Disclaimer: Castle and all of its characters belong to Andrew W. Marlowe and ABC Productions.
"Good morning, boys." Beckett smirked, ducking under the crime tape and sipping the horrific coffee from the paper cup in her hand. Ryan shot her a dopey grin, and waved eccentrically from where he was crouched next to the body.
"Hey, Beckett!" He squeaked, sidestepping the body of a man in front of him and bounding over in front of her. Ryan had only been part of their little homicide squad for closing in on three months, and he still reminded her of an over zealous puppy. Secretly, she found his enthusiasm endearing, though she would never tell Esposito that.
"Morning, boss." Esposito replied cooly as he walked over and elbowed Ryan in the side. "Settle down their, Fido, you're gonna get slobber on her shoes." Ryan shot him a glare but handed Beckett a clipboard anyway.
"What have you guys got for me, Lanie?" She muttered, stepping closer to the body and kneeling down. Lanie looked up with a smile and leaned back on her heels.
"Good morning to you too, sunshine. Male, mid thirties, two GSWs to the back of the head." Lanie reached forward with her pen and lifted something silver off of the man's chest that was strung around his neck. "His dog tags identify him as John Marquez, US Navy."
"Do you have a time of death?"
"Well, given lividity and liver temp, I'd put it around three this morning, but I can't know more until I get the body back to the lab." Beckett nodded and motioned for the other men with Coroner's Office jackets to load him into the van. Lanie gave a nonchalant wave and piled into the van behind the rest of the lab techs, leaving Beckett and the boys to canvass the rest of the scene.
Beckett approaced a couple of the uniforms that were talking to each other and leaning on their cruiser. She gave them a hard stare and placed her hands on her hips angrily.
"I hate to interupt this chat session, fellas, but in case you hadn't noticed, we've got a dead body and a hell of a lot of people to interview. Now, I don't think that I need to remind you that I call the shots around here. And, if you two don't start pulling your weight, I'll have you working traffic so fast it'll make your head spin. This is my crime scene."
"Actually, Detective Beckett, that's where you're wrong." Came a booming voice from behind her. Beckett spun on her heels and came face to face with a tall, broad shouldered man. His dark hair was shaved into a crew cut, and the dark blue shirt and pants were so crisp and clean cut that they looked fresh off the store shelves.
"Excuse me, this is a closed NYPD murder investigation, you cannot be in here. Just who the hell do you think you are?" She snapped, her eyes hard and icy as she stared at him. The man extended a military idea with an insignia containing an eagle and a trident.
"Captain Richard Castle, US Navy SEALs, ma'am. I am here because your victim there," He gestured to the body. "Is one of my boys. NCIS sent me instead of sending one of their usual investigator due to Marquez being a SEAL team member, which makes this investigation something of a sensitive nature. Any problems with that, Detective?" Castle gave her a falsely genuine smile.
"Actually, yes, I-."
"Good, because I am taking situational control in 3, 2, 1...I'm in charge." He snapped, crossing his arms over his chest and returning her icy glare. Their eyes were locked intently when Ryan and Esposito came strolling up to them.
"Hey, Beckett we...hey, wait, who's this guy?" Esposito hooked a thumb at Castle.
"Boys, this is CaptainRichard Castle. Apparently he is the big cheese around here now. NCIS sent him down." Beckett brushed past Castle roughly so that she could have a better look at the guys. "It seems that our victim is a Navy SEAL and this investigation is or a 'senstive nature'." She put her hands in the air and motioned fake air quotes, much to Castle's distaste. Ryan's eyes grew wide when he saw the kabar knife that Castle had.
"Hey, man, that's an awesome knife!" Ryan squeaked, his hand reaching towards the sheath on Castle's leg. "Can I hold it?" Beckett almost had to laugh at the sound of excitement that was laden in his voice. Castle batted Ryan's hand away and leveled a hard glare at him before responding.
"If you want to keep all of your fingers attatched to your hand, I'd advise against it." Behind him, Esposito used a file folder to stifle a laugh that caught in his throat when Castle spun on his heel and got directly in his face. "I do hope that you don't find this funny, Detective. It seems to me that there is a SEAL laying on the ground with his grey matter painting graffiti patterns on the sidewalk here. I don't find anything funny about that. Do you?" Esposito shook his head frantically and averted his eyes. "I didn't think so. I will see all of you back in your precinct at 0930. I do advise all of you to be punctual." He snarled and ducked under the police tape and sliding into the dark blue Tahoe on the other side of it. The crew watched him leave, all of them slack jawed and shocked.
So? Thoughts? Should I continue with this or just toss the idea out? I'd love to hear from you guys, good or bad, so drop me a review. Much love, J. Rook