Family Ties - A Castle fanfiction

Chapter 4: Man In A Mask

Beckett sat at her desk, reading through the autopsy reports Lanie had put together. Castle sat down beside her and held out a cup of coffee, which Beckett reached out and took without looking up.

"Thanks castle." She put the cup down without drinking from it.

Castle nodded, sipped his coffee and made a face as he realised that he'd given Beckett his coffee instead of the intolerable brew he held.

"I just can't believe this guy," Beckett said softly, still focused on reading. Castle carefully switched their cups.

"What about him?" he asked, sitting back as Beckett picked up her coffee and drank some. She frowned into the cup, but seemed to dismiss whatever thought she'd had as she continued.

"CSU found that the back door's lock had been jimmied, which is how the killer got in. But there are no fingerprints, no fibres, no hair, nothing at all to give us who he might be. He was super careful."

Castle shrugged. "So? We see that all the time."

"But why," Beckett asked, now talking to Castle instead of to the paper on her desk. "Would he take such care to cover his tracks and not dispose of the bodies? That crime scene was a mess. The only thing not there was anything to lead to our killer. We didn't even get a footprint."

She shook her head, frowning slightly.

"It just doesn't make sense."

"Did Ryan and Esposito come up with anything from the neighbours?" Castle asked.

"Sure did." Ryan walked over, papers in hand.

"What did you find?" Beckett asked, picking up her coffee and getting up.

"We talked to everyone on the street, and in the surrounding streets, just to be sure," Ryan told them, walking over to the murder board. "The across-the-street neighbours, a Mr and Mrs Jackson, reported seeing a masked man running down the road a little after midnight."

Castle frowned.

"What were they doing in the street after midnight?" he asked.

"Uh, well, Mr and Mrs Jackson are apparently, uh... nocturnal," Ryan said uncertainly. Beckett raised a highly sceptical eyebrow.

"Pardon?"

Ryan shifted uncomfortably. "That's what they said. It is, and I quote, 'a better way to live'. I didn't want to delve deeper than that."

"Probably wise," Beckett agreed with a nod. "Did we get a sketch by any chance?"

"We did."

Ryan unfolded a piece of paper and stuck it to the murder board under the heading 'suspects'.

A snarling muzzle, pointed ears and dark eyes sneered at them from the paper.

"A wolf mask?" Castle commented. "Not your typical choice for identity cover-up, is it?"

"No, but it's effective," Beckett said. "Okay, thanks Ryan."

"No worries. Hey, how's Leslie doing?"

Beckett paused, but Castle jumped in.

"I got a text from Alexis," he told them. "She said that Leslie is in recovery at the hospital, came out of surgery on her knee about an hour ago. She's still unconscious, apparently, but the doctors say she'll be fine."

"Good. She didn't deserve what happened to her," Ryan said empathetically, his expression soft. "None of them did."

Beckett nodded silently.

"We'll get him, Beckett," Ryan assured her. "One way or another, we'll get him."

He walked away, but Castle and Beckett stayed by the murder board, Beckett filling in the timeline with the neighbour's sighting. She capped the pen and picked up her coffee again with a slight sigh.

"This may be a stupid question," Castle started. "But what's wrong?"

Beckett dropped her eyes to her coffee.

"I didn't even talk to her," she whispered. "I didn't even check to see if she as okay. I just saw Conner and -"

She wiped away a tear and hastily sipped her coffee to cover the action.

"Well, in that case," Castle said. "You should know that she's fine. Uh, Alexis said she suffered shock, abrasions to her forearms and shins, and a bad gash on her knee that severed a tendon or something, which they fixed. But she'll be fine."

He smiled again, but Beckett didn't even try. She just gave him a despaired look.

"Beckett, you can't blame yourself for this and you can't blame yourself for how you reacted," Castle said quietly. "This is a personal case for you, nothing's going to go as smoothly as it usually does."

"Because our cases always go so smoothly," she quipped, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

He opened his mouth to retort when his phone rang. Recognising Alexis' custom ringtone, he picked it up.

"Hey sweetie, how's things?"

"Okay, I guess. Is Beckett there?"

"Yeah she's right here. Why?"

"Leslie wants to talk to her."

Castle dropped the phone to his shoulder.

"Beckett, Leslie wants to talk to you."

Beckett nearly dropped her coffee before she managed to place it on the desk. She held out her hand for the phone.

"Put her on," Castle told Alexis, and handed the phone to Beckett.

"Leslie?"

Beckett walked to her desk and dropped into her chair.

"Yeah, it's me Leslie. Are - are you okay?"

Castle watched as Beckett listened intently to her niece on the other end of the phoneline.

"I know. Just stay with Alexis, and I'll come and get you from Castle's place, okay? Okay... I love you too sweetie. I'll see you later. Bye."

She ended the call and handed the phone back to Castle, who had followed her to her desk.

"Thanks."

"No worries."

There was a pause.

"So when are you planning on leaving tonight?" Castle asked her. Beckett sighed.

"I dunno. I want to stay, just in case something comes through, but..."

Castle sat next to her.

"Look, the way I see it, it's -" he checked his watch. "- Seven thirty. You've been back and forth between here and the crime scene all day. Ryan and Esposito are working on our leads. If they need you, they'll call, I'm sure."

Beckett met his eyes.

"Come home. I think Leslie needs you."

"... Okay."