183. Chapter 183

Chapter 183

Ryan's transfer came through; and as of December first, he would take the place of the retiring Homicide Lieutenant at the eighty-second in Brooklyn. He would lead a team of his own and take on the responsibilities of a lieutenant, thereby spreading a little more Montgomery/Beckett training at the eighty-second. Esposito was replacing a retiring lieutenant in his present precinct. There was a going away get together for Ryan at The Old Haunt, and Esposito came, too to have a chance to see old friends.

Blount took over Ryan's place as team leader, and Detective Washington from the fifty-first transferred in to fill Ryan's space.

As he knocked at the captain's doorway, Beckett stood and motioned him in. "Washington, it's good to see you again."

"I hope you'll still be saying that after I've been here a while," he answered with a smile. "Detective Washington reporting for duty, Ma'am. I'm looking forward to working with you again. Captain O'Connell sends his regards."

Beckett shook his hand and said, "I think I can promise that working here will be better than the situation you were in when I first met you. Let me introduce you to your new team. Blount is lead, and he'll see to it that you get the tour and bring you up to date on the case they're working on. We have a lot of good people here."

They walked to the bullpen, and Beckett handled the introductions. Blount took over then, showing him around. When Washington mentioned he'd worked with Ryan, Sully, and Esposito while Beckett's team was part of the exchange program at the fifty-first, Blount answered, "Well, you ought to fall right into things here. You know exactly what to expect."

The team talked him through their present case and gave him some time to find supplies he'd need for his desk. Sully came over to welcome him to the twelfth and offer to buy him a beer after shift. After that Blount gave him financial records for the victim and the people on their suspect list while the rest of the team worked on other records.

As he was leaving to go home, Beckett asked, "How was the first day on the job?"

"Great. It's a good team, and they put me right to work. How's Castle doing? Does he ever stop by or come in to help?"

"He's fine. Still being a stay at home dad…but writing two books a year again instead of one. Working here with us slowed down his writing. I'm not sure how he gets as much done as he does now, though. We have a fourteen month old daughter who's already walking and getting into everything. She keeps us busy. The whole family stops in now and then to pick me up for something or bring me lunch now and then. Castle will be glad to see you."

"I remember your little boy."

"He isn't so little anymore. He's in kindergarten this year and loves it."

Sully joined them as they walked and pointed Washington in the direction of a bar around the corner from the precinct, and Beckett pointed herself toward home.

xxxxx

Time for their wedding anniversary and Christmas was just around the corner, and the fall had been such a madhouse of activity that Rick and Kate decided on a low key anniversary. They asked if Martha and John would keep the children overnight for their anniversary so they could have dinner out and a quiet, uninterrupted night at home; and Martha offered to take the children to her apartment so Rick and Kate could have an anniversary dinner date. She and John were going to have a sleepover with the grandchildren and serve them breakfast the next morning.

Rick made reservations at a restaurant with excellent food as well as being page six worthy. They dressed up and enjoyed their evening out. As they were leaving arm in arm, a couple of entertainment reporters managed some photos and asked if it was a special occasion.

"I know you people don't think I'm capable of keeping a marriage together for long," Rick told them. "But this is our seventh anniversary, and so far she still loves me. I think we might make it to old and gray."

"What about you, Mrs. Castle?"

"Best husband I could ask for. Best dad our children could ask for. And old and gray sounds good to me, too," she answered, looking up at Rick lovingly.

"That's it. We're leaving now," Rick told them.

The reporters called "Happy Anniversary" and "Congratulations" as they got into the waiting town car and were chauffeured away.

In the elevator, Rick crowded Kate into the corner, pinned her to the wall with his body, and started the rest of their anniversary activities with a scorching kiss.

"If anybody else gets on this elevator before we get to our floor, I'm going to be so disappointed," she told him through a ragged breath.

"Mmmmm. Me, too." After another kiss, he said, "But if we just don't stop, anybody who does would probably take one look and decide to back off and wait until it comes back down."

"Kate grinned and pointed out, "Unless it's Mrs. Bergen on the third floor. She'd get right in and ride up with us, harrumphing and muttering under her breath about disgusting, inappropriate behavior and griping because she has to ride all the way to the top before she can get to the lobby."

"If she gets on, I might have to grab a boob to be sure she has enough to complain about. Just thought you should be forewarned."

"You're such a goof," she laughed. She smoothed the palm of one hand lovingly over his cheek and down to his jaw and said softly," And I'm so glad you wanted to marry me. I can't even imagine my life without you anymore."

The doors opened on their floor, and Rick opened their front door, lifted her in his arms, and carried her over the threshold.

Wrapping her arms around his neck, she said," Very romantic, Mr. Castle."

"It's our anniversary. And I'm really glad you wanted to marry me, too."

He took her to their bedroom, closed the door with his foot, and stood her next to the bed, pulling the zipper of her dress down slowly as he kissed her again. Before long the fancy clothes were gone, and they were gently making love.

xxxxx

Christmas was as joyous as Thanksgiving, but with fewer people. The day started with just the four Castles and all the Santa Claus largesse. While the children played with their new toys, Castle got the turkey in one oven and had a ham ready for the other one. The day before, Jamie helped make Christmas cookies with frosting and sprinkles, and Jo helped make the thumbprints in the thumbprint cookies. Kate baked them and filled them in with Nutella after Jo had finished helping. Other members of the family filled in all the other gaps in the menu, so nobody was overworked.

The rest of the ten members of the family gradually filled the loft, bringing with them their contributions to the feast; and after stuffing themselves, they assigned Alexis and JD to distribute the gifts piled under the tree. Wrapping paper was collected, gifts were stacked according to ownership, and everyone sat and talked and recovered from their gluttony. Then, as gradually as they had arrived, family members began to leave. When the loft was back down to the original four Castles, the family snacked on the leftovers from the feast and settled on the sofa to unwind with the new movie Jamie got for Christmas.

New Year's was another stay-at-home holiday, and then things began to settle back into more of a routine.

xxxxx

When Kate came home from work the first day of the new year, she was greeted by a fussy, sniffly, baby girl who wanted to be cuddled constantly.

"I'm guessing it's my turn for this," she said, looking sympathetically at her tired looking husband and taking their daughter from him. "She seemed fine this morning. Has she been like this all day?"

"Most of it," he told her. "It started about ten and built to this as the day wore on. We're both exhausted."

"Where's Jamie?"

"He deserted me to play in his room, and it's likely for the best. We don't need both of them sick. It's probably just a cold. She doesn't have a fever, but she's definitely not feeling well."

"Why don't I order in for dinner? You go lie down for a while and I'll take Jo duty. I can call in an order while we cuddle."

"I might take you up on that."

"Go ahead. I'll call you when it's here.

Castle nodded and went to stretch out on their bed, relaxing in the undemanding quiet.

Kate called in an order for dinner and then settled down on the couch, lying with Jo nestled in her arms, and she sang her favorite lullabies. There was some sniffling and an occasional whimper or two from the baby; but otherwise, Jo seemed appeased for the time being.

After dinner arrived, they were a little concerned that Jo didn't eat much, but she did have plenty to drink. She still looked uncomfortable and unhappy, though. All of them had a rough night. Jo woke up a couple of times, and it took a lot of rocking and snuggling to get her back to sleep. By morning, she had developed a low grade fever, and Castle gave her some baby Tylenol.

"That usually takes care of a fever," he assured Kate before she reluctantly left for work. "It might take a few doses, but I'll keep a close eye on her. John says he'll get Jamie to school and back until Jo is better. It's too cold to take her out when she's already sick."

"I know she's fine with you, but I still feel guilty leaving her."

"I'll text you updates. Go. We'll be fine."

Beckett was there in time to see that Lorins' team had picked up a new homicide case that morning. After scouring the scene for evidence and talking to the roommate, they came back with information that pointed to the boyfriend as a possible suspect.

"Anything promising yet?" Beckett asked as Lorins drew a timeline and set up the murder board.

"The victim is Tonya Schaffer, twenty-five. The victim's roommate, Essie Harrison, found the body, and she tried to be helpful, but she was a wreck. She said the boyfriend wanted to break up with Tonya to date someone else, but Tonya wouldn't accept it. She wanted to give it another chance."

"We're going to bring the boyfriend in for questioning this morning," Wolcott said, opening his computer to find the address and whatever other information was available for the man. "Byrd and Zinardi are still canvassing and looking for cameras.

Beckett went back to work and was on her next coffee mission early in the afternoon when the boyfriend, Daniel Muller was brought in. She had some time, so she went to watch from observation, where Wolcott joined her.

"Daniel Muller?"

"Yeah, Danny. What's this about? The officer who picked me up didn't tell me anything except that you had some questions about a murder. I don't know anything about a murder. I told him that."

"Your girlfriend's roommate, Essie…"

"Essie was murdered? God, Tonya must be…"

"Not Essie. Essie found Ton…"

"No," Danny answered looking a bit wild-eyed. "Not Tonya. No. no, no, no, no. She can't be dead." The tears were already falling. "I took her to dinner last night and dropped her off at her apartment afterward. Wait. Am I here because you think I killed her? I just bought her rings. I was going to ask her to marry me this weekend. I would never hurt her."

"Where were you last night after you dropped her off?"

"My brother asked me to meet him for a drink at Edgerton's Bar. He wanted to tell me he was going to be a father. We were there for about two hours just talking."

"We'll need you to write down the time you were there and your brother's name and contact information. Please understand that elimination is an initial part of the investigation. It allows us to focus on the ones who might be guilty more quickly."

As he finished writing, Lorins said, "Tonya's roommate told us you wanted to break up with Tonya but that Tonya was insisting on giving it another chance." Lorins answered.

"Essie said what?" He quickly took his wallet from his back pocket and pulled out the receipt for the set of rings he had bought several days before. There was a note for the engraving in the wedding ring. 'Tonya & Danny'. If I wanted to break up with her why would I buy her rings, and be so sure of her answer that the wedding ring was already engraved?" Wiping the tears from his face, he said shakily, "This is my worst nightmare."

"Why would Essie say that?"

"I don't know. I told her about the rings last night while Tonya was getting ready for dinner, but I told her not to say anything. I wanted to surprise Tonya with a romantic proposal."

"What can you tell us about Essie?"

"She's a flirt. She was always trying to get my attention when Tonya wasn't around. It had gotten a little beyond normal lately, but I just tried to avoid being alone with her. She works for an insurance agency, but I can't remember which one. She's from somewhere in the southwest…Arizona maybe. Tonya liked her. They seemed to get along well. That's about all I know. I was usually there just to pick Tonya up or drop her off and say goodnight. I have a little apartment to myself, so if we wanted an evening alone, we went there."

"What was Essie's reaction to the news about the proposal?"

"Odd. There was a flash of something that looked like anger, and then she was sweet, and gushing over how excited Tonya would be. She hugged me real tight and congratulated me."

"Can you think of anyone who would want to kill Tonya? Did she have enemies? Rivals at work?"

"No. She came from a close, loving family, had a good relationship with our friends, seemed to get along well with her coworkers. The people where she worked were a pretty tight knit group, too. It makes no sense at all." After a pause where the tears fell again, he asked quietly, as if he might not want to know but needed to. "How did she die?"

"We don't have the Medical Examiner's report yet, but it appears to be blunt force trauma. A blow to the head." He nodded, looking decimated.

"Should I call Tonya's parents?"

"I've already spoken to them. Do you know them well?"

"Tonya and I had been together for about a year and a half. Like I said, her family is close, and they treated me like I belonged there."

"I'm sorry for your loss, Mr. Muller," Lorins said sympathetically.

"Can I go now?" he asked, wiping at his eyes.

"Yes. Here's my card. If you think of anything else that might be helpful, let me know."

He nodded and walked out of the room.

Lorins met Beckett and Wolcott as they left observation.

"I don't think he did it," Beckett said.

"Me, either," Lorins agreed.

Then the three of them spoke simultaneously. "I'd check on the roommate." "The roommate looks suspicious." "I'm looking into the roommate."

They all laughed, and Beckett told them, "I'll be in my office. You obviously know how to do your jobs."

xxxxx

A sick baby girl was in need of her attention again when Kate got home…and judging from the weary look on her husband's face and the sad look on her son's, a little boy who likely felt neglected because his sister had been getting all the attention for the last two days, they probably did, too.

She started with Jamie and picked him up for a big hug. He drooped over her shoulder and said, "Jo is sick. Daddy's been giving her medicine, but she's still sick."

"Have you been worrying about her?" He nodded against her neck. Daddy won't let me hold her or hug her because he doesn't want me to get sick, too."

"Have you been playing by yourself?" She felt another nod.

"Are you feeling lonely?" Another nod.

"Grandpa John walked me to school this morning and took me for lunch and ice cream on the way home." Daddy has to hold Jo all the time 'cause she cries if he doesn't…'cause she's sick."

"We'll order pizza for supper, just the way you like it; and I'll hold Jo so you and Daddy can eat together. Then Daddy can take her long enough for me to sit with you and eat. You can tell me about school." She kissed his cheek. "Does that sound okay for now?"

"Yeah."

"Okay go find something you and Daddy both like to watch. Daddy can go clean up so you don't catch whatever Jo has, and he'll come and watch with you. You just wait for him on the sofa."

Jamie went off to take care of his end of things and Kate called in their pizza order, took Jo, and asked, "Is there anything I need to know before you clean up and go watch some TV with your son?"

He shook his head to indicate it could wait. "I'll make it quick. I'll clean up a little bit, put on a clean shirt, and then we'll talk."

Kate walked around the study with Jo, alternately talking and singing, all the while either swaying or bouncing her baby gently. Jo felt hotter than she did that morning, and she looked miserable. Now and then she would cough. That hadn't happened that morning, either. Her head had been stuffy for about a week, and she hadn't been her usual happy self for a couple of days. The fever was new the day before and wasn't going away. Just as Kate was imagining disturbing things, Castle returned looking fresher.

"I've been giving her what the nurse at Jerome's office told me to when I called this morning, but it hasn't helped. The fever is actually a little higher, but it usually is at night. I called back this afternoon and I have an appointment at ten tomorrow morning. She's going to hate it, but if it gets any higher, we could try giving her tepid water baths. As hot as she is, it would probably feel like plunging into the Atlantic in December, but it might help. Her fever is up a degree from this morning. It still falls in the category of a low grade fever, but I don't like the upward trend. I'll feel better after Jerome has a look at her."

"Me, too. Anything else? I noticed the cough."

"That started this afternoon. I think that's all of it."

"It's enough. She's usually such a happy little girl, but the sparkle in her eyes isn't there, and there's no hint of the joy in her. She seems inconsolable."

"It's bad enough to have a fever for a couple of days when you know what's happening," Castle said. "She just knows she's miserable, and it kills me that I haven't been able to make it better." He squeezed her little foot lovingly as she drooped against her mother.

"Jamie needs us, too. And you need a break. I told him to find something you both enjoy and you'd watch TV with him and then have pizza when it's here. Then you can take Jo long enough for me to eat and spend some time with him. He's worried about Jo, too."

"Thank you."

"For taking care of my kids?" she asked "You shouldn't thank me for that."

"For taking care of your husband." He gave her a lingering kiss and pointed toward the living room where their son was waiting.

She answered with an extra little peck and a smile. "You don't need to thank me for that, either."

With that, she took Jo up to her room and found soft, comfortable clean clothes for her and wiped her down with a damp, room temperature wash cloth before putting her in clean footed pajamas. There was full blown crying as Jo protested the tepid wipe down and a lot of whimpering afterward. Kate sat with her in the rocking chair and did her best to make her baby girl comfortable, rubbing her back during the coughing. Eventually Jo drifted off to sleep, and Kate rocked a little longer to be sure; then she carefully put her in bed and slipped out, going to check the baby monitor to be sure it was on.

Rick and Jamie were eating pizza in front of the TV when she came downstairs, and she got something to drink and joined them.

"Is Jo okay?" Jamie asked.

"She's still sick, but she was finally comfortable enough to go to sleep." Daddy is taking her to see Dr. Barrett tomorrow. He always knows how to make you better, right?" Jamie nodded. "She'll be okay."

After pizza, Kate took a shower and put on comfy clothes. Neither parent expected to get an entire night's sleep that night, and didn't. They took turns settling Jo every two or three hours.

The next morning Castle insisted Kate go to work. "You've already checked, and she's actually sleeping. I'm going to take advantage and get dressed before she wakes up. Just…I don't feel good about what's happening with Jo. Maybe you could use this morning to line things up so you have somebody to cover for you if we need it. If it gets worse before she gets better, I might need some help. John is taking Jamie to school again tomorrow morning, and Alexis is going to pick him up and take him home with her after school. They'll keep him overnight and take him to school in the morning. John will pick him up. Alexis and JD will be more relaxed than I am, and he'll have something to do other than feel left out and worry about his sister."

"You promise to call me if with updates? I'll come home if you need me."

"We'll be at the doctor's office at ten. It isn't all that long. I'll call when we leave there. I promise."

"I'll put my lieutenants on standby and get all my ducks in a row this morning just in case. Even if she's better, I'll leave early so I can help. You're still ruggedly handsome...but there's been a little run ragged thrown into the mix the last couple of days. I love you." She kissed him and left for the precinct.