109. Chapter 109

Chapter 109

By the time they caught sight of a very angry Craig Tandy making a stormy exit from the building, all the members of law enforcement had found cover behind vehicles and the corner of the building. They waited for their best opportunity to take him down safely as they watched him open the back door of his van, still holding his weapon.

As he reached for something inside, Jordan Shaw shouted "FBI. Hands where I can see them. Put your gun on the ground slowly, then hands on your head."

Craig turned quickly in her direction and fired.

Then Beckett called out, "NYPD. Put your weapon down now.

Moving to the opposite side of his van, as he fired toward Beckett, Craig started shooting in the direction of any voices or gunshots, the others returning fire. Esposito was in the best position for a clean shot, and he moved just far enough to take it; but Craig fired back as soon as the detective was visible, and Esposito fell against the vehicle he had been using as cover, saying, "Damn!" By then, Craig was on the ground suffering from a shot to his thigh, his now empty weapon still in his hand. Beckett, Shaw and Decker restrained him quickly and confiscated his weapon as Ryan and Sully assessed Esposito.

"Looks like one of yours was hit," Jordan told Beckett. "Check on them and then go take care of the children. I've got things here."

Beckett left Craig Tandy with Shaw and Decker and jogged over to quickly check on her boys. "How bad is it?" she asked when she saw Esposito.

"Tandy hit his arm. It could be a lot worse," Ryan answered as he was putting pressure on the wound. "He'll live."

"Thanks for the sympathy, Partner," Esposito answered, a sarcastic picture of stoicism, even though he was bound to be in pain. "What about Tandy?"

"You got his thigh. Dropped him off his feet so it was easy to restrain him. A bus should be here soon for both of you." Giving Esposito a brief supportive touch on his good arm and turning away, she took her phone from where it was sticking slightly out of her back pocket and asked, "Castle, are you still there?"

"Yeah. We heard everything. Whether you need it or not, I recorded what was coming through on Gil's phone. You okay?"

"I'm fine, and Esposito will be before long," she told him. "Tell Gil to get his bolt cutters. I'll meet you at the office, and we'll go get the kids out of that storage unit."

"On my way," he promised.

"Ryan, stay with Javi. Sully, check out the van, but don't touch anything until CSU clears it. Shaw will probably want her own CSU team for that, but I want to know what he wanted so badly when he came out here," Beckett said on her way inside to meet Castle and Gil. The three of them went to the unit Craig Tandy had just left. Gil snapped the lock with the bolt cutters and removed it, and Castle pulled the door up.

Entering first with her badge out where the children could see it, Beckett moved slowly; and she calmly told them, "Nobody is going to hurt you. You're safe now." Kneeling to cut the zip ties that bound them to their chairs, she assured them softly, "We're going to get you back home. Have you been tied like this the whole time you were here?" she asked.

Both children shook their heads to indicate they hadn't.

"But the last time the man left, he was really mad," the little boy answered, and the girl nodded, still looking panic stricken.

"You must be Elizabeth," Beckett said, smiling and taking the girl's hand gently; and the child nodded again, tears falling down her cheeks.

Hating to do it, but knowing it should be done, Castle used his phone to take video of the children while they were distracted as Beckett approached them and released them from the zip ties. Then, as Beckett talked to the girl, he put it back in his pocket and moved to help. "And you're Daniel, aren't you?" he asked, dropping down on one knee to talk to him.

"Danny," the boy answered nervously. "We call my sister Lizzy."

"Gil, the man right behind me? He saw you on the security cameras and called us. He saw you trying to protect your sister," Castle told him. "That was pretty brave, Danny."

"Can we go home now?"

"Not quite yet, but you can in a little while."

"Did the men who took you hurt you while you were here?" Beckett asked.

"Not much until today," Danny answered. "He grabbed our arms kinda hard sometimes, but he was really mad today. He shoved us back in when we tried to run and threw us against the wall, then he took those plastic things and tied us to the chairs."

"But he was scary all the time," Lizzy sniffled. "And he had a gun."

"He doesn't anymore. We took it away from him." Beckett answered.

"There are going to be some other police people here in a few minutes," Castle explained. "Some of them will want to talk to you and ask you some questions, and some of them will be here to collect evidence that can put the man who did this to you in jail."

"We're going to have someone call your mother so she knows you're okay and can come and meet us," Beckett told them. "Then we're going to have a doctor check on you to be sure you weren't hurt. Right now, we're going to go and sit out in the hallway until our friends get here to help."

"Are you going to stay with us so he won't come back?" Lizzy asked.

"Of course we are," Beckett promised. "But we left him with our partners in the parking lot downstairs. He was in handcuffs, and someone has probably already taken him away. He won't be back."

"But you'll stay anyhow?" Danny asked.

"We'll stay," Castle answered. "I'm Rick, by the way, and this is Lieutenant Beckett."

"You can call me Kate. It's easier. Can you stand up? Does anything hurt when you move?"

They urged both children to stand slowly, and each said they were okay. Then all of them went to the opposite side of the hallway and sat down, leaning against the wall to wait for the FBI. Castle and Beckett put the children between the two of them, and Gil paced back and forth in the hall.

Beckett put her arm around Lizzy's shoulders, and Castle did the same for Danny; and both children willingly leaned against them.

Danny looked up at Gil when he paced back their way. "Thanks for calling the police," he said.

"No problem. It looked like you could use some help. You were pretty brave, though."

"I didn't feel very brave," Danny answered. "I just wanted to be back with my mom and dad." The tears he had been holding in finally escaped, and Castle held him a little tighter.

"Don't worry about that, Kid. I was kinda scared myself," Gil admitted. "You don't see me leaving these people yet, either, do you?" Danny gave him a small, watery giggle from his place against Castle's side.

When Shaw and Avery arrived, they took stock of the storage unit…the pallet and blankets on the floor, the portable camping toilet, the five gallon water jug and paper cups, the large trash can that seemed to be full of fast food bags and wrappers, the two chairs, the box that seemed to have passed for a table, the cut zip ties on the floor. Tandy had obviously put some thought into the kidnapping ahead of time.

Shaw and Avery sat down on the floor cross-legged in front of the others, and she said, "My name is Jordan, and this is Shawn. I guess you're Daniel and Elizabeth." After receiving the same name corrections that Castle and Beckett did, she asked some questions about what had happened. During the conversation, both children had referred to the couple with them as Rick and Kate.

When CSU arrived, they cleared everything they needed from the children; and Jordan told the brother and sister, "When we leave here, we're going to take you to a doctor for that check-up Kate mentioned. After that, we'll take you to the police precinct, and you'll be safe there while you wait for your mom."

Casting a still fearful look up at Castle, Danny asked, "Will you stay with us until then?"

Lizzy leaned closer to Beckett and got a tighter squeeze to reassure her, and Jordan asked, "Do you feel safe with Rick and Kate?" Both children nodded.

"Then they can take you to the doctor, and we'll make sure we've done everything we can to put the kidnapper in jail. Shawn and I will see you later."

"If you'll drop us off at the closest ER, I'll either find a cab or call the car service to get us to the precinct," Castle offered. "And maybe somebody could call ahead to the ER to explain the situation, expedite things for them," he added, nodding toward the children.

"We'll take care of that before we leave," Jordan promised.

"You guys ready?" Beckett asked the brother and sister, and they both nodded. Then they all stood to leave.

Jordan went ahead of them with Gil and Avery, already on her phone making arrangements. Beckett and Castle took their time, Danny and Lizzy still clinging to their sides.

By the time they had reached the FBI's SUV, the hospital had been alerted to the situation and had promised that a pediatrician would be expecting them. Decker and Sully had already taken Tandy to a different hospital for treatment for his gunshot wound and would stay with him until he could be brought to the precinct for processing and interrogation.

As Castle put the children in the SUV, Jordan stopped Beckett before she could follow.

"What was the exact date of the murder here, Beckett?" When she got her answer, she said. "I have the feeling these two incidents could be related."

"So do I. On the video, Dom Martinez was pointing in the direction of that unit while they were arguing.

"We already have Yalin watching the bar. We could send Ryan for backup, leave them there until we get a warrant if we have to, and get the videos for that night. We'll see if Tandy's alibi holds. Yalin has already said there are several cameras in both the bar and the restaurant."

"That would be a big help. I'll call Ryan. Esposito's fiancé is probably on her way to be with him anyway."

"You know if it's related, it's part of my case, right?" Jordan asked.

"Better than Egan keeping it if he isn't going to do anything."

"Beckett? You coming?" Castle called.

"Be right there," she answered.

"I'll keep you posted," Jordan promised.

"Same here," Beckett agreed as she stepped into the van with Jordan close behind her.

"Is our mom on her way?" Danny asked hopefully.

"She is," Jordan answered. "It's going to take her a little while to get here, but she's coming. Right now she's in New Jersey and you're in New York City, in the Bronx."

"Is that a long ways?" Lizzy asked.

"Kind of," Beckett answered, but I know she's getting here as fast as she can."

It was a short drive to the hospital, and Castle and Beckett went straight to the desk when they entered the Emergency Room. Beckett flashed her badge and introduced herself, the woman at the desk made a quick phone call, and a nurse met them at the door.

"Fastest ER entrance ever," Beckett commented.

"Not really," Castle answered, the painful memory showing in his eyes as he looked at her. "You just don't remember the other one."

"Sorry. I didn't mean for you to have to remember that." She answered, gently touching his arm.

The doctor met them in the hall and then took them back to where he would examine the children.

xxxxx

Jordan Shaw's team had obtained the warrant required for The Top Hat's security footage from the night of Dom Martinez's murder; and Ryan and Yalin were bringing it to her by the time the children were back from the hospital with a clean bill of health. Gil had freely given them his surveillance footage including everything from two weeks before the murder to the present.

"They're keeping Tandy at the hospital overnight. Sully and Decker will be with him until we get Yalin there to relieve Sully. Tandy is on pain killers, so he'll probably sleep most of the night and not give them any trouble," Shaw told Beckett. "Personally, I have no patience with anybody who would kidnap a couple of young children. I really don't care if he isn't comfortable when we bring him in for interrogation tomorrow morning. Those kids certainly weren't for the last several days."

"Not much of a humanitarian bent here, either," Beckett admitted. "It broke my heart to see those kids zip tied to chairs and scared out of their minds."

"The doctor said he'll need to use crutches to keep the weight off, but there wasn't any more damage to Tandy's leg than there was to Esposito's arm. They're both going to be a little bit miserable for a while. But fortunately, Esposito can stay at home where he can be comfortable and have somebody sympathetic to take care of him."

"So we interrogate Tandy in the morning?" Beckett asked.

"Right." Shaw paused to stretch and then sighed. "The psychologist is speaking to the children now; so when their mother comes for them, we can talk to her, take care of the formalities, and let them go."

"Are we sure she wasn't part of the drug operation?"

"It doesn't look like it. The home has been searched, and there was no sign of the operation there at all. Willy Klein said he didn't tell her anything. She thought he was the security manager for a big import company and got occasional generous bonuses. She said sometimes she wondered about odd phone calls he'd get now and then, but he'd always talk her out of worrying about them." She sighed again. "Those poor kids have to go home now and find out that their father is in jail. Mrs. Klein said she and the children will be staying with her parents in upstate New York for a while."

"I'm going to go keep Castle company. He's great with kids, but he's exhausted, too, and the children have to be worn out. Maybe we can get them to sleep while they wait."

"Our replacements should be here any time now. I wouldn't mind a little nap myself," Shaw admitted. "But right now, we have the videos from the night of the murder, and I might as well see what they find."

"I noticed that tonight Craig was wearing a hoodie like the one on the video that recorded the murder. On the back of the jacket just below the hood, there's a white tag that says 'BadAss'. Is that some new brand name?"

"Wouldn't surprise me."

"Maybe when you can compare all the videos you'll find something that will make it all fall into place."

Jordan's phone sounded, and she smiled. "Mrs. Klein is at the front desk. The sergeant has someone bringing her up."

"I'll go get the kids." When Beckett returned to the break room where she left Castle sitting with the children, she stopped in the doorway and smiled. The brother and sister were stretched out on the couch beside her husband, Lizzy curled up against her brother's back, and Danny's head resting on Castle's thigh. Castle had one hand on Lizzy's shoulder and appeared to have nodded off himself. She slipped into the room quietly to kiss Castle on the head, and when his head jerked up in surprise, she said, "Their mom is on the way. We need to wake them up."

Castle shook Lizzy's shoulder gently several times until her eyes blinked blearily, and Beckett did the same for Danny. "Your Mom should be here any minute," she told them, and both children sat up,

"She's here? Now?" Danny asked.

"She's in the building…on the way up here," Beckett answered. "Want to wait for her at the elevator?" she asked, holding her hand out for Lizzy.

By the time they reached the bullpen, Mrs. Klein was already there, and the children ran to her, throwing their arms around her when she knelt down to meet them and gathered them both in her arms. All of them were crying.

"Would you like to sit with them over here?" Kate asked, indicating her team's desks. Castle brought chairs for them, but they only needed one. Lizzy crawled into her mother's lap, and was pulled into her mother's one armed embrace while the other arm wrapped around Danny where he stood next to the chair. "Agent Shaw will want to talk to you before you take them home, but right now we'll give you some time with your children."

She received a teary "Thank you" as the mother pulled her children closer, then she and Castle went to the conference room where Jordan Shaw was leaning against the door watching the family reunite.

"That has to be the best feeling in the world," Jordan said before returning to the business at hand. "I have people going through the videos. If anything worthwhile is there, they'll find it, and if it's a breakthrough, they'll call me. You and Castle should go home and get some sleep. Or, considering what's been going on, at least rest while you lie there and stare at the ceiling."

"I guess one way or another, it all hits the fan tomorrow morning when Bronson and Egan come in. Whether they're innocent or not, it won't be pretty. Not looking forward to that." Beckett released a long sigh. "I should probably call Alvarez before he hears it from somewhere else. He wants to know if there's even a vague connection to the murder and if there's anything unsavory about Bronson giving the murder case to Egan. And he was insistent…even gave me his cell number and a call anytime order." She gave Jordan a small, resigned smile and went to find a private place to make the phone call. Finding his name in her contacts, she took a deep breath, releasing it as she pressed the number. "It's Lieutenant Beckett, Sir. I'm sorry to wake you, but you said to keep you informed. I thought you might want to be aware that we found the children and have custody of one of the two kidnappers. She filled him in on what had happened so far, and when to expect the interrogation; and he said he would be there the following morning.

"The representative at the hospital said they'd have Tandy out of there by seven tomorrow morning…more accurately, that would be this morning," Shaw told Beckett when she returned from her conversation with Alvarez. "They probably don't want a dangerous criminal there any longer than necessary. Alvarez said he'd be here at nine?"

"Right."

"We should have something to tell him then, and we should have Tandy in interrogation before Bronson and Egan get to work. Right now I need to talk to Mrs. Klein, assure her that her children weren't physically harmed and ask a few more questions before I clear up all the formalities and let her take the children home. If you and Castle can stay with the kids that long, I'd appreciate it. They seem to be comfortable with the two of you, and they need that right now. Then I want both of you to get a few hours of rest before tomorrow morning. My people have already changed shifts. By the time she leaves with the children, Avery can take over, and I can catch a little sleep, too."

Kate nodded and they went back to Mrs. Klein and her children, promising that it would be the last time they were separated before they could go home. Castle rousted up a deck of cards from someone on nightshift, and he had joked and made enough odd faces that he and Kate and the children were finishing a lively game of Go Fish when Mrs. Klein came back with Jordan.

Lizzy triumphantly finished her hand after getting the last card she needed from Castle and giggled as he fell back in his chair dramatically moaning and clasping his hand over his heart.

Mrs. Klein smiled along with everyone else and said, "Thank you for all this. From what they told me you've taken good care of my children since you found them."

Castle and Beckett stood and shook her hand and Castle said, "Obviously, we didn't mind."

"I wish the circumstances could have been different." Beckett added.

Mrs. Klein and her children hugged all of them before they left for home. By then, Avery and section two had been briefed on the night's events. The rest of the exhausted team left quickly, and Castle suggested a hotel to Beckett to avoid eating up all their rest time in driving back to Manhattan. He did a search on his phone and found a place not too far away…not up to his usual standards, but with good recommendations.

When they entered the room and looked around, it looked spotless; and he commented, "It looks clean, and we're only going to be looking at the inside of our eyelids, anyway."

Beckett smiled, threw the covers back, threw most of her clothes over the back of a chair, and asked, "Shower in the morning?"

Castle…having already set his phone alarm, stripped down to his boxers, and flopped into the bed immediately after she asked…appeared to agree.

xxxxx

Both Castle and Beckett had checked in with their babysitters periodically to keep track during the day, and they both missed their little boy; but they knew he was in good hands. As soon as Martha heard about the two missing children, she took over the Jamie situation, calling the family and scheduling babysitting sessions until Castle and Beckett were back at home.

A little fuzzy headed on waking, and not certain who would be on duty with Jamie that morning, Castle called the house phone at the loft. He saw no reason to wake someone up by calling the wrong cell phone so early.

"H'llo."

It appeared that Alexis and JD had the early shift that day. Castle would recognize that sleepy morning voice anywhere.

"Hey, Pumpkin."

"Hi, Dad," she answered sleepily.

"I wanted to check in and let you know we'll probably be home by tonight, maybe late this afternoon."

He could hear her yawning before she asked, "Does that mean you've made progress on finding the two kids?"

"Their mother was able to take them home with her about two this morning, and one of the kidnappers is in custody. He was almost certainly the one in charge. We stayed at a hotel last night to give ourselves a little more sleep."

"Well, you didn't get much then. It's only six, Dad. Why are you already awake?"

"Long story, Honey. I'll tell you about it later. There are some other things to deal with this morning, and we need to be there early. The kidnapper and Esposito were wounded last night. Nothing life threatening for either of them. Esposito is home, and the kidnapper is due at the precinct about seven-thirty…hence the early hour. Thanks for taking care of your brother. Just wanted to let you know what's going on."

"We're fine here. Neither JD nor I have classes until mid-morning, and Meagan said she'd be here at nine-thirty so we can get to campus in time. Jamie's covered, so don't worry. He keeps looking for you, though. He looks hopeful every time the door opens, but he's fine."

"Okay. I've showered, so I'm gonna go put on yesterday's clothes again."

"Hey you were part of getting two little kids home to their mom. It's worth a day feeling icky in yesterday's clothes."

"You're right. Love you."

"Love you both. Bye, Dad."

"Bye." Turning to Kate, who had just given her hair a cursory drying with the hotel's hair dryer. He said, "Jamie is fine, Alexis sends her love, and Meagan will be there in time for Alexis and JD to get to class this morning."

"I miss our baby."

"Me, too, but it feels good that we helped get someone else's babies back safely."

"Yeah, it does."

"If we go now, we can stop for breakfast and pick up some pastries for everybody on the way in."

"You should probably dress first," she answered with a little smirk. I don't think the boxers are going to do it."

"You're just afraid all the women will be ogling me."

That netted him an eye roll accompanied by an indulgent smile. She kissed his cheek and said, "I'm happy with fast food breakfast if we get good coffee to go with the pastries."

Castle dressed quickly, and they started their day. When they reached the conference room at the precinct at seven sharp, the others set upon the pastries with the enthusiasm of hungry wolves.

After the brief initial sugar raid was over, Jordan reported what was found during the night, as well as what to expect that morning. The videos showed that:

-The children had been confined to the storage unit in the very early hours of the morning the day of the murder. Those hours weren't included in the footage that was originally given to Beckett's team, however. They were in the footage from the day before.

-Craig Tandy had made multiple trips prior to the kidnapping to deliver clearly visible supplies to his newly rented storage unit. There was no activity at all for two days after the murder, the time when the crime scene tape was up and an officer was standing guard. That meant that nothing had been taken to the children and no one had been to check on their well-being for two days.

-Gil's surveillance records showed that on the night of the murder, right after Black Hoodie Guy showed up on the video with what looked like fast food meals, someone (Dom being the one on duty) had accessed the videos from the day before the murder. By the time Black Hoodie Guy was leaving the unit, Dom Martinez was standing just inside the corridor confronting him. They argued, Black Hoodie Guy pulled his gun, shot Dom three times in the chest, and stalked away. They speculated that Dom must have missed a short period of time the morning before, went back to check on it, figured out that Dom was holding the children hostage, and went to get them.

-The BadAss tag in the pictures from any of the footage, both footage showing Craig's face as well as the more anonymous night of the murder, was incriminating. Enlargements showed that it matched the one he was wearing while he shot at law enforcement the night before. It had a distinctive jagged tear on the lower left corner that didn't conform to normal rips or snags.

-Footage from both The Top Hat bar and restaurant on the night of the murder showed no sign at all of either Tandy or Egan being there.

At the end of her report on the videos, Jordan Shaw looked tired but pleased. "In addition to the videos, with hostages in one of Craig's storage units, there was probable cause to open the other one next to it, and it contained a substantial stash of drugs, obviously for distribution and sale. We have warrants for his home, his vehicles, and his moving company; but on only the strength of what we have now, he's not leaving custody any time soon. We'll process him and take him into federal custody as soon as he arrives."

"Has he heard from his uncle yet?" Castle asked.

"His uncle may not know yet. Yalin said Craig hasn't asked to make a phone call and hasn't asked for a lawyer. Apparently he seems certain that all of it will blow over quickly."

"Doesn't he understand that he shot a cop and tried to shoot federal agents, and that his local buddies can't help him with that?"

"What can I say?" Jordan answered with a grin. "I intend to fully enjoy that the man seems to be arrogant and ignorant of the trouble he's in. It makes our jobs a lot easier. Yalin and Decker should have him here any time now. We sent Ryan home not long after you left. He should be in at eight, and I think Sully just came in."

A little later than they had hoped, Craig Tandy, handcuffed to his wheel chair, was rolled out of the elevator. Decker was pushing with Yalin flanking them. Shaw and Avery met him at the elevator and escorted him to be processed into their system before having him taken to Interrogation One.

As they waited for Craig Tandy to be processed, Shaw told Beckett, "I know you'd like to sit in; but especially in view of your unenviable position in the touchy command situation here, I think it's best that Avery and I handle this. If Alvarez comes in early, he's going to want you to be available to bring him up to speed."

"You're right. It's your case, and I do need to be available. I'll tell Sully where to find me, and Castle and I will be in observation. Give Tandy some attitude for me."

"I'll do my best," Shaw promised with a smile. Turning to her partner, who was just leaving the conference room, she said, "Let's see what we can get out of him."

When they entered the interrogation room, Craig Tandy looked very confident and cocky.

"I'm Agent Shaw, FBI," she said, dropping the file on the table in front of her before she sat down. "This is Agent Avery. Mr. Tandy, do you have any idea how much trouble you're in?"

"Not as much as you think I am," he answered.

"And why is that?"

"I've got connections."

"What kind of connections?"

"Connections you don't need to know about, but they work for me."

"What do you think we're charging you with?"

"Aren't you supposed to tell me that?"

"Pretty sure of yourself, aren't you?" Avery commented.

"Never had a problem before."

"I see you've got a record."

"Yeah. I got in a few scrapes."

"Well, this time you're in more than a scrape, Craig. You're up to your eyeballs in trouble. We know you kidnapped two young children because their father didn't get your drugs to you. We found a big drug stash in the other storage unit, and we know it's yours. We have Willy Klein's records of the sales that he did deliver, and the fingerprints in your storage units match the ones on the gun you used to shoot a cop last night. Did you and your cousins haul it here in one of your moving trucks? We've got you dead to rights on the kidnapping and drug charges. You and your cousins are doing some serious time for this."

Looking concerned for the first time, Tandy answered, "Hey, wait. You can't go in my storage like that."

"Legal warrant right here says we can," Shaw said, taking the warrant from her folder to show him. "All three of you…"

"No…no. Leave my cousins out of it. They didn't know. They had nothing to do with it."

"There's also the kidnapping. We've got enough on the security videos alone to make that stick. The children said somebody else was with you when you took them. Were your cousins part of that?"

Alvarez did indeed show up early and was directed to Beckett in the observation room.

He entered quietly, said, "Good morning," and took up his own observation.

"No. I told you they don't know anything about it," Craig insisted. Back to looking confident, he said "I'll get off easy anyway. I can do a little bit of time if I have to."

"These connections of yours? Are they NYPD?" Avery asked.

"My uncle might know a few people with an in."

"How many things have you managed to get away with because your connections covered for you?"

Craig just shrugged smugly.

"We're also charging you with murder, you know."

"You can't do that. I got a cop who swears I was where he could see me at The Top Hat Bar the entire time of that murder."

"And that would be Detective Egan?"

"Yeah. It would."

"And he's also investigating the case?"

"Nothing to investigate. I got an alibi."

"Sounds like a conflict of interest. Doesn't matter, though. It isn't his case anymore. It's ours now."

"No it isn't. Bronson assigned it to Egan."

"Did you miss the part where we said we're FBI agents?" Avery asked with some of the attitude Beckett requested. "This case doesn't belong to NYPD anymore, so your connections can't help you. You transported drugs across state lines with intent to sell; and worse than that, you took two young children hostage and transported them across state lines. Looks a lot like you were planning their murders, too. We found cloth bags big enough to hide them, chloroform, zip ties, and several paving stones in the back of your van. You were going to drug them and dump them, weren't you? Dom Martinez suspected you were up to something illegal anyway, and it looks like he saw you come in with food for more than just you and take it into the unit. He checked the video from the day before…found the time when you brought them in and locked them up, and you shot him when he confronted you."

Shaw interrupted. "You're going to do a lot more than 'a little bit of time' because these are all federal crimes. The murder was directly related to avoiding being caught for a federal crime, so we get that one, too. And funny thing about that alibi. We've been over the security videos from every camera at The Top Hat Bar and The Top Hat Grill. It's all time stamped and dated the night of the murder, but we haven't found a sign of either you or Detective Egan there on a single one of them."

"Then there's the attempted murder of four NYPD detectives and two federal agents. That becomes a federal case, too," Avery added.

"None of you identified yourselves. It could have been anybody. I was just protecting myself," he blustered

"We have audio. You won't win that one, either," Shaw said. "You're looking at a lot of time in a federal prison and the possibility of the death penalty hanging over you. I'd start talking if I were you."

"I think I want a lawyer now."

"Your choice," Avery answered. "Give me his name and number.

"His name is Lucien Chambers…Lou. You'll have to call my uncle, Travis Tandy, for the number. I don't have that." He gave Avery his uncle's phone number.

Shaw picked up her folder, and she and Avery left Craig Tandy alone, looking much less confident and cocky than before.

"Put him in holding where he can stretch out a little so the lawyer doesn't get to say we were completely without sympathy," Shaw told Yalin, and he and his partner went to move Tandy.

By the time Beckett, Castle, and Alvarez met Shaw and Avery outside the room, the morning shift had started; and Alvarez walked away, appearing to be on a mission.

As the others returned to the conference room, Alvarez was standing at Egan's desk demanding the file on the Dom Martinez murder.