178. Chapter 178

Chapter 178

"'Morning, Boss." Ryan said, looking in high spirits as he peeked around the office door.

"'Morning, Ryan. You're all smiles this morning. Does this mean you have something good to tell me?"

"I passed the lieutenant's exam. I talked to Espo last night, and he did, too."

"That's great. I'll have to congratulate him, too. Sadly, I guess that means you'll be transferred out when a place opens up."

"That's the only drawback. You don't have room for another homicide lieutenant. I hate to leave the twelfth, but the other good news is that Jenny's pregnant again, so the extra pay can't hurt. We're hoping for a boy this time."

Beckett came around the desk and gave her friend a hug. "Congratulate Jenny and give her a hug for me. I'm so happy for you."

"Thanks," he responded, hugging her back. "I knew you'd get official word; but I also knew I'd probably have to leave sometime soon. I thought I should mention it in case your mail was behind mine. You'll need to start thinking about who you want to replace me."

"I don't even like thinking about replacing you, but thanks for the heads up. So when is the newest Ryan due?"

"Early March. We found out right before I took the exam. It gave me some incentive," he answered.

"Are you telling people yet? Is it okay to tell Castle?"

"We aren't making a general announcement quite yet…trying to wait until the end of this month, but you can tell Castle. He's family." After a little pause, he said, "We've got a case, so I need to get back. Just wanted to throw all my good news at you this morning."

"Well, Lieutenant Ryan, you were a good start for my day."

"I'm not quite official yet, but that has a nice ring to it," he answered with a grin and went back to work.

Beckett sat back down at her desk and smiled as she continued her way through her to do list.

xxxxx

The case given to Ryan's team early the following morning had the earmarks of a PR nightmare and/or a politically based cover up. The body was found in a small park near a business area just after sunrise, and the young man with the weapon was Trent Douglas Layton III, the seventeen year old son of a longtime city councilman. The three witnesses to the shooting were Trent's friend, Justin, and the other two were the brother and a friend of the deceased, Shawn Phillip Bright. The weapon used was in police custody and had been sent to the lab, and all the young men were being taken to the precinct separately. It had happened just after sunrise when Trent and Justin were cutting through the park trying to get back home before their parents were awake. The other three young men were on their way to early jobs at restaurants a couple of blocks away.

An officer on his beat had heard the shots, called for backup, and was there almost immediately after the shots were fired. He took custody of the weapon as well as the councilman's son, who was still holding it when Officer Netters arrived. The officer called it in, and CSU, the medical examiner, and detectives were dispatched. Backup was there quickly, and the young men were searched and held in separate squad cars until the detectives had the uniformed officers take them to the precinct for questioning.

Trent wasn't shy about identifying his father; so as soon as they had identified the four young men and the deceased, Ryan called Beckett at home to alert her of the high profile family involvement. Then he and his team looked quickly into the backgrounds of all of the boys before questioning them. Since the age of fourteen, Trent had been brought in on a variety of charges ranging from smalltime drug possession, to assault, to auto theft, but nothing stuck. In following up with detectives in other precincts where those incidents happened, they discovered that the councilman's attorney had managed to deal or somehow coerce the police or the prosecutor into dropping the charges. Beckett wanted to be there when the boys were questioned and promised to leave right away, so Ryan left them to wait.

xxxxx

Ryan's call came to Beckett a little before six. Hearing her answers through his sleep haze, Castle could tell their weekend plans were in jeopardy.

"What was that about?"

"Ryan was called in on a case with the potential for trouble. Councilman Layton's son was found with a gun in his hand and a dead body on the ground in front of him, and he's already making sure everybody knows who his father is. They haven't questioned him yet, but he's seventeen, so his parents have to be notified. I'm sure he'll be lawyered up by the time I get there," she answered, getting out of bed and gathering her clothes. "There are three others who witnessed the shooting. Layton's buddy has been in some trouble with him before, but they both got off every time. None of the others have a record at all.

Although she had intended one more weekend trip to the beach with the family, she didn't feel she could leave town now. As she dressed quickly for work, Kate insisted Castle still go with the rest of their family and enjoy the beach house with all of them one more time in September.

"The weather is still nice enough to enjoy, and the children can still play in the ocean a little bit," she said as she quickly put on her makeup. Every age in the family enjoys being there, Castle; and our whole family has been looking forward to it. The beach house should be used while it's still warm enough to enjoy it. But with Ryan's high profile case, I need to be close by so if anything touchy turns up… Well, you remember how that sort of thing goes."

"I do. And I know you need to stay here. Montgomery and Gates were both always on edge about those. But I hate to leave you here…and take me there."

"Just for the weekend. You'll be home before Jo's first birthday, and I'm taking that day off. The whole extended family will be here for that. Just go. The kids love the beach. Take them and let them enjoy it one more time before the weather limits us to the pool. They love splashing in the waves, and we have the perfect place for them to do it. It's probably their last chance for this season." She took her badge and weapon from the safe and hung the badge on its chain around her neck.

"Okay. It's only a couple of days, and we've already promised everybody a big cookout to close down the summer." He put his arms around her. "I wish you could go with us. The house will be full of family. No chance it could be solved overnight so you could still go with us tomorrow?"

"Highly improbable. But we can go next month, after this case is over, and let the kids enjoy the pool."

"I'll hold you to that."

"A weekend next month. I promise. And I'm already on the books to have most of Thanksgiving week and Christmas week. I'm trying to be fair to the lieutenants who cover for me and to limit the out of town time where I need to call on Captain Dohrman to be on stand-by. I'll call him this morning and let him off the hook.

"I guess we'd better get started after we get the kids in bed tonight, then," he answered mischievously.

"Started on what?" she asked when he took her in his arms.

"Making love enough to hold us from Friday morning until Sunday night." He pulled her to him and gave her a kiss she'd remember all day.

"Not fair," she whimpered. After gathering her badge and gun, she kissed him more innocently than he had kissed her; then from the front door, she said not so innocently, "Until tonight, Stud."

xxxxx

Beckett stepped out of the elevator a little before seven.

"Hey. We're all glad you're here," Ryan told her. "The councilman should be here soon, and he's dared us to try to question the brat without his lawyer. His kid is obnoxiously smug about getting out of this with no trouble. His friend's mother should be here soon, too, and he hasn't been much more of a pleasure than the councilman's kid."

"Well, send the councilman to me if he's a problem, and let me know when you're ready to question them. I can take the victim's brother if you want. Has their mother been called?"

"First one I contacted. Leanna Bright. She had to arrange babysitting for her younger ones, but she should be here any time, too. The victim is her oldest son, Shawn. The boys who were with him…one of them, the victim's brother…he's falling apart. The other kid who was with him is a neighbor, Virgil Hampton. They were all three on their way to work. No record at all on any of them. And if you deal with the parents, it would take some of the pressure off while I question the teenagers."

"No problem. You have your hands full right now. Use your time to find out exactly what happened. Let me take care of the Shawn Bright's mother and then the parental outcries from the councilman. If the councilman gets here after the victim's mother, feel free to let him wait until we're finished. If he gets here first, feel free to interrupt us so I can speak to Mrs. Bright."

"Thanks, Beckett."

"Part of being a captain. I'll be in my office."

The elevator opened, a short, slightly built woman stepped out uncertainly, and LT approached her asking if he could help.

"Yes, please," she answered nervously. "I don't know how this works. I've never been in a police station before. I'm supposed to see Detective Ryan."

"Your name, Ma'am?" LT asked politely.

"Leanna Bright."

Ryan heard the name and called Beckett, who came back into the bullpen as LT was escorting Mrs. Bright to Ryan's desk.

"Mrs. Bright, I'm Detective Kevin Ryan, and this is Captain Kate Beckett."

"You said you're holding my son Andrew? Why?"

Beckett indicated a direction and said, "Mrs. Bright, let's talk in the conference room. Detective Ryan and his team are working on the details of what's happened, and I don't want to slow them down." She closed the door behind them when they entered the room and sat down in a chair facing Mrs. Bright. "Your son, Andrew, is extremely upset, but he's okay. There's no easy way to say this, but there was a shooting early this morning; and your son, Shawn, was killed. Detective Ryan didn't want to deliver that news over the phone. I'm so sorry for your loss."

A long, wailing "Nooooo!" could be heard outside the conference room, followed by heavy sobbing. Beckett handed the woman a box of tissues and ran a hand over her upper arm in sympathy.

After the initial shock of the news, Mrs. Bright asked through her sobs, "What happened? None of my children have ever been in any trouble."

"We're trying to piece that together right now. It happened as the three young men were on their way to work, and the detectives are just about to question everyone who was there. They're going to start with Andrew and then Virgil. You can see Andrew as soon as they've talked to him."

"Andrew had to watch his brother get shot and die?" There was a new round of sobs.

Beckett nodded. "Again, I'm so sorry."

Ryan and Bisaga were talking to Andrew Bright, who looked devastated at the loss of his brother…and afraid. They were treading carefully, hoping to get enough information to help them start the investigation.

"Andrew, we won't keep you any longer than necessary. Your mother is already here, and our captain is talking to her. You can see her in a few minutes," Ryan told him. "Are you able to tell us what happened in the park? We need to start an investigation, and the more we know, the faster we can do that."

Andrew nodded and sniffled, his eyes red and his hands shaking. "Can we get you something to eat or drink?" Bisaga asked kindly. "We know this is a hard time to have to answer questions.

"Something to drink?" the young man answered. "Some kind of soft drink?"

"Sure. I'll be right back."

"Start at the beginning and tell me how you ended up in the park that early in the morning," Ryan suggested, "and how you met the other two who were there."

"When the economy went bad, my mama kept her IT job for a while, but then she got laid off, and there weren't a lot of jobs out there. She found another one; but it wasn't the same kind of job, and it didn't pay the same kind of money. She was having trouble getting all the bills paid. Virgil's mom was in the same shape. My brother…" He stopped there and tried unsuccessfully to stifle a sob.

"Hey, it's okay. If it was my brother, I'd be crying, too," Ryan assured him.

Andrew was wiping his eyes when Bisaga came back and handed him a Coke and some tissues. The young man drank some of it before starting his story. "Shawn graduated from high school last year, and last summer he found a job at a restaurant in Manhattan, He was a nice guy and did a good job. People liked him, so he got good tips. He still lived with us, and his pay helped Mama keep the bills paid. He explained our situation to his boss and got me a job, too. His boss didn't have a job for Virgil; but he said if we all worked like Shawn, he was pretty sure his friend on the next block would hire him. They let Virgil and me work some early hours and come back after school to pick up a few more. We'd all take the subway in from The Bronx in the morning, walk from the subway station and cut through the park to get to work. When we got there this morning, those other two guys were there."

"Were they just hanging out, did it look like they just got there, or what?"

"We saw them come in from the other direction, and it looked like they decided to wait for us. We tried to leave; but the one with the brown hair didn't want to let us. He blocked the path. The other one tried to tell him they should go home; but the one with brown hair…I think he called him Trent…acted weird. He told him not to worry about it…said how they always get away with everything. Shawn stepped out a little in front of Virgil and me. He always tried to take care of me." He had to stop again to pull himself back together. "Shawn told him, 'Look, man, we just need to get to work. We're not looking for trouble.' Trent said we may have found it anyway. Then he went off on being the son of some big councilman, and how he could get away with anything he wanted to do, and said why he could, and that he didn't like it when somebody else tried to be in charge. None of us did anything but wait to see what he was going to do. Then Shawn asked him again, 'Just let us go to work, man.' The guy's eyes started looking crazy, and it was scary. Then he pulled out a gun and pointed it at Shawn and said, 'Didn't I tell you I'm in charge?' He looked over at his friend and said, 'I never shot anybody. You think Dad could get me out of that?'"

"What did his friend say?" Ryan asked.

"He said, 'He's got you out of everything else.' Then the crazy guy pointed the gun at Shawn and said, 'I guess we'll see.' And he just shot him two times in the chest. Then he looked surprised and looked over at his friend, like he thought he just did something great, and grinned. I got down on the ground to try see if Shawn was alive. There was a lot of blood, and he wasn't moving. I told him I loved him, but I think it was already too late. Then the officer came and took the gun and handcuffed the crazy guy and called an ambulance." He put his arms down on the table, put his head down on them, and cried.

"Had any of you ever met those boys before?" Bisaga asked after giving the teenager a long moment.

Not moving from where he was, Andrew shook his head. "We never saw them before. We asked each other if anybody knew them while we walked down the path. There wasn't much way to get around them once we were close to them. None of us have ever been in any trouble. I never had to be in a police car or a police station before."

"Let's get you to your mother," Ryan said. "I'm pretty sure she's worried about you right now. We may want to talk to you again later, but anything else can wait."

Bisaga shook the teenager's hand and said, "Thanks for your help, Andrew. I know that wasn't easy for you."

"I appreciate it, too," Ryan added, also shaking his hand.

"Just be sure that crazy guy goes to jail for what he did."

Ryan nodded and Bisaga took Andrew to his mother while Ryan called to have Virgil brought to talk to him.

Blount let him know Virgil's mother was waiting to see him, too, and that Beckett had both parents in the conference room. "Looks like they're having a long conversation," he reported. Maybe she'll learn something, too. Oh, and the councilman and his lawyer are fuming at having to wait. They've already mentioned twice how tight their schedules are."

"If even half of what Andrew Bright just told me is the truth, and I'm leaning toward believing him, then I'm okay with the councilman fuming a little longer. Beckett said she'd handle him. I'd love to be a fly on the wall for that conversation."

"Me, too." Blount said, his voice not matching the respectful face he was putting forward to match the serious situation.

Virgil, in his own words and his own style, told the same story as Andrew. "I swear, Detective, we didn't do anything to set off the guy with the gun. He was just crazy. All Shawn did was ask him to let us go to work." Virgil was in almost the same shape as Andrew, sniffling and wiping tears throughout the interview. "I'm an only child, so Shawn always looked out for me like he did for Andrew. Andrew's book smart. He's gonna graduate with honors. Shawn's average was a C, but everything else about him was an A+."

Both detectives thanked Virgil as they had Andrew, with handshakes and appreciation. Bisaga took Virgil to meet his mother; and Ryan took a deep breath, called for Trent Layton to be brought in, and went to let his attorney know they were ready.

"I'd like a few minutes to speak to my client first," the attorney demanded.

"Of course you would," Ryan answered. "He's being brought in now. I'll be at my desk. Let me know when you're ready to talk to us."

As Ryan spoke to the attorney, Beckett came out of the conference room with the two tearful women and their sons and walked them to the elevator.

"Thank you for the way you handled things for us, Captain Beckett. You were very kind," Leanna Bright said appreciatively.

"And you were very helpful, both of you. I know it wasn't easy."

"What's wrong with them," Councilman Layton asked Ryan. It appeared to be sheer curiosity on his part, not necessarily sympathy.

"When I called you this morning, you never asked me why your son is in police custody. You only warned me against speaking to him without counsel," Ryan explained. "Your son is in custody because it appears he shot a man this morning. You're on the homicide floor because there was a death involved. One of those women is the mother of the victim, and one of the young men is the brother. The other two are close family friends. Captain Beckett said she would talk to you while I speak to your son. You'll have to excuse me. I need to see her before your attorney is ready for me."

The councilman finally sat down and shut up, looking shocked.

Freedman called out, "Captain, the crime scene photos just came in." He was holding up a stack of pictures he had just printed.

"Thanks, Freedman."

Ryan used the time Trent was talking to his attorney to follow Beckett to the conference room and fill her in on what their two witnesses had said. She looked appalled and saddened. "Do you believe them?" she asked.

"I think so."

"After talking to their mother, I think I do, too. She said she works the late shift on her job. Andrew goes to Stuyvesant. He graduates this year and has already been offered enough scholarships for a free ride for his freshman year at NYU. She said she insisted that both her boys take a little spending money for themselves out of what they brought home from their jobs. And anything she could manage, she put into a small savings account for Andrew's textbooks and supplies for college. He's going to be the first member of their entire family to go to college. She said her neighbor's son, Virgil, was cut from the same cloth. He wasn't at Stuy, but he earned a scholarship to a good parochial school in Manhattan."

"They both seemed like good kids…and they looked terrified." Seeing the photos, Ryan asked, "Are those from the crime scene?"

"Yeah. I'll look them over while you interrogate young, entitled Mister Layton."

Freedman walked to the door and let Ryan know that the attorney was ready; and as he walked to the interrogation room, Councilman Layton stood and demanded to be in the room with his son.

Beckett went to talk to him and asked if he had been there when his son had been questioned before.

"Well the other times he was released…and the other times he wasn't accused of shooting somebody. And I have questions. Like how he got his hands on a gun."

"If you start demanding answers, it may defeat the purpose of having an attorney. As much as I'd love to see unexpected answers happen, I don't want anything about this investigation to be questioned. This is a possible murder, and I'm well aware of your status in the community. Even if I weren't, your son had loudly informed all of us who came in contact with him before you arrived. If you want to hear what's being said, I can have Detective Freedman escort you to the observation room."

"Thank you."

"We've barely started the investigation, Councilman, but I can answer the question about the gun. The gun was registered to you."

The councilman blanched and whispered, "Oh, god."

Freedman stood and said, "This way, Councilman Layton," and led the man to the observation room to watch his overconfident son swagger his way through his statement. Freedman was there as security, so he stayed in the room and listened in disgust.

Beckett barely had time to sit down to look at the crime scene photos before Justin's mother was there, and LT took her to the conference room.

"Captain Beckett, this is Joan Hazelton, Justin's mother."

"What kind of trouble is my son in now?" she asked, looking aggravated.

"He was with another teenager who shot a young man early this morning. Do you know why he and his friend, Trent, were in a park a little after sunrise?"

"No. I thought he was in his room asleep until I went to get him after the detective called. Did you say Trent shot somebody?"

"Yes, and if the two other witnesses are to be believed, Justin is going to need an attorney. He could be charged as an accessory to murder."

"Every time before when they got into trouble, Doug's…um Councilman Layton's…lawyer helped us, too." She now looked concerned rather than aggravated.

"This involves a death, Mrs. Hazelton. With a charge this serious, Councilman Layton's attorney is going to need to address his interest to defending the councilman's son. Does your family have an attorney to call on? In this case, it might be wise to have an attorney who is entirely focused on your son's case. But it's up to you."

"My husband is in real estate. I'll call and have him ask one of their attorneys to suggest somebody for us."

"I'll give you time for your call. Let me know when you're ready. I have some questions."

Justin's mother nodded as she took out her phone, seeming to have absorbed the seriousness of the situation.

Beckett closed the door to the conference room and sat down in Ryan's chair, finally getting past the first two photos, and Blount rolled his chair over to look at them with her.

"Except for the body, there really isn't a lot to see, is there?" Blount observed.

"Exactly where was everybody when Officer Netters arrived?"

Blount pointed out markers in the photo closest to him. "Netters said Trent and his friend were standing here on this side of the body, and Virgil was over here. Andrew was on the ground next to his brother's body. He said nobody was moving.

"Did those leaves on the pavement move around easily?" she asked.

"Yeah. Moved with little whiffs of breeze, but there wasn't a breeze at all this morning, just people moving around."

Looking through the pictures quickly, Beckett said, "To me, this looks consistent with what Andrew and Virgil told Ryan, but right now it's their word against the other two, both of whom have good attorneys, and we haven't heard their side yet. It's too early to draw conclusions. I'm curious to hear Trent's version of events. He and Justin were separated after they were picked up in the park, right? They haven't had a chance to compare notes…coordinate a story?"

"I haven't had a chance to talk to Ryan yet to know what Trent said," Blount responded. "But I do know the four of them were separated when they left the park. Netters had plenty of backup."

Beckett gave him a brief explanation of the boys' statements and added. "So I guess I'm even more interested in Justin's statement after hearing what Trent has to say. And whether their statements match. Mrs. Hazelton said the councilman's attorney usually takes care of both of them. I suggested to her that with a charge this serious, it might be better to have her own attorney separate from Trent's, someone who has no other interest than her son. I'd be willing to bet that Trent's attorney is mistakenly counting on privileged time with Justin to see that their stories match, and I might be having a little too much fun thinking about his disappointment."

Blount grinned. "And there it is. We all knew you had an evil side in there, Beckett."

The door of the conference room opened, and Beckett stood and left Blount with the pictures.

"One of Allen's attorney friends from work is married to another attorney who can handle this." Mrs. Hazelton stated. "She called her husband, and he's going to be here in about half an hour. His office isn't that far away."

Walking back into the conference room, Beckett began her questions with, "How did Trent and Justin meet? From the number of times they've been brought in, it looks like they've been friends for at least the last three years."

"We moved in a couple of doors down from Doug and his wife about seven years ago, and we hit it off really well. Trent had every toy and electronic game known to man, and Justin loved hanging out with him. Then as they got a little older, their last year in middle school, they started getting out more…parties now and then. That was when the trouble started, and we began to see another side to Trent. He's a really odd boy. He tries to hide it, and he can be quite charming when he wants to; but we see it now and then. It's almost scary. Being good friends with his parents, it's awkward to try to keep Justin away from him now, though. It's hard to keep the two boys apart. Trent attracts people who want to hang out with the son of somebody important, and I guess Justin falls into the reflected glory and likes it. It worries me that we didn't know he was gone last night. It's happened before, but we thought it had stopped. Now we have to wonder again." She stopped and looked down. "Allen will be here soon, too…to meet the attorney with me. What's going to happen to my boy?"

"I honestly don't know yet. Detective Ryan is speaking to Trent and his attorney right now. We'll wait until your attorney has time to speak to Justin before we talk to him."

Freedman returned to the bullpen with Councilman Layton, who was wearing a look of righteous indignation on his face. "Well my son says those three boys were about to attack them and he shot in self-defense. May I take him home now?"

"If you'll have a seat in the conference room, I'll be right back and we can talk."

Mrs. Hazelton was gathering her purse and phone as he walked in.

"Joan," Layton said in surprise.

"Doug." She put her purse down and gave him a hug. "Have you seen Trent yet? How is he?"

"I haven't seen him yet. That's why I need to talk to Captain Beckett. Tom Servantes is here to represent Trent. He's going to ask for time with Justin, too."

"No need, Doug. As much trouble as the boys have been in for the past three years, we decided we should get our own lawyer to represent Justin. He's on the way now. We can't expect you to always include Justin."

"But I don't mind doing it."

"I know, and we really appreciate it. But this time it's a lot more serious, and it's likely to take a lot more time…and billing. Justin is our responsibility, and we need to take care of it." Regathering her things, she said, "You need to talk to Captain Beckett, and I think I just saw Allen get off the elevator. I'll get out of the way and talk to you later."

On the way to meet her husband, Trent's lawyer came from the interrogation room and greeted her. "Joan, I wish I were seeing you under better circumstances, but I'm sure this will all be cleared up soon. I was on my way to ask for time with Justin before he's questioned."

"You don't need to worry about it this time, Tom." She gave him the same explanation she had given her friend, and her husband backed her up.

"She's right, Tom. He's our responsibility. We appreciate everything you've done for him, though," Allen Hazelton agreed from behind him.

"But he knows me. Wouldn't you like me to spend a few minutes with him…reassure him a little bit?"

"We'll talk to his attorney and may be able to see him, but thank you for being so concerned about him."

LT took Trent back to where he was being held, and Ryan, Beckett, and Bisaga were leaving the interrogation area. Seeing the Hazeltons talking to Trent's attorney out in the open, they hung back and eavesdropped.

"Did you see how much he wanted to see Justin?" Beckett whispered. "He expected to have time to tell him what Trent's story was."

"You think Justin will back him up?" Bisaga asked.

"I don't know what to think except that we need to get Trent Layton locked up somewhere," Ryan whispered emphatically. "Seriously. That boy has problems. I could see him working with somebody like Jerry Tyson one day. At his best moments, I didn't see a single human emotion that didn't involve himself the whole time we were in there. He was only interested in getting away with what he's done. It was like he thought it was a game."

"The councilman thinks he should be able to take his son home now. I have to go and burst his bubble," Kate told them and went striding back across to the conference room, stopping to pick up the crime scene photos.

"She has absolutely no love for politicians who try to cover up criminal activity," Ryan said with a grin. Then he went to speak with Justin's parents, and their lawyer arrived just after Servantes left.

"When can I take my son home, Captain? He's answered your questions. It was self-defense."

"No offense, Councilman, but if we simply took the word of every shooter who said it was self-defense, the streets would be full of murderers. We have to work with the evidence, and we're still waiting for some of it. He won't be going home yet."

"What do you mean he won't be going home yet?"

"Sir," she said, looking through the crime scene photos. She slapped one down in front of the councilman…one that showed a good view of the blood and wounds on the body, and he flinched at the sight. "Your son did this to another human being this morning…using your gun. That can't be ignored. This man's family will never be the same again."

"But it was self-defense."

"I have several problems here. First, in the entire interview, I understand your son showed no remorse at all. Second, the crime scene photos show no sign of the kind of attack your son described. We had some strong winds last night, and there were dry leaves blanketing the paved path the boys were on. There just isn't enough disturbance of the dry leaves to indicate the kind of attack your son described, not even enough to indicate a small scuffle. Look at this. The only disturbance I see is next to the body where this man's brother dropped to the ground to see if Shawn Bright was still alive. That's where he was when Officer Netters arrived. Netters said no one was moving. Third, you told Detective Ryan you had no idea your son was gone or why he was in that park around sunrise, so I don't have full confidence that your son will be there if we need to bring him back in. And it was also obvious that you didn't know he had your gun. He's a minor, and he was illegally carrying a concealed firearm. Fourth, your son was armed with your gun, and his friend had a knife. None of the other boys had any sort of weapon nor do they have any sort of police record. Fifth, Trent admitted he and Justin had sneaked out for an overnight party and were going to try to sneak back to their rooms before you noticed they were gone, but the other young men were legitimately and responsibly on their way to work; so until I have more evidence, your son will remain in our custody. It isn't looking good for him at this point."

"You'll be hearing from my attorney, Captain." Councilman Layton stormed out of the conference room, and Blount smiled at Beckett conspiratorially when she appeared at the door.

"He has a good overview of why his son won't be going home today," she said to Ryan's team as she put the photos on his desk. "Keep me in the loop when something new comes in."

"Thanks, Beckett," Ryan called behind her.

She closed the door to her office, took a deep breath, and called home.

"Hey, Beautiful. Are you missing me?" Castle asked.

"You have no idea. I just needed to reach out for a little sanity."

"And you called me?" he teased.

"Yeah, I did. What was I thinking?"

He chuckled. "Rough morning?"

"The victim was nineteen, and his brother was there when he was shot. It would be sad enough, but there's the possibility there was no reason for it, just some kind of psychopathic game. The shooter shows no remorse at all."

"I love you. Wish I were there, even for a few minutes."

"Me, too. I needed to remember that there's good out there in the world, and I couldn't think of a better place to find it than you."

"Captain Castle, I'm absolutely honored."

"And I'm absolutely in love with you, Mr. Beckett. See you tonight."

About an hour later someone was escorted to the captain's door with coffee and a cronut from the Castles' favorite coffee shop. And with a smitten smile, Beckett sat down to enjoy both.