195. Chapter 195

Chapter 195

The change of command at the twenty-seventh left the second of Beckett's candidates for captain installed in her own command. She publicly congratulated Captain Lorins on her new command and on having such a fine precinct of police personnel to work with, and then left her to her new job. Then she reluctantly went to the eighty-fifth to watch the swaggering, old guard and misogynist Captain Ervin accept whatever accolades he could gather before actually retiring and walking away from the job.

At the end of his lengthier than necessary, self-important sounding speech to his precinct, he finished with, "Good luck with your new captain. She sure is better to look at than I am." It was said with the hint of a leer as well as a hint of doubt in her abilities, in effect belittling Beckett's worth for the job and making her the object of innuendo.

Castle's blood boiled. He was not happy that Kate would have to work there in an atmosphere fostered by the man he was watching. But he was quite proud of his wife's opening statement.

When she was offered the microphone, she very clearly stated, "The way I look has no bearing on how well I do my job, and the way you look will have no bearing on the way I'll expect you to do yours. Effective, successful action will speak for all of us and define our work. I intend to earn your trust and the community's trust, and I'll need your help to do that."

Captain Ervin was standing behind her, a little to her left where he could be seen by their audience, and was wearing a small, disrespectful smirk on his face as she spoke; and Chief Dawson noticed. He leaned in and said something, and Ervin looked put out but rearranged his face to something that looked a little more professional. Beckett continued, "I won't offer you a list of my qualifications for this job. I'd prefer to simply get started and prove to you that I'm capable of doing the work I was sent here to do. I'll look forward to meeting all of you."

At that point, the change of command was over, and Captain Ervin stayed to talk to what appeared to be several of his fans at the precinct. Castle walked up to her and whispered, "Memorize those faces. You may find them trying to undermine you before long."

"I thought about that, too. I can't believe he said that publicly. The captain was trying to undercut me before he left."

"Yeah, well the chief saw him smirking while you were speaking. I don't know what he said to him, but he wiped the smirk off his face. I'd like to pin a medal on the chief."

"They should all be gone before long, and I can get to work and start testing the waters."

"You didn't bring anything for your office, did you?"

"Not today. At this point I might want to fumigate it first."

He walked into the office with her and she looked around, gingerly opening the file cabinet and desk drawers. When she opened the top one, she looked furious and took out a vibrator shaped like male genitalia. "Is he still here?" If sound could kill, Castle was certain the former captain would already be lying lifeless on the floor somewhere between the podium and the front door of the precinct.

He took a look from the doorway and said, "Yeah. He's still out there with his cronies, and the chief is close by looking like he wants to leave."

She took the vibrator, and as she walked out to the group laughing with Ervin, she called out, "Captain, you forgot something." Holding it so it dangled downward, she said, "I don't know why you needed it, but you left it in the desk drawer, and I thought you might miss it."

The laughter stopped, and Ervin looked at her with undisguised malice.

Chief Dawson said, "You more than deserved that, Ervin. You've been trying to publicly humiliate her all morning, but now you're seeing she's no pushover."

Beckett wiggled her hand, again offering the dangling object to its owner.

When Ervin angrily snatched it from her hand, Chief Dawson told him, "If you can't take it, don't dish it out. Now let your cronies take you to lunch, take that damn thing with you, and leave. The place is yours, Beckett."

Ervin threw the object he had intended to be an affront to Beckett in the nearest trash can…loudly…and angrily stormed out with his friends.

Beckett turned to her husband and said, "Maybe he'll remember his exit with just as much joy as I'll remember my entrance."

Two of the women who were close by snickered quietly. One of them said, "I can't believe he did that…but I can't believe you did that, either. Nobody's been willing to stand up to him like that. The very few who did suffered for it in their evaluations. We're impressed. Keep your eyes on his four buddies, though. They're cut from the same cloth. There are usually five of them, but one is on extended leave. His father's kidneys are failing, he doesn't have much time left, and the man doesn't want surgery even if they could find him a transplant. Wilmer took time off to be with him."

"Then he must have more heart than I saw in those guys."

"From what I've heard, it's more to be sure his siblings don't talk his father into cutting him out of the will because it's been so long since Wilmer's been there to do anything for him."

"Ahh," Beckett said nodding her head. "So, no heart?"

"Not a trace. Not that we've seen, anyway. He's always trouble," the other woman answered.

"Kate Beckett," Beckett introduced herself. "And you are…"

"Detective Ruth Wong, Fraud division," the first woman answered, shaking her hand.

"Detective Janet Hart, Homicide, the other woman responded, offering her hand as well.

"Detective Cliff Wolfe, Hart's partner…hoping Captain Ervin hasn't given the entire male population of the eighty-fifth a bad name. Should I even offer to shake your hand yet?"

"I guess you might look trustworthy," Beckett answered, reaching out and looking amused. "This is my husband, Richard Castle."

Castle shook his hand, too and nodded a greeting to the two women. "Nice to see that the entire male population here may not be in a conspiracy to humiliate or intimidate my wife."

"It doesn't look like she'll be easily intimidated," Wolfe responded.

"Nope," Castle answered. "Just makes her mad."

"Exactly what we need," Wong said.

"I think I'll work from the conference room today…and maybe have a cleaning crew come in tomorrow and sanitize that office," Beckett said. "I'm not sure I want to touch anything." Then she covered her face and said, "Ohmygod, I can't believe I said all that out loud."

All four people around her laughed, and others looking on from a little more distance watched the exchange, even though they couldn't hear it. "Not a word of it will come from us," Hart promised. "I'd feel the same way."

At that point, Castle gently squeezed her upper arm and said, "I'll let you get to work. See you at home." Turning to the others, he said, "Nice to have met you," before he left.

"I'll see all of you soon," Beckett said to the small group around her. "Hart, since this is your floor, will you show me where to find the office supplies?"

"Sure. I'll show you where to find the conference room, too," she answered with another little snicker, and Beckett laughed.

She actually did settle into the conference room, calling the desk sergeant to send Sergeant Boylan to meet her there. When the sergeant came in, she stood to shake his hand and said, "Sergeant Boylan, have a seat," indicating the chair across the table from her as she sat back down. "Any relation to the Boylan Plaza Boylans?"

"A very distant and much poorer relation, Ma'am," he answered with a smile. "I got that question a lot right after that bombing a few years ago."

"My team at the twelfth worked that case when I was still a detective. "My husband was consulting with us then, and he was actually the one who caught that the reporter did something with her phone right before the explosion."

"Your husband?"

"He was here this morning. Standing toward the back…big guy, brown hair, navy blue pin stripe suit.

"I wondered who he was."

"My backup," she said with a smile. "You'll probably see him around now and then, usually with our children."

"Your children?"

Beckett grinned and said, "I'm beginning to feel like there's an echo. Yes, our children…two of them, three and almost seven…and a grown stepdaughter who feels like mine. But I'm digressing. We're here to plan a meeting."

"A meeting with the community leaders? You really want to do that right away?"

"I was led to believe there could be a problem brewing if we don't do something to diffuse it before it gets to that point. Was I mistaken…or misled?"

"No, Ma'am. It's just that it's been ignored for so long it caught me by surprise to hear it sound like a priority…and to be asked to do anything more than arrange traffic control or security for events or troubleshoot when there were complaints. Captain Ervin only showed his face when it looked like there might be a lawsuit. Then he'd go and talk and try to smooth it over."

"Well, that changes now. I want you to arrange a meeting with community leaders as soon as possible…the ones who run the shelters, the food pantries, the soup kitchens, the youth outreach, work with the homeless, run the community centers, and anything else I may have forgotten."

"How soon?"

"This afternoon?" When Boylan looked a bit panicked, she smiled and said, "Kidding, Boylan. Kidding. But definitely as soon as you can manage it."

"Should I tell them you'll meet them here?" he asked, looking around the room. "Why are you working in here, by the way? Didn't Captain Ervin clear his office before he left?"

"Long story. And no. I'd rather go to them. See if somebody is willing to host the meeting in a community venue. She explained her view of outreach the same way she had to Pittman at the twenty-seventh not long ago."

"That's a good point. I was assigned to community outreach here, but I haven't really had much of a chance to work on that. Captain Ervin started in NYPD during the early seventies. There were movements to change things then, but NYPD was still male oriented and locked more into the fifties and sixties. He just never changed his mindset from then. I guess back then the community was supposed to take what they got and be happy with it."

"Well, we're going to improve on that. They're going to love you. She gave Boylan contact information for Sergeant Pittman. "We recently worked through all this at the twenty-seventh the same way I intend to here. If you want to talk to someone…advice, comparing notes, commiserating, whatever, Pittman's a good guy. We worked well together and accomplished a lot."

"I'll get to work on the meeting right now. I think Reverend Willows would let us meet at his church if it isn't booked for something else. It's only about a block from here."

"Is that the old church building on the corner of the next block?"

"Yes, Ma'am."

"I'm anxious to see if the interior of that building is as interesting as the architecture on the outside."

"Tell Reverend Willows that. He's proud of the history of that old church. It's seen a lot in its years there," he said as he stood to leave.

"I'll do that. Thank you. Close the door when you go, please. Oh, and Boylan?"

"Yes, Ma'am?" He turned as he was about to close the door.

"You and Wolfe in homicide are about to convince me that all the men at this precinct don't fall into the same category as Captain Ervin and his fan club."

"Thank you. Most of us don't."

She smiled as the door closed and picked up her phone.

"Hey, Gorgeous," her husband answered. "Ready to leave that place behind and be my kept woman already?"

"Not yet. I've actually met another man here who doesn't appear to be a sexist pig. There may be hope."

"Well, if I can't sweep you off your feet and gallop away with you on my sturdy white steed, what can I do for you?"

"I know tomorrow is the weekend, but do you think Alicia might be willing to spend part of Saturday here with me to help me clean my office?"

"Is it really that bad?"

"I don't look around and see dirt that I can't bear to touch, but there's a bad vibe in there. I think I need to scrub it away. I can't even bring myself to sit in the chair."

"I had the same reaction, but I thought it was because I was angry about the way that man treated you."

"I feel like I need to burn sage or perform an exorcism or something."

"That's so far out of your normal realm of thought, I don't even know what to say…except that I'll call Alicia right now and tell her to call you. She wasn't fond of Meredith or Gina, but she absolutely loves you. Explain it to her. She lives about halfway between here and there, so it wouldn't be as far for her as it is for us."

"Thanks. I actually did set up in the conference room. I'm about to take a legal pad and a pen and take some notes as I get out into the building and meet people. I need to know how pervasive this nasty attitude toward women is. If that's what was at the top…"

"Good luck. I'll expect a report when you get home. Or should I bring our babies and take you to dinner? Jo may not care, but it might help with Jamie for him to see how much longer it takes to get to your new precinct and back."

"That isn't a bad idea. I'll ask some of the friendlier faces to recommend somewhere to eat. Might as well start getting out into the community.

"See you around five, then?"

"Looking forward to it."

She closed the call, put on her jacket but left it hanging open, tucked her phone into her pocket, and went out with her legal pad and pen to meet people and perhaps pick up some information that would be helpful.

Starting with the homicide floor, she went to introduce herself and ask about the cases they were working on. She started with Hart's team, where she expected a friendly response, to give the other teams time to see that she wasn't there to be intimidating, simply introducing herself to the detectives and the work being done. She took time to carry on brief conversations where the detectives felt inclined. Then she moved on to other floors and units and did the same. It turned out that two of the former captain's four good buddies were assigned to Vice, as was the man who was on leave. Two teams in Vice were openly unfriendly. The others responded with cautious cooperation. The other two of Captain's Ervin's cronies were assigned to Fraud. That was Beckett's next destination. Starting with Wong's team, she went through the introduction process again, repeating it until she had met all the detectives who weren't in the field. She had taken her time, made notes now and then, asked about what they might need, and told them they were welcome to see her about any concerns.

By the time she had done all that and was returning to her conference room office space, Castle and her children were there to pick her up for dinner. She smiled widely when Jo squealed "Mommy!" and reached for her. After planting a kiss on her little girl's cheek and settling Jo in one arm and on one hip, she reached for Jamie with the other, pulling him close for a one-armed hug.

"Did you find some suggestions for a place for dinner?" Castle asked.

"Yeah. A seafood place called Neptune's Kitchen."

"Good choice," said a man passing close enough to have heard them.

Beckett turned and looked as if she were searching her memory. "Lieutenant Kaufman, right?"

"Good memory, Captain."

"So that's four votes for this place. Do we need reservations? I'm ready to see what they can do for shrimp."

"Anything they do for shrimp is good," Kaufman answered with a smile. Then he looked at the children and said, "Hi, guys." Speaking to the adults again, he said, "They don't take reservations, so you might have a little wait, but it's still early. It shouldn't be too bad.

"Thanks for the recommendation," Beckett responded.

"And for allowing me to see that I'm not leaving my wife here with an entire precinct full of men like the former captain," Castle added, introducing himself and shaking Kaufman's hand. "Nice to meet you."

"A minority of us give the rest of us a bad name, Mr. Castle." Turning back to Beckett, he added, "I saw the way you handled what Ervin did before he left, Captain. Well done. He deserved that." Kaufman returned to his mission and left them.

"Let me get my things in case somebody needs the conference room." She put Jo on the floor to follow her, leaned to kiss Jamie's head, and gathered up all the paper in a file to take with her. She confined the few office supplies she had gathered to one corner of the table, and the Castles left for dinner. Stopping at the front desk, she let Sergeant Young know she was leaving, told him where they would be for the next hour, and personally introduced her husband and children.

"Neptune's Kitchen was a mid-sized restaurant with an open, friendly feel to it. Looking at her uniform, with the jacket now buttoned professionally, the hostess asked conversationally, "Are you with the Police?"

"Yes," Beckett answered. "Kate Beckett. I'm the new captain at the eighty-fifth precinct. Change of command this morning, but I forgot to bring a change of clothes. And you're Gemma?" she asked, offering a handshake.

The young woman looked surprised and then looked down at her nametag and smiled. "Gemma Harding. My parents own the restaurant. I'm sure they'd like to meet you while you're here." There are only two couples ahead of you, so you shouldn't have to wait long. You can sit right over there to wait," she said, pointing out several benches.

"This is my family, by the way. My husband, Richard Castle, and these two are Jamie and Jo."

"Thank you, Gemma," Castle said. "Could we talk you into a menu so we can see what looks interesting?"

She smiled and handed him a menu, and they sat down with the children in their laps and looked at the menu together. It didn't take long to zero in on their favorites, so when they were seated at a table, they were ready to order. Jamie wanted scallops, and Castle ordered a child sized serving for him.

With a mischievous smile, Jamie said, "I want a grownup size serving. If I don't eat it all, I can take it home in a box." Castle shook his head, smiled, and revised the order, and Jamie displayed the air punch he had learned early from his father and said, "Yes!" He had a triumphant look.

As the server was leaving their table, the owners came out to meet them. Introductions were made all around the table, and the Castles were welcomed.

"Looks like your boy was excited about something," Mrs. Harding observed.

"The fact that he gets an adult portion of scallops,"

Mr. Harding chuckled and promised to be sure they were really good.

The food was as good as advertised. Jamie ate all but three of the scallops but still wanted a box to take them home for later, and Mr. Harding himself took care of that for the boy. Kate and Castle said goodnight to Gemma on the way out, and both agreed they'd probably go back there now and then.

xxxxx

After hearing Kate's explanation, Alicia willingly agreed to meet her at the precinct with cleaning supplies and help her exorcise her office. She and Kate talked and laughed as they worked and when they finished, they had wiped down the walls, the floors, the bookshelves, and the file cabinets and moved the small upholstered sofa and the desk chair out into the hallway.

Castle called one of his guys the night before, found a replacement for the sofa, ordered another desk chair like the one at Kate's desk in their study, and arranged to have them delivered while Kate and Alicia were cleaning. The two men who delivered the furniture unboxed the desk chair and assembled it for Kate while they were there. She tipped them well with the cash Castle pressed into her hand before she left for the precinct, then she and Alicia took a good look at their handiwork. The office looked better, smelled better, and they both agreed that the new upholstered furniture was infinitely more appealing to touch than what they had just moved into the hallway.

"I guess I'll need to see the custodian about removing the old furniture. Maybe somebody here needs a sofa…badly. The two women laughed again. The outside of the file cabinet was clean, but when one of the drawers was opened, it had the musty smell of an old piece of furniture and old paper in an old building.

"I have something for that," Alicia told her, and plucked an aerosol can from her supplies.

"Wait a minute. What is that? I'd never hear the end of it if I handed another cop a file that smelled like lavender or whatever."

Alicia laughed at the thought. "Nothing like that. It's neutral, but by Monday morning it should smell much fresher in there. No lavender police files, I promise." She gave each drawer a little blast of the aerosol and closed the drawer.

"I feel like I can work in here now. Thank you so much for this, Alicia."

Kate reached for her purse, and Alicia said, "Don't worry about that. Mr. Castle said this will be in my next check."

"Then let's get all these supplies to your car and find a place for lunch. How do burgers sound?"

"I don't know how you eat those things and still look like you do," Alicia answered, "but that sounds really good. With fries?"

"Is there another way?" Kate asked with a grin. They stopped at the front desk and asked the sergeant where to find good burgers. Following his directions they found a good lunch, and then walked back to the precinct and went their separate ways, Alicia with an envelope containing a fine tip."

xxxxx

Boylan came through for Beckett. Apparently the community leaders were as anxious to meet with Beckett as she was to meet them, and on Tuesday morning, only a few days into her new command, she was entering Reverend Willows' church for a meeting. The meeting was scheduled in the sanctuary of the old church, and Beckett walked in to meet about a dozen people, all of whom seemed to be waiting for her to speak.

"Good Morning. I'm Kate Beckett, the new captain at the eighty-fifth precinct. I'm here to listen to your concerns. I can't promise to snap my fingers and have solutions happen right now; but if we work together, maybe we can start pointing things in the right direction."

"I'm Reverend Martin Willows, the pastor at this church. It's refreshing to have someone say she's here to listen. The phrase is usually here to talk, and that's all it amounts to." A chorus of voices from the others echoed his sentiments.

"I like each of you introduce yourself and tell me what you do in the community so I'll have a better idea of what kinds of services are available and how they're handled," Beckett told them.

Beckett and Boylan sat in the open space at the front of the center aisle and listened as each person was introduced and gave an overview of what their organization did and how they did it. Beckett listened, asked questions, and took notes.

"My next question is what are your concerns and how you would like to see us help?"

Again questions were asked and notes were taken. Specific names of a few officers were given as being overly aggressive when the initial contact didn't call for it, making situations confrontational, sometimes bordering on dangerous; and they were noted. Trouble areas of the community were mentioned and ideas were bounced around as possible solutions to a variety of problems.

"You've given me a lot to think about," Beckett told them. "And I promise you that I'll think about it. This is a lot to take in all at once, and I've only been at the precinct for a few days. I'll need some time to look at everything to see what can be done, and right now I'm still learning the names of the people I'm working with. Reverend Willows, would you be willing to host us again in a month?" Looking back at the group, she added, "That should give me time to settle into the precinct and take a better look at your concerns and suggestions."

"I'd be happy to." Willows answered.

"I'll call tomorrow when I'm back where I have my schedule in front of me," she promised. "Your secretary will probably be at home by the time I get back today."

As the group talked among themselves, Beckett told Reverend Willows, "This is a beautiful old church. It looks like there's probably a lot of history living in these walls." As she looked around, she looked delighted. "You still have the old wooden tiles with the hymn numbers. They always make me smile. I didn't grow up with church going parents, but when I'd visit one of my grandmothers in the summers, she'd take me to church…in the church where her mother took her when she was a little girl. It was a lot like this one, but smaller. The stained glass here is beautiful."

"We're very proud of this church."

"My husband is a history buff. Could I bring him by for a tour of the building one morning?"

"I would be delighted, but I should warn you that I can be a little long-winded once I start talking about this place."

"Then you'll be well matched when he starts asking questions," she answered. "I'll talk to him tonight, and maybe we can schedule that tomorrow morning, too. Thank you for helping put this meeting together on such short notice."

"Experience tells me that when someone wants to help, you should do everything you can to make it easy for them."

"I need to get back to work. I'll talk to you tomorrow." Turning to the group, she called, "It was good to meet all of you. Thank you for being here."

As Beckett and Boylan reached the sidewalk, he said. "They're afraid to hope for too much because no one has wanted to be bothered for so long, but whether they wanted to be impressed or not, you impressed them. I could tell."

"I don't want to impress them. I want to help them."

"They're afraid to believe it's real…but that's what impressed them. They could hear that."

xxxxx

"How was the eighty-fifth today?" Castle asked quietly as his wife arrived at home.

"Not fun yet. I could use a good hug to help put it behind me for now."

He held his arms out and she went into them with a contented sigh, wrapping her arms around his waist. After a long moment, she asked, "Where are our children? It's much too quiet."

He put one finger to his lips and led her to the study door. Jamie was reading to Jo again. She was leaning against his arm as he read and turned pages, and both children seemed to be perfectly happy with that.

The adults stood watching and leaning against each other until they knew the story was almost over. They had read it to both of them often enough. Then they slipped away from the doorway and heard Jo ask, "Another one?"

Jamie sounded just like his dad. "Okay, but only one more."

"This makes up for a lot of little kid bickering and whining, doesn't it?" she asked, inviting herself back into his arms.

"Yeah. My daddy genes are doing a little happy dance," Castle said giving her a big smile.

Kate smiled back the same way. "I think my mommy genes are holding their hands and dancing with them."