49. Chapter 49

Chapter 49

When the team arrived at their late captain's home, CSU was already there. The children weren't at home, and Evelyn said she hadn't intended to be there, either…that it was almost as if someone knew the house would be empty. Beckett and Castle looked at each other with concern. Evelyn identified the picture of Costas as the man she saw and said she had shot the intruder with Roy's old gun and thought she had hit him in the shoulder. That would explain the two separate gunshot wounds on the body. The intruder had crashed through the window and run. He had only taken records…Roy's laptop with old files on it, old files from a cabinet, but no valuables. Castle and Beckett were nervous about where the case was heading, and trying not to panic yet; but the more they learned, the more they worried. They willingly stayed with the case, though, right up until Ryan and Esposito came in around lunchtime to tell them that the DNA under the victim's fingernails matched the DNA from another shooting…Beckett's shooting.

"Oh, god," she said, suddenly looking pale. "Ohgod… ohgod,ohgod,ohgod,ohgod,ohgod." Then she put one hand over her mouth and left the room in a hurry."

"What was that?" Esposito asked Castle.

"Yeah. I've never seen her respond like that to anything...ever," Ryan said.

"We need to talk, but not here," Castle told them. "I'm gonna go check on her."

Based on her actions, Castle headed toward the women's restroom; and when he was nearly there, he saw Officer Hastings coming out.

"Is Beckett in there?" he asked.

"Yeah. And I doubt there's anything left in her stomach. I asked if she would be okay alone, and she said she would; but I'm glad you're here. She looked pretty bad."

"Is anybody else in there?"

"No. Just her."

"Do you have time to stand watch long enough for me to go in and check on her? I don't want to surprise anybody."

"Yeah, sure. I'd try to talk her into going home if I were you."

"That's the plan. Thanks. I won't be long."

When he went into the room, Beckett was rinsing her mouth out and spitting water into the sink. Then she washed her hands, splashed water on her face, and grabbed some paper towels. She was unusually startled when she heard Castle's voice say, "Come here."

She threw away the paper towels and went willingly into his arms, not seeming to notice that she was snuggled against her husband in the ladies' room at the precinct with his arms around her.

"It's starting again, isn't it?" she asked shakily.

"It might be."

"All those paranoid plans of yours aren't looking quite as unreasonable right now."

"The boys are worried about you. I've told them we need to talk, but not here. Let's go and reassure them and then figure out a way to get Gates to let you go home."

"I think we can use Hastings for backup. She looked worried about me."

"She sounded it, too. She's standing guard in the hall so I don't get labelled a perv."

Beckett gave him a weak smile. "Yeah. We should probably get you out of here."

Walking out into the hall, Beckett said, "Thanks, Hastings."

"No problem. Hope you're feeling better soon," she said as she went back to work.

Castle put his arm around his wife, precinct or not, and walked her to an open area of hallway where they were less likely to be heard without being aware of it. Looking down, he whispered, "Do we trust Gates or not?"

Beckett caught Castle's downward look and copied it, also whispering. "I think so. We've had some conversations, and I've watched her back up different teams when they needed it. She seems to want to take care of her people...even you, whether she resents it or not."

"Then I think we have to take the chance. This is too big for just us. We can't do it alone, and we can't dump it all on the boys. We need federal help, and with her IA background, Gates might know somebody who can be trusted. If this is what we think it is, and they knew Evelyn's house was supposed to be empty, they've monitored her somehow. They've always been a step ahead of us every time it counted. We have to be careful."

Beckett nodded her agreement, and they went back to her desk. "Sorry guys. But you really didn't want me to stay."

"You okay, chica?" Esposito asked in his best big brother voice.

"I think so."

"So was that a reaction to what we said, or are you just sick?" Ryan asked.

"I honestly don't know. It just hit me out of the blue," she answered. "But to be on the safe side, you might not want to get too close for the time being."

"I'll stay close enough to be sure she's okay, guys. I'm pretty sure that, if she's contagious, I've already got it."

"Don't need to know, Dude," Ryan interrupted.

"So what else do we know?" Beckett asked.

"We got Orlando's financial records, and it looked pretty dismal until a ten thousand dollar wire transfer appeared in his account a few days ago. Girlfriend started paying bills with it as soon as it hit the account, and it looks like the girlfriend cleaned out the account about an hour ago."

"The girlfriend? She said... She lied to us, and she's running. Get her in here."

After a second session with the girlfriend, they identified a church where Orlando had met a few times with the man who hired him, someone he had known in the military. Ryan and Esposito insisted Beckett stay at the precinct while they went to talk to the priest, and they discovered a security camera trained on the donation box, which showed them the face of the man Orlando met…the man who shot Beckett.

For the second time that day, Beckett's hand went to her mouth, and she ran from the room.

"What's going on with her, man," Ryan asked Castle. "She doesn't do this."

"PTSD affects everybody differently, Bro'," Esposito offered. "You think that could be it, Castle? Knowing this guy is back?"

"I don't know," he answered. "I guess it could. I'm…" He pointed toward the restrooms.

"Go ahead," Esposito answered. "Better you than me."

"Why do you think Castle said we need to talk? You think something's wrong with her?"

"She's probably just still thinking about the guy shooting her. That was pretty bad. She went through some hell to be back here. If that sniper case brought it back as bad as it did, think what seeing the shooter actually in town and at work again would do."

"You're probably right," Ryan agreed, but he still looked concerned.

When their partners returned, Ryan asked, "You gonna be okay, Beckett?"

Castle grabbed a piece of copy paper, sat down at the desk, and started writing while Beckett talked to the boys.

"Maybe not. I don't think this is going away this afternoon. Can you take over until tomorrow? I won't be much good to you running off all the time, and maybe spreading the germs around. I think I'm going to talk to Gates…see if I can go home. Might be that twenty-four hour bug Bristol's team had a few days ago."

"Yeah, you can keep those germs to yourself," Esposito said with an exaggerated shudder to lighten the mood.

Castle handed Beckett the page he had written; and she looked at it, nodded, and took it with her. Then he motioned to the boys to follow him into the hallway.

"Ryan, can you think of a reason to be at Esposito's place tonight around eight?" he asked quietly. "I need to talk to both of you, but it can't be here…or on our phones. We meant to talk to you today anyway, but this guy is a step ahead of us again."

"I don't like the sound of this, Castle," Esposito said.

"Then I'll apologize now for waiting this long because it probably won't get better in the telling."

"Yeah. I'll tell Jenny," Ryan agreed.

"Just make up something for now. Don't make it sound like the case. You can decide what to tell her after we talk, but for now, leave Jenny out of it. I'll explain later."

They saw Beckett coming back, then she turned toward the restrooms again.

"Uh-oh," Esposito commented. "That doesn't look promising."

"Nope. I need to get her home," Castle agreed, running his hand through his hair in frustration. "My independent wife insisted I wait for her here if it happened again."

The three of them waited, someone making a comment now and then, until Beckett returned a few minutes later. She looked pale and seemed ready to go home. She said softly, "Hey, guys. I know it's going to make this harder, but see if you can find anything on this guy without running him through facial recognition. You heard Evelyn. She caught Costas because she was home when she hadn't intended to be. And they knew they could hire Costas because he was in financial trouble. Somebody is keeping an eye on things connected to Roy and this case, and they're looking for his records. They have access to a lot of information somehow, and if we run the shooter through facial recognition…"

"The same somebody might find out we're onto the shooter," Espo finished for her.

"Definitely harder, but it might be good to let him think he's completely anonymous for a little longer. It gives us the element of surprise. We'll see what we can do." Ryan promised, then he stepped back and said a little louder, "Feel better, Beckett."

"Thanks, guys," she answered. "Sorry to have to desert you."

"Better than having you barf on us," Esposito declared.

"Yeah. There's the sensitivity I know and love." She gave them a little smile, and she and Castle left.

"See you later," Castle called over his shoulder.

xxxxx

Beckett handed Castle the car keys.

"It must be bad," he observed, opening the passenger door for her.

"I feel like my insides are inside out. There can't be anything left in there. I hope I haven't already given whatever it is to you." She leaned her head against the headrest and closed her eyes.

"You and me both," he agreed. "With any luck, it's that twenty-four hour bug, which means this time tomorrow, you should feel much better." He paused a moment, more hesitating to say it than not knowing what he wanted to say. "Do you think knowing he's this close again was enough to make you physically ill?"

She answered without opening her eyes. "I… It might have. I hadn't felt sick at all until I heard the DNA evidence. It's… Can we talk about it later?"

"Whenever you feel up to it. When we get home, I'll get you some ginger ale and saltines. That always made Alexis feel better when she was little. Or I could make you some peppermint tea. Or just let you get some rest. Whatever you need."

"You're a good man, Richard Castle," she said, reaching to rest her hand on his thigh.

Once home, Kate opted for ginger ale because it was quick. She drank a little bit, ate a couple of crackers slowly, and went to bed, sleeping for about three hours. Castle took the time to get out two of the new laptops and four of the burner phones. He took one of the phones for himself and programmed that number and three others into the phones for the boys. Then he gift wrapped them, phones and a stick drive tucked in with the computers; and as soon as someone else was home to be there if Kate needed anything, he went to the little take-out/delivery pizza shop on the next block.

"Hey, Lamar," he called out when he entered.

"Hey, Mr. Castle. I'm usually at your door. Not used to having you at mine. What can I do for you?"

"I need three pizzas, four salads, and a favor."

"What kind of favor?" he asked, dusting off his hands, and coming to the counter.

"Putting a bag with the gift wrapped computers and phones on the counter, Castle said, "These are thank you gifts. I thought it might be fun to disguise them as pizzas and have them delivered along with the real ones. Showing Lamar the address, he asked, "Is that too far? I'm willing to pay you for the extra distance if it is."

"No, I can work that out. When do they need to be there?"

Castle asked to have them delivered at eight.

"I'm off at seven-thirty, and my brother should be here any minute. I can do it myself." Lamar answered, looking in the bag. "A large pizza box might hold one of those, but not both,"

"Two might even be better. There are notes to explain this in each package. Just be sure to tell them it's from me so they won't worry. They're both cops, and unexpected, unidentified packages work on their nerves."

"Lamar laughed. "Got it. I'll package them in pizza boxes now and have the other two pizzas ready when I leave. Will it matter if I pack the gifts in the thermal bag with the pizza?"

"No. I think that will be fine."

"Okay. Salads? The same ones you usually order?" Hearing an affirmative, Lamar went on. "And what kind of real pizza will the cops get?" he asked with a smile.

Castle rattled off the pizza orders, including one for himself, Lamar read the order back, and Castle confirmed. He rang up the order and promised to have Castle's order there at six and the "cop order" there at eight. Then Castle gave him a very generous tip, shook his hand, and thanked him for his help before he walked back home, looking much more nonchalant than he felt.

Kate woke up feeling a bit better. She ate a little part of her salad and had more ginger ale…in the study, far from Castle's pizza. Alexis joined her in sympathy, and they left Castle contentedly eating his pizza and salad in front of a sci-fi movie on television.

"He should be more sensitive to how you're feeling," Alexis complained, glaring toward the door to the living room.

"He's been right beside me, helping with the case and taking care of me all day; and at eight we need to make a phone call to the boys...about the case. Don't judge him too harshly. He doesn't deserve it. What he does deserve is the little break he's taking. I just didn't want to smell the pizza."

"Okay."

"How are things going with JD? How much have you told him about your internship?"

"Great. He can't believe that's what I decided to do, but he kind of wants to come and visit me at work. He's read Dad's books now, and he's always interested in whether all the crime scene details are real and how he finds it all. I think he might have a little bit of a man crush. But keep that to yourself. I haven't told Dad."

"My lips are sealed." Kate put her salad down. "I think that's all I can eat for now."

"Do you want to lie down again?"

"I think so. I don't usually get sick like this. It's kind of wiped me out."

"Go ahead. Since I misjudged him, I'll go keep Dad company. Want me to put the salad back in the fridge?"

"Yeah. Thanks." Kate answered and returned to her bed.

xxxxx

At eight, there was a knock at Esposito's door. He opened it, then turned to look at Ryan. "Did you order pizza, Bro'?"

"These are from Mr. Castle. He said to be sure to read the notes."

Taking the four boxes, and responding to the weight of them Esposito asked, "What did he send? Cement pizzas? How hungry did he think we'd be?"

Lamar smiled as the door closed and the other man spoke. "It's Castle. Who knows? I just hope it's good."

They went to the sofa, sat down, and started opening boxes. Getting to the first large box, Esposito said, "What the hell is this?" Then Ryan opened the last one.

"He must mean one for each of us. Didn't the pizza guy say something about reading the notes?"

Ryan ripped open the paper. "Laptops? And a burner phone…and a stick drive?"

"That's what's in this one, too."

"There's the note under the laptop." He held it up to read. "Call me at the first number on speed dial. I'll explain."

"Pizza first?" Esposito asked. "He didn't sound like he had good news. And he sent our favorites. We might as well enjoy it before he lowers the boom."

Ryan grabbed his pizza and leaned back. "Good plan." Taking a bite, he added around the next bite, "Mmmpf. Great pizza."

After they had eaten their fill, Ryan called Castle.

"Hey, Castle. Thanks for the pizza. What's this all about?"

"Wait a minute. Let me get Beckett. She's feeling better, but she's resting." They could hear a door closing as Castle went into the bedroom and shut the rest of the household out of the conversation.

"Hey guys. You're on speaker. It's just the two of us here."

"You're on speaker, too. Same," Esposito told them.

"We have a couple of things we need to tell you. You probably won't like hearing them, but here goes. First, we've put together a pretty comprehensive inventory of every clue we've ever had about Mrs. Beckett's murder, Kate's shooting, and any other connected murders we know of…police files, her mother's appointment book, Roy's explanations, any bits and pieces or loose ends we've seen, some new research we've worked on recently…"

"New research? Without telling us?" Esposito exploded. "Who's supposed to have your backs?"

"We were planning to invite you here tonight and tell you, but then everything else happened, and we couldn't. I had to do it this way. And there's more."

"More than the fact that you're taking chances on your own?" Ryan asked.

"Until today, it didn't seem like so many chances. Then he told them about Smith.

"You made a deal with the guy who killed Beckett's mother?" Ryan seemed appalled.

"Actually, Roy made the deal a long time ago, but Beckett never knew. His friend now has the files, and made contact to extend the deal before we knew anything about it. We weren't told until after the fact, but today told us they're looking for Smith and the files. Beckett wasn't nearly strong enough to protect herself in even a small skirmish then, and we didn't know what else to do other than to be thankful for at least a temporary reprieve. But we knew he'd be looking for a way out sooner or later."

"We got some information on the shooter this afternoon. It looks like he's using the name Cole Maddox," Esposito said.

"Javi identified the tag on the car keys from the video and tracked them back to where he rented the car at the airport. They have GPS tracking in all their cars, so we found it, found the building where he was staying, and talked to Gates."

Esposito took over the narrative. "We knew Maddox would be dangerous, so she sent heavy back-up. We managed to surprise him, but he was killed in a shootout on the roof when he tried to get away. Everything he got from Montgomery's house was there in his apartment, though. He had the Montgomerys' wedding album, too, and there was a picture missing; so we went to see Evelyn to see if she could tell us who it is. The missing picture is Michael Smith…must be your guy. Somebody Roy knew before they were married. She didn't know anything about him, though. Said her mother kept her too distracted about the wedding to think to ask."

"I'm surprised Smith hasn't already called," Kate said. "He's got to be who they're looking for. We suspect he knows how to take care of himself, but that's easier if you know something's coming, and it's probably coming soon. It took all of two days to have another shooter at the funeral after Lockwood was gone. Smith helped us. If he calls us, we owe him a head's up."

"If he calls? Can't you call him?" Ryan asked.

"No," she answered. "It's one of those, 'I call you. You can't call me because the number I gave you won't work anymore' things. He's maddening. Always hangs up before you get all your answers," Beckett responded.

"We have to let you guys handle this," Castle told them. "Kate can't be seen as having any part of it. I'm sure all they need is to get their hands on the files, and whoever replaced Maddox will be looking for her. That's why I contacted you the way I did."

"I hate dropping it all in your laps, guys."

"We're good, Beckett, Esposito assured her. You stay home. Even if you feel fine tomorrow, play sick until we see how it goes. We can handle it."

"Thank you."

"Sometime soon, set up those computers with fake names and addresses." Castle said. "That way we'll all have non-incriminating internet access. Then take a look at that stick drive. It's everything we have, coordinated so it's easier to see the big picture…and all the little loose pieces. After that, we'll talk."

"Okay. Take care of yourself, Beckett," Ryan answered. "I'm gonna go home to Jenny…try to figure out what to tell her."

"I'm really sorry to put you in that spot, Kev," Kate said sincerely.

"It's nothing next to the one you're in. I'll work it out."

"We'll keep you updated," Esposito promised.

"Thanks, Espo," Castle answered. "Talk to you tomorrow."

"I guess I need to call Gates in the morning," Kate said. "I hate being on the outside of everything."

"I know." Castle pulled her down on the bed with him and held her gently. "But it isn't safe." He hesitated and pleaded, "Please don't make us go through that again…or worse. I don't want to face life without you, and I don't want to have to see you suffer your way back again, either."

"I don't want to put either of us through that again, either. I'll be careful, but it's hard. He isn't going to get me, Castle. You're making me believe in fate. You and I are supposed to get old and gray together. We're going to get him, hang him out for the world to see, and live happily ever after."

They were startled by a knock at the bedroom door accompanied by the sound of a phone, and Alexis called out, "Your phone is ringing, Dad. I don't recognize the number."