878. Chapter 878

After Disciple

Episode 6.09

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: I'll be seeing you, but I won't own Castle. Rating: K Time: See above.

As soon as Castle opened the door to his loft, he panicked. "Beckett! Call 911. It's Alexis! She's hurt. Get an ambulance and call Ryan and Espo." Then he knelt by the unconscious body of his daughter. He checked her pulse and found her heart was beating normally. Her eyes were dilated, however and she didn't react when he opened her eyelid. He carefully checked her over for injuries and found none.

Beckett arrived with a blanket and put it over the girl. "We shouldn't move her yet in case she has internal injuries. The FDNY paramedics know who I am. They'll be here in minutes. Ryan and Espo are on their way."

No sooner had Kate said that, than three paramedics came bursting out of the elevator and headed for Alexis. Two knelt by her while the third talked to Castle and Beckett.

"Sorry to have to see you like this, Detective Beckett." The paramedic said.

"Johnny, this is my fiancé, Rick Castle. That's his daughter, Alexis. Castle, this is Johnny Rodriguez. He used to be on the job."

Rodriguez and Castle shook hands. "After I retired, I got tired of sitting around cop bars and drinking, so I got a job as a paramedic. It's not bad." He held up a clipboard. "I gotta lot of medical questions to ask you about the girl. Some of them are kinda personal. I hope you don't mind."

Castle nodded and answered as best he could. Ryan and Esposito arrived just as the paramedics were leaving with Alexis. Knowing Alexis well, they asked far fewer questions.

"She's back in the dorms?" Ryan asked.

Castle nodded. "After she broke up with Pi, she stayed here for a while, then went back to the Columbia dorms. We should start there."

Kate put her hand on his arm. "I think you should sit this one out, babe. She's your daughter. You're too close to this."

"And you're not?" Castle shot back. Then he shook his head. "I'm sorry. That came out all wrong. We're all too close to this, but we all need to work this case. Okay?"

Beckett exchanged glances with her two detectives and then nodded. "Okay. Castle and I will go to Columbia and see what we can find. You two check Alexis' phone and financials and see if anyone new in her life has come around."

"And see if you can find anything out about Pi." Castle added. "I never did like him, even though I can't see him doing this to Alexis."

Once at Columbia, Kate talked to the resident advisor, a grad student named Trish.

"I haven't seen Alexis for a couple of days, but I don't keep that close an eye on the kids in the dorm. Let's go look in her room. I have a key."

While Rick and Kate searched through Alexis' room, Trish went off to find anyone who might have seen Alexis. She came back with two young girls in tow.

"Detective, Alexis' roommate, Donna Edwards, isn't here. She went home to see her folks in Philadelphia. But I called her cell and talked to her. She last saw Alexis when she went to sleep two nights ago. When Donna got up, Alexis was gone."

One of the two girls spoke up. "Mr. Castle, Alexis told us she'd met some guy who was really into climate change and was working with some NGO. She said she might go on a boat with him."

Visions of some wild, drunken orgy on a boat involving Alexis ran through Castle's mind. He hated the visions.

Kate talked to both girls, but they had no idea who this guy might be or where Alexis might have gone. As Castle kept searching her room, Kate went to talk to every person on the floor who might know anything. Neither had any luck.

Once back at the precinct, Ryan and Espo briefed them on what they had found, which was very little.

"We went over Alexis' phones and financials, Castle." Ryan said. "She hasn't called anyone new in over two months and most of the people she's called look like other students or maybe professors. Anyway, we have uniforms calling everyone she called to see if they know anything. So far, nothing."

"Her financials are a dead end." Espo said. "Charges at the student book store, a couple of lunches at a place near campus and…" Espo looked away from Castle and Beckett. "And some purchases of…ladies undergarments."

A uniform came up and handed some papers to Beckett. "We have something on Pi. We got his real name and so forth from the lease he and Alexis signed. According to TSA, he left for Amsterdam, Holland four months ago and hasn't returned. But, we'll check with the Dutch police to be sure."

"Could I see the phones and financials?" Castle asked. "Maybe something will pop for me?" He took everything and went back to Beckett's desk.

"Let me have them when you're done, babe. Maybe I'll see something you missed."

Castle nodded and then checked Alexis' phone calls against the numbers he had on his phone to see if there were any matches. There weren't.

"This is odd, Beckett. She bought some bras and panties at Victoria's Secret. Do you think maybe she was getting ready for….Your know? Some guy?"

Kate reddened slightly. "Castle, um, Alexis has been buying her underwear from Victoria's Secret since she started college. Um, I went with her once."

"And you didn't tell me?" He sounded shocked.

"Do you really want me to tell you about Alexis' taste in underwear?" She said, as evenly as she could.

Castle shook his head. "Good point. Please do not tell me about her underwear, but keep me up to date on yours, please."

She grinned. "Absolutely."

"Hey, Castle. It's some FDNY paramedic. He want to talk to you."

Castle grabbed the phone from Esposito's hand. "Rodriguez! Do you have something?"

"Castle, is your daughter Irish? I mean from Ireland?"

"No, of course not. Why?"

"Listen."

Castle could hear a young woman in the background. "What did you fookin' Yanks do to me? Look a' ma fookin' face! I'll have me Da' on you!"

"Castle, she claims her name in Brigid Brown and she's a tourist from Ireland. I don't think this is your daughter."

"You think?" Kate muttered, listening in.

Fingerprints and DNA confirmed that Brigid Brown was who she said she was and was not at all related to Castle. She said she had met a guy in a bar, got "totally, fookin', stinkin' drunk" and woke up two weeks later in a hospital with a new face and boobs.

"Where the hell is Alexis then?" Castle asked angrily. "And why the double? Whoever did this, and I'm guessing it's Dr. Kelly Nieman and Jerry Tyson, must have known that when Brown woke up we'd realize it wasn't Alexis. It's not like we'd find her dead like Pam Hodges or Daniel Santos and think it was Alexis. When I found her she was stoned on club drugs, but they were nowhere near a lethal dose. Neither 3XK nor Nieman would make a mistake like that. So what was the point and where is Alexis?"

"I can answer that." Captain Gates said, coming out of her office. "Columbia University just called me. Alexis just walked back into her dorm room. I've sent a unit to pick her up and bring her here."

Alexis had indeed gone off with a young man on a boat who was very interested in global warning, but no one was ever able to find a trace of him.

That night Rick and Kate sat on the couch in the loft. For the time being, Alexis was staying with them.

"I know what the point was." Castle said. "It was a little reminder from 3XK. He's telling me I know where you are. I can get to you. I can get to anyone you love."

"I don't know if you're right, Castle. It might just be Nieman, but we should operate on the assumption that Jerry Tyson is out there somewhere."

"And we have no idea where."

She took his hand and squeezed it.