In A Heart Beat (a Castle Fan Fiction)

Chapter 12: Rolling Message

Sirens rang, blue and red lights flashed, police tape lined the area now, and as Kate stared at the area, she saw nothing but a playground she'd been to so often before. Then, a glint of shine blinded her temporarily and she knew then something was there. The light was the reflection of a mirror outside, but it drew her attention to the ground. There was grass around the area she stood, but inside the wooden circle, sand laid out in a perfect sea of coverage.

But there was one thing that Kate knew that Tyson most likely planned for. The center of it all. Kate knew what she had to do, no matter how embarrassing it would be. As she crossed over to the sand, landing in the unstable ground, she kicked off her shoes and headed toward the jungle jim. Whenever she and Castle would come here late at night, they'd always do stupid things that were childish yet fun. So when Rick once joked that Kate couldn't flip up to the monkey bars, she had to show him up. But more than that, she bet him his shirt she could do it on the first try and get down, sticking the landing.

Anyway, once she won the rights to his shirt, the two also found the spot where they could stand and take in the beauty of the night time city. They shared several laughs, several kisses, and hundreds of thousands of lost clothing items. He nearly always lost his shirt, and only once she lost hers, but still dawned a tank top. It was public, unfortunately. They had to keep it PG. Still, she knew it was the best vantage point of area. Once there, she took her pose on the ground, launching herself up, swinging her legs back and forth, then pulling up and shooting through the center ring and folding over to land with both feet on the support of the widest center pole that made up the ring and her hands slowly coming up to stand in a perfect stance.

"Detective Beckett. What are you doing?" Gates bellowed from the outer grass.

"Solving a case." She didn't even give the courtesy of looking at Gates as she continued the scan of the area.

"And how does this accomplish that?"

"Viewing the area from above. I can see more at a time and look for more abnormalities."

"Alright Detective. Just don't fall. We don't need you injured as well. Someone has to know this guy and that's either you or Mr. Castle. And I'd much rather it be you."

"Yes sir." As if every cop in the entire city of New York didn't already know that. As Kate search the sand, she didn't find anything. There were little things, a hole dug by a child or a piece of trash blown in by the wind, but that was it. All the sand stayed even. The same color, fairly level but not perfect and all inside the wood. So, maybe- maybe she shouldn't be looking at the sand and more looking for the other shoe.

She scanned the area. Still, she found nothing in the sand or on the playground. There wasn't anything here. She must have been wrong about it. Maybe the sand was from somewhere else. She internalized her thoughts, gathering them into a mental murder board. What was it that had brought her here? The shoe and sand. Is there any other option? Not that she could see. Had she been sure she checked every option? No.

Once again, she scanned the ground, and once again, nothing. She scanned the grass. Nothing she searched the playground. Nothing. Then, just as her heart was sinking and she thought for sure she was done and dead wrong, she brought her head up to stare into a tree. On the first branch the hung two feet above her head, she found something that told her this was it and she was right.

A security camera.

Kate drew her line to find out where it was looking. Right under the swings where they'd spoken so many times before. And right inside that first swing sat a single sock, very small, and one hundred percent filled with sand. When she saw it, she let a small smile. She shot herself down through the small hole, landing on her feet in a gymnast's stance and started toward the swing. As she walked, she found she was being followed by a few of the other cops along with Gates and Shaw. Her heightened speed paired with her focused slight and heavy steps as though she were nearly marching drew everyone to follow her, including her boss and the lead on the case. It was a powerful thing, leadership. And even better when you're a cop.