142. Chapter 142

Chapter 142

Lanie called Beckett at work the next day to say that they had found four other deaths in two precincts bordering the fifteenth, all happening in the past two weeks. There was now an alert out for the ME's to test for the foreign substance when a death looked like an overdose.

Beckett told the Narcotics detectives what she had just learned, and added, "I know I can count on you to expedite the investigation of any new information and to keep me informed. I'll put every unit at the fifteenth on notice, asking that they report anything that could have a possible link to these cases. And I'll pass the information along to the other two precincts and ask for their cooperation…and of course, promise ours. Needless to say, this is a high priority."

After meeting with the other units, Beckett called the captain of one of the other precincts. "I know the ME's office has alerted their people to the problem and that the information will reach us before long," she told him. "Meanwhile, it would be a shame to allow a helpful piece of information go unnoticed for lack of a warning. I hope we can work together on any new developments. I certainly intend to pass along anything that could be helpful." The other captain expressed his concerns and readily agreed to do the same. Then she called Gates at the twelfth, the other precinct involved. Their conversation was informative, efficient, and cooperative.

DeLand's activities and associates were under surveillance; but so far, Lieutenant Carlson's team had made no progress in connecting him to Jamal's neighborhood. And Santiago's team wasn't finding a source for the drugs they knew were moving into new areas. Their Thanksgiving holiday was a brief but welcome diversion from the frustration at the lack of progress.

xxxxx

Thanksgiving was barely more than a week after Kate's birthday, and everyone in the family had been busy with their own concerns since Alexis's birthday. But they were all gathering at the loft for their Thanksgiving Day feast.

John, Jim, and Meagan were already there, Martha having welcomed them in and taken their coats as Rick and Kate put the finishing touches on the feast they were about to serve.

Then a key sounded in the lock, and Alexis breezed in saying, "Hi, Dad. Hi, Mom," and giving each of them a big hug. As JD was behind her accepting a fatherly hug from Castle, Alexis asked Kate hesitantly from where her cheek rested on her stepmother's shoulder, "Is that okay…to call you Mom? I think I need one. The first one didn't work out very well."

"Of course it is, Honey. You know I see you as one of my children. I just never wanted to get between you and Meredith."

"I think Meredith has managed that without anybody's help. It has nothing to do with you."

Stroking Alexis's hair, she said, "But it doesn't mean you have to break all contact with her forever. Give it some time and keep an open mind."

"Maybe, but not now."

JD was listening from where he stood behind Alexis. "Me, too?" he asked. "Since you're claiming the de facto motherless, my first mom didn't work out too well, either; and you're good at the job."

"Of course." Kate hugged JD, too. "One of the most pleasant jobs I've had. So, speaking as Mom, both of you go help your father get the food on the table."

"Yes, Ma'am," they answered with smiles and went to work.

Before their meal, Castle was last in their statements of things they were thankful for, and he declared, "I'm thankful that all of us found each other and became such a strong family. And I'm still thankful that, of all the people in the world she could have chosen, Kate Beckett decided to love me."

She took his hand and answered, "I don't think it was a decision, Rick. It was there, and I just had to admit to it."

The rest of the family responded with statements agreeing with both of them before enjoying the feast. Jamie had lots of attention from grandparents, siblings, and parents; conversation and family activities were effortless; and everyone who didn't live at the loft was forced to take home leftovers.

The next day, the whole family descended on the Christmas tree farm en masse, including Kate and all the grandparents this year. They all indulged in the traditional Castle tree cutting, ornament buying, shopping, meals, Santa visits and continuous picture taking. Trees were cut for all the separate households, and all the men enjoyed the masculine pride of wielding the saw and felling the tree. Jamie was fascinated with the process and was just as excited about the fourth one going down as he was about the first one. Arrangements were made for delivery, they had dinner there, and everybody headed home, ready to start preparing for the Christmas season.

xxxxx

Ryan called Castle the Sunday after Thanksgiving. "I wanted to tell you we've set a date with the lawyer to close on the house. It looks like we'll be moving in two weekends before Christmas. Tyler has made all the arrangements and talked Jenny and me through everything. We got the estimates for the updates we wanted and included it in the cost. They're going to start the work right after New Year's. We can't wait to call it ours."

"I'm glad you decided to go with the offer."

"Well, like I said, my brother told me I'd be an idiot not to. You're Jenny's new hero."

"No need for that. So, Christmas in your new house this year?"

"Yeah. It's probably going to be a hectic with the baby, the packing, the moving, and the unpacking; but we've agreed we're having a tree and some decorations, even if that's all there is in the room."

"I'm happy for you. Can we come and see your Christmas room when it's finished? I'm a Christmas fanatic."

"Yeah. We'd be disappointed if you didn't. Gotta get back to work. Just wanted to say thanks and let you to know where things stand."

"Good luck with all of it. Let us know if we can help. Any time except our anniversary weekend. We've been looking forward to that for too long."

"Thanks, Castle. Bye."

xxxxx

The week after Thanksgiving, there was finally a small break in the search for the source of the new drug supplier. Sadly, it came through homicide…another death like the others.

This time a woman died in her office, apparently having taken the drug after staying to work late. A custodian found her on the floor near her desk about an hour after her regular working hours. It happened in a very secure office building, and building security had recordings that included a clear picture of a man who delivered a pizza to her office about four-thirty. When CSU's reports from the search of the office and surrounding areas came in, one item found was a small plastic bag with a tiny amount of whitish residue. It was in the trash can with the folded pizza box.

There were two security guards on duty at all times in that building, but the shift had changed before the body was found. The delivery had been made before the shift change, and neither of the guards on night shift recognized the delivery man. Chen's team asked for records of visitors to the victim for the past month and CCTV footage for all of them, and they said they would return in the morning to speak to the other guards and pick up the surveillance copies.

The next day, Chen and Garrett interviewed the guards on day shift and found that the same man had delivered to the victim often enough that they recognized him, and that he had also made deliveries to a man on another floor. The same shop sent other deliveries during the day, but Arnie Graves was the only one who delivered to those two.

Later in the afternoon, with autopsy results in hand showing the same cause of death they had been pursuing, and lab reports of the same drug with the lethal toxin in the bag found at the crime scene, Chen and Garrett consulted with Narcotics about how to proceed. Normally they would question the delivery man and those he worked for, but the summer's experience with drug suppliers and kidnappings had shown them that other departments might want or need to handle it differently; and they did need to work together.

"We know this situation is urgent," Santiago told them after hearing their evidence, "but give us a day to see what we can find, starting with identifying this guy. With several deaths involving a drug, the distributors are likely to be antsy, on their guard. We need all the information we can get before we approach anybody who might be involved."

"The name he signed for security is Arnie Graves," Garrett answered. "Twenty-two, dropped out of school at sixteen, a few muggings, petty theft, a few drug possession charges since then. And he seems to have trouble holding a job."

"What's the name of the pizza place?"

"Little Luca's Pizza. New York City stores...seven of them. Welch is working on who owns them. "

Santiago asked the bullpen if anybody had caught wind of any drug activity connected to the stores, and no one had.

"Like he said," Carlson told them, "Give us a day to see what we can find. Since you're already working on it, tell us when you find the owner. Might be somebody we know."

"We'll get our normal interviews done, without raising more suspicion than necessary," Chen said." It would look odd not to interview Graves, but we won't sound suspicious, just try to get an impression of him…make him think he might be helpful to the case. I'll get back to you as soon as we have an owner. But somehow we need to intervene in the deliveries Graves is making to the other buyer in that building. We don't want another death when we know we can prevent it."

Chen and Garrett stopped to update Beckett on their way back to their desks.

Another death in the fifteenth's jurisdiction had occurred the night before. It was investigated by the night shift, but Beckett turned it over to Chen's team because of the similarities to the cases they were already working. Minimal follow-up found another delivery to the victim's workplace, although he had died at home. CSU found another plastic bag with residue similar to the one at the last crime scene, and they were awaiting lab results. This time there had been a delivery from a sub shop, another locally owned small chain of stores, Sally's Super Subs. There were only four of those. A search revealed that the sub chain was owned by the same person who owned the pizza shops; so again during the same day, Homicide detectives were visiting Narcotics.

"What's the owner's name again?" Santiago asked.

"Sally Litzen."

"That name sounds familiar," Carlson said, inserting himself into the conversation. "Do you have a picture?"

"Yeah. Can I use your computer for a minute?" Garrett answered. She signed in and pulled up a picture they had found on the company's Facebook page.

Carlson looked at the picture and said, "Well, how about that? Garrett, let me have the computer back." He opened his file on DeLand and scrolled through other pictures from social media. Finding what he wanted, he triumphantly stated, "Yes! That's her. That's Carlos DeLand's sister. All of this is connected.

"One of those pizza shops is right around the corner from that neighborhood we've talked about with the captain," Santiago noted.

"And it's simple to hide small drug deliveries with a meal," Carlson speculated.

"We're going back over all our notes and evidence with this in mind, and I'll let Captain Beckett know," Chen told them.

"We'll take a new look at everything here, too…see if we can coordinate more than we originally thought we could," Santiago promised.

Carlson agreed and suggested, "Why don't we meet and compare notes at four this afternoon. We can come to you…maybe get the captain to sit in. She's trying to keep the other two precincts informed. Since we're just making this connection, they may have something useful and just don't realize it yet."

xxxxx

During the same morning, Beckett got a text from Captain Dohrman asking, "Do you already have a definite assignment after the first of the year?"

"No," she replied. "HR has been oddly silent. I've started preparing for your return, though."

"I wanted to check with you before I spoke to HR. My firstborn is due to have her firstborn around February twentieth. Travel is getting more difficult for me, and going to visit by then might not be in the cards. I'd like to be there to meet my first grandchild before I come back. Would you be willing to stay until the end of February?"

"If HR doesn't have other plans, I'd be fine with that."

"Good. I'll call right now."

In passing on the strong probability that DeLand and his sister were using her food deliveries for drugs as well, Beckett mentioned to Gates that they were still trying to connect DeLand to a small neighborhood with a relatively recent drug problem.

"Has that happened in the last few years?" Gates asked.

"That's what an informant in the neighborhood told me. She said it used to be a low income but family friendly area, then people started gradually moving in and coercing or manipulating others. Not much later, the families began to realize there was a drug problem. But we haven't been able to identify the source. DeLand was seen there a couple of weeks ago, and one of the pizza shops is around the corner from that neighborhood. There's a sub shop about a block in the other direction. The worst of it is confined to one block, but that sort of thing always affects the surrounding areas."

"We have a small area like that. It hadn't developed into enough of a problem to be particularly noticeable until just before you left; and come to think of it, it's also between one of the sub shops and a pizza shop."

"Interesting. I'll call Captain Glenn and see if he has the same problem. Maybe this gives us something else to work with."

"Keep me apprised," Gates requested.

"Yes, Sir," Beckett answered mischievously, recreating one of the the short exchanges they'd had many a time when she was still under Gates's command; and Gates chuckled as she hung up.

A call to Captain Glenn revealed that there was a similar small neighborhood in his precinct that had developed the same way and was near two of the stores belonging to DeLand's sister. By the time the Narcotics and Homicide teams met that afternoon, Beckett had her own contribution of new material to offer.

Things started falling into place then, and progress moved quickly after those revelations, but not quickly enough. Over the next ten days, there was another death in Beckett's jurisdiction and three more in the other two precincts, and Beckett stayed in touch with the other two captains. With the information she passed on to them, their investigations began to provide information to share with her as well. It soon became clear that all the victims worked in buildings where the pizza and sub shops delivered. After a lot of canvassing and questioning of security personnel in office buildings near the pizza and sub shops, and substantial time spent searching through security videos, they were able to identify a specific delivery person at some of the chains' locations who delivered on the days of the deaths, and delivered only to certain customers.

They were also able to identify those small neighborhood pockets of drug activity as supply centers for the growing food/drug deliveries to offices. The drug supply had been repackaged without knowledge of the contamination, and after distribution, there was no way to identify the contaminated packets by sight. DeLand's decision was that the buyers were expendable, that they took drugs at their own risk. And he was arrogant enough to think he wouldn't be caught. If one batch of their most popular drug hadn't been compromised and caused deaths, the operation might have gone on a lot longer without being uncovered.

Arnie Graves, the first delivery man to be identified in connection with a death, was intercepted before he could deliver to his second buyer. He knew nothing of the deaths or that his delivery had caused one of them; but he did know he was delivering drugs, and lab reports showed the packet he was about to deliver would have been a fatal dose.

DeLand and his sister were both charged for all twelve deaths, as well as with several substantial drug charges. Citing the egregious lack of concern for human life, the DA recommended that sentences for each of the twelve homicides would run consecutively. Since the brother and sister were both in their fifties, that would be equivalent to a life sentence. DeLand's distributors and delivery people were charged with drug distribution offenses and various forms of intimidation and coercion within the neighborhood in order to conduct business there. A few of DeLand's managers also faced homicide charges. And the small, beleaguered neighborhoods began to believe they might eventually live in a more family oriented community again.

xxxxx

The Saturday before their anniversary, Jim and Meagan kept Jamie for the day while Rick and Kate helped Ryan and Jenny move things into their new house. Alexis and JD and Lanie and Frank joined in, too, along with Esposito, Maria, one of Jenny's sisters, a couple of Ryan's brothers, and their spouses, bringing whatever spacious vehicles they owned. The old team from the twelfth enjoyed having a happy excuse to get together again, even if it involved a little work. With so many hands available to help, things were not only moved in but taken to the rooms Jenny had carefully designated on the boxes. And the crib and changing table for Sara Grace's room were set up and made up for the baby. Ryan's brothers also put together the bed for Ryan and Jenny's room, saying the couple would be too tired to do anything but sleep on the floor that night otherwise.

Castle ordered food and drinks for the crowd; and they put it on the table in the kitchen, joking that Kevin and Jenny were already having their first dinner party. Everyone sat on the floor and enjoyed the food and the company and the Ryans' excitement about their new home.

"Thanks, guys, Jenny said sincerely as everybody was leaving. Thanks to you, it already feels like a home, not just a house. We love all of you."

"Yeah. What she said," Ryan agreed. "Thanks for everything.

After many hugs among the crowd, groups splintered off as everyone left, a few people talking to each other briefly before getting into their cars or cabs and going home.

"That was nice," Kate said as Castle pulled away from the curb. "It seemed like a good initiation for their new home. Lots of love in there all day."

"Yeah, it did. I'm happy for them," he answered. "But I'm tired…ready to go and enjoy our own home. Why don't you call your dad and let him know we're on the way to pick up our boy."

xxxxx

Beckett heard from HR during the week of Captain Dohrman's texts. She agreed to stay at the fifteenth until the end of February, and the head of HR sounded relieved.

"The situation at the moment, Captain Beckett, is that a retirement that we expected isn't going to happen this year after all; and therefore we don't have the fixed assignment we thought we had for you to move into. Unless something else comes up, we would have to move you to another temporary assignment. However, there is a very definite retirement happening at the end of next year, which involves another promotion that will create an opening at the beginning of 2017. At that point, you would take over a precinct which will be entirely your own. Can you tolerate at least two temporary assignments until then if necessary?"

"It isn't ideal, but I could work with that."

"Good. I'm glad we can give you an additional two months of continuity."

"I am, too. You'll let me know far enough in advance to prepare for my next assignment?"

"Absolutely. The chief and the deputy chief have both reminded me that we don't want to lose your leadership abilities to bureaucratic glitches, so I'll certainly do my best for you."

xxxxx

The end of the drug/homicide investigation came just in time to allow Rick and Kate to relax and enjoy their fifth wedding anniversary. They would stay in the city, but Castle had planned their weekend at a five star hotel, and Kate had arranged with Gates to be on call for her.

Alexis and JD offered to have Jamie spend the weekend with them, and he was excited about staying with his siblings. Kate packed bags for both Jamie and herself on Thursday night. She was leaving work a couple of hours early on Friday, and Rick's plan was to leave as soon as she got home from work and changed clothes. They would drop Jamie off with their adult children and enjoy most of the weekend free of distractions from each other.

Friday evening they checked in at the hotel and unpacked enough to make their stay more convenient. Then they went across the street to a restaurant for dinner, and afterward they spent some time just being together…did some window shopping, and checked out a few small shops before going to a little bar near the restaurant for a couple of drinks. They had decided to spend time outside exploring the area that night because it was unseasonably warm for December, a nice break from the past week's icy winds, and rain was predicted for the next day, which was their actual anniversary.

As they returned to the hotel, Kate told her husband, "It seems awfully decadent to spend this much to stay in town and do what we could have done from home…but it's been nice…being uninterrupted."

"You married a rich guy who loves to spoil you and doesn't get the chance nearly often enough, so don't think about it. Just enjoy that we have the option to do this. It's nice. We know Jamie is happy and will be loved and safe, and we know Mother won't swoop in and interrupt anything. I'm always going to want to spend our anniversary with only you." He kissed the side of her head as they reached the door of the hotel and wrapped his arm around her waist when they were inside, and she reciprocated with an arm around his as they returned to their suite.

Once inside, they sat down on the sofa with glasses of the complimentary champagne the hotel had provided and just talked for a while.

"Are you happy about staying at the fifteenth for another couple of months?" he asked.

"I am. I like it there. It's felt almost like our home at the twelfth for a while now. They're good people to work with, and I'll miss them when I leave," she answered. "Do you think you have another Nikki Heat book in you after this one is published?"

"Maybe," he answered mischievously. This weekend might inspire me to write something brilliant."

"Your books are always brilliant," she answered.

"Ah yes. My number one fan if I remember correctly. She even liked the angry Wiccans tome."

"Supportive wife and number one fan," she argued flirtatiously. "The meeting yesterday. You said you have a week of book touring in mid-January, right?"

"Yeah. I don't really want to go, but I flatly refused to go anywhere over the holidays, so I had to compromise."

"I don't want you to go, either. Jamie and I will miss you, but I know we have to share you with the fans now and then."

"I wish I could take you with me."

"Me, too." She took another sip from her glass and then said, "Oh, I've been meaning to ask. You said something about writing books for Alexis. Where are they? Will you get them out for Jamie? I think Alexis said she had you write a little brother into them. He would probably love them."

"I think he might. They're probably in Alexis's old room somewhere on the bookshelf. She had a hard time retiring them completely when she got older. I could write some stories for Jamie, too…maybe with a little sister in them," he said with a smile. "I wrote something for us, for our anniversary. Our eyes only."

Oh yeah?" she asked with a little smirk, looking intrigued.

"Absolutely. It's pretty steamy…kind of a fantasy story."

"Well, where is it? I want to see."

He went to their bedroom, retrieved it from his luggage, and sat down close to her before handing it over. As she read and uttered sounds like "Mmmmmm", "Oh my…" "Oooo, we should try that," etc. he planted little nibbling kisses on her neck and behind her ears. When she finished reading, she handed him the pages and told him, "This goes with us. I don't want us to forget any of it. Very creative, Writer-Man. Let's see if it works."

He started with the beginning of his written fantasy and threw her over his shoulder as she laughed; then he took her to their room, steamy pages in hand for reference. The night was playful and experimental, and it fulfilled a couple of fantasies for both of them before it was over. "You used the lines in the dialogue at exactly the right times," Castle said in awe. "It was even better than I'd imagined."

"Not bad yourself," she answered, stroking her hand over his exposed body parts. "Good creative writing…and fine follow through." Sounding a little uncertain, in complete contrast to what they had just done, she admitted, "I kind of like it…just now and then…when you go all caveman and throw me over your shoulder."

"Yeah?" he asked, looking at her from his pillow. When she nodded and smiled, he grinned at her. "I thought about writing that I'd drag you into the bedroom by your hair; but I didn't think you'd go for that, so I reconsidered."

She gave a short, explosive laugh and patted his bare thigh. "Good call, Babe. It probably made for a much more satisfying night."

They fell asleep in the wee hours of the morning and slept late on their anniversary. When they finally woke and ordered breakfast, which they intended to have in bed, it was already raining.

"Looks like the weatherman was right," Kate commented, looking out the window as Castle rolled in the breakfast tray that room service had delivered.

"We won't worry about it. Tonight's plan is confined to the hotel."

"Did you write a second story for tonight?" Kate asked seductively. "Will we be able to walk when we go home?"

"I could if you want one. Or you could write one for me," he answered, walking over to kiss her. "But the plan is for dinner and dancing. On Fridays and Saturdays, they have a band and dancing. That's why I asked you to bring the fancy dress. They play old Sinatra era dance tunes…and they take requests if you have one."

"You did some good planning this weekend, Stud. I'm proud of you." She squeezed his backside and gave him a kiss that could have fired up another fantasy story. Then they had breakfast in bed, rolled the cart away, and went back to sleep for a while, cuddling close.

They had lunch in the hotel coffee shop mid-afternoon and watched people on the streets scurrying through the rain, and then they looked through a couple of the hotel's shops. Afterward they went back to their room, stripped down to their underwear, and snuggled under the covers.

"It's the kind of day that's perfect for this," Castle said, stroking her arm. "And you're the perfect partner for it, Mrs. Castle."

As they drifted in and out of wakefulness, a severe thunder storm was building outside. "That must be what our noisy phones were warning us about a little while ago," Kate commented.

"Don't worry. I won't let it get you," Castle answered with a twinkle in his eyes.

She kissed him and assured him, "I know. Not worried."

That was the beginning of another round of anniversary activity, which escalated at the same fever pitch of the storm. By the time the storm began to roll out to sea, they were exhausted and thoroughly sated.

"I'm not sure how that happened, but I hope we can do it again someday. That was awesome." Castle said breathlessly. "I mean, we're always good together, but that… I don't think I have words,"

"I don't know how you have any words at all. I can hardly breathe. You think we'll still have enough energy to dance tonight?" Kate asked, with a few hitches as she caught her breath.

"We'll see. But I don't want to move from here until it's time to shower and dress."

"Me either." She turned her head to look at him. "That was a pretty spectacular anniversary afternoon, Mr. Castle. Whether we dance tonight or not, consider me anniversaried."

"Yeah. Spectacular is a good description…but not nearly good enough."

Kate just nodded and draped herself across his chest, and he pulled the covers over them and wrapped his arms around her before they fell asleep again.