Chapter 47

Chapter 47

"Did you get Paublo?" Rick asked once they stopped laughing.

"Yeah, we did, he's in arrest now. I asked Ryan and Espo to interrogate them" Kate said and looked down at her hands. "I couldn't stand go in there without you, plus I didn't want to leave your side" she mumbled.

"Hey, it's okay" Rick said and took her hand in his.

"I should've seen that gun, it was too easy" Kate mumbled ad Rick shushed her.

"You couldn't, and this time I was in time, unlike the last time" Rick said with a small smile.

"Last time? Oh..." Kate fell into a silence.

He was talking about when he had knocked her over that day years ago when she had gotten shot in her chest.

"Now we're gonna have matching scars" Rick said and Kate was surprised by the small happy tone in his voice.

Kate's phone rang and she looked at the display.

"Ryan" she said to Rick and put on speaker.

"You're on speaker" she said into the phone.

"Oh, so he's up, hi Castle!" Ryan said happily.

"Hi Ryan!" Rick said and smiled.

"What do you got?" Kate asked.

"Paublo refuses to talk to us other than say 'where's that lady cop and her boyfriend?' And then he asks if the shot was a 'success' or not" Ryan said and both Rick and Kate could hear the anger and irritation in his voice.

"Castle will probably be able to leave the hospital in a few hours, do you have anything else? Any leads to what's going on in that forest?" Kate asked.

"Actually Esposito has something, Beckett line 2" Ryan answered.

"Yo! How's our boy?" Espo asked.

"I'm good, thanks for asking" Rick said and tried to sound neutral but Kate could see the happiness in his eyes.

"Sure, ready to hear what Lanie found?" Espo asked.

"Yes, please" Kate said and listened carefully.

"She doesn't think the killing was random, all the bodies were families but all from different parts of the country. But we checked all the identified and tried to find a connection, so we did. The men have at least one time in their lives been a gangster, probably that's how they got in contact with Paublo" Espo said.

"That's what this is all about? Wait, the guys wanted out and they managed to escape the gang. Until Paublo found them and as punishment he killed their whole families" Rick speculated.

"Yeah, but it seems to be a hell of a lot families. Why go through all that trouble to make them disappear?" Espo asked. "And why didn't anyone notice until you two found it?"

"Because that's not one of the forest you usually go camping in, plus the reason there's so many could be that if there was anyone who noticed they killed them too. Just like they were about to take us out" Rick said.

"That's a lot speculation, we got nothing to prove it" Kate said.

"Or maybe he's just a psycho who kills for the thrill" Ryan said.

"Keep digging, it feels like there's something more to it" Kate said and they all hung up.

Rick sat up, he didn't want to be still any longer.

"You need to rest" Kate said accusingly.

Rick gave her a look and moved himself a little to the side, he pointed to the space beside him and she shook her head but stood up to sit down in the bed.

"How are you feeling?" Kate asked and looked down at his side where the bandage over his bullet hole was.

"I'm fine, it stings a bit but not that much. And I'm glad I took it" Rick said and Kate looked at him confused. "If I hadn't you would've been the one on the bed, not me. And probably you would have been worse" Rick explained.

Kate put her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. She knew how it was to get shot. And if she could have done anything she would've been the only one of them who had suffered from it. Rick gently stroke her face and kissed her forehead.

"You seem tired" he said and Kate nodded against his shoulder.

"Yeah, I've been so worried it has taken all my powers" Kate mumbled and Rick told her to sleep for a while.

Kate slowly entered another world. A world of nightmares.