188. Chapter 188

Chapter 188

On July first, Beckett put on her dress uniform and drove the Castle family Mercedes to the fifty first to be there when Malicot took command of the fifty-first. Then she drove Captain O'Conner back to the twelfth with her. The change of command at the twelfth started at eleven. At their change of command, Beckett and O'Conner both good naturedly told about their frenemy, competitive relationship at the Academy and let the gathering at the twelfth see the easy, friendly rapport between them. Beckett assured her people that they would be in good hands, and O'Conner promised to do his best to live up to expectations.

It wasn't a long ceremony, and both precincts had provided refreshments and gifts for their captains at their own precincts the day before. That allowed Beckett to say some individual goodbyes and head for her third change of command that day, the next one shorter and less formal.

Captain Lautrec asked the chief to dispense with the formality. He said he wasn't happy with himself and just wanted to say goodbye and formally introduce Beckett to her new precinct. Beckett, not being enthralled with ceremony herself, had no objections, but Deputy Chief Alvarez was sent anyway and handled things briefly and diplomatically.

Beckett said a few obligatory words. Castle was there with Jamie and Jo, the two Castle men in their suits and Jo in a pretty dress; and the new captain introduced her family. "You'll probably see them here occasionally. They're all friendly, so stop and speak to them if the spirit moves you. Castle is always interested in a good cop story."

When the brief event was over, a few groups of people stopped to meet Castle and the children. Some of them because they had had read his books, others just seemed curious about the captain's family.

Captain Lautrec came to Beckett before he left. "Thank you for your understanding, Captain Beckett. And my offer still stands. If I can do anything to help, please call."

"I appreciate that, and I will. Enjoy those grandchildren. Learn to play video games," she said with a smile as she shook his hand. "I'll do my best for the twenty-seventh, Sir." Then to show him respect in the presence of his precinct, she gave him a sharp salute, which he returned. He took a long look around, waved to the people he had worked with for years, and walked out with Alvarez, stopping to speak to people wishing him well on the way.

When Beckett joined her family, taking Jo from Castle and putting an arm around her son's shoulders, the people who weren't already wandering back to their desks curiously watched the exchange within the family.

"We'll go and let you get to work," Castle said. "At this point, you only have half a day left."

"That means I can get home to you guys sooner," she answered, kissing Jo's head. Jo looked up at her and smiled, and got a kiss on her cheek in response. Beckett pointed to her own cheek and Jo smacked a kiss there before Castle took her back. Then Beckett stooped down long enough to hug her son and kiss his cheek, and he wrapped his arms around her neck and returned the favor.

Castle couldn't resist putting his free hand on the side of Beckett's neck and letting his thumb drift to her jaw line; and then, using way more self-control than he wanted to, he removed it. "I'm guessing kissing you goodbye isn't going to happen."

"Not the best time for PDA's."

"Come on, Buddy," he said. "Time to go and let Mommy get to work. See you tonight," he told his wife and winked at her as he took Jamie's hand. In lieu of a kiss, he got a full Beckett smile.

"See you tonight," she echoed.

"Back to work, everybody. Our reprieve is over." She smiled when she said it, though, and then went to her office. After taking out the basics she would need for work and looking through the information Lautrec promised he would leave in the top desk drawer, she closed the office door and headed for the Homicide bullpen, introducing herself and meeting each team separately.

She spent the afternoon doing the same on each floor, asking for a brief synopsis of cases as she went and having short conversations with each team. As she arrived in each new area, she let them know that she would be present often, explaining her reasons as she had done at other precincts. "A few times, it's given us an earlier start in coordinating two teams from different units and uncovering a larger problem in our jurisdiction. "But at the moment, the first order of business it serves is to get to know the people I'm working with. I may not be able to call everybody by name in the next week, but be patient with me. I'll be able to do that before too long. So I'm here to meet you and see what you're working on."

Most of the exchanges were pleasant enough. There were a few people who looked skeptical, and a few who were blatantly unfriendly, but Beckett treated all of them well for the moment.

After her meet and greet and information gathering, she returned to her new office and looked over the information Lautrec had left in the desk drawer. More list making followed, and inhabiting the desk with the necessary office supplies for daily activities. After putting a family picture on her desk about the time she was free to go home to them, she called Sergeant Chambers and asked if there was anything she should be aware of before she left. At his response, she prepared to go home.

As she reached the lobby, she took time to get close enough to the desk to make eye contact and said, "Thanks, Chambers. I'm leaving now. You have my contact information in case you need it, right?"

"You can give me your contact information anytime," said a sleazy looking man being brought in by an officer. His delivery of the remark and his body language was lewd without even having made an obscene remark.

"Snowball in hell tell you anything?" she asked as she stopped. She quickly checked her officer's nametag before giving the offensive man her death glare. "But Officer Gibson will certainly see to it that we have yours. And if I hear that you showed another woman that kind of disrespect in my precinct while you're here, I'll personally add sexual harrassment to your file. Officer Gibson grinned at her as she walked past.

Beckett turned to leave, and said "'Night, T…" She stopped mid-word and smiled. "You're not Tobin."

The young African-American woman on security that day answered with a mischievous smile that lit her eyes and would make anyone around her want to smile as well. "No, I'm not. His wife is out of town, and his daughter was sick. He had to pick her up at school earlier, so I was called in."

"I'm Captain Beckett, Officer Moss. I have a ways to go to identify everybody; but clearly, you're not Tobin. It's good to meet you." She extended her hand to the young woman, asking. "How long have you been here?"

"Almost a year. Tobin and I were at the Academy together. I've heard your name from people there…good things. It's nice to meet you, too." Moss answered, shaking her hand.

"I'm sure we'll cross paths again, and I'm sure Tobin appreciates your having his back. 'Night, Moss," Beckett said as she left the precinct.

xxxxx

"Hi, Honey. I'm home," Kate called playfully as she took her shoes off at the door.

Castle walked out of the study with one child sitting on each foot, each holding on to a leg and giggling.

Kate laughed and observed, "You look…encumbered."

He looked down and asked his two encumbrances, "Shall we go and kiss Mommy hello?"

"Walk, Daddy," Jo answered.

He made a big show of dragging all of them over to Kate and giving her a big kiss, then the two weights on his feet removed themselves to wrap their arms around their mother when she knelt to their level. "Was that fun?" she asked them.

"Yeah. Daddy's fun," Jamie answered.

"Daddy walked us on his feet," Jo told her as if Kate hadn't seen it.

"What else did you do today besides sit on Daddy's feet?"

She got reports from both children. Castle had taken them to the park in the morning before it was too hot outside and they stopped for ice cream on their way home.

"Dinner is almost ready," Castle told her. "There's a casserole in the oven, and salads in the fridge."

"I helped, Mommy," Jo told her proudly.

"All of us helped," Castle explained. "Two of us stood in chairs and put things in the salad bowls and occasionally argued with each other while the other one chopped veggies and supervised. After Jo's afternoon nap tomorrow, we'll make cookies. It should smell good in here when you get home."

"It smells pretty good right now, too. After we eat, how about I take the two who were in the chairs and play some board games?" she asked the children. "We can give Daddy some time to write if he needs to."

"Thank you," Castle mouthed silently from behind the children, and Kate smiled. "I do need to finish the edits for one more chapter if I'm going to get these in on time."

Looking at the oven timer, Kate said, "It looks like we have about twenty minutes before the casserole is ready. I'll take care of things from here. And my assistants and I will set the table. That should give you twenty minutes or so."

"What's a 'sisstant, Mommy?" Jo asked.

"Somebody who helps. Are you going to be my assistant when it's time to set the table?"

The little girl nodded and smiled, looking like she felt important.

"Go ahead and get started." Kate told Castle and made a shooing motion toward her husband.

"I'll take you up on that," Castle agreed and made a beeline to his study.

The assistants were praised for a fine job of helping, and after dinner, Kate played a game with the children. Castle finished his edits, sent in his Nikki Heat chapters, and joined them for another game. Later, while their children slept, he asked, "How was your first day at the twenty-seventh?"

"I spent the afternoon meeting people. I think I'll go in early tomorrow and get the office a little more together and meet the people still there on night shift; and if there's enough time, meet the officers before they go out on patrol. I need to get a feel for personalities and what's going on case wise and in the community."

"Was there a lot of resentment about Lautrec leaving?"

"Mostly not. Some looked sad, or skeptical, or wary, and there were pockets of sullen behavior; but overall, I think most of them will come around sooner rather than later. I found a few I intend to keep an eye on…for both good and evil. But enough of that. Let's talk about us. Anything exciting in your world today?"

"Our children and getting those last three chapters in on time…and having my lovely wife to myself."

"That was a pretty good answer," she teased. "You been saving that up for a while?"

"No. I think about you a lot. Can't help myself." He gave her a quick kiss and sat down beside her at the breakfast bar. "Another thing I've thought about lately is school…for Jo. She'll be three in September. Do you think she'll be ready for pre-school this fall?"

"Maybe. Won't that be harder on you, though?" They would both start school at the same time, but the three year olds are out in the middle of the day. Then you'd have to go back later to get Jamie."

"A totally uninterrupted morning might make up for that. I could always go to a coffee shop close to the school and write…save myself some travel time," he answered.

"With a February birthday, Jamie wouldn't have been allowed to start public school and be in the first grade last year. He's ahead of himself and doing really well. Jo is a little more, shall we say determined, about what she does, but she loves to learn."

"She gets along well with other children most of the time. She's a little more determined about what she wants to do and how she wants to do it than Jamie, but I don't think it's at the point of the teachers thinking she's hard to work with. If we want her in school in the fall, we need to do something now before all the places are filled. Or we could wait and put her into the four year old class next fall."

"Has she sounded interested in school? She's just as fascinated with new things as he is and catches on fast. If you think she's ready, it would be a shame to hold her back."

"She's asked when she can go to school several times lately," Castle told her. "The teachers out front have talked to her when we drop Jamie off, and she usually asks as she watches him go in. He's always been happy to be there."

"Then we should look into it, but I'm not sure if I can get away from the precinct right now. But they know both of us and Jamie and have met Jo. Can you go this time on your own?"

"Sweetheart, don't look like it's such a burden for me. I know you'd like to be there, but I expected I'd need to do everything this time. You haven't even been at the new precinct long enough to decide who you trust to leave in charge."

"Thank you."

"Another couple of weeks and you'll have a better idea of who you can and can't depend on, and things will feel a little more normal."

"I hope so."

"You're good at this. You'll be fine."

"You're good backup, you know."

"Part of the job, Mrs. Castle. I'm your husband. Live-in backup."

"That makes me pretty lucky…maybe blessed." She took his face in her hands and kissed him gently and lovingly.

xxxxx

During her first week at the twenty-seventh, Beckett managed to get her office in order, her reports in some semblance of order, commit a reasonable number of names to memory, meet the patrol officers and their sergeant, and take care of a couple of maintenance issues. She met with her community affairs sergeant and arranged for a trip to various parts of the neighborhood the following week. Sergeant Pittman seemed anxious to get some of the community leaders in touch with the captain. Apparently their community outreach had been lacking along with some other things at their precinct.

One team of homicide partners turned in their file for a case, calling it closed, and Beckett thanked them. They were one of the groups who hadn't managed to get past sullen yet. She looked through the report and found as many questions as answers. Connections were made without enough solid evidence to back it up, and it was very light on witness statements and interviews.

She leaned back in her chair, sighed, made a few notes before closing the file, and went to the bullpen. "Banks and Houston, I need to see you."

"Be right there," Houston said grudgingly, and they both stood, taking their time.

When they reached her office, the team leader, Banks stood at an obvious slouch, a disrespectful look when called in by a superior officer. "Why do you need to see us?" he asked.

"Have a seat." She indicated the chairs across from her desk. "I've looked through your report, and I have some questions. There are things missing, things needed corroborate your conclusions."

Banks rolled his eyes. "And what do you think is missing?"

"Witness statements, for one thing."

"It says what the witnesses said."

"In your words…a collective representation of all of them and a list of names and phone numbers. Where are your notes on who said what? Contact information? Was the area canvassed? Who did you speak to? Which officers assisted? Where are their statements? All I have here is a statement from first on scene. Your report says the weapon wasn't found. Did the suspect have gunshot residue on his hands? That sort of thing is missing. I understand the DA has returned several case files to the twenty-seventh recently for lack of enough evidence or information. That isn't going to happen on my watch, and this would undoubtedly be returned."

"And is there anything else you think we need to corroborate our conclusions?" he asked sarcastically, leaning heavily on the word he obviously thought was pretentious.

"It says the suspect's alibi didn't check out. I'll need the statements from the people you spoke to when you checked on it, or your notes and their contact information. And I don't see either a recording of the interrogation or a signed confession. You are aware that the DA's office will want to follow up on all of that, right?"

"There aren't any notes because we know he wasn't there."

"And how do you know that?"

"We just do."

"And you're prepared to take the stand with nothing but that to back your claim?"

There was another eye roll but no other response.

"This investigation is not complete. If you didn't actually follow up on the alibi, you need to leave here right now and do that. We're not going to prosecute the wrong man if I can help it. If the alibi really doesn't check out, fill in the rest of the missing information, return the file to me, and we'll proceed from there."

"Yes, Ma'am," he answered with the hint of a sneer.

As he stood and turned lazily toward the door, she said sternly, "And Banks?" She waited for him to turn to look at her. "My job is three ranks above yours. When you return this file, find some respect for that, whether you like me or not; and don't come slouching in here and rolling your eyes again when you know you've turned in a pitiful excuse for an case report. Dismissed."

The two men, especially Banks, left in a nearly visible fog of anger.

About half an hour later, Beckett was on her way for coffee and noticed that both Banks and Houston were still sitting at their desks talking, obviously not about police business. She approached their desks and noted, "You're still here."

"Yes, Ma'am." He toned down the sarcasm, still without being entirely respectful.

"When I said you need to check on the alibi right now, it wasn't a suggestion; it was an order. I want documented information before you leave here today." She got her coffee and returned to her office, took a few deep, cleansing breaths, looked longingly at the picture of her family, and went back to work.

Over an hour later, she called in a lunch order and left to pick it up at a diner on the next block. Sitting there in a corner booth were Banks and Houston, drinking coffee and looking like they'd been there a while; and they didn't appear to have noticed her. Being as inconspicuous as possible, Beckett showed her badge and asked the cashier how long they had been there.

"Probably a little over an hour," the young woman answered. "They came in just before the lunch rush, and they don't show any sign of leaving. Several coffees, and they just ordered lunch."

Looking at the woman's nametag, she said, "Thank you, Jodi. I'd appreciate it if you didn't mention to anyone, including them, that I asked."

"Not a word. I don't care much for those two anyway."

"I'm Kate Beckett, by the way, the new Captain at the twenty-seventh precinct. It's nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you, too," Jodi answered with a genuine smile.

Beckett paid for her lunch, left a good tip, and went back to her office and checked her notes, which included the suspect's name. Then she checked to see where he was being held and finished her sandwich. After telling her homicide lieutenant and Sergeant Chambers that she would be out of the office on business and might not be back until the end of the day and reminding them to call if she was needed, she went to visit the young man who had been arrested.

The man she encountered was a clean cut looking, well spoken, well-mannered African-American young man, Alton Woods, who was nineteen years old. After she introduced herself and asked him to tell her about what happened, he said he had been working as many hours as he could get at a restaurant to save money for college and volunteering at a community center close by when he had time. He had worked there in a tutoring program a couple of days a week when he was in high school. He said he didn't have too many work hours during the week of the murder, so he had spent a lot of time at the center. There was a little girl there who everybody enjoyed. It was her birthday, and her dad had recently lost his job, so some of the people at the center put together a small birthday party out of their own pockets for Ramona and her family. He had told the detectives that he was at the center for that when the murder happened; and said while he was there, one of the staff members came in looking scared and said he heard what sounded like a gunshot right before he came in.

"I'd been there at least half an hour by then. I told the detectives all this, and they said they'd check on it, but they arrested me anyway. I've never been in any trouble. They picked me up when I was walking home from the center and said I fit the description of a man who shot somebody. I've never even held a gun. They questioned me and told me not to leave town, like I could afford to leave town anyway. Then they arrested me a few days later. My mother is so worried. They said they'd get me a court appointed attorney, but I haven't seen anybody yet; and I'm scared."

"Well, I'm going to follow this up for you. If your alibi checks out, things should be looking better soon. If not, it's going to take longer to work through it. Tell me who to talk to...your mother's work number, your work number and manager's name, neighbors' numbers, where you went to school, whatever you have that can back up your story. If you're guilty I won't hesitate to pass the case on for prosecution; but if you're innocent, I'm going to do everything I can to help you."

Alton swiped the tears away, and said, "I didn't kill anybody, Captain Beckett. There should be enough people who were at the party that night to convince you. The center has security cameras. I was helping to get ready before the party and helped clean up afterward. Some of the cameras should have caught me."

"I'm going to the center now. I'll be in touch as soon as I can," she promised.

"For the first time since I got here, I feel like somebody might do something," the young man said.

Beckett was a whirlwind of activity for a couple of hours. She went to the community center and talked to the director, who had been at the party and pulled security footage for her. She called in a couple of others who had been there, and they all sang Alton's praises. "He's a fine young man, and the kids all love it when he's here. Alton didn't murder anybody," the director told her.

"Have any detectives been here to ask you any questions?"

"Not a one. Somebody told us they took Alton in for questioning. We knew he didn't do it and figured we didn't see him this week because his job was keeping him busy."

"Thank you for your help. Can you point me toward the place he works?"

"Sure Honey. I'll walk you out. You can see it from the front door. As much as I appreciate what you're doing, you're a captain. Why are you doing this for Alton?"

"I'm following up on an investigation. I've only been at the twenty-seventh about a week, but we won't contribute to the prosecution of an innocent man on my watch if I can stop it. That doesn't fit the job description."

The director nodded and looked satisfied. "See that blue awning on the next corner? That's where Alton works. Nobody there's gonna believe he killed anybody, either."

"Thank you for your help."

"Any time." As she watched Beckett walk toward the restaurant, she called out, "Do your best for that boy. He deserves it." The captain waved as she reached the corner to cross the street.

When she got back to the precinct, Banks and Houston still weren't there. She had about an hour before the end of the day, so she spent it typing up statements that backed up Alton's alibi, complete with the date and time of the interview and names and contact information, witness statements describing the man seen running from the murder site, and watching time stamped security video that proved Alton Woods was nowhere near the murder when it happened. At five, she called Chambers to see if Banks and Houston had ever come back to the precinct, and they hadn't. After giving them half an hour while she finished and signed what should have been in the original folder, she went home.

xxxxx

When she got to her floor, she knocked on John's door and briefly explained herself, asking John if he could take the children to his apartment for no more than half an hour. He seemed to understand and followed her to the loft and called the kids.

"Hey, guys. Grams isn't home yet, and I'm lonesome. You want to come and watch a cartoon with me or something?" Sometimes he did that sort of thing anyway; and they always went willingly. After they scooted out the door ahead of him, he stopped at the door, gave Kate a quick hug, kissed the top of her head, and said, "We'll be fine. Get it out of your system so you can enjoy them, too."

She hugged him back and thanked him.

Castle listened as she paced and ranted, and he helped her be disgusted with little sounds of agreement. When she appeared to be winding down, he poured her a glass of wine and sat down with her on the sofa, holding her until she began to relax. Finally, she went next door and asked John, loud enough her children could hear her, "May I have my babies back now?"

"A duet of young voices said in unison, "Not babies."

John and Kate both laughed, and John asked, "Already?"

"I need something joyful right now."

"Well, these two should be just what you need." He knelt between the children and said, "Grandpa John needs some hugs, and Mommy needs you home. She hasn't seen you since this morning." Crooking a finger to ask them to come closer, he whispered, "When you get home, she might need some hugs, too," he whispered.

"Go on ahead of me and let Daddy know you're home," Kate told her children. Turning back, she said, "Thanks, John. I needed time to have a good rant. I can't believe how callous those two incompetents are or what they were willing to do to a nineteen year old who had done nothing."

"Doesn't sound like you're done with it yet."

"I probably won't be done with it for a while, but I do feel a little better."

"Go and enjoy your children. You need to be surrounded by love and innocence."

"You're right. Thanks again." She gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "I'm glad we 'dopted you."

John chuckled and said, "Me, too,"

The rest of the evening was devoted to dinner, and family time with the children. After they were tucked in, Castle made sure Kate was thoroughly distracted from work until they were too tired to do anything but sleep.