179. Chapter 179

Chapter 179

Beckett was on the phone again, calling home.

"Hey, Sweetheart. Did you get your coffee?" Castle asked.

"I did. And my cronut…both delicious. I felt loved while I took time to leisurely enjoy all of it. Thank you."

"It sounded like one of those days when everybody forgets to eat, so lunch is being sent to Ryan's team in about half an hour, maybe forty-five minutes. There should be enough for you, too."

"Then thanks for lunch, too. I'll tell Ryan's team so they aren't taken by surprise…and tell them I expect to be invited."

"Tell them I expect you to be invited, too."

"Gotta go. I see Ryan coming. They must have something new. Love you."

"What did Justin say?"

"I'm just now getting to him. His lawyer had never met the Hazeltons, so he spoke to Justin first and then met with his parents. It shouldn't be much longer…I hope. I wanted to let you know his attorney is here and should be ready for us any time now."

"I'll be right there." Beckett followed close behind him.

The attorney came from the conference room and held his hand out to Ryan. "Edgar Maldon, attorney for the Hazelton family. Thanks for your patience."

"Sergeant Kevin Ryan. This is Captain Kate Beckett."

"I've heard good things, Captain," Maldon answered, shaking their hands. "Have you decided on charges yet?"

"We're still collecting evidence, Mr. Maldon," Beckett answered. "The shooting happened early this morning, and we still haven't taken your client's statement. Although it seems to have been much longer, it's barely one o'clock, and we have more to consider before filing charges and presenting evidence."

"I understand. Not knowing what the evidence and the statements of the others were, I didn't know if anything had already been established. My client and I are ready to meet with you whenever you want."

Ryan called for Justin to be taken to the interrogation room, and walked with the attorney to wait for his client.

"He was fishing," wasn't he?" Bisaga asked, picking up a notepad and a pen to follow Ryan.

"Yeah. That's to be expected," Beckett answered. At least he doesn't practically wear a sign that says 'fixer', though…unlike Tom Servantes. I've run into Servantes before. I understand he shows up mostly on high profile arrests."

"I don't think she likes him," Blount said to Freedman. Since she had worked with them while they were on Karpowski's team, there was still a good rapport there…so she swatted him on the arm and left him chuckling as she walked toward observation.

"Keep me posted," she called back to them with a smile.

The Hazeltons asked if there was a place they could hear what their son was saying, so she escorted them into observation with her.

"She's a lot like Montgomery was in that job. She's good," Freedman noted, and Blount nodded.

"I miss Roy," Blount answered. "Gates grew on us, too. I kind of miss hearing 'Keep me apprised.' in that sharp clip of hers. There were a few of us who had to guess what that word meant at first," he said with a chuckle.

Freedman grinned at him before they both went back to the things Ryan had asked them to look into.

"Justin, I'd like to hear your version of what happened in the park, Ryan stated. "Take your time so you're sure your answers are accurate. Evidence is growing to back statements of some of the others who were there."

"What did Trent say?"

"I already have Trent's statement of events. Right now I need yours…the way you remember it."

Justin looked at his lawyer.

Maldon asked, "May I speak with you outside for a moment?"

Ryan stood and went outside with the attorney.

"Mrs Hazelton mentioned the possibility of a charge of accessory to murder."

"As I said, we aren't ready to state charges yet," Ryan told him. But it looks like murder could be a possibility here."

"If my client were to be charged as an accessory, under what circumstances could you see a possible reduction of charges?"

"If his statement agrees with the evidence and helps us establish Trent's innocence or guilt, we can talk to the District Attorney on his behalf. It would be up to the prosecutor to make decisions from there. But this case isn't quite eight hours old. It's early for charges and deals. I can tell you, though, both the police and the DA's office value truthful statements. None of us want to have to go back and drag the truth out of hiding after operating on false information."

The lawyer nodded, and they went back in. He sat down next to his client and said, "Tell them the truth as you remember it, Justin."

Although he appeared reluctant, Justin described the same series of actions and conversations that Andrew and Virgil had. When he reached the part about the gun, he didn't mention his own comment to Trent.

"Did Trent say anything to you when he took out the gun?" Ryan asked.

"He had this look in his eyes, the one he gets when he's decided to do something stupid. He said he'd never shot anybody before and asked if I thought his dad could get him out of that."

"And did you answer him?"

"I said, 'He's got you out of everything else.'"

"That sounds like you were encouraging him." Bisaga pointed out.

"I knew it was what he wanted to hear. He had a gun and was going on about how he didn't like other people trying to be in charge, and he looked crazier than I'd ever seen him. I wanted to run, but I thought he might shoot me if I did. Then he shot the other guy for no reason. All the other guy did was ask him to let them go to work. I was too scared to try to stop him. It was bad enough when he'd talk the girls into going into another room, and…"

"Are you talking about rape?" Ryan asked.

His attorney held up a hand to stop that line of questioning, and Justin hung his head and stopped talking.

"So those other times when you got out of the charges, the two of you actually did those things?" Bisaga questioned. Again, the lawyer stopped him.

Ryan asked, "Do you know what sets Trent off? Is it how people look, how much money they have, what they say…"

"He doesn't care how they look or how they act, or how much money they have, or what they do. It's about what he wants. Anybody in the way of what he wants doesn't matter, but he's never killed anybody before."

"Why did you keep going out with him…and getting into trouble?"

"He had a lot of money to spend, and a nice car, and everybody knew he had good parties at different places; so they all wanted to hang out with him. I was his friend, so they wanted to hang out with me, too."

"How did you feel about watching him kill someone? Did it bother you that Shawn's brother had to watch Trent kill him?"

"That was his brother?" When Ryan nodded, Justin simply said. "I didn't know that." Justin didn't look overly concerned. "It looked a lot like a movie."

"You and Trent will probably be with us at least overnight," Ryan told him with a heavy sigh.

"Do I have to be where Trent can talk to me?"

"We'll keep you separated." Bisaga answered.

Justin visibly relaxed on hearing that.

The detectives left the room and Mr. and Mrs. Hazelton turned to Beckett, who had stayed with them in the observation room; and Justin's mother said, "I can't believe how little he seems to care about that boy watching his brother die."

"It's hard to watch that kind of indifference," Beckett agreed.

"I'm so sorry for the other boy and his family," the father said sadly. "And so ashamed that we didn't see this lack of concern sooner."

"Were we like Justin, enjoying that we were Doug's friends and that everybody wanted to be our friends, too?" his mother asked her husband. "Did we give him that example to follow?" She broke down into tears, and her husband pulled her into a hug, appearing to be close to tears himself.

"I can't help you with that," Beckett answered. "You'll have to decide where to go from here once we know how everything plays out."

"Well, I doubt Doug and Laura will want our friendship after this." her husband commented. "Thank you, Captain Beckett. Would it be all right if we see Justin for a few minutes before you take him back to…wherever you'll be keeping him?"

She took them to the interrogation room, asked that they be given a few minutes, and Maldon followed them out.

"May I use the conference room to speak to Justin's parents before I leave?" he asked.

"As long as it's available when you need it," Beckett responded.

"Then I'll just wait over there for now." He pointed out a few empty chairs and went to sit down.

No one objected, and they all went back to the teams' desks.

"Castle said he ordered lunch for the team, to be delivered in your name," Beckett told Ryan as they walked.

"That's nice of him."

"He said you're supposed to invite me to join you."

Ryan laughed. "He's still making sure you eat, isn't he?"

"Yeah, but at least he's generous about it. It's been a hell of a morning. Shall we take it to the breakroom?"

"Anywhere but Interrogation," Bisaga answered. "What we've heard in there this morning makes me ill."

"I think Justin's parents may try to get him help. I don't know what's going to happen with the councilman's family," Beckett observed.

"Hey," Ryan said to Blount and Freedman when he reached his desk. We should be getting a lunch order soon. Or did it already come and you guys scarfed it down and hid the evidence?"

"As skilled as we could be in scarfing and hiding the evidence, no, it hasn't come yet," Blount assured them. Then he grinned at Freedman and said, "Too bad about that," and they shared a fist bump.

"The group discussed where to go with the case from where they were, and about ten minutes later Italian was delivered. Sitting on top of the food in one of the bags was a note that read, "Mr. Castle said to tell you he thought you might enjoy comfort food."

"God, I love that man," Beckett said matter of factly. "And the food from this place is so good."

"Breakroom," Bisaga said enthusiastically, grabbing the bags and taking them with him. Fortunately, the table was free. They found paper plates on the shelf and plastic utensils in the bags, and gathered around the table with an unspoken agreement to talk about anything but the case until they had thoroughly enjoyed their meal.

A little after three, there was a call from Lanie saying that she had sent the bullets from the body to ballistics, her judgement was that the time of death was consistent with Officer Netters arrival, and the shots were fired from about eight feet away while Shawn Bright was standing upright.

"Another chink out of Trent's version of events." Ryan looked pleased. Turning to Blount and Freedman, he said, "I need to catch you up on what happened with Justin."

"Once the DA has this case, we might want to look into the other times Trent was in trouble…see what evidence there was before his dad got him off the hook," Beckett suggested. "Justin mentioned something that hinted at sexual assault before his lawyer shut that down."

"This guy is a real piece of work," Freedman muttered. "It took everything in me to stand there in observation with his father and not say some things that wouldn't have gone over well with the councilman…some of them about the councilman."

"The labs are aware of Councilman Layton's connection to this, and I called Chief Dawson's office first thing this morning to give him notice of the situation. Who knows? Maybe we'll get lab results a little earlier than usual," Beckett speculated before adding, "You know where to find me," and going to her office to work on weekly reports.

Amazingly enough, the stars seemed to be aligning in terms of justice for the Bright family. The lab reports did indeed come in late that afternoon. As expected, the only fingerprints on the gun were Trent's, and the bullets from the body were a match to the gun. With what they already had in evidence and three statements contradicting Trent's statement, Beckett called the DA's office with information on what they had. The DA was also aware of the councilman's connection and less than happy with the number of times cases against Trent had been dropped. He wasn't interested in allowing that to happen with what appeared to be a murder, so he offered to come in first thing the next morning to review the evidence himself.

Not long before she planned to leave, Beckett got a call from McDonald at the front desk saying that Virgil Hampton and his mother were asking to meet with her. "Mrs. Hampton said they have something you need to see. She's very insistent."

"Have someone bring her up," Beckett told him.

Beckett met them at the elevator and took them to her office, Mrs. Hampton explaining as they walked. "I told this boy, as much time as he spends playing on that phone I work to provide him, if he ever sees trouble coming, he better turn on that video recorder he's always using and send it to somebody else in case something happens to his phone. When I asked him why he didn't do that this morning, he said he did but he couldn't use it."

"You recorded the whole incident this morning, Virgil?" Beckett asked, and he nodded. "Why didn't you show us then?"

"Captain Beckett, if you watch the whole thing, I think you'll understand," Mrs. Hampton told her. "It hard to watch."

Beckett accepted the phone she was handed. The video was cued up and ready to play, and she started it. The video was shaky at first while the boys were walking up the path, and it showed the other two boys stop to wait for them and stabilized when all three stopped. It looked like they were going to leave, but Trent stopped Justin and said something, then he turned toward the three who were approaching and said something taunting them. Justin reminded him they needed to get home, and everything else went exactly as Andrew, Virgil, and Justin had described. The video quality again suffered somewhat from shaking hands during and after the time of the shooting, but it was clear enough to document the circumstances around the shooting with no doubt as to what happened. It caught Trent's diatribe about how his father got him out of trouble…calling in favors, knowing people's secrets, bribery, etc. And, at the end, there was the added bonus of Trent whispering threats to Virgil as he walked toward him on the way to the squad car. Trent had said, "If that video shows up, I'll have some fun with your mom when I get out on bail. My dad can find anybody."

The officer holding Trent was getting instructions from one of the detectives and missed what was said, but told Trent, "We told you to be quiet."

Then Trent called from behind Virgil, "You got a sister?" and laughed.

At that point, Ryan asked the officer to take Trent to a squad car and isolate him. He asked Virgil what was said, and Virgil answered that Trent was just being stupid…wasn't making sense."

"That Trent boy…he's not going to get out of this, is he?" Mrs. Hampton asked.

"Not if we can help it," Beckett answered. "We're doing everything we can to see that he doesn't. This will help. Let me get it to tech and get a copy. The District Attorney is coming in first thing in the morning. Would you like something to drink while you wait?"

Based on their response, she sent someone to take care of that and headed straight to tech for good copies of the video. When she returned to Virgil and his mother, she asked the young man, "Did you send this to anyone else?"

"My uncle. When I got home, I called him and told him not to show it to anybody else. He wanted to, but I begged him. I was afraid Trent would hurt Mama. Uncle Eli said he wouldn't do anything for now, but he still wants to."

"I called him before we left home, too," Mrs. Hampton added, "and asked him to let us talk to you before he decided what to do. I love my brother, but he does have a mind of his own and doesn't always listen if he doesn't agree. He definitely has his opinions about this. He says we were lower middle class without much influence before the recession and we're even lower now. Jobs are coming back, but they aren't the same jobs…don't provide the same pay. We still live in a decent place, but it's harder to stay there on what we make now. Leanna's children and my Virgil here are good, responsible children, but Eli says their word doesn't stand a chance against somebody with the councilman's clout."

"Well, this will go into evidence and be seen. I'll let the prosecutor know we have it. Thank you, both for bringing it in. That took courage."

"Just put that boy away somewhere he can't hurt anybody else," Mrs. Hampton answered.

"We're doing our very best," Beckett answered.

"Well, we'll let you get back to it."

"You and the Bright family live in the same building, don't you?"

"Same floor, just a few doors apart."

""I'll have someone keep an eye on your building tonight. Does Mrs. Bright know about the video yet?"

"I got Virgil down here as soon as I knew he had it. I don't think I have the heart to show it to her."

"I'll contact her now and suggest she keep the family inside the apartment tonight. Either of you can call if there's any sign of trouble." Beckett gave the woman two of her cards. "Any sign at all...either of you. Don't hesitate. I'd rather take a chance on a false alarm than another crime scene. Understand?"

"Thank you, Captain Beckett. Come on, Virgil. Let's pick up supper and get home."

"Thanks, Captain," Virgil said nervously. "You won't let them hurt Mama will you? She and Uncle Eli are all the family I've got."

"Trent and Justin will be here overnight, so you don't have to worry about them. Your mother can leave that card where you can find it, too. Same for Mrs. Bright and her family. I know people at the fifty-first in the Bronx who will move fast if I tell them it's important. You won't have to wait for somebody to come all the way from this precinct."

Beckett took another two of her cards from the small tray on her desk and handed it to Virgil. "For you and Andrew," she told him, and he smiled and thanked her before hurrying out with his mother.

Beckett called Captain O'Connell at the fifty-first and explained the situation. "I'm sending someone to keep an eye on the building overnight, but would you leave word with whoever is manning the phone tonight that if someone is needed at that address, to put top priority on it?"

"I'll do it right now. Anything else you need, you let me know," the other captain answered.

"Thanks O'Connell. I owe you one." Then she called Mrs. Bright and explained the threats and the video, suggesting that her family stay in that night just to be on the safe side. After checking in with Ryan's team and providing them the video, Beckett told them what arrangements she had made for Shawn's family and Andrew's. "And the DA will be here tomorrow morning at eight. I'll sit in with you." After a long breath, she said, I think that's everything. "Anything new I need to know before I go home?"

"No. You just gave us a video. I think that's all the new material right there. Three of the four boys gave surprisingly similar statements, and the coroner's preliminary report refutes Trent's version of an attack and a close range shot in self-defense. I think the DA will be happy."

"Me, too."

"Why didn't Virgil give it to us this morning…the video?"

"You'll know before it's over. I'm going home. My entire family will be at the beach until Sunday afternoon. They're leaving tomorrow morning, so I'm going to spend some time with them tonight. I'll be available for whatever you need through the weekend."

"You were supposed to go with them, weren't you?"

"Yeah. All ten of us. Castle understands. Jamie tries to. It is what it is. See you in the morning."

Various versions of "'Night, Beckett" were heard behind her as she left for home.

xxxxx

Jamie ran for his mom as soon as the door opened, and she moved toward the sofa and dropped to one knee to meet him. Jo pulled up using the coffee table to help her stand and pretty efficiently edged her way to the end near her mother. Beckett scooted the short distance to the table on her knees, pulling her son with her, and wrapped her arms around her little girl, planting kisses on her laughing face while Jamie stood by grinning. "You think it's funny, do you?" she asked him. Then she grabbed him with one arm and did the same to him.

"Am I being left out of the kissing?" Castle asked, coming in from the kitchen.

"Not yet," Kate answered with a big grin. "Get down here with the rest of us. Ready guys?" she asked her children.

As soon as Castle sat down with them, she said, "Get him," and she and Jamie pushed him backward and started kissing whatever part of his face they could reach. Jo watched, then crawled over her mother's chest to get closer and crawl on her dad, trying to squeeze in a few baby kisses along with the other two's efforts. By the time the onslaught was over, all of them were lying on the floor laughing.

"Welcome home, Wife," he said from beside her, lifting her hand to his lips for a kiss. "I'll do better than that later on."

"Looking forward to that."

"We've already ordered pizza so nobody has to clean the kitchen tonight. "Bags are packed. All we have to do in the morning is take the bags to the car, and Jamie is big enough to help now, right, Mr. Four Year Old?"

Jamie sat up then, looking not quite as happy as less than a minute ago. "Daddy said you can't go with us."

"I can't this time. I have to work."

"But we'll have to do our terdition…"

"Tradition," Castle corrected.

"We'll have to do our tradition without you."

"I'll go with you next month. The ocean will be too cold by then, but we can still have our tradition in the pool."

"Jump in the pool in our clothes?"

"Why not? We usually run into the ocean, but we'd still be wet."

"But you won't be with us tomorrow."

All of them were now sitting up.

"Tell you what. When I get home from work tomorrow, I'll get in the shower in my clothes and take a picture to send you so there's still a little tradition for me. How's that?"

"That would be funny." The little boy's disappointment seemed to lessen slightly at the thought.

The doorbell rang, and everybody got up while Castle answered the door to get the pizza.

After pizza, they cleaned the meal leftovers off their youngest, and sent Jamie for pajamas for both children. The children played until bedtime, their parents joining in now and then before tucking them in for the night.

Rick and Kate collapsed on the sofa and snuggled together contentedly.

"Did your day improve at all since this morning?" he asked.

"It helped that somebody was trying to take care of me, even when he wasn't there."

"Oh, really? Anybody I know?" he teased.

"Yeah. Thank you," she answered, turning her face up toward his for a kiss and getting several in response. She snuggled into him contentedly again. "It actually did get better just before I left. Shawn Bright's friend videoed the whole thing. He didn't mention it this morning because the councilman's son threatened his mother if the video showed up anywhere. He told him he'd have fun with her when he got out on bail."

"Wow! Ryan must have been happy to get that."

"Yeah. I felt guilty leaving the team there, but I didn't want to miss some family time before you leave in the morning."

Placing a kiss on the top of her head, he said, "Ryan will understand."

"Oh, speaking of Ryan, he had some good news this morning. He and Esposito passed their Lieutenant's exams. It probably means he'll be transferred, but it also means the boys will be in range to be captains in another few years. They're moving up, too. And Ryan and Jenny are expecting another baby the first part of March. They're hoping for a boy. Not common knowledge yet, though; so don't say anything for now."

"They'll get the extra fun of watching Sarah Grace learn to be a big sister."

"Jamie took to the big brother thing like a duck to water. Maybe she will, too."

"I think he took to it because he has a loving spirit to begin with, and we prepared him for it by getting him involved with 'our' baby as soon as we knew it was a girl. He was talking to her and kissing your belly like I was and wanting to buy her toys and clothes. We encouraged him to think of the baby as belonging to all of us, so he felt some ownership of the relationship before he ever saw her. He would probably have been a good big brother anyway, but I think we helped, too." He absentmindedly kissed her head.

"It still surprises me sometimes…how much I love being a mommy."

"I always knew you'd be good at it."

"Want me to be a good wife now?"

That earned her another kiss. "After today, I wasn't sure you'd have that much energy left. I didn't want to put any more pressure on you."

"How about starting with a nice, relaxing soak in the tub? Then a memorable goodbye until Sunday night?"

He rose from the sofa and suggested, "You run the bath, and I'll close up out here." Then he offered her his hand to help her stand. They both knew she didn't need his help, but she accepted his gentlemanly offer and then went to prepare their bath.