190. Chapter 190

Chapter 190

By the end of Banks and Houston's suspensions, Beckett had turned the investigation over to a source outside the precinct. Even with the recording of their last conversation, in view of their obvious hostility toward her, she wanted no appearance of bias on her part. Both the investigations into their cases for the prior six months, and the decision to fire them came from outside the precinct. Fenn and Pegram had cooperated with the investigation, identifying the first case where their two partners closed them out of their work. That was where the case investigations began and two other cases involving falsified reports were found. Those involved more finesse in their manipulations of evidence, though, supporting Beckett's suspicions that the Davis case had become an angry, out of control play to retain the power they had felt when the last captain had basically ceded control to what had once been a good, normally run precinct. It did not, however, excuse the negligence in the arrest of an innocent man before Beckett arrived at the precinct.

Beckett was making her rounds through Homicide, and as she approached Fenn and Pegrams's desks, she looked at the murder board and asked where things stood. The two detectives had just finished a last once over of their file and were ready to turn it in.

"It was the woman we suspected all along. We finally found the last piece of evidence to arrest her last night." Pegram told her. Then Fenn handed her the case file.

Beckett sat down at the desk of a detective who was out and took a thorough look at the file. She smiled and said, "Now, this looks like an arrest that will withstand scrutiny. Excellent work, Gentlemen. I'll look forward to more of the same."

The pride of a job well done showed on their faces, and their lieutenant visited Beckett's office later to thank her for giving the men the opportunity to prove themselves.

"I have to admit that I never liked Banks and Houston," Cain told her. "Even before they started taking advantage of the situation here. They had always been lazy enough to dump anything that required extra effort on their other two partners, but they weren't dishonest then. When they reached that stage of laziness must have been when they cut Pegram and Fenn out of their cases. They knew those two would never tolerate what they were doing. They took full advantage of the opportunity to slack off."

"The Davis case, have you heard from the witness you've been trying to contact? I meant to ask while I was in the bullpen earlier."

"Indirectly. We had a voice mail this morning, and Salazar was calling her back when I came to see you. If this call gets us a name, we should have an address and enough probable cause for warrants to look for a weapon."

"Thanks, Cain. Keep me in the loop."

"Will do, Captain."

By late that afternoon, they had a name to accompany the information they had put together on what up to that time had been an unidentified male, and a search warrant. The search yielded a weapon which had been sent to the lab. If ballistics matched, they could close their case.

xxxxx

Kate went home after work looking more relaxed than she had in a while. And Castle noticed right away.

"Something must have gone well today."

"The Davis case that Banks and Houston so royally screwed up is all but closed. Cain's team has everything but the ballistics report. Barring some awful twist of fate, they should be able to close it tomorrow and give the DA's office good information to work with. Fenn and Pegram turned in their first closed case this afternoon, and their file is professionally spotless. And Lieutenant Cain came to thank me for giving them a chance to prove themselves. There was some positive stuff today."

"It's good to see you come home looking so relaxed."

"I like that, too."

"You're kissing again." Jamie announced from the bottom of the stairs as if disgusted with the picture.

"One day you'll like it," Castle teased.

"I don't think so," his son answered. "But you and Mommy must really like it 'cause you do it all the time."

Both parents laughed at his matter-of-fact statement on his way to the kitchen.

"Where is your sister" Kate asked.

"Right behind me. She wanted to come down the stairs by herself. She's being careful."

"I was careful, Mommy. I held on to the rail," Jo said when she appeared on the landing, and then proceeded to jump to the next step and then to the floor, looking very pleased with herself.

"Don't do that on the big part of the stairs. You know that, don't you?"

She nodded and followed her brother into the kitchen. He took two plastic cups from the low cabinet near the fridge, filled them from the spigot in the refrigerator door, and handed one to Jo.

When Jo just started drinking the water, Kate asked, "What should you say to your brother, Jo?"

She licked the drops from her lips and said, "Thank you."

"You're a good big brother, Jamie," Kate praised as she went to get a glass for herself.

"Want to play with my big Legos?" Jo asked.

"Okay. Want to build a spaceship," her brother suggested

"Uh-huh." And the two of them went off to raid the toy shelf in the study.

"Have they been like that all day?"

"Yeah," Castle answered, shrugging. "I'm not asking questions. I'm just enjoying it."

She peeked in the study, and there was nothing but cooperation. "Yeah. No sense looking a gift horse in the mouth. And speaking of mouths, nobody is watching." She wrapped her arms around his neck and they used their mouths to good advantage. Still holding on to him, she said, "While détente is still in force, we should start dinner."

"But this is so much more fun," he whined.

"Come on, Stud. We're the grown-ups. We gotta feed 'em."

"Okay, but if détente continues in there, plan on being groped now and then while they aren't paying attention."

"Only if I get to indulge, too," she said over her shoulder as she headed for the kitchen. With some planning, chopping, cooking, stirring, and occasional playful groping, they had dinner ready in under thirty minutes.

"Hey, that's a good looking spaceship," Castle said when he came to tell his children it was time to eat.

"Jamie showed me how," Jo told him.

"Well you both did a fine job. "Come on. Let's eat."

After dinner the children went back to the toy shelf and found something else to play for a while, and the adults cleaned up in the kitchen and sat at the breakfast bar with a glass of wine and easy conversation. Eventually, there were sounds of laughter, rattling, and Legos hitting the floor in the study as the spaceship was taken apart to put the Legos away; and the parents watched from the doorway and laughed along with their children.

"So do you think tomorrow will go this smoothly?" Kate asked.

"Don't say anything else." Castle said, covering Kate's mouth. "Didn't we just discuss gift horses and what not to do?" She laughed behind his hand and then licked it. "You licked my hand," he exclaimed.

"Payback. It comes back to bite you on the butt eventually."

"Eeew!" He wiped the palm of his hand on the leg of his jeans.

"Remember that next time you're tempted," she teased.

"You know, things at the precinct are beginning to settle at least a little bit, and I'm caught up on my book obligations for another six weeks. How would you feel about inviting Ray and Victoria and the Dohrmans here for dinner sometime soon? She and the captain went to the Academy together, so they already know each other."

"That might be fun. Let's plan on it. Let me settle in at the precinct a little longer and make sure the progress isn't a figment of my imagination. Let's plan on the middle of August."

"We can make it simple…I'll get some good steaks, and we can have baked potatoes and salad. And cheesecake. Jared seems to really like cheesecake. I think that's the only dessert he's ever ordered when we've been out for dinner."

"Okay. Sounds good…and easy." Nodding toward their children, she asked, "Time to ease those two toward bedtime?"

"Hey, good job cleaning up your toys," Castle called to them from the doorway. "Anybody interested in story time should get a book from the kid shelf and meet us on the sofa in the living room."

In no time there were two children at the sofa with two books each, hopefully holding them out to their parents. "They planned this, didn't they? Somebody is teaching his younger sibling his tactics," Kate observed. "You two have been getting along so well today that we have time for extra books tonight, Jamie; but don't expect to get away with it too often. And don't start teaching your sister to be sneaky."

Jamie gave them a sheepish little smile at the mild reprimand, but he didn't apologize.

One of books was written mostly as a conversation between two people; so when they got to that one, the parents divided the conversation between them and read it together. Kate's voicing and presentations of characters were getting almost as good as Castle's, and the children obviously loved the play between their parents. Then they read the last book, which was a lot more calming, got them into their pajamas, and tucked them in.

"I used to wonder if I'd ever want children," Kate said later. "You've convinced me I want all kinds of things I never knew I wanted." She sighed and ran her hands over his chest. "I'll miss you guys this week. What time are you leaving for the beach tomorrow?"

Right after lunch. Ryan's family will be there Saturday morning, so I thought we'd stay until Sunday. I enjoy Ryan and Jenny and the kids, and Jamie loves playing with Sarah Grace. The almost two and a half year age difference doesn't seem to bother them at all…and they're both pretty patient with the little ones. We'll leave on Sunday morning and let the Ryans start their week at the beach house without us."

"So you'll be home Sunday afternoon?"

"Yeah, and I'll miss you, too. Want to hide out in the bedroom and start saying goodbye?"

"Okay," she answered with a big smile."

xxxxx

Tensions at the precinct were beginning to ease. Word spread rapidly when Banks and Houston were suspended and escorted out of the building, Word also spread about how Beckett handled working with Fenn and Pegram. The consensus of opinion was that they deserved the consideration they were given, and their new captain had done the right thing. The rest of the story on Banks and Houston eventually filtered through the grapevine, and with it the way Beckett had gone out herself to do the detective work to get an innocent nineteen year old out of jail and assign someone else to find the real killer. Except for a couple of Banks and Houston's somewhat unpleasant friends, no one seemed too upset that the precinct would be without them.

Sergeant Pittman arranged a meeting with some of the community leaders in their jurisdiction. He was going to have them come in to meet with the captain in the conference room, but Beckett asked if he could arrange the meeting in one of the churches or community centers.

"I think outreach should start with us going to them to see what their concerns are and how we can help rather than bringing them here to ask us."

"Captain Beckett, you might make me cry," Sergeant Pittman told her. "I've been trying so hard to get something done for so long. We've cooperated with basic needs…security for community events, things like that. Captain Lautrec didn't refuse things of that sort, but he wasn't up to planning anything bigger, either. We cared about him and sympathized, but it got harder and harder to make things work."

"I won't judge him too harshly. If I lost my husband suddenly, I'm not sure I would cope any better. I'm here to see if I can help all of you get back to where you were when things were better, not to judge. I think I've seen some things easing up. I think I can make suggestions now without feeling tension building again, and I don't get the impression that my constant presence in the bullpens feels threatening to most of the precinct anymore. Is it my imagination?"

"No, Ma'am," he answered. "It's only been a few weeks. We're not there yet, but morale is improving, and I think I see our old work ethic peeking through. Not your imagination."

"Good. Now, if we can get the community to trust us, I think we'll be on the right track. See if you can get that meeting set up for me. We're here to serve the community, and I've always enjoyed going out and talking to people. Like here, I want to know who I'm working with…and for. It won't hurt us, either. We need allies out there. These days there are cell phones everywhere, and if there's trouble, things can go viral in nanoseconds. If we can get the community to trust us because we're doing the right things, there might be some strong voices trying to give us the benefit of the doubt. Banks and Houston didn't help us there, having a young, innocent, up and coming community volunteer arrested and jailed for no reason."

"As bad as it was, that might have turned out better than you think, Captain. You went to Ms. Ogden at the community center voluntarily. You didn't send somebody else, and you didn't go to put on a show. You went to get an innocent young man out of a bad situation the people he works with didn't even know he was in. Ms. Ogden is one of those strong voices in this community; and she's reserving judgment, but she's told people what you did. You don't realize how much these people are looking forward to meeting you."

"Thank you for that. I had no idea."

"I'll go make some phone calls now. Wherever it is, everybody has agreed to Thursday afternoon at two. We'll figure out how to make it work."

"Thanks, Pittman."

xxxxx

"I don't know how it got to be mid-August this fast," Kate said as she put the finishing touches on the salad for their dinner with the Dohrmans and her former captain and her husband.

"You've been busy," he answered. "Time flies when you're having fun."

"I don't know if I'd call it fun, but it's been interesting enough to keep me occupied."

"The steaks are ready to put on the grill when everybody is here, and the table is set. The potatoes should be done in a few minutes, and the cheesecake and a few toppings are in the fridge and ready to serve. I think we can relax now." he told her.

"I think we need to be sure our children are still dressed for company," she answered. "Jamie likes to dress like you. He's loved it since he was little. But I'm going to check on Jo. Her dress should be comfortable enough for her, but some days, those little feet are not happy in shoes," she said as she took off the apron that was protecting her own dress. Then she went upstairs.

Jamie came downstairs then in his dress pants and a dress shirt, very much like what his father wore.

Kate came down behind him with their little girl in a cute, dressy knit dress, holding a pair of Mary Janes and a pair of lace trimmed socks as she brought her barefoot daughter to the sofa to put the shoes and socks back on her.

The doorbell rang, and when Victoria Gates appeared at the open door, two children descended on her, shouting, "Aunt Captain," followed by "Uncle Ray." Both objects of their enthusiasm knelt to collect their hugs and were pulled into the main room of the loft.

"Have you met Mr. and Mrs. Dohrman yet?" Gates asked. "He's a captain like your mommy."

"Mommy said he has to have a wheelchair 'cause his legs don't work like they used to," Jamie said.

"That's right. I think you'll like him. He has grandchildren, so he likes little children."

"I'm not little anymore. I'll be in second grade this year."

"His grandchildren are Jo's age and younger, I think," Gates said, easing away from the affront to Jamie, but he likes big children, too."

Rick and Kate greeted them and sat down to talk until the Dohrmans arrived a few minutes later.

The Dohrmans remembered meeting Jamie at the change of command when Kate took over at the fifteenth, but Jamie was too young then to remember. Renee had been impressed then, and she still was. Jamie extended his hand when they were introduced and said, "Jamie Castle. It's good to meet you. Since her brother did it, Jo held her hand out and said, "Jo Castle. It's good to meet you."

Captain Dohrman smiled, shook both their hands, and said, "You have such good manners. Your mom and dad must be really proud of you. Then Renee shook both their hands, too.

"We have cheesecake for dessert," Jo told them.

"I guess that identifies Jo's idea of the most important part of the meal," Kate said.

"We have steaks, too," Castle added. I'm going to put them on the grill right now. Everything else is ready."

Ray followed Rick into the kitchen. Captain Dohrman stayed to talk to the children, and the women asked Kate about the new precinct. Conversation was easy, and Captain Dohrman joined the conversation about the new precinct, hearing about the successful meeting Sergeant Pittman arranged with the community leaders.

"You know, that's one of the things I benefitted from after you were there, Kate," Captain Dohrman told her. We had a good relationship with the community before, but you made some good extra inroads that we kept up after you left. You're very good at your job. Don't be too surprised if they want to transfer you again after the twenty-seventh is in good shape."

"Please. Right now I need to keep my mind on how to make that happen. Another precinct can't be in my head."

The steaks were done, and Kate took the large bowl of salad from the fridge and put it on the table along with the baked potatoes and condiments.

The children were fascinated with the wheelchair. Dohrman had brought the one he used for work so he could show Rick all the bells and whistles.

Jo asked, "Does your chair move all by itself, like magic?"

"No," he said, moving his hand. "See that? I can move that around and make it go where I want it to."

"Does it work like a video game?" Jamie asked.

"Pretty much. As long as your parents don't mind, I'll give you both a ride after dinner and let you try it if you want. I ride my grandchildren around sometimes."

The children enthusiastically agreed and everybody sat down to eat. The conversation was pleasant, the steaks were perfect, and the cheesecake was a big hit. It came out during the meal that Victoria and Jared had a similar frenemy relationship at the Academy that Kate had with O'Conner.

After dinner, Captain Dohrman did give the children a ride. Kate put one of them on each knee, and he drove them around the large open space. When they were in the largest space he found, he let Jo try moving what was basically a joystick, holding his hand close to hers in case of emergency. When the chair actually moved forward, she gasped, looking delighted, and then laughed. "Can you make it go that way?" he asked.

"Pretend it's your video game," Jamie suggested, and she made it move to the right and then the left. It was a jerky ride, but it worked. Then Dohrman stopped it and Kate helped rearrange the children on his lap so Jamie could have a turn. Jamie had watched the captain carefully as they rode and had a good idea of what he did, so he managed to drive them around the room without too many hitches."

"I think I'm jealous," Rick said as he watched Jamie driving the chair.

"Well, you can forget sitting in my lap and riding around the apartment," Dohrman stated good naturedly and everybody laughed. "But I'll show you what it can do."

"Yeah, I can be happy with that." The women watched as the men and the children gathered around Jared Dohrman and "oooed" and "aahed" as it moved from sitting to standing and back and he showed them all the other features of his very expensive gadget.

Renee smiled. "He enjoys it so much when he's with other men who don't treat him any differently because he's in a wheelchair. Look at them. They're letting him enjoy showing off his fancy gadget and enjoying it for that. Nobody has said anything about the chair in any other context, not even the children. Did you tell them not to?"

"No. But they're pretty good about watching the adults. When I was pregnant with Jo, Jamie and I went with Rick on his European book tour, and we didn't want to leave him with babysitters we didn't know, so we put him in his tiny little suit and took him with us to the parties and receptions that came up. He likes to dress up now and then as much as Rick does, so he always has a suit that fits. When he was two and a half, he was introducing himself to people at the parties the way he did tonight, because that's what his father did. They're good buddies. And he and Jo get along like average brothers and sisters, but Jo loves his attention and takes a lot of cues from him. Tonight is the first time I've seen her introduce herself that way and shake hands."

Well, it was adorable," Renee answered.

"Jared impresses me," Victoria said. "He doesn't let anything stop him."

"I'm afraid it's getting to that point, though," Renee said. "It's going to happen sometime, and I usually see the beginning signs before he does. He's so involved in not giving up that he doesn't notice right away…and the stress of the job takes a toll. I'm sure both of you are familiar with that. He can still walk around the house, but sometimes it's barely a shuffle, and he always uses a cane, most of the time now it's a walker. I think some days determination is the only thing that keeps him going. It's going to be so hard for him when he has to give up his job, but I don't think he'll try to stay longer than he knows he can give the job what it requires. I doubt it will be more than a year from now if it's that long. His arms are getting weaker, too."

"I'm sorry to hear that, Renee," Kate said. "Don't hesitate to call us if there's anything we can do to help…either one of you. It hasn't been easy on you, either."

"You're doing it. He's really enjoyed tonight. I could see how much he enjoyed the children. And going out to dinner with you now and then has been nice, too. It's a good change of pace for both of us."

The women moved to other subjects. The men had moved on to trading cop stories, Dohrman and Castle from experience and Ray Gates from his wife's stories, and the children had wandered off to play in the study.

Before much longer the Dohrmans said they needed to get home, and Kate went to tell the children that they were leaving. Jamie came to say goodnight, Jo close behind.

"Thanks for letting me drive your chair, Captain Dohrman. It was fun," he said.

"Me, too," Jo chimed in.

"I enjoyed it, too," the captain told them. "We'll have to do it again sometime."

"Awesome!" Jamie answered with a big smile.

"We're leaving, too," Gates told Jamie.

He wrapped his arms around her waist and said, "'Night, Aunt Captain." Then he went to Uncle Ray while she picked Jo up to talk to her and give her a hug.

"Aunt Captain?" Dohrman asked with a little smirk.

"When Jamie was just beginning to talk enough to make sense, Castle would bring him to the precinct now and then when he came to pick Kate up. He was adorable, and so smart, and I couldn't resist saying hello and talking with him for a minute. Kate's partners were Uncle Kevin and Uncle Javi, and the ME, Dr. Parish, was Aunt Lanie. When they told him I was Captain Gates, I guess he thought it was my name, so he called me Aunt Cap'en, and I couldn't bring myself to let them correct him. I have to give it up one day, but I don't want to. That's how he introduced me to Jo, so now there are two."

"I can't blame you. It's cute," he answered with a smile.

When everyone was gone, the parents ignored the kitchen and spent some time with the children before bedtime. Then they took care of the kitchen chores and collapsed into bed themselves, snuggling up and talking about the evening, the fascinating wheelchair, Renee's predictions for her husband, and whatever crossed their minds before they drifted off to sleep.