197. Chapter 197

AN: In this chapter, there's a relatively short and not particularly graphic section including a sexual assault. It starts at the first page break that looks like this.

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If you'd prefer not to read it, stop reading there and start reading again after the second one.

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Chapter 197

The community meeting was scheduled for ten, and Reverend Willows welcomed them and assisted in getting the meeting started. It went well.

Beckett presented her solutions for a few of the most minor problems and they were well received. She let the group know that the situation with the officers mentioned had been addressed and asked them to contact her if the problem reappeared. Several things she and Boylan wanted to clarify or ask for more information about were brought up, and they listened attentively to the answers, Boylan joining the give and take of the discussion. It was by no means enough to solve everything on the overall agenda, but it was a productive meeting, and another was scheduled for March.

Sharise Johnson stopped Beckett before she left and said, "Jerome told me your husband is a writer, so I googled him when I got home. He has about thirty best sellers. I had no idea. I don't read mysteries much, but I picked up a couple of them from the library and had a hard time putting them down. You're Nikki Heat, aren't you? The extraordinary KB?"

"No. The dedication was to me, but I'm not Nikki. She's a figment of Rick's active imagination. And this early in my time at the eighty-fifth, I'd rather not be identified as Nikki, so if you'd keep it quiet, I'd appreciate it. We enjoyed meeting your family at the restaurant, by the way."

"We enjoyed it, too. And I'll keep reading about Nikki and try not to point to you."

"Bless you." Beckett answered.

"Give your husband my regards," Reverend Willows said before Beckett left. "Remind him the invitation is still open."

"How much community stuff have you been up to on your own?" Boylan asked.

"I brought my husband for a tour of the church with Reverend Willows, and they enjoyed each other. He invited us to a service…said it wouldn't be held against us that we aren't church goers. And we ran into Sharise Johnson and her family when we went for dinner last week."

"So your husband writes books?" Boylan asked as they walked back to the precinct. "Sounds like I need to do some reading. Nikki Heat, huh?"

"Don't start, Boylan." She didn't sound angry, but she didn't sound happy, either. "They're actually very good books, and I don't mind if you read them; but the character isn't me. When he wrote the first two books we weren't even together. With the Five Stooges and their friends around, I don't need people there to look at that character and see me. It's difficult enough to deal with them as it is."

"I get that. But I might look into the books just out of curiosity."

"Castle is an excellent writer. He can stir up a lot of excitement and throw in a terrific little twist near the end. He's even published some children's books that he wrote for his first child when she was little."

"I thought your daughter was the younger one."

"Castle's first daughter. She's married now and in medical school. Her mother left them when she was younger than Jo. I didn't meet her until she was fifteen, but I love her like she's mine."

"There's way more to you than meets the eye, Captain."

"I think I'll stop at the sub shop on the corner and get a sandwich to take back for lunch."

"Good idea. Mind if I come along?"

"You don't need my permission to go in and buy a sandwich," she answered with her little smirk, and Boylan followed her in.

She put the sandwich aside when she returned to her office and worked on some necessities she didn't get to before the morning's meeting. She had just made herself a latte with the small espresso machine Castle had bought her for her office when Kaufman came to the door sounding worried and looking ready for action for some reason.

"Captain, I just saw Forster go up the stairs to no man's land. She's probably putting something back in storage, but Wilmer followed her. Looks like the Four Stooges are standing guard at the stairs and elevator."

Beckett took her weapon from her desk drawer and was moving immediately. Barely stopping in the bullpen she said, "Hart and Kaufman, grab body cams and turn them on. Hart, you're with me, Kaufman, follow us, and I need four more of you who are willing to restrain other cops. Bring your cuffs. Wilmer just followed Forster to no man's land and left his buddies on guard. Don't let the Four Stooges contact Wilmer. Just get them out of the way and hold them. I'm not slowing down."

Half the bullpen emptied and followed her.

"Get out of my way," she told Leavitt and his friend as she ran down the hall and yanked the door to the stairs open. She and Hart were moving with purpose, and faster than the others expected. One of the guards near the elevator took out his phone, which was immediately seized by Wolfe, who cuffed his hands behind his back. The other three were in the same state seconds later, all four of them protesting strongly.

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When Beckett and Hart came close to the top of the stairs, they heard both Wilmer and Forster before they saw anything. They followed the sound to a second stairway that led to the roof and found both Wilmer and Forster, her shirt open and both of them with their pants around their ankles. He was holding her against the wall, his elbow pressed against her throat and each hand on parts of her body where they had no business being. They had heard her shouting at him to get away from her and to stop, but he was threateningly berating her and telling her he was going to show her what she was missing. When he heard something in the hall, he shouted, "Leavitt, go back downstairs. This is nobody else's business."

"Give us a minute, Kaufman," Beckett said as she and Hart quickly moved to the second set of stairs. "Take your hands off her and put them on your head," she ordered Wilmer.

"I need to pull my pants up…"

"You need to put your hands on top of your head," she ordered sharply, and Wilmer found himself looking at the business end of a Glock being confidently held in a way that shouldn't be ignored.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Hands are on my head. Put the gun down and I'll just leave quietly."

"You really think you're just going to walk away from this, don't you?" Beckett asked, sounding dumbfounded. "Hart, be careful of evidence, but help Forster get herself together before anybody else is here."

"Captain, she's cuffed to the support for the handrail," she said as she pulled the young officer's pants back up, buttoned them, and pulled her shirt together.

As soon as her legs were free to move, the top of Forster's boot connected with a very sensitive and still bare part of Wilmer's anatomy, doubling him over.

"Enough, Forster," Beckett said sharply as Hart freed the officer from the cuffs. "Kaufman, I meant to tell you to cuff him, but I guess you'd better help him…still careful of evidence." She went to the top of the stairs and called down to Wolfe, who came up to meet her. "I need you to call the medics. We need to see that Wilmer gets attention to see how much damage Forster did. Kaufman can explain later…and I'll call CSU. Let Sergeant Young know to expect them and to send the medics and the lab techs up here. We'll keep Wilmer here until CSU can collect evidence. Hart and I are about to get Forster's statement."

Turning back to Wilmer, Beckett said, "Howard Wilmer, you are under arrest for the abduction and attempted rape of Holly Forster. You have the right to remain silent…" As she read him his Miranda rights, he protested through pain and gritted teeth that she couldn't arrest him. "I'm a cop...and I didn't...abduct anybody. She was already here."

"Don't play dumb," Hart told him. "It's a narrow definition, but you've been doing this job as long as Forster's been alive. You know how this works. You followed her into a space you knew would be deserted and where you knew she would be alone. Against her will, you took her to a more secluded area where you wouldn't be seen. You restrained her with cuffs so she couldn't escape, and you left your friends to stand guard so you could do what you wanted to without being interrupted. You know exactly what you've done. You just didn't think you'd be caught. "

"Let's get your statement, Forster...away from Wilmer," Beckett suggested. "Kaufman, take Wilmer's statement when he can speak clearly again. Taking Forster to the other storage room where it was more private, she said, "Start from the beginning and tell us what happened."

"Some of us were helping a Robbery team this morning. We had a very old tape recorder from storage because part of the evidence we found was on an old cassette tape. Someone needed to return it to storage and the other two officers were about to go to lunch. I asked where Wilmer and his friends were, and two detectives coming in said they just saw them leave for lunch; so I said I'd take the recorder back to storage and come right back. I was walking to the storage room, and Wilmer came up behind me and shoved me into the wall, but it was too close to the door. He shoved me into the door casing and I dropped the recorder. I think it fell just inside the door. My head hit the wood really hard; and while I was dazed, he cuffed one wrist and dragged me over to the other stairs and cuffed me to the support post of the rail so I couldn't move too far. He said things like he'd teach me not to humiliate him, and he was going to show me what I'd be missing, and 'Who's in charge now?' I kept yelling at him to stop, but he held me against the wall, unbuttoned my shirt, and dropped my uniform pants down. Between the pants legs at my ankles and the cuffs holding me to the rail, I couldn't do much to help myself except try to twist away." She described where his hands were and how his hands or anything else touched her. "And that was when you got here."

"You can thank Lieutenant Kaufman for that. He saw Wilmer follow you and leave his cronies guarding the stairs and the door; so he came to get me and we rounded up help to take care of the guard dogs. I think half the homicide bullpen came when I asked for help," Beckett told her. She asked a few more intimate questions, quietly enough that none of the men could hear them, and then said, "I want to take you to the hospital. There are people there who know how to preserve evidence for all degrees of sexual assault. Are you willing to allow that?"

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"I'm willing to do whatever it takes to put Wilmer where he can't do this to anybody else. He's supposed to be arresting people who do what he just did."

"Other than that, we want to be sure you don't have a concussion. There's a cut on your forehead and streaks of blood on the door casing, and you have the beginnings of what's probably going to be a lovely bruise and a good sized bump on your forehead."

"Well, it makes me feel better that he probably has a few bruises of his own." Then Forster asked with less bravado, "Everybody is going to be looking at me and feeling sorry for me, aren't they?"

"Hart, stay with Forster. Wolfe, come with me." On the way down the stairs, she told Wolfe, "I want you to clear a path for us. Forster has been through enough. She doesn't need a gauntlet of gawkers to add to it. I'm going to take care of some guard dogs." She went down the stairs to where cooperative homicide detectives were still holding four other angry but resigned detectives. "Wilmer has been arrested for attempted rape," she announced, intending it to be only for the group at hand, "and these four look like accessories to me. Wilmer will be booked after the EMTs and CSU have finished, but you can take these four and book them now. They might want their reps or attorneys or both. IA will be involved. I'll make the other necessary contacts while I wait for Forster at the hospital. She may have a concussion from the initial attack."

The other detectives were undoubtedly well aware of the other reasons involved in the hospital trip; but nobody said anything. Wolfe herded onlookers back to the bullpen or to their own floors while other homicide detectives took Wilmer's four shocked guards to booking. Beckett went to get her purse and her car keys, and then she called up the stairs for Hart to bring Forster. Before the rumor mill made its way through the entire precinct, she thanked Hart and Wolfe and gave them a couple of instructions; then she got in the elevator with Forster, engaged the override to take them directly to the lobby, and took the officer to her car without encountering any gawkers at all. She called the hospital on the way, and let them know what they needed.

xxxxx

Evidence having been collected, Beckett's first interrogation was Leavitt.

"Forster checked on where Wilmer was before she went to put the recorder away, and people saw the five of you leave for lunch. Why were you back so quickly?" she asked.

"The place was packed. Nowhere to sit, so we brought it back here."

"Tell us in your own words what happened," Beckett told him.

"Wilmer told us he'd be right back, so we waited for him in the hall."

"And you had no idea Forster was there?"

"No," he answered smugly.

"Come on, Leavitt. You knew he was following Forster. Another detective saw Forster get in the elevator with the recorder just before Wilmer pointed her out to you then pointed to the stairs, and all of you followed him in a hurry. Everybody here knows where those things are stored. We have a statement from a lieutenant who saw Forster get off the elevator and go up those separate stairs to the top floor just before Wilmer and all four of you left the lower stairs. He said something to the four of you about teaching a lesson, and pointed to the stairs and the elevator…which coincidentally are the two places where you were blocking access."

"Fine. We knew she was up there, but we didn't know what he was going to do."

"Did he take champagne, flowers, and a nice card to do something romantic?"

"No," Leavitt grumped.

Then, based on his past history, what did you think you were standing lookout for him to do?"

"Just having a little fun with her."

"Did you think she would be having fun? Were you aware he was under a direct order not to be any closer than fifty feet to Forster."

"Well that wasn't an order we thought you could enforce," he sneered. "Wilmer gets mad when he can't have something he wants, and sometimes when he gets mad, he gets stupid."

"Like you did when you put your hand on your captain in the bullpen?"

"You did what?" IA Lieutenant Brennan asked.

"I filed the complaint last week," Beckett said. "It should be in his folder. From what I understand, women filed a number of complaints about all five of these men over the last couple of years, but none of them ever left this precinct."

"I see the one from last week," Brennan said. "You actually groped a woman three ranks your senior? You're aware…"

"Yes, I'm aware." Leavitt snapped.

"Seems to me you're not the one who should be angry," Brennan answered. "And she had every right to enforce that order."

Leavitt shut up at that point and just glared.

"So knowing Wilmer gets stupid when he's angry, knowing he was angry with Forster, and knowing his sexual assault habits, you were still willing to guard the entrance to the deserted place where you knew he was likely to assault a young officer who had made it crystal clear she wanted nothing to do with him. Does that describe the situation?"

Leavitt glared and refused to say anything else, and he was taken out of the room to be replaced by another of Wilmer's friends.

By the time they got to Wilmer, he was feeling better and was angrier again. He had his representative from the union and an attorney with him.

"It was consensual. My word against hers," was the first thing out of his mouth. In spite of being cuffed to the table, he looked confident, and so did the men with him.

First Beckett placed the signed copy of her order on the table for all of them to see. "Because of frequent previous harassments of the same young woman, Mr. Wilmer wasn't supposed to have any sort of contact or be within fifty feet of Officer Forster," Beckett explained. "And I would be amazed if a jury could find any evidence that it was consensual when they see this."

Then she played the videos, both of which started with the empty hallway and audio of Wilmer's angry ranting and Forster's desperately angry shouts telling him to let her go and to take his hands off her. Then there was the video showing the situation on the stairs. It showed the state of the clothing, or lack of it, and the restraint, and Wilmer looking extremely angry. With the things he was saying, he both looked and sounded like he was delivering a punishment. He was snarling threats and had his elbow to the neck of a woman already restrained to the wall, and his intent was obvious. The way he had restrained her could be seen as Hart released Forster from the cuffs. The attorney and the rep looked surprised and considerably less confident, and Wilmer seemed to suddenly realize his argument was gone.

"I need to speak to my client alone," his attorney told them.

After that was allowed and the interrogation was about to continue, the attorney stated, "Detective Wilmer will admit to the charges; but we'd like to work out a deal, since he's one of your brothers in blue."

"And the woman in the video is one of his sisters in blue. He's harassed her continually about dates she wasn't interested in and with lesser, but just as unwelcome, sexual advances for almost as long as she's been assigned here. The women in the precinct actually set up a text message system to warn each other when he was close by so none of would be left alone with him. You can try to deal with the DA's office, but I'm not planning to offer any recommendations from here. You saw that video. Would you expect someone who did that to your wife or daughter to catch a break for it because he's a cop? As far as I'm concerned, that makes it infinitely worse. The charges stand. I'll accept a written confession, but I have no doubt we have enough witnesses and evidence for the DA to prosecute the case."

As she picked up the file to leave, she looked at Wilmer again. "I can't leave without asking…if you had been able to finish what you started, Wilmer, what were you going to do next? Did you think you could threaten her into not telling anybody what you'd done or maybe that she'd be too embarrassed to tell anybody it happened? Did you just plan to lie again and have your buddies back you up? Would you have left her dead body up there so she couldn't dispute your story? Would you have expected your buddies to help you cover that up, too? Leavitt said you get stupid sometimes when you're angry, but this is a police precinct. Did you really expect that nothing would happen to you, that nobody would do anything about it?"

As his attorney tried to stop him, Wilmer unleashed a stream of remarks at Beckett, laced with crude names and profanities.

She turned her back to all of it, and Brennan followed her out as she told the officer outside the door, "Take him back to holding," and she went back to her office, Brennan still with her.

"Five of them. How did it get this bad?" he asked.

"The women who complained over the past three years were ignored. Their written complaints never reached IA or HR, and I haven't found any of them here yet. They may have been tossed."

"Then their last captain shoulders some of the blame for today's trouble," Brennan answered.

"Was I thinking it that loud?" Beckett asked, and Brennan laughed.

"Captain Ervin created an atmosphere where these guys went beyond brazen," he observed. "I think the women here could have a decent chance with a civil case against him for creating a toxic work environment."

"I think they'll be happy just getting rid of The Five Stooges, as a lot of folks call them."

"I have what I need, so I'll let you get back to whatever you need to do," Brennan told her. "You've had a rough afternoon."

Hart and Wolfe came by later and asked, "Is Forster okay…or as okay as can be expected," Wolfe asked.

"She did have a concussion. I took her home and had a chance to talk to her roommate. The roommate is a nurse, so she knew what to look for, and Forster said she'd be fine. I think the fact that she got in a good kick where she knew it would hurt the most helped her, especially since it was applied to bare flesh. Although she did say she wasn't sure she'd ever feel like she could get that shoe clean again." Beckett sighed. "As tough as she seems to be, it won't just go away. She's going to have to figure out how to deal with it, but I'd bet she'll get there. I gave her the name of the psychiatrist the department required me to see after my shooting. He's very good at his job. I'll check in with her now and then, too. Thanks for your help today."

"Just doing our jobs," Hart answered. "How are you? It was a pretty stressful day for you, too."

"I'm a little unfocused at the moment."

"Understandable," Wolfe told her.

"I think I have the paperwork done except for the lab reports we're still waiting for. Thanks for having your statements ready so quickly. Everybody involved did." Beckett sighed again. "It's almost time to go home. I guess all of us are ready for that.

"Yes, Ma'am," Hart agreed.

"It's my son's eighth birthday," Beckett told them. We're taking him and a few of his friends to see a Disney movie and then taking them to Chuck E. Cheese for pizza and games. A Disney movie might be just what I need. After today, even the big rat, as my husband calls good ol' Chuck, sounds good. I might win a serious collection of tickets at that Whack-a-Mole game. It sounds like a good outlet for frustration."

The two detectives laughed and wished her luck.

xxxxx

When she got home, Jamie was excited about his birthday. The Ryans and Sarah Grace were meeting them at the classic movie theater to see Pinocchio, along with Amos and Julie from school, and Alexis and JD.

"I miss Billy," Jamie said.

"We do, too," Kate sympathized. "But his mom found a better job near her family in Cleveland, so they had to move. Maybe she'd let him come for a visit at the beach this summer. We could ask if he can come for a week."

"Really?"

"Yeah. We like Billy, too."

"Can Sarah Grace spend a week, too? She's my best friend ever."

"We would love to have Sarah Grace spend a week, but right now, we have a birthday to celebrate, and I need to change clothes. Hey, Baby Girl." She picked Jo up and planted kisses all over her face, while Jo tried to say, "Not a baby." around all the kisses. The words came out a little distorted, and Jamie was laughing when Castle came in, caught the scene, and laughed with him.

"I'll be right back," Kate said as she headed for a change of clothes. After freshening up a bit and changing into movie and pizza clothes, she left with the family. Castle had already bought the movie tickets online, so it took no time to meet the others in the lobby and find movie seats. Snacks could be ordered and delivered to the seats at this theater, so they got all the children in the recliners, made sure their snack trays were in place, and ordered popcorn and drinks. Pizza was coming soon after the movie, so Castle controlled himself.

They watched Pinocchio get in and out of trouble and Jiminy Cricket try to be a good conscience, worried about the whale and the fate of Gepetto and Pinocchio, and finally cheered when he became a real boy.

"I had forgotten about half of what went on in that movie," Ryan said as they were leaving the theater. I don't think we have that one at home, otherwise I'd probably have it memorized."

Castle laughed and agreed. "When Alexis was little, I think I knew every word of every song in The Little Mermaid." Fortunately, I liked most of them. Sometimes we'd sing, sometimes dance, sometimes both."

"There are times I forget you had to do all that alone."

"It was worth it, but together is so much better. Anything with Kate is so much better."

Ryan gave him a brotherly slap on the shoulder and said, I'm glad the two of you finally got yourselves together. You were wearing us down back then."

"You ready for pizza with the big rat?"

"I'm ready for pizza…and maybe the games. My appreciation for the big rat isn't quite the same as it was when I was Sarah Grace's age."

The adults herded the kids out to a couple of taxis and made their journey to the Chuck E. Cheese madness. Castle bought a bucket load of tokens and gave them each enough to entertain themselves while they waited for food. Then no more were granted until they had eaten.

The Ryans and Jamie's older siblings were watching the children at Skee-ball and Kate wandered over to the Whack-a-Mole game with a little smirk on her face. She started the game, and with a look of great concentration, she hammered one after another with great relish, throwing in an enthusiastic sound of victory now and then. Castle was standing close enough to watch her but not to get in the way, and with every new round of purposeful whacking and celebrating, he was more amused.

When there was enough of a break for another victory sound, he asked sweetly, "Sweetheart, did you have a rough day at work?" Then the little furballs began to pop up again, and she was back to pounding them back down. Somewhere in the process, she managed to say, "Yes." right before another one bit the dust. Castle eased over to Alexis and JD and took their place watching the children.

"He pointed at Kate and said, "Apparently, she had a rough day at the precinct."

They went to watch, and after a few "Go Mom!" comments were thrown in, they came back to Castle laughing.

Kate eventually joined them, smiling jauntily. "I feel so much better."

"I have ideas for all that enthusiasm later," Castle said close enough to her ear that she could hear above the noise without sharing it with anybody else.

"You're on," she answered with a playful little grin. "Who's winning what?" she asked the children and got reports from them. They found activities all of them enjoyed and took them to the store to spend their tickets before they left.

Two town cars met them down the block, one for the Ryans and the Farnsworths and another for the Castles and their small guests. They all said goodnight, Sarah Grace hugged Jamie, and Michael drove off to take Alexis and JD home and the Ryans to retrieve their son from Jenny's mom before going home themselves. Then Darrell took the Castles to deliver Amos and Julie to their doors to waiting parents, and the Castles were on their way home.

"That was fun," Jamie told them.

"Yep. I enjoyed your birthday, too," Kate answered.

"She really did. You should have seen your mother playing that Whack-a-mole game," Castle told their son. "I thought she might destroy them. Apparently she had a very bad day at work and took it out on the moles." He added while acting it out Castle style, "Wham! Wham! Wham! Wham! Wham! Wham! Wham! Wham! Complete with victory whoops."

Jamie looked at his mother as she unsuccessfully tried to look innocent and started laughing, then she laughed, too. Then Castle started, and they all caught a severe case of the silly giggles. Jo looked confused but finally fell into giggling with them, and even Darrell had succumbed by the time he pulled the car up in front of their building. A happy bunch of Castles greeted the doorman on their way to the loft.

Jo was already asleep when Castle asked, "Good birthday, Buddy?" as they tucked their son in. "Yeah," he answered with a contented little smile. "G'night."

Both parents kissed his head before they slipped out of the room and turned off the light.

Castle reminded his wife of their plans for the rest of the night and they started giggling again…for absolutely no discernible reason. And they spent playful time together working off Kate's excess enthusiasm.