The Haunting Past (A Castle Fanfiction)

Part Nine: Murder and Death

The next morning when Kate stirred awake, her arm flew back to find that Rick's side of the bed was entirely empty. Her eyes slipped out and there, on the nightstand opposite her side was a note reading: Mark needed a jump start. Had to run. I'll come by the precinct at lunch to prove to you I'm alive. Love you, have a nice day, Rick. P.S: there's decaf on the counter and your breakfast is in the fridge. She knew the food and coffee was a bribe to get her to not be angry, so she let it go.

She didn't realize, however, that her husband had slipped away into the night, the one and only goal on his mind being aimed at giving Gerick and the others exactly what they wanted: a reaction.

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As Gates strolled in to the precinct, her floor was covered in detectives who didn't look like they'd gotten any sleep. Ryan sat at his desk, combing through files while Esposito did the same. They'd exchanged subjects after having switched with Valgora and Carpenter who were both sitting in chairs beside the desks, reading the other files as well. "Did you boy even go home last night?" Gates questioned.

Ryan answered first, "I did. Came in around three after Sarah Grace woke me up."

"I didn't have a wife keeping me at home, so I figured an early morning wasn't an awful idea," Carpenter replied.

Valgora told them, "I've always been a believer of "early to bed, early to rise" sir."

"Lanie couldn't sleep either, so she went to the morgue early and with one car, if I didn't want to walk, I had to be here."

"You all look absolutely exhausted," Gates answered, "If I start seeing shoddy work, you know I won't hesitate to bring in another team, right?" They all nodded, everyone but Ryan getting a stronger response. The Irishman on the other hand was too caught up in the files to be aware of his response. Gates walked away, turning her back before rolling her eyes at the men gathered before her.

When each had finished the four stacks, they grouped up in front of the murder board, espressos gripped tightly by each. There was nothing any of them could shake out as a lead. Tech wasn't even in yet to give them security footage, which would at least be something they could do. There was no other evidence to follow up on in either case. There was nothing to do but sit and stare. After a while, Murphy joined them with Harris, none of them coming up with an answer either. The files Coleman had on the cases all listed the deals he made as being offered by the prosecution in order to avoid court. There wasn't a reason listed for why Gerick wasn't given this deal, but it sounded as though when it was offered, it was Tanner who wanted to take the case to court, not Mr. Coleman. Still, that didn't make sense considering the course of defense. An insanity plea would end with the same sentence. None of it made sense until Esposito explained, "He was probably just looking forward to watching us squirm on the stand. Didn't think we could send him to jail."

"Or maybe he wanted to be in prison," Harris offered. "It could have been a recruitment session. I mean, this whole group started in a jail, didn't it?"

No one spoke until Carpenter declared, "I hate this case."

"All in favor of another round of coffee?" Ryan offered. The entire group raised their hands. He started toward the break room in just enough time to see Kate wandering off the elevator. "Decaff, Beckett?"

"I'm good, Ryan. Thanks," Beckett replied and started toward the group. "Any leads?"

Espo answered, "No leads."

Kate replied, "What'd you guys get from the files?"

"All deals were offered by prosecution. All sentences to that asylum were made by the judge. Prosecutors changed every time, judges were only repeated twice, all of our people ranked as needing maximum security, which is how they got to where they were, and there wasn't a single aspect pertaining to any group in the notes at all. Every note looked clean, spare the one Coleman spilled coffee on in Isa's file," Valgora rehashed.