owens said, mostly to himself. "Some way our killer found out about them."

Olivos spoke. "Claire Madden worked as a barmaid in a cowboy bar. We have a couple of hundred rednecks who were sniffing after her. Lee Ann Carrol was a college student who liked to party. Worse she rode a motorcycle, so we have frat boys and bikers to look into. Jan Mayen worked as a secretary for a temp agency. She's worked with hundreds of people in the last six months, more if we go back further."

"Anything from the Feds?"

Owens shook his head. "No serial killers show up with a drowning and red wig MO." He looked around at his team. "Okay, people, get out there and start asking questions."

The couple who were known in Oklahoma City as Mr. and Mrs. Craig Kilbourne avidly read the local papers and chuckled.

"As usual the police are clueless." The man chortled.

"Shall we do another three?" She asked, breathlessly.

"No. Normally 3XK would kill another three, but the red wig killer is different. We need another change of scenery. How do you feel about Miami?"

She smiled. "It's got to be better than Oklahoma."

Richard Castle carefully read the Oklahoma Ledger over his breakfast. "Kate, did you read this in the Oklahoma paper?" He handed the paper across to her.

She read the article. "It's a bit out of our jurisdiction."

"Yeah, but the dead woman were all young, good looking blondes. Just the kind that Jerry Tyson targets. And three were killed in a row."

"And then the killings stopped." Kate had been sure that Tyson was dead, but since Rick thought he was still alive, she agreed to help him. And the more they talked about it, the more she came to believe Castle. "That's not Tyson's MO."

"He changes his MO. That's one of the reasons he's lasted so long." He ate some bacon and chewed slowly while thinking. "Can you call the Oklahoma police? Ask about the case? Tell them it might relate to an old, cold case or something?"

"Sure."

Several blocks away, one of 3XK's friends manning the surveillance gear smiled. He'd have good news to give his friend. And maybe his friend would be nice enough to let him help the next time.