Aug. 13th, '15: Neighborhood Watch - Part X
Title: Neighborhood Watch - Part X
Author: SweetChi
Rating: PG-13
Crossover: Castle
Word Count: 1447
Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Castle, I am making no money from this and am doing it purely for enjoyment.
Summary: Ryan and Castle are on the case!
Part X
“Did I tell you or did I tell you?” Castle asked with raised eyebrows as he loaded about ten bags in the trunk.
“You were right,” Kevin nodded. “We have a name to go on now, at least.”
Buffy Summers.
He couldn’t help but smile a little, it fit her. They weren’t able to take a copy of the receipt without a warrant, but at least they had her name. And Castle had gotten to see her with his own eyes from the surveillance footage. He’d been quiet for a little bit after that, looking a little more invested now that he’d seen her.
Then he’d gotten distracted by a robot dinosaur.
“Oh, yeah, the name thing. That helps. But, I meant about this store being the best,” Castle said, getting in the car and looking about twelve. “Did you see-“
Kevin tuned him out as he rehashed all the toys he’d already gushed over in the store. Now would be the part Kevin was least looking forward to. The Station. He needed to pull any information he could on Buffy and this holding company in Scotland. He was hoping Javier and Beckett would be out so he could avoid that bit of awkwardness for a little bit longer…
“You want to stop and get a picture of that couch,” Castle asked, the relevant words drawing Kevin back in after the babbling. “Couldn’t hurt to have a little extra to go on.”
“Sure,” he said. It was on the way to the station anyway.
They pulled up to the curb across the street. Just as Kevin was making sure no moving traffic would rip off his door when he opened it, movement high up in the alley caught his eye. He grabbed Castle’s jacket sleeve, stopping him before he could get out.
“What? What is it?” Castle asked, leaning into Kevin’s personal space to look through his window. “There’s a guy on Buffy’s balcony…”
“I noticed,” Kevin said with narrowed eyes, watching the man squatting to inspect the floor and railing.
“Think it’s a contractor?”
“No, it’s a cop. Name’s Slaughter, works in the Gang Division.”
“Guy named Slaughter poking around your mysterious ‘nonexistent’ crime scene? I’m liking this case more and more. Any reason the Gang Division would be interested in this?”
“None that I know of.”
“What about this Slaughter guy?”
Kevin shook his head. “Don’t know much about him other than by reputation.”
“And that is?”
“Bad. Always getting accused of roughing up suspects and even witnesses. Manages to shimmy out of getting in trouble for it though. Maybe because he actually gets the job done,” Kevin shrugged. “They also call him ‘The Widow Maker’ because he goes through partners like people go through underwear.”
Surprised at not getting a comment from Castle on that he looked over to see him scribbling in a little notebook.
“Seriously?”
“This guy is like a ready-made character, no way am I passing this up,” Castle said before stopping and looking thoughtful. “Maybe too ready-made… Might be clichéd…”
Slaughter was gone when he looked back to the balcony. Craning his neck to look up and down the street, he spotted his Charger parked further down the block.
“Let’s see where he goes…”
After about ten minutes, Slaughter strode quickly from the building, causing Kevin and Castle to bump heads when they tried to both duck down at the same time. Cursing at each other, they waited for the tell-tale sound of the rumbling engine coming to life and peeked up in time to see it roaring down the street.
Castle looked more than a little disappointed when they pulled into the police station as Slaughter was going inside.
“Well, that was anticlimactic,” he pouted.
“We were coming here anyway,” Kevin said with a shrug, getting out.
“Don’t be so practical,” Castle said, following suit. “You could hope he was leading us to a huge clue, or Buffy, or the murderer, or…”
He trailed off as they entered the building, eyeing the sign that pointed the direction to the Gang Unit.
“Or maybe there are clues to be had here. I’ll go see if I can get anything out of him,” Castle said, zipping off between the desks.
“No, Castle, wait-Ugh…” Kevin sighed as Castle disappeared. Slaughter wasn’t like him and Javi and Beckett, he doubted the detective would be entertained by Castle’s particular brand of charm. Well, at least they were in the station, Kevin doubted he’d hurt him in front of a bunch of other cops.
Maybe…
He’d go check on him in a few, just to be safe.
Kevin made his way slowly to the Homicide division, probably looking shifty as hell as he kept an eye peeled for Beckett and Javier. Sighing in relief when he didn’t see either of them, he slid behind his computer, quickly pulling any records he could on Buffy Summers. Then he went to Javier’s computer and found the info on the company in Scotland that the apartment was leased to. Printing it off quickly before someone saw what he was doing, he gathered the pages and put them in his desk drawer. He’d been in too much of a hurry to really look at them, he’d just take them home where he could pursue them in peace.
Now for the part he was really dreading…
He walked up to the Captains door like he was going to the gallows.
It went smoothly though, the Captain approving his requested time off with barely a batted eye. The understanding was somehow worse than if he’d been put out or annoyed. Kevin was ditching out in the middle of a case after all. He felt guilty as hell about it but knew he’d be little use with his mind so tied up elsewhere.
And with his partners thinking he was off his rocker…
Speaking of, Beckett and Javier were walking into the bullpen just as he was leaving the Captain’s office.
“Oh, uh hey,” he said with a half-smile and a little wave.
“Hey, bro!” Javier said with a huge smile. “Didn’t expect to see you in today.”
“Yeah, just, um came to ask the Cap for a little time off.”
“That’s good, Ryan,” Beckett said with a small smile. “A little time off never hurt- Why’s Castle here?”
Turning to where Beckett was looking past him, Kevin closed his eyes and mentally cursed the writers timing. Opening his eyes, he noticed Castle was missing his leather coat and looked a little ruffled but there was no blood so Kevin was calling it a win.
“That is not a friendly man,” Castle said, sounding a little out of breath. “You guys need some sensitivity training around here or something.”
“Sorry, Castle. You came in for nothing. Just paperwork today,” Beckett said, still looking confused.
“Oh no, I didn’t- I mean-“ He shot a panicked look at Ryan but the damage was done.
“Oh, no…” Beckett said, looking between them. “Don’t tell me you two are digging into this.”
“Dude, seriously?” Javier said, looking at Kevin. “There was nothing there. You have to know how this looks, bro…”
“We have information you don’t. Clues and, and, and you can’t play,” Castle said looking haughty.
“This isn’t a game, Castle,” Beckett said in disbelief.
“That’s not- that came out wrong,” Castle said shaking his head. “We were at toy stores and that Slaughter guy took me back to the time of playground bullies…”
“Clues? What’s he talking about, Ry?” Javier asked.
“I know how it looks, okay. I just… I can’t rest until I know I’ve looked at every angle,” Kevin said evasively. “Castle’s just helping me make sure no stone is unturned and all that.”
“We could help you with that,” Beckett said looking slightly hurt and making Kevin feel like an ass.
“You guys have a real case to work, you don’t need to be chasing ghosts with me.”
“Ryan-“
“It’s fine,” he said, looking them both in the eye. “Seriously. We got this.”
With that he grabbed his papers out of his desk and left, Castle jogging up behind him.
“So, before Slaughter stole my jacket and almost squished me like a bug, guess what I saw in his desk drawer?” He said quietly as they left the bullpen.
“What?”
“A picture of Buffy and a hotel room number,” he answered, the excitement bubbling through his words so much he was almost vibrating. “Can we go check it out?”
“Sounds like a plan,” Kevin said, finally feeling like they might be getting somewhere. “Let’s stop in and see if Lanie has anything for us while we’re here first, though.”