As the boys stood in the bullpen of the forty-third, being told by Erica's partner that staring at a victim like they were a victim only made things worse, their eyes were drawn to Kate fleeing this place. She was walking as fast as she could, nearly jogging, but not wanting to run into anyone with her blurred vision in an unfamiliar office area. It took seconds for Rick to come after her, calling her by her first name as he tailed her toward the elevator. He finally caught up to her in an archway between the bullpen and the hallway near the elevators, grabbing her arm and stopping her. She turned to him and said a few words before he pulled her in close to him and spoke to her. The boys just simply couldn't look away as they'd rarely seen their boss cry.
When Buckley came out, she caught the boys' attention by saying, "I told you she wasn't ready to talk to this guy."
"We had to ask," Ryan explained. "We need to talk to him and he won't talk to anyone but her."
"You boys have never worked with a rape victim before. Neither of you could possibly understand how personal that trauma is. It's not a regular ass kicking or some idle threat. You're going to have to give Beckett some time on this. She isn't ready to take this guy on face to face. Just seeing him petrified her."
"Well what are we supposed to do now?" Javi asked, more to his partner than the others.
Still, Erica's partner told them, "You talk to the rapist about the victims and let him enjoy it until he says something and slips. You act like hearing the details of the rape is something you get off on too, almost like you understand him. It's disgusting, but it will get him to talk, I guarantee it." To this, both men responded in unease.
Espo was the first to ask, "You're telling me that hearing about this sicko's pleasure in raping teenagers and our partner is the only way to get him to talk to us?" The knowing pair nodded. "No. No, if I go in there and hear him talk about raping some innocent child or Beckett, I will end up ripping his throat out."
"Espo, there might not be another way and we have to talk to him," Ryan replied, level headed but queasy at the though of hearing about Kate the way he would probably describe her.
Buckley then answered, "Your only other way is crying into Castle's shoulder. You've run out of options, boys."
"What if he still doesn't talk to us?" Ryan questioned.
"Then you will have hit a dead end because Kate won't go in there, I can promise you that." At Erica's words, Ryan shifted his stance to think a minute. He didn't know if he could handle this. It sickened him to even think about thinking about doing this. But when his head involuntarily twisted to see Kate backing out of Rick's hold with tears still glistening on her cheek and a desperately frightened look on her face, he knew he couldn't just turn his back on this.
He took a long, heavy breath and let it out before looking up. "Espo, I'm going in there, and you don't have to, but I need to help Beckett. She'd do this for us, so I'm doing this for her."
Javi looked at his partner and told him honestly, "Bro, I can't. I will snap his neck if I have to hear about him abusing young girls and/or Beckett like that. I'm sorry, but I really, really can't."
Ryan just nodded in understanding and patted his partner's shoulder, silently telling him, "It's okay, bro. I get it." Javi then watched as Ryan crossed the room with the Sargent. The moment Ryan walked in, seeing Gerick's devilish smile of satisfaction, he was sickened.
The man's rough voice asked with pride, "Where's Detective Beckett?"
"She's not coming in," Ryan announced. "You did quite the number on her. She's scared out of her mind."
"I didn't break her yesterday, did I? I mean, it was fun and all. I loved to watch her squirm. I just kind of hoped she'd do as I asked when I asked her to do it. I didn't want to completely demolish her." This made Ryan want to throw the man against a wall and beat him until he felt the pain he'd caused Kate, but Ryan simply didn't let this emotion show.
With a smile and a shrug, he told the man, "Chicks, right? They're so fragile, so easy to break. But I have to admit, man, Beckett's a tough feat. It takes a lot to break her. I'm impressed." The man seemed to scan the detective for authenticity in his words. He laughed two short laughs and then took it as a genuine response.
"You do the same with your wife? You dominate her; show her who runs the place?" Tanner asked with a smile.
Ryan answered, "Yeah. That's how I got my daughter."
"Yeah, Sarah Grace, right?" Gerick asked, striking a nerve in the detective's heart unintentionally. Ryan nodded and smiled. He then laughed a bit to himself before continuing, doing so to cover his thoughts of strangling the man before him.
Kevin then asked, "I'm curious, what was is like taking on Maddie while Addison watched, huh?"
"Doubled the pleasure," the man grinned.
Ryan nodded and smiled, "You did quite a number on those girls as well. So why let Beckett escape the beating as far as avoiding her stomach? I would think doing that would diminish that absolute dominance thing."
His demeanor changed as he looked at the detective. He got very serious very quickly. "I'm not a monster. You see, women are meant to be dominated. They need to know who's boss or else they start thinking they're superior. They need to be knocked down and understand that we are their superior. We are their masters. But causing a woman to miscarry, killing an unborn child is a sin. Anyone who kills an unborn child should die a slow, tragic, painful death after living a long, sad, meaningless life. Our purpose in this world is to protect our children, detective. There is no excuse for killing an unborn child."
Ryan looked at the man and swallowed hard, thinking back to when his wife had miscarried. That had absolutely destroyed her, but he got over it in about a month. It took her a months to deal with it fully. It was part of the reason she was so determined and so nervous about getting pregnant. For the first three months of her pregnancy, all his wife did was worry. It was the main reason why they waited until she was past her first trimester to tell anyone.
"What about Maddie and Addison?" Ryan questioned, "It seems like you could have had more fun with them, but you seemed to dine and dash."
He smiled. "I wanted the lady cops to know that this was my game and I rule over all of it."
"And Destiny?"
"My version of a Nicotine Patch for the last couple of years," he replied with a sick smirk. He then continued, "But you know, she was pretty easily broken. Maddie was already broken by the time I got to her, so she was less fun and Addison refused to play my games. Kate was the first to really struggle. She writhed about and fought back. She pulled against her restraints so hard she slit her skin open. I thought for sure she was going to end up cutting that main vein in her wrist and bleed to death. It reminded me of Sarah so much. But eventually I broke her too. I mean, all I had to do was threaten her babies' lives and that pretty much shut her up."
Ryan was disgusted, but he had to ask, "What about Sarah? How was she?"
"Delicious," the man replied simply. His hubris was repulsive but Ryan had to do what he had to do. Gerick then brought the situation back to Kate. "You know, Beckett gave me the inspiration to label Sarah the way I did. At first I figured I would just write your names in sharpie, but then she told me how a knife was a bit more permanent and irreversible. I didn't want her family to miss out on the view because the M.E washed off my labels."
Ryan then caught onto something and perked up a bit. "So writing our full names out with a knife was an idea inspired by Kate, huh?"
The man nodded happily, "Yes sir. You should be sure to let her know that. I want her to know that even though she's inferior, she's not useless." Ryan wrote this down on the pad and then came back to the interview.
"So why change their underwear?" Ryan asked with a smile.
The man beamed, "You saw what that did for your detective friend. I find those bras and thongs make the girls look even more appealing." Ryan smiled and nodded, but didn't buy it. Again he wrote a note in his book as the man cocked, "You should buy some for your girl. I promise you, it will make ripping it off her body all the more satisfying."
Ryan laughed to keep up the appearance. "So, why target us? Why did you want us to tell our stories of what happened?"
"Because," the man stated as though it were obvious. "Weren't you listening at all? You all failed to protect a child. Burns let herself get attacked and miscarried. You were away while your wife miscarried. Carpenter let his wife abort a baby. Valgora let his wife drive their son into a ditch where he died. Murphy failed to report the murder of an infant and has still failed every year. Harris caused his brother's girlfriend to kill herself and their baby. And at the pace Beckett's going, she'll lose her twins in a month tops. I should have just given them a quick death yesterday instead of letting them have to deal with their incapable mother's stress. But like I said, I could never kill a child. I couldn't do what the seven of you seem to do so easily."
This was all Ryan could take. His act fled him as he watched the man give looks of satisfaction. With a clenched jaw and thought of splattering this guy's brains over a wall, Ryan got up and walked out. Tanner called after him, "You know what you did, detective! You all know what you did!" The door shut on the sociopath as Ryan met the room of people who had been watching for the last half of the interview. Kate and Javi both stood there. Sito stared at Ryan, understanding why he'd finally snapped, not understanding why Ryan didn't strangle this guy while he was in there. Beckett on the other hand stared at her stomach, hands over her twins, eyes glassed over but struggling to keep herself from crying as her body faced the mirror.
Ryan's guilt over what had happened with his wife had overwhelmed his senses for a moment, but began to dull and slide off as he forced himself to think of Sarah Grace. When Kevin came back from the guilt, he found his gaze set on the woman who looked like she was moments away from breaking. Javier found himself in the same situation once he understood why Ryan was watching her her. When Javi came up to her, he rested a hand on her shoulder and came between her and the window, bending to look at her fallen face. "Kate, why don't you go home. We've got this covered. It's not a big deal."
She wanted to argue, but at this point she couldn't. She would have gone had Ryan's phone not gone off and startled them all. When he answered it, confirming he was speaking by parroting his last name, he simply listened as Murphy ranted on. He looked up at the pair before him as he got the news and then politely ended the call. Both Beckett and Esposito waited patiently for him to say anything. "That was just Murphy calling to let me know that we caught a lead."
Javi tried to tell Kate, "See? We've got this. You and Castle can go home and relax for a while." At that point, however, she'd snapped out of it and come back to who she usually was.
"No, I'm fine," she insisted, shaking his hand off her shoulder. Just then, Castle entered with a bottle of water for his lover.
With a polite thank you, she gladly took the water and cracked the lid. Rick then asked, "What did I miss?"
"We caught a lead," Espo enlightened.
Castle then gave a questioning look. Ryan elaborated, "Murphy called and said she went through Gerick's bank statements. Apparently he was renting another apartment in the city a few years back. He has since moved out, but around that time he bought a large amount of women's clothing, shoes and was already paying the bills on the house in the woods."
This have the others a shared look of confusion. Castle asked his question first. "Has anyone run his phone records to see if he had a kept woman?"
Ryan nodded, "There is no record of him calling any woman who wasn't his mother."
"Where was he getting the money to pay for an apartment and that house and those clothes?" Esposito asked.
Ryan replied, "We don't know. Along with his paycheck from the security job, he was getting money from a company called 'Abigail Lane'. They tried to track it, but the company is based somewhere in the Caiman Islands. They don't think it's legitimate."
"So he used fake money to buy the clothes and the apartment and the house?" Castle double checked. Ryan nodded. The boys all seemed puzzled, but Beckett seemed to understand.
"Guys, that apartment belonged to our hacker! That's how the fake money was set up and the fake accounts were built," Beckett informed them.
Castle then theorized, "And if they were buying women's clothing with that money, then our hacker's a woman. Unless Tanner is a bit more fabulous than he seems to be right now."
Beckett ignore the second half of his conclusion and said, "We need to talk to Tiara."
"You really think that it's her?" Esposito question.
"Of course not," Beckett replied as though that were the dumbest question she'd ever heard. "But any woman who has had kids with a man knows who that man is banging if it happens more than twice. Just ask Castle about Meredith." The boys looked at Rick and he nodded sharply in absolute agreement.
"Well she's got to be back home by now," Ryan said, "And after what happened two days ago, I doubt she'll talk."
"What happened two days ago?" Beckett questioned.
Ryan replied, "Nothing," in unison with Javi's, "Don't worry about it."
"Alright then," Kate said, choosing not to pursue the subject. "Well, why doesn't one of you go get Sargent Buckley and have her help you put Tanner in a cell while Rick and I go talk to Tiara. The other one of you can call Murphy back and tell her what you go from the interrogation."
The boys nodded and the four of them turned to walk out of the room and go their separate ways.
☆●☆●☆●☆●☆
When Murphy finally got off the phone with Ryan, she joined the others and told them, "Beckett and Castle think our hacker is a woman and they think Tiara knows about it, so they're going to ask her."
"Why would Tiara know?" Harris asked.
Murphy rudely replied, "I don't know. Why don't you ask them?" He shut up.
Burns then spoke up, "Did they get anything from the interrogation?"
"Yeah, Ryan doesn't think Gerick prepped Sarah's body for staging. Apparently he got details about it wrong. Like he knew how she would be staged but didn't see it exactly and didn't get the picture right in his head. Also, he said something about his story for why he changed the girls' underwear didn't seem quite right." They all were left puzzled by the second anomaly, but could guess what the first meant.
Carpenter was the first to say, "So, what, he just confirmed our hacker staged the body? Didn't we already know that?"
"No, the writing on her body done with both ink and knife was wrong," Murphy replied.
"So the hacker's doing some damage too," Valgora processed for the others. "So if the writing is her thing, do we think she did the writing in the stable?"
Burns replied, "Possibly. Especially if she's the grudge with the NYPD."
"What do you mean by that?" Harris asked.
"I just mean that she's the one that has hacked our system; she's the one that's plastering our names all over everything; she's the one who left Sarah's body on the doorstep of the leaders of the NYPD; and for all we know, she's the one who left Addie on our doorstep and killed Loyelle right in this office."
"She probably is," Murphy spoke up, grabbing the attention of the others. "I mean, male serial killers tend to make murder a sexual kind of act. That's why he's raping his victims. Female serial killers take the sexual aspect off the table, which means Loyelle, Jessie and the town car driver were probably her kills. There was no rape and they were less methodical which suggests she's young and doesn't have one way of doing things like a more developed serial killer. I mean, we have a slit throat, a sniping and a poisoning."
"So why kill Loyelle? Why go after Maddie when they already had her once?" Valgora asked, knowing the Jessie died in place of what had hoped to have been Maddie's murder.
Carpenter suggested, "She probably thought they both knew something."
"But Maddie doesn't know anything. We've talked to her," Burns argued.
"Well why else go after her?" Carpenter asked with a bit of insult.
Harris then suggested, "Maybe she just didn't want Maddie to survive."
"No," Valgora quickly started and let trail, denying Murphy the opportunity to object but allowing his thoughts to amount to something, "if she wanted her dead, she would be dead. She wouldn't have left Jessie's body hanging outside of Beckett and Castle's window as a warning. It just wouldn't have happened."
"Unless she wanted to instill fear before she strikes," Murphy commented just simply to argue.
To this, Harris spat out, "If she simply wanted to instill fear, she wasn't doing a very good job of that with Loyelle."
Melissa then butted in, "Maybe Loyelle was the warning to Maddie and Addison."
"Neither knows he's dead though," Carpenter argued. "And I think the only way we can explain Loyelle's death is by finding out what he knew. And the only way we're going to be able to do that is by tying him to Tanner. And it's not going to be easy, but we have to do it. We have to know what Loyelle's role was in all of this."
"Well, he was abusing her. Even if she's upset with how the interrogation went down, she must be decently happy that he's gone somewhere deep down," Murphy said. "Maybe if we go in there more politely and talk to her in a more calm setting like her house, we might be able to get her to talk to us. Especially considering we're not the others."
Valgora looked at his younger agent and agreed, "Alright, but I think Carpenter and Burns should take this." No one argued and the detectives skipped out, leaving the other three in an uncomfortable silence. Suddenly, a thought occurred to Valgora and he pulled open his computer. There he opened records and found that Loyelle worked at the same school the victims went to and wrote it on the board. The lovers just simply sat there. Finally the older man in the room asked, "So are you two going to get over this or should I tell my wife we don't have plans for your wedding day?"
Lucas just started at Kaylin, but her expression didn't change Silence overcame the room and they got back to work.
☆●☆●☆●☆●☆
Beckett and Castle walked into the woman's home with her very shortly after she told them how inconvenienced she was by their friends the other day. When Tiara told them that shooting at Gerick's car had left all the neighbors questioning her and that it was a massive hassle, they got their answer as to what happened. Rick was pissed that at this point, they still hadn't found Kate and for all the others knew they could have shot her. Beckett pushed ahead, however, apologizing and telling the woman that the shooting didn't exactly please her either. "So, what do you want, Detective Beckett?" The couple looked at her with confusion as to how she knew Kate's name when she hadn't yet introduced herself. The woman explained, "Tanner showed me that interview you both did on TV last week and as you know, he is a very big fan. I've seen your picture quite often."
They were both disgusted, Beckett's discomfort a bit more internal than her fiancé's. "Ms. Benson, I just need to ask you a couple of questions about Tanner Gerick and then I promise we will go."
She looked at the two with notably understandable suspicion and allowed them in. Just as she closed the door, however, a two year old came running around the corner in a diaper and pink shirt with a pink bow in her hair and socks that looked like a pair of ballerina slippers. She called out, "Mommy! Mommy!" When she saw the strangers, she got very quiet and came over to her mom's side, burying her head in her mom's leg.
"Claire, sweetheart, where's your skirt?" Tiara asked, looking down at the child who was staring at the other two. She didn't speak, she just smiled and buried her head back into her mother's leg. Tiara laughed under her breath just as the other two did. "I'm sorry. You both will understand how hard it is to keep kids in their clothes when your twins are about two." Kate and Rick's faces both went a bit pale as they looked at her. She quickly explained, "I was with your squad yesterday for hours, detective. One of them mentioned you were pregnant with twins. But I also know that if you're here, that means you've caught Tanner."
"Yes, we have." Rick said this as though he got pleasure in this with no remorse. Kate didn't quite understand what was making him this way. He'd been impolite to the woman since the moment they got out of the car and he insulted her house. However, this was a decently nice house for a single mother to have. Beckett made sure she took a note to check this woman's financial records to see if he baby daddy was giving her money as well.
The woman and the writer seemed to share a look between them that lead them both to Beckett and then back to each other. Tiara then looked away from the man and told Kate, "You know, when you sit, if you want to relieve the pain in your side, it helps to hold your side with your opposite hand and lean in to that side. It's just about the only comfortable position you'll find." Shame came over Kate and her shoes suddenly became the most interesting things in the world. Rick's hand softly ran up her back and she flinched against him. The woman's brow raised and she allowed the detective to move past her and into the living room. She then told her daughter to go play in her room while she talked to the detectives. She did as she was told and merrily skipped off into the hall. Tiara then took her seat with the other two.
Rick had whispered something in and Kate's ear and she'd shaken her head, telling him, "No, I'm fine."
When Tiara took her seat, she looked up at the detectives and changed the subject. "What do you need to know?" she asked, pulling the two to reality.
Beckett looked at her and replied, "We need to know the name of the girl Gerick was seeing and is probably still seeing."
"Why?" Tiara asked. "She's not in on this. She doens't have the stomach. Trust me. She went to put a bandage on Claire's scraped knee about three weeks ago and nearly puked at the sight of the blood. Tanner had to do it for her."
Kate pushed forward, "We'll still need a name."
The woman shrugged and simply replied, "Rachel something. I don't know her last name, but I know she worked with Tanner." Kate knew instantly who she was talking about and wrote it in her book.
Rick wanted to say something, but Kate shut him down by moving on, "And do you know what might have inspired Gerick to suddenly act on his feelings?"
"You," the woman shrugged calmly. Kate couldn't understand and gave her a confused look in response. She answered, "Ever since you survived your shooting, he's had an odd kind of obsession with you. You were on the news and in the papers, everyone knew your name and your face. He was completely obsessed with how much exposure you got as a cop. He said that you must have been winning 'big points' with your bosses by giving the NYPD so much positive exposure. I mean, you gave the public a thrilling romantic story that they got to read about through the series he wrote, you took down Bracken very publicly and showed them that justice reins over everyone and the two of you went out and did an interview, announcing your engagement, giving them a look at the real Nikki Heat and showing off the... finer assets of the Police Department. When he found out you were pregnant before you knew, he said it was 'destiny' and he was ready to strike."
"So I was the trigger?" Kate asked just to double check.
The woman shrugged and asked innocently, "Yeah, pretty much."
"So, we know why he picked the seven of us, but why pick his victims the way he did?" Beckett inquired. At this point Rick kind of gave up and just let Beckett work the case.
Tiara pursed her lip in thought as her face shrunk in thought. She finally replied, "I don't know that he ever gave a reason for picking the girls. I mean, for the longest time, he didn't have names of victims, just simply names of detective, as though he didn't really care who he killed."
"Miss Benson," Beckett continued, pulling out a picture from her pocket, "do you recognize this place?" As she handed the paper image to the woman, realization came over her and she looked appalled. The diner didn't seem to have a connection to Gerick and Kate had a hunch that he wouldn't take her anywhere he didn't know was secure. Somehow he knew this place would be empty and vacant and he knew about that back room. That meant that at very least he knew someone who knew this building and he didn't seem to talk to many people. Aside from his partner, only Tiara could tell them for sure that he knew of this building.
The woman stood up in disdain and announced, "That lying, thieving ass! He stole my diner!" Just as she said this, the two year old walked in and ended up cowering beside the sofa. "Oh, Claire, sweetheart, I thought I told you to go into your room and stay there."
"Mommy," the girl simply said, sullen faced, coming toward her mother with opened arms.
Her mother stopped her before she could reach her, "No, baby girl, mommy's busy, alright? Please, just let mommy talk to these people and go back to your room alright?" The child's arms dropped as she gave a broken gaze at her mother. It broke the couple's heart, but it didn't seem to phase the woman before them.
When the toddler turned to leave, Castle asked the woman, "Do you terribly mind if I follow her? I have a daughter at home, so I'm sure I can keep her out of your way and just go color a minute."
"Fine, whatever," the young mother answered and the writer quickly got up, lifting the child into the air as she laughed a squealing, uplifting laugh. Kate smiled to herself quietly, hearing the girl's delight and knowing what a great father he would be.
Beckett quickly wiped the smile away, however, then asked the woman, "What do you mean he's a 'thief'?"
"I mean, this diner is my cousin's diner. I'd had Tanner meet me there to pick up Claire while I helped out with the painting. The next day I told him that if I had to kill someone right now, that diner would be the idea spot. I told him that the diner was always closed on weekdays because my friends had to work and that I could easily hold someone there for days. He stole my spot!"
Kate did everything she could to ignore how absolutely disgusting that statement was and just simply took note of this in her notebook. It didn't seem like it would be too terribly important, but if the need should arise in court to state how he knew that place was available, at least they would have someone they could ask. She then asked, "Did he ever ask you to wear any kind of specific bra or underpants?"
"No," the woman answered warily, dragging it out a bit.
Kate then asked, "We he ever rough with you?"
"I thought by the advice I gave you, it would be obvious that he was," she answered.
Beckett shrugged, indicating her non-verbal answer of, "Touche." She then asked aloud, "Has he ever harmed Claire?"
"God, no," she bluntly replied. "If he'd ever laid a hand on my daughter, he would have never seen her again. I would have filed charges against him and gotten a settlement and child support and he would be in jail for that instead of murder." Somehow, Kate got the impression this was all about the money to her.
After this, Kate shifted in her seat a bit to find comfort. The woman noticed and told her, "Seriously, which ever side is bothering you, put your opposite hand on it and lean into it a smidge. It will help." Reluctantly, Kate took the advice and was instantly soothed. For once in the last twenty-four hours, she wasn't feeling any serious pain anywhere. The minor aches were everywhere though. The woman could still see the soreness in the detective and sympathized with her. "I know you don't really want to take my advice, but I've dealt with this beating a few times before. So, I know you don't need my help, but I'm going to just give you four little tips. Cool baths and then a heating blanket helps. Ice your eye once a night of it will start to swell and affect your vision. If the writer wants to comfort you, his hand on your neck and a nice peck on the forehead isn't painful as long as he's gentle. And when you sleep, sleep under the covers and get toasty. Trust me, it helps with the pain."
Kate just studied the woman a bit, unsure as to whether she was trying to help out of some kind of sympathy or if she was trying to play with Kate's mind. She took in the advice anyway since she was in so much constant pain and the pain killers were dying off more and more quickly and she didn't dare up her dosage, thinking about the twins less than herself. "Thank you," Kate simply replied, leery of the woman's response. She nodded an understanding response which made Kate actually wonder if this was a legitimate sensitive response.
After this, the woman went looking for the writer in the child's bedroom down the hall. In the doorway, Kate watched as her fiancé played with the child in a very caring, innocent way. Claire laughed and laughed as he wiggled the stuffed zebra near the child's face, making a throaty, normal inside voice leveled scream. Claire swung her hand at the zebra and then brought it in for a hug. When she gripped tightly to it, Rick looked up and say the two in the doorway. He asked his adoring wife, "Ready?"
Her heart was absolutely swooning over his playfulness with the young girl. The toddler was so comfortable and happy around this man who was a complete stranger to her. Her smile must have beamed brighter than the sun in Rick's eyes. He let a breathy laugh and smiled back at her, assuming it was time to go. Before he went, he picked the girl up and lifted her into the air. Again, a fit of high pitched laughter filled the air and she was thrilled to be playing with the man. He said a short goodbye and the couple walked out. When they got to the car, Beckett let him drive as he vision was getting slightly blurred by her swollen eye and she waited until he was in the car and his door was closed. When it was, she flew over to his side and planted her lips on his in a frenzy of desire.
☆●☆●☆●☆●☆
When the couple arrived in the precinct, Kate waited with Rick downstairs for a minute. She knew she was going to go up there and have everyone look at her like a victim. She knew that no matter what anyone said to them, they would all be treating her like a victims. unfortunately, there was nothing either Kate or Rick could do to stop that. However, Rick did everything he could do by stopping her in the nearly empty lobby, taking her by the hands and kissing her lightly on the cheek to steady her. When she looked at him, he could read her absolute terror that she was hiding extremely well, but not doing a good enough job to hide it from him.
Still standing in the room with only one other armed guard who was watching security cameras and not the couple, Rick ran his hand under his wife's shirt and lightly stroked the flat of her belly. Whispering lightly, he leaned in and reminded her, "You aren't a victim, Kate, no matter how many people lable you as one. You are a survivor. You are a hunter. You are strong and courageous and you can handle anything that is upstairs waiting for you. You can do it. All three of us will be right there with you, me and the twins, and we all know you can do this."
She smiled a bit before it faded and her head came down to meet his shoulder. He pulled his hand out from under the thin clothe of her shirt and pulled his arms around her neck, knowing this was one place where she wasn't in pain. She was so relieved by his touch, she settled by his hold that she was prepared for whatever came her way upstairs just because she knew he was there. Taking in a breath, she released him and he released her and they started toward the elevator in their typical way. When they got in, Rick hit the button and they began their accent. The silence as they rode was absolutely comfortable, but Kate's nerves forced her to instinctively lay her hand across her stomach and protect her unborn children.
The doors split open and the pair breathed before they stepped out.
Ryan, Esposito, Valgora, Murphy and Harris all turned to look at the detective. Javi and Kevin seemed to take in the sight of her being there the same way they did most mornings with an edge of concern, but the others were much worse. They stared at Kate, eye boring into her like lasers, studying every inch of her beaten body as though she was something to pity. She could feel Harris fixate on the bruise beneath her eye as Valgora simply took in every inch of her. Murphy stared at her hand resting along the only non-wounded area of her body. She's done her best the cover the bruises she could cover with clothing, but her neck still showed the bruise one of his hands had created and the bandages on her wrists were hard to miss. She felt so completely exposed as though she were wearing nothing more than she was wearing yesterday when they found her. Although, it wouldn't matter if she were. They'd all seen her body in that video. They're seen everything and knew every injury. And if the video hadn't revealed the developing wounds well enough, the photos they would have received should have given them the picture.
Gates finally broke the silence by shooting out of her office and asking the others, "Do we know where Beckett and Castle are?"
"Sir?" Beckett asked, losing interest in making contact with them and gaining interest in what her boss wanted. She was still covered in the look of shame that she had become all too familiar with over the last few hours.
Captain Gates looked at the pair and told her detective, "I need to speak with you in my office. Now." This seemed very serious and Kate didn't know whether she was in trouble or if this was about something else. Either way, she obeyed and followed her captain. When both Castle and Beckett walked in, Gates stopped them and instructed, "Not you Mr. Castle. I need to speak with Detective Beckett alone." She gave Rick a puzzling look as he walked out and she shut the door behind him. When Gates' hand gestured for it, Kate took a seat in one of the chairs.
Hesitantly, not getting a read on where this was going, Beckett asked, "Yes, sir?"
She took a breath and simply got down to it. "Detective Beckett, are you truly certain you can this case? As I said, there is no shame in admitting you are not yet ready to take this on. It hasn't even been a day since you were attacked."
Kate sighed and asked, "Is this about the way I reacted to Gerick at the forty-third?"
Gates nodded a response before saying, "That and the fact that the boys seem to think it might be best if you go home." Beckett rolled her eyes at the boys more than her boss, but honestly couldn't blame the two for suggesting she leave. Still, she was handling this case well enough and she thought she was doing a good enough job sorting out what she could and couldn't do.
"I am entirely capable of working this case, Captain. I assure you, I am absolutely fine," Beckett said in full confidence of her abilities. She then followed with, "I know my limits, sir, and I know I have limits. I am entirely capable of being here and being level headed and not having a panic attack from a few photos."
"What about photos of yourself?" Gates harshly asked. Beckett looked confused, so Gates clarified, "You were a victim, Detective. Unlike your shooting, the wound patterns on your body mean something. The clothes you were wearing mean something. Your picture, along with Maddie's picture and the pictures of the other girls, are in that file and they will come up. I'm concerned that you don't seem to be processing things that you come face to face with very well yet."
"Sir, with all due respect, I am not the average cop. I'm not the average victim. I've been a victim for far too long on far too many different occasions to still see myself as one. I can do this whether you believe I can or not and I will not leave my team stranded on a case that is this important to all of us. I will not let the man who took the lives of three innocent teenagers, who challenged my officers, who attacked in both my homes and who threatened my family go unpunished. I will not leave this team stranded. I won't and even if you have me thrown out of here you can't make me."
Beckett stared at her boss. Gates stared at her detective. They battled each other's stubborn gaze, waiting for one another to break. Beckett watched as the wheels in her boss' head spun. Gates watched as the determination in her detective's mind expanded and a brewing storm grew on. They watched and waited for someone to crack. Finally, Gates saw it. She found the actual source of Kate's determination. She found it not it the detective's eyes, but where her hand gently laid along the flat of her still not-yet-distended stomach. She had figured "family" meant Ryan, Esposito and Castle. She assumed Kate meant her work family which made sense. But she now realized he'd threatened the lives of her children. He'd threatened the lives of the detective's unborn twins and pulled the mother-bear instinct out of the detective. Beckett was right, she wasn't going to let this go. Not when she was aiming to keep her children safe. There wasn't a chance in hell.
"Alright, Kate, but I have to ask that you stay here for the remainder of this case," Gates caved. Beckett didn't protest as moving around as much as she did had so far made her very sore. Gates also said, "And we're going to need to talk to Maddie again. They others think she might know something about the second unsub that could help us I.D her." Kate didn't argue, although she wanted to. When she thought about it though, it made sense. After this, Beckett agreed to have Rick bring Maddie in as soon as she left. Gates had nothing else to say, so the detective rose and went to her empty desk. She already knew the others knew about her injuries, so she gave up trying to hide them and threw down her blazer on top of her desk.
The moment she did, the ding to the elevator announced the arrival of Burns and Carpenter. "That was a total waste of time," Carpenter said as the two strolled in. They then took in the odd sight of Beckett and seemed mesmerized by her bandaged wrist.
Noticing and suddenly feeling annoyance instead of shame, Beckett sharply asked, "What was a total waste of time?"
Burns replied, quickly snapping back to reality, "Talking to Mrs. Loyelle. She knows absolutely nothing about what her husband knew."
"Yeah," Kate said shrewdly, "I could have told you that."
"Well what did you find?" Burns sharply questioned in return.
Beckett smiled, "I found Gerick's girlfriend. Again. I was just about to suggest a few of you go pay her a visit and perhaps usher her down to the forty-third. Perhaps Espo and Ryan can take that while Harris goes with Murphy to go find out where she got her hacking skills."
Melissa then looked at Kate with large eyes as she quickly shook her head back and forth. Kate clearly didn't understand so Carpenter did the honors of explaining, "The love birds are arguing and if you put them in a room together they will either jump each other or fight to the bitter end."
Kate looked over at the pair who were standing between Valgora, both looking irritated as hell. She then amended, "Alright, well, Carpenter, Murphy, you two can check in on our subject. Burns, Valgora, you can go talk to one Miss Rachel Gerard and see if she doesn't know more than she's letting on. Castle, I need you to run home and bring Maddie in because someone here needed to talk to her, though I can't remember who..."
"Why?" Castle questioned the group.
Valgora spoke up, "For the same reason we needed to talk to Mrs. Loyelle. We need to figure out why the hacker tried to hack her off along with Mr. Loyelle."
"She doesn't know anything about that. She would have told us," Castle said defensively.
"It couldn't hurt to talk to her, just to double check. I mean, she might not even know she knows something," Burn defended.
Castle then shot back, "No, no. She's been through enough. She's told us everything we need to know. She's very fragile right now and if you guys push her to talk about things she isn't ready to talk about, she could break. She's just a little girl. She doesn't need to relive her trauma because you have a whim you need to satisfy." He was a bit hot headed at the moment and just as defensive as any father would be over a child.
The others back off, but Kate told him softly, "Rick, if she's here, at least we'll know she's not at home on the couch balled up with that gun beside her." He sighed and nodded, looking nto her eyes, feeling her honesty and caring nature, knowing she was right. He didn't argue, but he badly wanted to.
She then asked, "What did Sarah's parents have to offer? Were one or more of her parents absent or abusive or something?" The others all then looked at each other. Kate was stunned and waited for someone to answer until no one did. "Tell me you talked to her parents." They were all silent. Beckett was now a bit more angry with their inability to do the simplest of tasks before she realized that the boys had been with her and no one else worked in a unit where families weren't called by someoone else. She breathed and replied, "Alright, well then, I guess someone is going to have to talk to them. Honestly though, I don't think it should be me. Not when I look like I just got run over by a heard of wild buffalo." She attempted humor but everyone just kind of laughed at the joke with more pity than humor. She quickly moved on, "Why don't you handle that, Burns, and Harris, you can join Valgora and go talk to our lady friend. Everyone good?"
After this, they all nodded and agreed and slowly departed to their leads, leaving Kate to stare at the board that mocked her viciously.