Serving Justice, Castle fanfic, 2/6
Title: Serving Justice
Rating: T
Spoilers: All aired.
Summary: A murdered judge causes Castle and Beckett to examine their own lives.
“Beckett, you might want to sit down.” Ryan warned, and she scoffed lightly, her and Castle back in the Precinct now, a slightly backward wave of confidence telling her she could defeat anything, she’d have the answer to this case soon.
“He’s not joking, Beckett. Sit down.” Esposito said slowly, and something about the way he was narrowing his eyes made her suddenly aware of everything around her, prepared. She took a deep breath, a large swallow, and sat down.
Ryan started then, something unsure about his eyes, something making her already expecting the worst. “Natasha Humphrey had a nineteen year old daughter. Her name’s Rachel.” She noticed him watching her for a second, but there was something about her that couldn’t take the information she was being given in, there. There was something about her that morning that was letting it in one ear and out the other, something stopping her from drawing all the hideous parallels that were already falling on Castle, who had turned almost grey and was taking a seat as well.
“She had her in high school, and she’s never been together with the father since as far as we know, and Rachel lives with her father… that’s an Andrew Dean, he’s got no priors, neither of them have…”
“And they don’t know yet?” she half-whispered, strangely finding that although she could tell herself she wasn’t reacting to this, there was something abnormal about her voice. Esposito was shaking his head and she took another deep breath, suddenly knowing that what she was about to do was going to be the hardest thing she’d done since the shooting, something that would really test how well she could hold together nowadays. “We’d better get down and tell them.” She murmured, and as Ryan was about to argue, about to suggest he do it for her, she put her hand up, silencing him. Somehow this was something she wanted to be able to do, she wanted to prove to herself she could hold out through it.
Esposito looked for a moment as if he was going to say something anyway, but he didn’t, and slowly he and Ryan moved from the room, going on to look further into Natasha Humphrey’s murder, to look into all the wedding guests, to try and find a suspect. She sighed slightly, and Castle moved slightly close to her, a thousand questions in his eyes, and she had to swallow for a moment, those words she was lying about hearing racing suddenly through her ears, those words she remembered from seconds before she’d lost all contact with the world for hours.
I love you, Kate.
She forced a smile onto her mouth and turned to look at Castle. “I could really use you coming with me…” She whispered so quietly it was almost inaudible, for moments no lies, no pretences, nothing on her face but an honest request that he come with her.
“Of course.” It was almost as quiet as her words, as if he was hoping that the conversation would go somewhere else, but she smiled and gave a nod of thanks, and she was walking towards the door, grabbing her coat from the peg, not making contact with his eyes again. Because she was frightened, she frightened herself saying something like that, because she wasn’t sure she knew what his eyes would say to her in the next moments, and that she would be able to handle it. She still had a long way to come, with what was between them, she wasn’t ready for any sign of commitment, she wasn’t even ready to admit to herself quite how easily she could read what was in his eyes.
Between them in the car there was mostly comfortable silence, after Castle had read some of the file to her.
“There’s Rachel Dean, nineteen, and Andrew Dean… he’s a violin teacher at the local middle school… apparently Andrew and Natasha were friends at high school… there’s nothing here about them ever being together either before or after Rachel was born… she must have been a one-time accident by the looks of it…”
Everything anyone said about the case just seemed to make it a little bit harder.
“Anything about Rachel, Castle?
“Nothing here, really, other than she’s in college…she’s on her holidays at the moment, and she’s studying to become a teacher…”
And something about her looked like a teacher when she answered the door to them, smiling at them, and then the expression of horror that they both knew all too well, the dread of what you sort-of knew was coming as Kate showed her the badge. She was tall, thin, built like she’d been slightly stretched, Castle supposed, with the way she was tall and so slim; she had long blonde curls cascading down over her shoulders, and at first the smile on her face was wide, her expression inviting, until she realised who they were and the dread started to cross her face, everything started to change.
“Dad!” she called up the stairs, her voice shaking, as if she knew what they were going to tell her in minutes. “Come down here now!”
There was something friendly-looking about the man who came down the stairs as well, he was slightly younger than Castle had expected him to be, slightly younger than him even, and he was the father of a daughter a few years older than Alexis.
“Please sit down, Mr Dean, Miss Dean.” Beckett said slowly, something in her tone already ringing alarm bells in their heads… they both took their seats quickly, and Castle wasn’t sure whether it was out of instinct or not, but Rachel leant out and took Andrew’s hand, grasping it lightly.
“This morning we found the body of your mother, Rachel. Natasha Humphrey. In her hotel room where she was staying, just inside New York City…”
Rachel had gone grey; her skin changing shade at some ridiculous rate, Andrew had taken to focusing on the coffee table, refusing to break eye contact with it, refusing to meet the eyes of anyone in the room. The only thing he seemed to be able to move was his hand, tightening his grip around Rachel’s fingers.
“Was she murdered?” escaped from Rachel’s mouth, so quiet they could barely hear it. Beckett gave a small nod, something sad running through her eyes that Castle could read regardless of the parallels she still hadn’t brought herself to draw.
“I’m so sorry for your loss, Miss Dean, Mr Dean.” She said quietly, looking from one of them to the other, waiting for the moment that she was so familiar with, for one of them to snap and go mad across the room, unable to comprehend what they were being told. But there was nothing, Andrew wouldn’t even meet their eyes and Rachel looked calm. Concerningly calm, even.
Then Rachel’s voice came over the silence, like she was trying to offer them a few useless threads to a story that would now never be completed, “She was in New York for Kathryn’s wedding. She was… she was Mom’s best friend at high school…” she gave a small smile in her father’s direction, “Other than Dad… it was Kathryn’s wedding last night, did…. Did she make it to the wedding?”
“She did. The last thing we see of her is on the CCTV in the elevator from the wedding at 2 in the morning…”
“… she was taking a week off work… she never does that, she loves her job… Dad and I had to practically make her take a week off… she hasn’t taken any holiday in years…”
“She loves her job.” Was the first thing Andrew said, something different about his voice, like the truth of what they were telling him had brought some kind of irreversible change. Then he shook his head slowly, almost laughing at himself. “Sorry, she loved her job.” He said, and the grief was easily readable in his tone, everything was so raw, so difficult. Like he was even struggling to get a sentence out, with everything that had happened. He sighed, and took his daughter’s other hand in his own, giving her another squeeze, almost as if squeezing her hands would make any difference to this terrible situation.
“I know it’s hard for you right now… but have either of you got any idea whether she was seeing anyone? Were there any men recent in her life?”
They looked at each other for a moment, as if they were trying to reach an answer, as if they were trying to reach something to give the Detective something more to go by. Rachel sighed slowly, and Beckett could identify well enough with the situation to read from that expression on her face that she was taking the second simply to visualise her mother, that second to pretend that this was all some sort of bad dream. She was more than familiar with that.
“I don’t think so… there was no one she ever talked about… work was her one priority in the world, always, with everything…” Tears welled in the girl’s eyes, and she looked at the two of them with an expression of painful honesty. “I used to get angry, I used to shout at her, say she prioritised her work over me, especially when we fought. I mean… what daughter of two single parents spends her whole life living with her father… her work was always the top of her list, and sometimes that would bother me, when I thought about it too hard… Oh Dad, maybe I had too many goes at her, maybe I shouted at her too much…” She trailed off, unable to stop the tears pouring from her face now. Andrew did nothing outwardly audible, simply curved his arm around her and tucked her into his side tightly, as if it was the best offer of anything he could give.
Beckett sighed. There was something about this case that was getting to her… maybe more than it should.
***
Just as Beckett was about to pull out of the road in her car, her phone started buzzing incessantly, as if it was trying to pass some form of message on to them itself.
“Detective Beckett.”
“It’s Ryan… we’ve been looking into all of the criminals Judge Humphrey put away, seeing if any of them have served their time and finished in the last few weeks… cos if that’s not a motive, Beckett, I don’t know what is… anyway, there isn’t anyone who’s just been let out… the most recent con she put away to get let out was six months ago… and he moved to Tennessee before Christmas… so it seems unlikely…”
“No luck then…” she sighed slightly, swallowing and running her hand through her hair.
“Well, we got something… I don’t know if it’s anything, but I think it’s saying something…”
“What is it?”
“A rapist she put away a decade ago… he’s been out for two and half years… but this Harvey Perry, he… he tried to strangle one of his victims…”
Her words caught in her throat for a second, and the rush of hot air rushed over, she had never been able to put it into words, but it was that feeling she had when in some unexplainable way she knew something had to be investigated further.
“Find him. Bring him in. We need to look into this.”
Rating: T
Spoilers: All aired.
Summary: A murdered judge causes Castle and Beckett to examine their own lives.
“Beckett, you might want to sit down.” Ryan warned, and she scoffed lightly, her and Castle back in the Precinct now, a slightly backward wave of confidence telling her she could defeat anything, she’d have the answer to this case soon.
“He’s not joking, Beckett. Sit down.” Esposito said slowly, and something about the way he was narrowing his eyes made her suddenly aware of everything around her, prepared. She took a deep breath, a large swallow, and sat down.
Ryan started then, something unsure about his eyes, something making her already expecting the worst. “Natasha Humphrey had a nineteen year old daughter. Her name’s Rachel.” She noticed him watching her for a second, but there was something about her that couldn’t take the information she was being given in, there. There was something about her that morning that was letting it in one ear and out the other, something stopping her from drawing all the hideous parallels that were already falling on Castle, who had turned almost grey and was taking a seat as well.
“She had her in high school, and she’s never been together with the father since as far as we know, and Rachel lives with her father… that’s an Andrew Dean, he’s got no priors, neither of them have…”
“And they don’t know yet?” she half-whispered, strangely finding that although she could tell herself she wasn’t reacting to this, there was something abnormal about her voice. Esposito was shaking his head and she took another deep breath, suddenly knowing that what she was about to do was going to be the hardest thing she’d done since the shooting, something that would really test how well she could hold together nowadays. “We’d better get down and tell them.” She murmured, and as Ryan was about to argue, about to suggest he do it for her, she put her hand up, silencing him. Somehow this was something she wanted to be able to do, she wanted to prove to herself she could hold out through it.
Esposito looked for a moment as if he was going to say something anyway, but he didn’t, and slowly he and Ryan moved from the room, going on to look further into Natasha Humphrey’s murder, to look into all the wedding guests, to try and find a suspect. She sighed slightly, and Castle moved slightly close to her, a thousand questions in his eyes, and she had to swallow for a moment, those words she was lying about hearing racing suddenly through her ears, those words she remembered from seconds before she’d lost all contact with the world for hours.
I love you, Kate.
She forced a smile onto her mouth and turned to look at Castle. “I could really use you coming with me…” She whispered so quietly it was almost inaudible, for moments no lies, no pretences, nothing on her face but an honest request that he come with her.
“Of course.” It was almost as quiet as her words, as if he was hoping that the conversation would go somewhere else, but she smiled and gave a nod of thanks, and she was walking towards the door, grabbing her coat from the peg, not making contact with his eyes again. Because she was frightened, she frightened herself saying something like that, because she wasn’t sure she knew what his eyes would say to her in the next moments, and that she would be able to handle it. She still had a long way to come, with what was between them, she wasn’t ready for any sign of commitment, she wasn’t even ready to admit to herself quite how easily she could read what was in his eyes.
Between them in the car there was mostly comfortable silence, after Castle had read some of the file to her.
“There’s Rachel Dean, nineteen, and Andrew Dean… he’s a violin teacher at the local middle school… apparently Andrew and Natasha were friends at high school… there’s nothing here about them ever being together either before or after Rachel was born… she must have been a one-time accident by the looks of it…”
Everything anyone said about the case just seemed to make it a little bit harder.
“Anything about Rachel, Castle?
“Nothing here, really, other than she’s in college…she’s on her holidays at the moment, and she’s studying to become a teacher…”
And something about her looked like a teacher when she answered the door to them, smiling at them, and then the expression of horror that they both knew all too well, the dread of what you sort-of knew was coming as Kate showed her the badge. She was tall, thin, built like she’d been slightly stretched, Castle supposed, with the way she was tall and so slim; she had long blonde curls cascading down over her shoulders, and at first the smile on her face was wide, her expression inviting, until she realised who they were and the dread started to cross her face, everything started to change.
“Dad!” she called up the stairs, her voice shaking, as if she knew what they were going to tell her in minutes. “Come down here now!”
There was something friendly-looking about the man who came down the stairs as well, he was slightly younger than Castle had expected him to be, slightly younger than him even, and he was the father of a daughter a few years older than Alexis.
“Please sit down, Mr Dean, Miss Dean.” Beckett said slowly, something in her tone already ringing alarm bells in their heads… they both took their seats quickly, and Castle wasn’t sure whether it was out of instinct or not, but Rachel leant out and took Andrew’s hand, grasping it lightly.
“This morning we found the body of your mother, Rachel. Natasha Humphrey. In her hotel room where she was staying, just inside New York City…”
Rachel had gone grey; her skin changing shade at some ridiculous rate, Andrew had taken to focusing on the coffee table, refusing to break eye contact with it, refusing to meet the eyes of anyone in the room. The only thing he seemed to be able to move was his hand, tightening his grip around Rachel’s fingers.
“Was she murdered?” escaped from Rachel’s mouth, so quiet they could barely hear it. Beckett gave a small nod, something sad running through her eyes that Castle could read regardless of the parallels she still hadn’t brought herself to draw.
“I’m so sorry for your loss, Miss Dean, Mr Dean.” She said quietly, looking from one of them to the other, waiting for the moment that she was so familiar with, for one of them to snap and go mad across the room, unable to comprehend what they were being told. But there was nothing, Andrew wouldn’t even meet their eyes and Rachel looked calm. Concerningly calm, even.
Then Rachel’s voice came over the silence, like she was trying to offer them a few useless threads to a story that would now never be completed, “She was in New York for Kathryn’s wedding. She was… she was Mom’s best friend at high school…” she gave a small smile in her father’s direction, “Other than Dad… it was Kathryn’s wedding last night, did…. Did she make it to the wedding?”
“She did. The last thing we see of her is on the CCTV in the elevator from the wedding at 2 in the morning…”
“… she was taking a week off work… she never does that, she loves her job… Dad and I had to practically make her take a week off… she hasn’t taken any holiday in years…”
“She loves her job.” Was the first thing Andrew said, something different about his voice, like the truth of what they were telling him had brought some kind of irreversible change. Then he shook his head slowly, almost laughing at himself. “Sorry, she loved her job.” He said, and the grief was easily readable in his tone, everything was so raw, so difficult. Like he was even struggling to get a sentence out, with everything that had happened. He sighed, and took his daughter’s other hand in his own, giving her another squeeze, almost as if squeezing her hands would make any difference to this terrible situation.
“I know it’s hard for you right now… but have either of you got any idea whether she was seeing anyone? Were there any men recent in her life?”
They looked at each other for a moment, as if they were trying to reach an answer, as if they were trying to reach something to give the Detective something more to go by. Rachel sighed slowly, and Beckett could identify well enough with the situation to read from that expression on her face that she was taking the second simply to visualise her mother, that second to pretend that this was all some sort of bad dream. She was more than familiar with that.
“I don’t think so… there was no one she ever talked about… work was her one priority in the world, always, with everything…” Tears welled in the girl’s eyes, and she looked at the two of them with an expression of painful honesty. “I used to get angry, I used to shout at her, say she prioritised her work over me, especially when we fought. I mean… what daughter of two single parents spends her whole life living with her father… her work was always the top of her list, and sometimes that would bother me, when I thought about it too hard… Oh Dad, maybe I had too many goes at her, maybe I shouted at her too much…” She trailed off, unable to stop the tears pouring from her face now. Andrew did nothing outwardly audible, simply curved his arm around her and tucked her into his side tightly, as if it was the best offer of anything he could give.
Beckett sighed. There was something about this case that was getting to her… maybe more than it should.
***
Just as Beckett was about to pull out of the road in her car, her phone started buzzing incessantly, as if it was trying to pass some form of message on to them itself.
“Detective Beckett.”
“It’s Ryan… we’ve been looking into all of the criminals Judge Humphrey put away, seeing if any of them have served their time and finished in the last few weeks… cos if that’s not a motive, Beckett, I don’t know what is… anyway, there isn’t anyone who’s just been let out… the most recent con she put away to get let out was six months ago… and he moved to Tennessee before Christmas… so it seems unlikely…”
“No luck then…” she sighed slightly, swallowing and running her hand through her hair.
“Well, we got something… I don’t know if it’s anything, but I think it’s saying something…”
“What is it?”
“A rapist she put away a decade ago… he’s been out for two and half years… but this Harvey Perry, he… he tried to strangle one of his victims…”
Her words caught in her throat for a second, and the rush of hot air rushed over, she had never been able to put it into words, but it was that feeling she had when in some unexplainable way she knew something had to be investigated further.
“Find him. Bring him in. We need to look into this.”