134. Chapter 134

AN: My apologies for the delay in posting. The back, neck, and shoulders organized a coup that had me banned from the computer for a week and a half. Things are getting back to normal now.

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Chapter 134

Kate woke up to the alarm on her phone. She turned it off, stretched, and checked for messages; and there were several texts from Alexis, JD, and Castle, all with short videos of kids having fun at the beach…the big ones as well as the little one. Commandeering a few more minutes to relax, she watched all of the videos and smiled or laughed at all of them before she got up to start her day.

She stopped at the coffee shop across from the precinct, picked up breakfast and coffee to go, and crossed the street, speaking to the people at the front desk on her way to the elevator and making a bee line to the conference room on the Vice floor.

"Have you been here long?" she asked Jordan.

"Just a few minutes, the agent answered, looking up from the file in her hand. "Looks like a little sleep did you good."

"Worked wonders. Anything new?"

"All the evidence you gave us is in the system, and we've just started the search for the man in the sketches. Nothing yet, though.

"We're about to look at your murderer. So, it looks like he ran the human transport end of things for that warehouse boss?"

Beckett nodded her confirmation. "The records Dwayne Barnes told us about show that the warehouse boss had been in this for at least the last four years. It looks like he may have been supplying someone else, too. The man we talked to last night, the escort service owner…we have him dead to rights. Most of his escorts have given us similar stories to your FBI witness. They were kidnapped from one city and taken to another. But the number of times the term 'exotics' comes up in the records…" Beckett paused for a moment. "One escort service couldn't possibly need that many women. There must be others, and we need to find them."

"We'll have another go at those two this morning and see if we can get anything out of them about the higher ups," Jordan said.

"I need some time in my office to take care of the morning chores, but I'll be back in an hour or less. I got a text from Ryan on my way in saying he'll be here around noon, and I'll call the fifty-third again to see about Esposito. If you still need him then, Castle will be back no later than Monday . He doesn't get several days with all his children to himself very often, and he loves that. I know he'd love to do this, too, but I hate to take that from him.

"Tell him we understand," Jordan assured her.

Beckett greeted Avery, passing him on his way in as she left for her office; and once she was there, she was on the phone to the fifty-third getting Esposito on loan to the FBI temporarily. The captain said he needed Esposito to help clear up the loose ends for the case his team had just closed and that he should be at the fifteenth late that afternoon. After checking emails and answering the important ones, she sent reminder notices to the team leaders whose teams were affected by the reworked on call schedule she'd sent out the morning before. The three teams of detectives involved in the operation over the last couple of days needed the time off, and the precinct's overtime budget would be better off giving them the comp time.

Beckett and Jordan interrogated the escort service owner. In his attorney's presence, they again presented him with the evidence they had against him.

"We have documentation…records, witness and victim statements, and we're sifting through more. We have interviews coming up with another half dozen or more who are involved in this whole nasty mess. You can see that we don't need to make a deal with you. You're going to a federal prison," Jordan told the escort service owner. "You're profiting from being an integral part of a slave trade. Your purchases were made being fully aware of serial kidnappings across state lines, you're responsible for ordering serial rape and forcing women, including underage women, into the sex trade against their will. All we're offering is to put you in a different federal prison than the people you're informing on. That's the best deal you're going to get."

Beckett chimed in then. "If somebody we haven't talked to yet gives us the information first, you don't even get that. We're going to talk to the other guy now. Think about it," With that, the two women got up and walked toward the door.

"Wait. Can I have a minute?" the man asked, pointing to his attorney. Any sign of the smug look from the night before was gone.

"We'll give you five," Jordan said, and closed the door as they walked out. "Coffee?" she asked Beckett.

"Sounds good."

"Did Castle bring in one of those coffee machines like the one at the twelfth yet?"

"No, but he's planning on it. I do have a good small one in my office, though. And I keep a private stash of good coffee for desperate times."

"So water for now. We'll hit your private stash later," Jordan said conspiratorially.

Beckett laughed as they headed for the vending machine.

Five minutes later, the escort service owner told them what he knew about the shipping and transportation arrangements, which was only a couple of names he'd heard slip from the two local men he'd dealt with over the past few years. "You gotta understand; I was at the very end of the operation. I only dealt with the two local guys. I had no contact with anybody higher up in the transport and delivery operation. But I can tell you something else you'd probably want to know. I had a successful business before, but about three years ago, a couple of guys came to see me. It was a sales pitch with a strong element of threat and a heavy suggestion that I'd better merge with another service they were interested in. My business turned into a franchise. I never met the top dog, but they said there are services like mine from DC to Maine. They told me how to set things up, arrange for drugs for the ones who wanted them, how to...um...train the girls, helped me with connections to who could supply them… They said having them supplied is easier than recruiting. All I can give you is the two guys who helped me set my business up. But I want it in writing that I won't be locked up anywhere near them, and you'll keep me safe."

Beckett pushed a legal pad and a pen across the table and said," Write it all down, those two names, names of any other escort services you know in the same franchise, whatever you can add…all of it."

"If it checks out, you won't be in the same facility. And we can arrange a safe house for you until the trial is over," Jordan agreed.

"We'll want to see something binding before you get the information," the attorney insisted.

"I'll take care of that," she assured him. "But you don't get signatures until we can see if the information is worth our while. Have it ready for us when we come back."

"A franchise?" Beckett said quietly, looking astonished as they walked away from the closed door. "I didn't see that coming. This may be a lot bigger than we thought."

Looking equally surprised. Jordan answered, "Little fish first. Let's see how far up the chain we can go," Then, a bit mischievously, she asked, "Ready to do the whole routine again for the warehouse guy?"

Beckett grinned, then they schooled their expressions and both walked into Interrogation One looking Amazonian again. This time they added knowledge of the franchises to their repertoire. The warehouse owner was given the same limited offer and provided names of three other escort services in the franchise group that he arranged deliveries for, as well as a couple of names of people who supplied him.

Both men were shown the sketch of the kidnapper and legitimately seemed not to recognize him.

By the time Ryan showed up with Remy's burgers for Beckett, Jordan, Avery, and himself, they had plenty to tell him as they ate lunch in Beckett's office. They talked for a few minutes; but during lunch, he was given the gist of the case. After lunch, he was taken to the FBI's work room for more detailed information. He took notes, asked pertinent questions, and quickly appeared to understand the case in general, as well as the importance of its expanding parameters.

Avery finally said, "I think that brings you up to where we are now."

"Wow." Ryan leaned back in his chair. "If we can work our way up the chain, this could be really big."

Avery leaned back in his seat in a similar manner and agreed, "It could."

"And you said it started from three different cases in three different units here at the fifteenth? How in the world did that fall together into all this?"

"From what we can tell after random conversations with people here, because of a captain with a good eye for detail."

"So Beckett pulled all this together?"

"You've worked with her," Avery pointed out. "Does that really surprise you?"

Ryan laughed and answered, "No. But did she suspect this much was going on?"

"We didn't get a word of this from her; but we understand she saw possible connections between two cases, then a third, got all the teams together, and made all the right contacts as it grew. When she saw what was happening, she called Jordan."

"Yeah. I'd be more surprised if you did hear any of it from Beckett. Looks like it's still growing."

"Yeah, it is. Can you get Esposito caught up when he gets here?"

"I was planning on it…if you don't need me somewhere else. We've done this for each other before, so I outlined some notes for him while I was working through things." After checking his watch, Ryan added, "He should be here in another hour or so. Anything I can do between now and then?"

"We need to find the kidnapper. Nobody we've talked to so far admits to recognizing him, but we have sketches of the same man from twenty-one different women, from three different cities. We have the Boston office and the Baltimore office contacting the cab companies today, but we haven't contacted the New York companies yet."

"I can start putting that together. Esposito and I can take care of it."

"Only five of the women were kidnapped in New York. Two of them remembered the specific coffee shop they were taken to. The others gave us a street name and areas of one to three blocks, so we'll need to canvas the shops in those areas, too.

"Can one of your techs put together a page with an array of the five women's pictures and the sketch of the kidnapper? I can start calling cab companies and sending the pictures and our contact information."

"I'll get it for you. Shouldn't take long."

"Can I use one of your computers?" Avery pointed out one that wasn't being used, and Ryan pulled up a list of all the taxi services in New York City and their information. He printed out the formidable list and was ready to go to work when Avery appeared with the page he needed.

Esposito arrived mid-afternoon. Both he and Ryan were welcomed by Shaw and Avery like long-lost brethren.

Beckett joined in the welcome, asking about Esposito's family. Then, turning to Ryan, she asked, "Where is my mind? How is Jenny holding out? She's due really soon, isn't she?"

"End of next week," Ryan reported with a grin. "I might have to cut out on you if she's early."

"Are you texting her every twenty minutes?" Beckett asked teasingly.

"Every hour," Ryan admitted sheepishly. "I don't want her to be alone. I want to be there as soon as something happens. Right now, I'm not sure if she feels loved or annoyed, but I can't help it."

"You sound like Castle."

"Is he coming in, too?" Esposito asked.

"Monday, if we still need him."

After a little more conversation, Ryan brought his former partner up to speed, beginning with the cases that started the now burgeoning investigation.

"So, they need us on the cab companies right now?" Esposito asked.

"Right." Handing Esposito a copy of the page Avery had provided, Ryan said, "Here's the women we're hoping somebody can identify and the sketch of the kidnapper who was with them. Surely the driver would remember a situation like that. The women were all able to give us the date and approximate time of day they were kidnapped, so that should make it easier to narrow things down."

"And if we're lucky, we might get an address. It sounds like he held all of them in one place."

They split Ryan's list and started working their way through it.

One of the FBI techs had watched the two newcomers making phone calls. He left the room to get coffee and stopped on his way back in as Esposito hung up. "There are easier ways to get the word out, you know. We can help," he offered.

"Yeah, we know," Esposito answered. "But experience has told us if you speak to a human being directly about a problem, you're way more likely to get their immediate attention on it than if it's something that arrives in the form of an email or a piece of paper. Thanks, anyway."

"And if this guy is still looking for victims, it's worth some old school methods to speed up the response time," Ryan agreed.

With a look of respect, the tech nodded and went back to work.

That afternoon also brought interrogations of the people picked up by the Coast Guard. Shaw and Beckett again teamed up for that while Avery coordinated the rest. The three speed boat drivers weren't much help in general, but one added an additional name to investigate. Again, there was no denying the involvement of any of them in the kidnapping and trafficking. They were caught red-handed and would definitely be charged. The captain of the trawler was tougher to get anything from; but faced with federal charges, his second in command sang like a canary, obviously hoping for a deal. Some of the crew members were willing to talk, and the ship's logs and registration provided more information to work from. Shaw's team didn't have all the answers, but they had a lot more to work with than they had expected in such a short time.

Once the interrogations were finished and the files and charges were written up, Jordan Shaw arranged for their detainees' arraignments in federal court.

xxxxx

After spending most of the afternoon in and out of the pool, the Castle clan went inside, changed into dry clothes, and found healthy snacks to tide them over until their dinner later on. It was July fourth, and they were going out to have a late dinner and to see the big fireworks display.

Castle had just changed, and he stopped at the bottom of the stairs to watch his family playing on the floor in the living room. He and his children had enjoyed another pleasant day at the beach, and he thought Jamie's first swimming lesson went well. His little boy took to the water like a duck…or a fish…or whatever. He wasn't swimming yet, of course, but there were encouraging signs that it would happen. And he couldn't be happier that, in spite of the age difference, Alexis and JD seemed to love Jamie almost as much as he and Kate did.

He was enjoying the time with all of them and didn't want to give that up, but the writer's mind had occasionally wandered to the case the FBI had joined at the fifteenth. His curiosity was killing him, and he hoped Kate would have time that night or the next morning so he could catch up on what was happening.

Offering Alexis and JD a break, and in hopes of keeping Jamie in a good mood long enough to enjoy the fireworks, he tried to work in a nap before they left for dinner. All of them were tired. Jamie was an easygoing, happy little boy; but working around the energy and needs of a two year old, even an easygoing, happy one, could be taxing. Alexis and JD went out on the back porch to stretch out on the lounge chairs and enjoy the ocean breeze, but Castle kept Jamie in the house and popped in his favorite Disney movie for entertainment. He playfully managed to stretch out on the sofa with him, rubbing his back as they watched. As he had hoped, not even halfway through the movie, Jamie was asleep; and Castle set the alarm on his phone in case he succumbed, too...which he did.

The family had reservations for dinner at a restaurant near a good viewing spot for the fireworks; and by the time their meal was finished and they had claimed a good spot for watching, it was almost time for the show to begin. A military band played a few marches as the crowd gathered, and the audience clapped along with the beat, some of the children bouncing, or jumping or dancing. It was a nice, family event. After a very short patriotic acknowledgement to the holiday, it was time for the fireworks.

"It's going to make noise," Alexis warned her little brother, but you don't need to be scared. The noise is from shooting the lights into the sky. Every time you hear the noise, you'll see new lights." Then she got her phone camera ready.

When the first bang sounded, Jamie grabbed his father's neck, but Castle animatedly told him, "Look up," and pointed toward the sky. "See the lights?"

Alexis missed the first few displays in favor of recording her brother's reaction to his first sight of fireworks. Jamie turned to Castle with a look of awe, threw his arms out, and said excitedly, "Big sparkles!"

Castle laughed and pointed up. "Yeah. And there's another one."

When the second one went up, the little boy watched it ascend and burst, and he gasped and pointed when it branched out in several directions; then he seemed to gradually pick up on similar responses from the rest of the audience. As the display progressed, he grinned, and pointed, and gasped, and "oooooed", and laughed, and bounced in Castle's arms, giving his family a second show to enjoy. The band joined in again at the end, the music synched to the finale, and the crowd burst into applause when it was over. Castle and his family blended in with the slow moving crowd and went back to their car; and as they crept through the traffic to get back home, they all talked and listened to the two year old's version of what they saw.

It had been a good day for them. All four had enjoyed it, but they were all up early and were worn out and ready to get home. Jamie fell asleep in the car and didn't wake up until they were all trudging up the stairs to go to bed.

"Is Mommy here now?" he asked, looking sleepily hopeful.

"No, Peanut. We'll see Mommy when we go back home," Castle told him.

There was a keening cry from the little boy, and he drooped heavily against his father, saying "I want Mommy" within the pitiful sound.

Alexis and JD watched as Castle held him close and rubbed his back for comfort. "We'll see Mommy soon, Son. I promise."

"I want Mommy now," he wailed.

"Me, too, Buddy," Castle answered, kissing his head. "Me, too." The keening quickly became the hollow sounding cry of a very tired, very upset, very young child, and Castle asked him, "Do you want to sleep with Daddy tonight?" The crying continued, but Jamie nodded, and Castle took him to his parent' bed and cuddled him close until he settled down and slept.

xxxxx

About the same time Castle and company left the pool, Shaw and Beckett had just about reached their personal interrogation limits for one day. They were both exhausted and excused themselves from the FBI's war room to confer in Beckett's office. They had a good bit of new information from several different sources and needed to organize it for the techs to load it into the system. And they fully intended to do that over the superior beverage from Beckett's private coffee stash. Sitting at a small table in her office, they relished the good coffee as they worked through their task. After allowing themselves an extra cup of good coffee, uninterrupted by work, they returned to the others with their new data in a concise form that could easily be committed to the computer records…and promptly began to organize what needed to be done before they could go home.

Beckett made a quick trip to each unit at the precinct to ask if anything pressing needed her attention and to assure them that, FBI notwithstanding, she was still available if they needed her. Then she called Martha from her office.

"Hi, Martha. Do you still want to go out for dinner?"

"Of course. I made reservations at Arturo's at eight. Is that okay? I thought you should be able to get away in time for that."

"Arturo's sounds wonderful. I'm leaving in a few minutes, and I think I'll even have time to shower and change clothes…wash away the feeling of sleaze from some of the people we've talked to today. I'm so ready to leave that here."

"We'll enjoy a nice dinner and get you home for some sleep at a decent hour," Martha promised.

"See you soon."

Martha and Kate were welcomed by Arturo when they arrived. Playfully bowing and kissing the hands of two of his favorite guests, he spoke to each of them. "Ms. Rogers, you love lovely this evening. It's so good to see you again." And turning to Kate, he addressed her in Italian. "Signora Castle, sei bellissima come sempre."

She answered his compliment with "Grazie." And, as they had since she spoke to him in Italian on her first visit there, they carried on a brief conversation in his native language as he showed them to their table.

"That was impressive, Darling," Martha commented. "Richard had told me of your linguistic abilities, but that was the first I'd seen of an actual conversation. Arturo seemed to enjoy the moment."

"I imagine most people who transplant themselves where they need to know a new language enjoy a moment now and then to enjoy the one they grew up with. That's how I learned French and Italian. New york is a diverse place, and we had neighbors at different times while I was school age who spoke those languages and were delighted that I was interested in learning. I played with their children, so they corrected my mistakes in their language, and I corrected theirs in English. Once I had a good start, the parents let me borrow books to read the language, so I picked up the spelling, punctuations, and grammar as I read and could ask when I had questions. I loved it."

"And Russian?"

"High school courses, Russian literature classes, and a semester in Kiev during college. That was an amazing experience."

"Richard has always told me that your mind is a big part of what attracted him to you. I didn't believe him at first. I mean, look at you. I'll admit that I didn't see your mind as the big factor. Then I realized he had finally found someone who both challenges that incredible mind of his and loves him for exactly who he is. I couldn't be happier with his choice."

"I think there's a little more to it than just my mind," she answered with a mischievous grin.

"Five minutes in the same room with the two of you would tell anybody with a shred of insight the truth of that," Martha answered, returning the mischief. "How are things going at work? You looked exhausted when you came home."

She gave Martha a quick, and quiet, rundown on where they were and mentioned having Ryan and Esposito there, as well as Ryan's excitement about the baby.

"And it's a girl. We need to go shopping for gifts…things with lace and ruffles," Martha answered enthusiastically.

"That would be fun."

"Is there any sign that this investigation may be over before long?"

"Everything is up in the air right now. Most of the people we've interrogated have given us at least a little additional information to build on, but we have no way to know when we'll run out of people willing to talk. It looks like this involves most of the upper east coast; so, eventually we'll exhaust what's happened locally, and Jordan's team will need to relocate to another area. As much as I enjoy working with her, I can't say I'll be sad to see that happen. I feel like I'm neglecting my precinct. I'm spread a little thin at the moment."

All of a sudden, Kate's phone pinged with a couple of text notifications, and she appeared to dread checking them.

"Is it work?" Martha asked,

Kate smiled at her with a look of relief when she checked. "They're from Alexis and Castle. And overnight, I got some texts you may not have seen...videos of all of them at the beach. They're adorable."

She opened the new videos and found the swimming lesson and sand castles. She and Martha melted into delighted motherly and grandmotherly puddles as they watched their family, and made appropriately besotted sounds in response. Then Kate opened the ones Alexis and JD sent the night before, the ones of Castle and Jamie running around and splashing in the waves…both women, sitting with their heads together to watch, and laughing at their sons having such fun with each other. The phone pinged again with Jamie's first reactions to fireworks, and more besotted responses followed.

By the time their dinner arrived, they had both put their work days behind them for the evening, and they chatted about whatever crossed their minds. They stopped to speak to Arturo before they left and went home to collapse into their beds, each of them relaxed enough to sleep well.