71. Chapter 71

Chapter 71

The evidence Beckett's team found the next day pointed to the victim's brother; and if lab reports showed what they expected, they believed it would lead to an arrest. Early in the afternoon, the reports confirmed their suspicions, and by the end of the day the arrest had been made, the paperwork was done, and they were all able to go home at closing.

"I'm glad it was that easy," Esposito said. "My girl had the day off, and she's expecting dinner and dancing tonight."

"Just don't stomp all over her feet," Beckett teased. "She has to work tomorrow."

"I'll have you know I don't stomp on feet. I'm a fine dancer."

The response from the others was various forms of, "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatever."

Esposito checked for his wallet and phone, proclaimed them all jealous of his skills, and left the other three partners smiling as Beckett shut down her computer and picked up her things. Then the three of them entered the elevator, their minds on enjoying a quiet evening.

xxxxx

After thanking Josef as he left, Castle and Beckett saw no one downstairs; so Castle put his arms around his wife from behind and suggested softly, "You know, we haven't properly celebrated our new little Castle yet…just the two of us…alone."

"I know," she answered. "I guess I have to admit to being exhausted the last few days. But I'm not exhausted today. I'm feeling much better now," she answered suggestively.

"Is that so?" he asked in the same spirit.

"Yep." She popped the "p" as she turned in his arms to face him and reached out to play with a button on his shirt.

"So, I'm thinking an early bedtime. How does that sound?"

"Very…celebratory." She looked up at him seductively and added, "I'm thinking I'd like that."

"Hi," They heard from the stairs.

The couple turned toward Alexis and each held out an arm to include her in a hug. "What have you been up to?" Castle asked.

"Taking another look at my fall schedule…debating a couple of choices."

"You're not thinking of adding anything else, are you? I'm reeling at what you've already committed to. You should allow yourself time to have a little fun."

"I can manage. JD is a conscientious student, too, but he finds time to have fun. He'll help me do the same. And I checked to see when I should expect to get my dorm assignment."

"I don't like thinking about the dorm assignment," Castle said, holding her and kissing her head. "It means you're not going to be living with us anymore."

"I can't live here forever, you know."

"But we'd be happy to keep you if you wanted to stay here and commute," Kate assured her.

"I know you would. But when you were my age, didn't both of you want to get out on your own? See how it feels to be independent?"

"I'd had a little taste of that already. For me it was like another boarding school with way fewer restrictions."

"I sure did," Kate answered. "Went all the way across the country to do it."

"Bite your tongue, woman. We just got her talked into Columbia," Castle interrupted.

Alexis backed away. "Face it Dad. I grew up. I'm supposed to do that."

"I know. I don't like it, but I know," Castle admitted.

His daughter kissed his cheek and backed farther away, changing the subject. "I came down to get a snack."

"Not a big one, okay? I'm about to start dinner. I thought I'd bake some salmon. One of you want to start a salad? I'll make garlic bread."

"Why don't we work on that together, Kate?" Alexis asked, and they all worked on their culinary projects and talked and teased until everything was done.

Just after dinner, Buttons came to by to visit, and she and Alexis went upstairs to compare notes on where they were in their college preparations…and to plan a shopping trip to help fill in some blanks in the fashion and school supplies department.

Castle and Kate cleaned up in the kitchen, bumping hips, stealing kisses, and generally fanning the flames of their plans for later. Once they had finished up, they went to sit on the sofa in the study. "So, when do you think we made our little peanut?" Kate asked, her hand going to her belly lovingly. "I think I have a pretty good idea."

"If you're between six and seven weeks along," Castle answered, placing his hand gently over hers, "it would have been either that indescribable night of storm sex or our secret anniversary night in the Hamptons. Either one is an awesome memory for making a baby."

"That's what I was thinking, too. Either one…" She turned her head and kissed him softly.

"If Buttons doesn't go home pretty soon, we're going to leave a note that we were both tired and went to bed."

"We probably wouldn't be fooling anybody," she answered mischievously, "but I'm willing. We could just make out for a while and give them a little more time, though."

He gave her a kiss that practically curled her toes and said confidently, "You want my ruggedly handsome body right now, don't you?"

She graced him with a frisky smile and asked, "Where's the pen and paper?"

xxxxx

"Last night was nice," Kate said as they lay in each other's arms in the semi-dark of the early morning. "Sometimes soft and sweet is perfect."

"It was perfect, wasn't it?" he answered, kissing the end of her nose playfully. "This baby came from knowing we'll love each other for the rest of our lives. Celebrating that needed to be perfect."

Kate's answer was to kiss his chest and snuggle closer. Then she sighed deeply. "We need to get up soon and get ready for work."

"No. We don't have to be in until noon. Your shift starts later today, remember? Besides, the alarm hasn't gone off yet. Why are we even awake?"

"I don't know."

"Then let's just stay here until we feel like moving."

"Richard Castle, you're a bad influence." She gave him a lingering kiss then turned to get out of bed.

"Hey, wait. I thought you were going to let me be a bad influence."

"I am. Be right back," she said over her shoulder as she scampered off to the bathroom. Castle was walking around the end of the bed, ready to go in as she was coming out, and she stood on tip-toe to kiss him as they passed one another, "Hurry up. We still have part of the morning."

Castle was back in no time, and quickly got under the covers, asking, "Did you reset the alarm?"

"Yeah."

"Then come over here and snuggle up. Let's make the best of it."

They dozed again, waking enough now and then for some touching and a few soft, sleepy kisses, and finally getting up dutifully when they heard the alarm. They showered together, keeping the playing around to a minimum, and left for work with their coffee mugs. Kate was allowing herself one cup…one large cup of coffee first thing to wake herself up, and then she was suffering through the rest of the day. She convinced Castle there was no need for him to give up coffee, as long as he didn't drink it where she had to watch.

They arrived at the precinct along with Ryan and Esposito, and they all got down to the business of paperwork. After that was done, the day was quiet until a little after eight-thirty that night when a call reporting a multiple shooting at a restaurant came in. Again Castle went with the boys and Beckett was sent videos and was able to ask questions while her team was still at the crime scene. It needed a little refining, but the system seemed to be working. The basics were already on the murder board when the three men on the team returned with witness statements and names of those willing to work with a sketch artist.

"Did you get anything on the car or the driver?" Beckett asked.

"There was a guy outside when the car left," Ryan answered. He saw the car leaving, but didn't see the suspect's face when he ran out to get in it. Didn't see the driver at all. He gave us his best description of the car and told us the direction they were travelling, though. I'll get traffic cam footage and see if we can find anything."

"Nobody at the party admitted to knowing the guy. It was a twenty-first birthday party. The first victim was the birthday boy's date," Castle told her. "Everybody said it looked random. The man shot her and four other people, injured three more, and then ran out, got in the car, and left."

"Could any of them have been targeted?"

"Not enough information yet to know," Esposito answered.

"Let's finish what we can on the board and get fresh eyes on it in the morning, she suggested. "We need to talk to people, and it's too late to do that tonight.

xxxxx

The next morning they looked at the board, and Beckett said, "Let's recap. Make sure I didn't miss anything I need to know. I know they rented a small restaurant from a family friend for the party. Tell me again where everybody was when this happened."

Ryan started, pointing at a diagram he had drawn and put on the board. "Of the four killed, the first victim…female, Sheena Kegan, twenty years old…was near the front door talking one of her roommates. The male victims, aged nineteen to twenty-two, were all standing near the two women. The three who were injured were behind them…other side of the same tables. Several couples were on a small dance floor near the bar, and the others were sitting at other tables or standing in groups talking. Names are all there in the diagram."

"And where was the guest of honor?" she asked.

"He was at the bar getting his girlfriend a drink. He looked devastated. He said he had just picked out a ring for her. Quite a twenty-first birthday." Castle reported.

Tell me again what we know about them."

Esposito answered, "Birthday boy is Kyle Delvy, twenty-one, in his senior year at college. Seems like a good kid. Working part time. Family is paying for school. The guests were all family, old friends, and friends from college. I'm starting on backgrounds this morning. Just in asking questions, though, their only connection is that they were all friends. No ill will, no problems, no rivalries."

"And the witness to the get-away?"

"Doug Dershowitz…getting to the party late…coming around the corner of the block when the guy came running out," Castle answered. "He told us he heard shots and saw movement and backed up as far out of sight as he could. Didn't see any faces…tried to get plate numbers when they roared off, but there were no plates. He said it was a dark color, late model Chrysler…thought it was green. High end model, he said."

"I'm working on that this morning," Ryan promised. "Maybe I can find something."

"Go ahead and get started on the car, Ryan. The rest of us can split up the victims and see if there's anything worth finding."

By the end of the day, Ryan had found where the car had stopped several blocks away, pulled over on a section of street with less traffic than normal, and put the plates back on. Once they identified the location, a little extra effort provided a good picture of the passenger from a store's CCTV, but they got nothing from facial recognition. The plates were legible and identified the car as belonging to Ralph Ingram in Kensington, a suburban area not far from Manhattan.

Ryan and Esposito drove there to speak to him but no one was home. Two neighbors came out to see what they wanted and told them he had been out of town for the past month. His wife had died a couple of years before; and after that, he bought an RV and he and the dog took off several times a year just going wherever the wind blew them. The neighbors said he could be anywhere between there and California…or Canada or Alaska. He wasn't big on technology, so his cell phone wasn't even charged about seventy-five per cent of the time, but he'd call and check in with one of them once in a while so they would know he's still alive.

"Neither of them recognized the car's passenger." Ryan said with a sigh, "but they did say they both thought they heard a car outside Ingram's house in the wee hours of the morning the night of the shooting. Could have been Ingram's car."

"We need to find Ingram and see if he knows who this is," Beckett answered. "I'll get to work on that. Thanks guys."

"All the victims seem to be good kids. One was in a little trouble when he was about eighteen, but nothing big. Looks like the female victim has a juvenile record but nothing recent. Whatever it was, she seems to have been on the straight and narrow since she was eighteen. She was finishing a radiology program this semester, hoping to be working in a hospital before long. We'll need to talk to some of her friends and see if they can tell us anything that might help," Castle told the boys.

Over the next two days, Ryan and Esposito went out and talked to the family and friends of the victims, and Beckett and Castle spoke to the ones who were willing to come in to the precinct. There were no signs at all that the male victims would have any connection to a shooting. However, collectively, they discovered that the female victim had a boyfriend who joined a gang about the time she had finished the first year of her college classes. She had hung out with a bad crowd when she was in late middle school and early high school; but as she approached eighteen and graduation, she began to look more toward having something better than what her parents had. Her boyfriend, on the other hand, was moving in the other direction. His choice for improving his lot was illegal activities as part of a gang. Sheena didn't know that until last year, and when she found out, she left him and moved in with two of the other girls in her class. He was pretty possessive and didn't take it well, kept trying to talk her into coming back. When she threatened to get a restraining order, he was angry but left her alone. No sign he's been to see her since then. Also no other connection to our victims.

"When did she meet Kyle?" Beckett asked.

"About six months ago. They hit it off right from the start. Her family liked him," Ryan answered.

"But there's no connection at all to the gang member?"

"Not as far as we can tell," Esposito confirmed.

"Where the hell is Ingram and that dog?" Beckett asked peevishly. "Somebody has to know our mystery shooter."

As they drove home with Josef that night, Castle said, "You know what? When the dust settles and we know for sure that you're safe from Bracken and Simmons, we should invite everybody who helped bring them down to come to the house for a weekend at the beach…with their families. Plenty of uncrowded beach for running and wading, and sand castles…and relaxing. We'll even invite Gates."

"And Josef?" she asked loud enough Josef could hear, and he smiled.

"And his brother, and their families. I'll arrange hotel rooms for the overflow. The house isn't quite that big."

"I love the idea," she answered.

xxxxx

It was two weeks before Mr. Ingram called his neighbor to report in, and he called the precinct immediately afterward to ask what they needed from him. Since he didn't know how to use his phone for anything more than a phone call, he agreed to go to the local police station where they could send a picture of the shooter.

As soon as he saw the picture, he called Beckett back and said disgustedly, "I know him. That's my worthless nephew. He and his mother just moved back here from Mexico. Probably trying to outrun the law down there."

"Do you have a sibling other than your sister? She said she didn't recognize him."

"She's been lying for that boy since he was about twelve. Don't believe a word she says. You said he killed somebody?"

"Killed five and injured three others…and used your Chrysler as the getaway vehicle."

"I knew he had a bad streak and a lack of good sense, but I sure never saw that coming. What do you need to know? I'll do whatever I can to help."

The nephew was arrested, and his mother was charged with obstructing an investigation. When he realized he would be going to jail for murder, he gave up the gang member who ordered it. It was part of his initiation into the gang. He was supposed to kill Sheena and her boyfriend, but several of the men fit the description he was given, so he just shot all the ones closest to her. The ex-boyfriend was also arrested, and the team finally put the case to rest.

xxxxx

About the time they finished the last case, Jordan and Avery came by the precinct to make a short report to Beckett and Castle.

"Good morning," they heard, and turned to see Avery smiling at them. "We thought you could use some good news," he said.

Jordan Shaw smiled, too. "We wanted to let you know that Bracken's network is rapidly unravelling. There's now very little chance that he or Simmons could still manage to hurt you, Beckett."

"How can you be sure of that?" Castle asked.

Avery took that question. "Since the charges included international drug trafficking, most of Bracken's and Simmons's properties and funds were seized, and the vast majority of what little they still have access to will have to go to attorneys. They can't afford to pay anybody to go after her. And with the wealth of evidence against them, they can't get bail. They can't even get out of prison to do it themselves."

Even though they were relieved to hear such things, and knew them to probably be a true assessment of the situation, Castle and Beckett still looked skeptical.

"What about people who owe them favors?" Beckett asked.

"People who used to seek Bracken out because of the power he held are now trying their best to downplay any connection to him. The people who had worked for him are too busy scrambling to save themselves to consider killing a cop as a favor to a fallen and unsupportive ex-boss." Avery answered. "And the ones Bracken had railroaded into prison to take the blame for his own crimes or those of Simmons aren't likely to be forgiving, let alone helpful. They have no bargaining chips left."

Jordan put her hand on Beckett's arm and assured her, "You know I wouldn't raise your hopes about this if I didn't feel sure. We looked at everything over and over in the past couple of weeks before making this visit. People Bracken had coerced into helping him are coming forward now to tell us about blackmail or threats to themselves or their families…and there are a lot of them. And the ones who had been paid informers or worse have no need to feel any loyalty to men who can no longer pay them. Some of them are talking, too…hoping to make deals.

"It's not that we don't believe you, but it's going to take us a while to accept that the threat is really over," Castle answered. "Everything you said makes perfectly good sense, and we trust you; but after all this time, worrying has become a habit. I may have to hold on to at least some minimal extra security for a little while longer."

"I can understand that," Jordan answered.

They talked a few minutes longer, and before they agents left, Castle broached the subject of the beach. He and Beckett had chosen a weekend near the end of August and started their plan by inviting Jordan and Avery to come and join them at the beach house for the weekend.

"I appreciate the offer," Jordan answered, "but my time with my family is limited as it is, and…"

"The invitation includes your families. Alexis and I can show you the prime sand castle building spots. There's an uncrowded beach, fresh ocean air, a pool, and lots of peace and quiet."

"A family weekend at the beach sounds great. Let me talk to my husband and get back to you."

"What about you, Avery?"

"I think my wife and boys would like that, too." I'll call you tomorrow. Thanks, Castle."

"Good," Castle answered. "We'd love to meet your families. Oh, and a place to stay is included in the invitation." Turning to Beckett after Shaw and Avery left, he said, "Shall we ask Gates now? We wouldn't have this without her."

"Why don't you do that yourself? I think she finally likes you."

Gates was invited, as well as Lanie and the boys, Josef and his brother and their families, and the rest of the Castle/Beckett family."

xxxxx

Castle had rented one floor of a small hotel not far from the beach house for their guests. It gave the families some privacy, and left the beach house quiet for most of the night.

People started arriving around ten on Saturday, and the crowd grew quickly. The children from all the families immediately herded together by age groups and got along well, finding things to entertain themselves from among the beach toys and equipment Castle had gathered up for them to use. Alexis showed them the pool and reminded them that they could only use it if an adult was present.

The adults enjoyed that the children had entertainment, and they gravitated toward the chairs and umbrellas Castle had set up near the beach, visiting and getting to know one another better while they kept an eye on the children. Castle later excused himself and went back to the house to set out the drinks and plates of sandwich material, snacks, and fruit they had prepared the night before, and then called the crowd to come in for lunch.

The children enjoyed the pool for a while, loving that Castle and some of their parents would play with them, some of them behaving like overgrown kids. Some of the men were actually goaded into a cannonball contest by the younger children, the basic criteria for winning seeming to be how much water was displaced with each cannonball. The winner was Raymond Gates, a man about Castle's size, who was much more laid back than his wife.

Victoria Gates and Kate Castle watched as the contest narrowed to Castle and Ray Gates, and when Mr. Gates won, the captain was shaking her head. She told Kate, "I don't know whether to congratulate him or hide somewhere in shame. It's a wonder there's any water left in that pool."

"Right there with you," Kate answered. "It's more fun to congratulate them, though."

"I suppose you're right," Captain Gates conceded.

When they went to them, the two men looked at each other mischievously, Ray signaled and mouthed something, they both grinned, then they grabbed their wives and fell into the water with them. The children were squealing with delight, the two women were spluttering, the other adults were laughing and the two men were bumping fists and grinning widely.

Once that excitement settled down, things gradually moved back to the beach for the afternoon. Castle fired up the grill later on to cook steaks, burgers, and hot dogs, and while they waited, the crowd moved from one conversation group to another.

Kate was making the rounds of their guests, and she had just left Jordan and her daughter when she stopped to talk to Lanie for a few minutes.

"She looks happy," Esposito observed when he approached Lanie right after Kate left.

The two of them watched as Kate went to see how long it would be before Castle had the meat cooked. It wasn't over the fire yet, and Lanie said Esposito had asked…hungrily. Castle stopped to put his arms around his wife, long-handled tongs already in one hand. He gave her a quick kiss and they talked as he went back to his task, getting the meat on the grill.

"They both look happy, Javi. And I don't think that's ever going to change…because they belong together. I think they're going to be together as long as they live. I want that. I want to see my future in a man's eyes like that, a man who lets me be my independent self like Castle does for her. But I don't want to have to dance around it as long as they did to have it."

"Do you think we have that?" he asked hesitantly.

"I want us to have that."

"But do you think we do?"

"I don't know," she answered just as hesitantly. "If we did, we'd probably recognize it after all this time. I think they always felt it and tried to deny it…until they couldn't anymore. But once they committed, it was for life. You and I…maybe we're still trying to have it and just it isn't there. I do really care about you, and I do love having you in my bed, but…"

"I care about you, too, and you know I love being in your bed; but do you see us having that?" he asked with a nod toward the couple at the grill.

"She's pregnant, Javi. They're looking at their future and seeing it with people they love. Do you see a home or children when you look at me?" He hesitated just enough to answer her question without saying a word.

"I don't want to hurt you, Chica." He paused and looked away for a moment. "Maybe not. I want to…but I…maybe not."

"It's okay," she answered, sliding her arms around his waist and leaning her head against his chest. "Neither do I, but I didn't want to hurt you, either." He put his arms around her waist as well, and as they stood in each other's arms, and eventually she asked, "Have you ever met anybody who made you feel like it could happen?"

"There was this woman I worked with on the subway when that guy had the bomb with the kill switch. She's a transit cop…said she had a little boy. He's five. I saw her at a diner a few weeks ago when I stopped on my way home. Tables were scarce, and she invited me to sit with them. Just a friendly gesture. That was all there was to it. I just had a lot of respect for how she handled things in a crisis. There was an attraction, but I wasn't really looking at her that way then. Her son was with her, too…cute little guy. We hit it off real well. It's the first time I ever really thought about being a dad, but after my lousy excuse for a father, what do I know about that?"

"What do you think Castle knew about that? He didn't even get to have a lousy father. He had no example at all, but look at Alexis. If he can do it, you can, too."

"You think?"

"Yes, I do."

"I've seen the way you and Perlmutter's replacement look at each other now and then."

"He knows we're together, Javi. I've flirted, but I haven't given him any encouragement…and he hasn't pushed."

"Just saying, if you were single, it wouldn't take much encouragement for him to show some interest. He looks at you a little like Castle looked at Beckett at the beginning."

"And the transit cop. You think she's interested?"

"I don't know. Maybe if I showed some interest. Could be the same situation."

"Javi, if you want kids..." She took in a breath and released it. "I'm not sure yet if I do."

"There are a lot of 'if's' on both sides of looking elsewhere."

"I know."

"You think it's worth it to give ourselves a chance to see other people?"

"Maybe. Are we amicably breaking up?" Lanie asked, putting her arms around his neck gently.

"After the weekend?" he suggested, his arms pulling her closer.

"So we spend the rest of the weekend saying goodbye?"

"Sounds like a nice way to do it…no pun intended."

Lanie smiled. "Yeah, it does. So let's enjoy the party. Somebody just started the music. Come dance with me."

He pulled her close for one more kiss then smiled as she took his hand and tugged him toward the backyard where another couple and a few children were already dancing.