The click of her heels echoed across the empty alley as she ran.
The evening had already swallowed the corners and was descending fast to shroud the whole pathway under its ghostly haze. A dim light bulb was trying to make its last stand against the invading darkness but it only added to the ghostly surrealism. The vestiges of daylight gave the dull red brick walls a parting caress. It was eerily beautiful.
But she did not notice it. She was too busy. She was running for her life. The muscles of her chest were close to having a spasm as she heaved for breath. Sweat made its way down on her back in a steady stream under her business suit.
She screeched to a halt as a hooded figure jumped out in front of her. She stepped back a few paces instinctively. The figure stepped towards her. The narrow stream of light from the bulb shone on the figure's face. The sudden glimpse of the figure's familiar face shocked her and she froze.
"You? What the hell are you doing here?" She gasped.
The figure in front of her didn't answer. She saw the person pull out the weapon.
"You're not actually going to do that to me… Oh God, no!" She turned around and started to run towards the main road. She was too late.
She yelped in pain as a crowbar whacked across her back. When she fell on her stomach, she was wheezing. She clutched at the rough ground with her bleeding palms and tried to sit up. She turned around and looked up the barrel of the silencer attached to the gun.
She was speechless. She couldn't find her voice, not even to beg for her dear life. She closed her eyes tightly. The silence rang loud in her ears.
A muffled pop broke the silence. A frightened pigeon left its comfortable abode in between two loose bricks on the wall and took flight noisily.
The figure stood over the lifeless body for a few minutes before stooping down and picking up her purse.
No one except the pigeon witnessed the loss of yet another life on New York streets. The alley was now empty. Deep red blood poured from her forehead, gushed down over her face and neck and seeped into the beige business suit in obedience to the laws of gravity. The woman lay lifeless on the cold stone ground, waiting to be added as a number on the day's crime statistics chart.
The city continued to bustle busily a few feet away from the belly of the meandering alley.
(….)
"Come on, Kate!" He whined.
"No, Castle."
"It'll be fun!" He loudly argued his case while leaning back on his swiveling chair.
"I don't have time for fun."
"We don't have a case…"
"Well, I have paperwork."
"You can do that tomorrow… It's 'Serenity'! How cool is that?" He exclaimed in a childlike glee.
"I've already watched it once."
"And?" Castle leaned forward expectantly.
"It is… okay, I guess!" She scrunched up her nose a tiny bit in an attempt to hide her smile.
"Okay? It's okay? That's all you've got to say? Katherine Beckett, this is blasphemy! 'Serenity' is WOW! There isn't anyone who loves Sci Fi and hasn't seen 'Serenity'." He paused in his rant for a moment and ran his hand through his hair, pretending indignation. "Besides, the hero looks just like me! It's like looking into a mirror… I see my younger self in him." He threw a lopsided grin at her direction.
Kate Beckett rolled her eyes in her trademark fashion. "Maybe that's why I don't want to see it again."
"Afraid that you wouldn't be able to control yourself?" He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.
"Do I really need to control myself?" She flirted shamelessly. The look on Castle's face was priceless. She grinned internally. "I'm tired of seeing your face all the time, Castle. I watch movies to relax. I don't want to watch a movie in which the hero looks like you!" Kate mock shuddered.
"Now that's…."
Castle was cut short by the ringing desk phone. She groaned before answering the phone.
"Beckett. Yes. Where? Okay, we'll be there in ten." She replaced the receiver noisily. It's not that she hated her job but the past few days had been grueling. She was tired. In spite of what she said earlier, she was indeed looking forward to the movie and some snuggling time with him. Twenty minutes later and she'd have been off duty. She closed her eyes while she silently ordered her brain into the cop mode.
"And there goes our movie plans," Castle sighed.
"You can go home if you want. It's late anyway. Do you really wanna come?" She crossed her fingers behind her back. She wanted Castle to say yes. She needed Castle there with her at the end of this tiring day. Whoa girl, slow down! You're dating him for two weeks! When did you start needing Castle for anything?
"Are you kidding? Movie can wait. Murder can't." Castle stood up and threw his jacket over his shoulders.
"Okay then, let's go."
(…..)
They ducked under the yellow tape to enter the crime scene.
"You said a woman was murdered here?" Castle asked Beckett.
"Yeah."
"What was a woman doing in this alley?"
"Don't know, Castle. Gotta find out…"
"Anyone who walks into such a creepy alley must be crazy!" He shuddered.
"You're walking into the alley right now, Rick." She deadpanned.
"Yeah, anyone except cops…"
"You're not a cop either." She grinned.
Rick Castle pouted. However, before he could come up with a smart retort, Lanie intercepted them.
"Hey Lanie, what've we got here?" Beckett called out while walking into the dingy alley, her boyfriend-cum-partner in tow.
"Looks like your garden variety of pop-n-drop." The ME answered.
"Can we start from the beginning?" The detective asked her friend and colleague rather impatiently.
"My! Someone is in a hurry today… You two have plans for later?" She stopped when she got a glare from Beckett. She started again, "Victim is female, Caucasian, age between forty and forty-five. COD is a single GSW right between the eyes. The gun was a large caliber. There's blood splatter everywhere. Victim was trying to run out of the alley when she probably fell. The killer caught up with her and shot her. Judging by the lividity and body temperature, I'd say she was killed sometime between four and seven in the evening. Could've been a robbery gone wrong… purse and cell phone are missing. No I.D… probably gone with the purse. "
"I don't think it's robbery… Shooting between the eye… It's so…." Castle trailed off.
"Don't say mafia, Sherlock!" Beckett warned, only half-jokingly.
"No, I'm just saying that the killer probably knew the victim."
Both the women looked at him enquiringly. Castle elaborated, "Shooting between the eyes? That needs precision. A robber is not that precise… He's just aiming to get away with the goods… He wouldn't care. You know who'll be precise enough to shoot in between the eye? Someone with vengeance; someone who wants to punish the victim."
"All good theories, Castle," Beckett shrugged.
"You know… Your Writer Boy could be right." Lanie was thoughtful. "The woman's ring and necklace are intact."
Your Writer Boy… She liked the sound of that… "Anyway, can we see the body?"
"Be my guest." Lanie pointed farther into the alley with her hand.
Castle and Beckett walked further into the creepy alley. The darkness was broken by flashlights and the faint hint of blue lights from the police cruisers on the main road. After walking a short distance, the body came into view.
Kate gasped and froze instantly.
A woman in her early forties lay broken in the alley in her own pool of blood. The front of her beige suit was red. Her brown hair was matted with blood.
A strong sick sense of déjà vu hit her and she struggled to breathe. She swayed on her feet.
Castle was beside her in a flash and he held her steady. "Kate… You okay?" Shit! Why hadn't Lanie warned them?
Kate silently nodded, fighting the nausea that churned through her guts. Breathe, Kate Beckett…breathe. She's not your mother. Breathe… She kept repeating this to herself in the way her psychiatrist had instructed her more than a decade ago.
"Easy, Kate… Easy… You've got this… you've got this…" Castle kept murmuring in an attempt to soothe her.
It worked.
She steadied herself. She took in another deep breath, straightened her back and walked towards the body.
Soon, they were joined by two other detectives. They slowed down as they took in the sight in front of them. One look at Kate's face and it wasn't hard to guess the situation. They looked at Castle who shrugged helplessly in response. They shifted their concerned look to Beckett. It only irritated her.
"Ryan, Esposito, what've you got?" She called out rather loudly.
"Nothing useful. People claimed they heard and saw nothing," Esposito answered.
"This is New York. You know the people… they see no evil, hear no evil," Ryan commented.
Beckett sighed. "Well, there should be surveillance cameras on the street. Get hold of the footage. Let's see if the CSU finds anything from the sweep."
"On it!" The two detectives hesitated before they left.
Beckett stood silently in the middle of the alley, staring at the corpse.
Suddenly a commotion sounded and a brown haired girl, about eighteen, rushed forward through the sparse crowd. "Mom! Oh my God! Mom!" she shrieked in horror. As a uniform approached to stop her from crossing the tape, she shot forward and cursed the man. "Don't try to stop me! That's my mom, damn you!" The uniform looked on, helplessly.
"Oh my God! Mom! Mom!" She collapsed on her knees beside the dead woman.
Castle hesitated for a brief moment before stepping forward and placed a comforting hand on the girl's shoulder. He looked back at Kate.
The detective couldn't help herself. For the first time in her life, she lost it at a crime scene.
Detective Katherine Beckett cried.
A/N: I'm back with another mystery. Unlike my previous one (where Caskett were married), they've only just started dating in this story.
Unlike the previous story where I was uploading 2 chapters each day, this is going to be slow because I'm back to work. I know I said that I would be back after Nov. 13 but I couldn't stay away :P
I've already written the second chapter and have the entire plot outlined :) but I'll write more only if you read. Please let me know, friends!
Disclaimer: I'd love to claim that I wrote the script of "Eyes of the Beholder"... or any other episode, for that matter. Can't! :(