This fiction started as a challenge from my friend from CastleTV chatroom. He was telling me that I could write everything and I was disagreeing with him. So, he challenged me to write a case based fiction. I agreed to write, only if he would co-write it with me. So. The thought became reality, when we started writing it.
This is co-written with my friend Brett (his penname: Krakenback). He is the most awesome co-writer ever. He has a witty sense of humour that has helped to keep me up and running and oh boy, he can come up with some neat stuff. I can't wait you guys to see what his wicked mind has come up with. Hopefully soon enough! Thank you, Brett, for being my partner in crime.
Disclaimer: Nothing from Castle belongs to us. Well. Only the victim and the story of how he died.
Setting: The actions of the fic takes place after the Pandora/Linchpin episodes.
It was a good day for Kalev - his first as an Consulate General in the United Nations. The former representative of Estonia had decided to retire, so the younger, more ambitious man now had the chance to prove himself on the international stage. He was pretty happy with how the day had turned out. Everyone welcomed the newest member of the United Nations family with warm words. He felt like he had accomplished a lot in one day, making connections and maybe even some new friends. He smiled at that thought. Yes, it was a good day.
He stepped away from the United Nations Secretariat building, heading slowly to his car across the street, where the driver was waiting for him as they had agreed. He took his time to make his way there. It was a really beautiful day in New York, so he decided to enjoy it. The colder spring weather was in the past and the nice warm breeze declared that it was May - a month closer to the crazy summer weather. He smiled. Yes, indeed. It was a nice day to start working in the great city of New York. He had dreamed of working in this city for quite some time in his childhood. The Big Apple had made a huge impression on him when he had visited it for the first time, years ago. He knew he would be back there one day. And he'd been right. He could permanently work there now, with no fear of going back.
He smiled to the people passing by. He was just happy. When he saw a familiar face closing in, his happiness level rose even more.
"Kalev!" The man cheered. He stopped in his tracks and waited for said man to come closer.
"Alfred!" He greeted back.
"How are you?" He asked the dark man and extended out his arm. Alfred did the same. His grip was firm, painful even and Kalev winced for a moment.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Alfred apologized, realizing the strength of his grip. He let Kalev's hand go.
"Ah, that's alright," Kalev smiled. Nothing could ruin his mood today.
"I have been alright, doing stuff around the city," he elaborated. "How about you? First day around these grounds?" he asked, waving a hand towards the great UN Secretariat building behind the blonde man.
"I am excellent," he beamed. "First day went really well."
"I am glad to hear that," Alfred responded, then promptly looked down at his watch. "Oh, I wish I had more time to catch up, but right now, I am late for a meeting, catch you some other time?"
"Oh well, of course," Kalev nodded. "Some other time. Have a good day!"
"Goodbye!" the darker man waved to him and set his steps to the building ahead.
Well, that was weird,the Estonian thought. Randomly bumping into Alfred didn't happen every day... Oh well, he shrugged. He wasn't about to let an odd occurrence let his mood down. He continued his way to the car. Every step he took, it felt like sun was getting warmer. No wonder. They said a heat wave was coming around.
He waved to John, his driver who was leaning against the side of the car patiently, and continued crossing the street. It took a while to finally get there; the last steps felt particularly unbearable as the weather seemed to worsen, going from hot to sweltering and breathing hard in a matter of minutes. He basically jumped into the car and asked John to crank up the air conditioning. The driver smiled at his boss and turned on the AC as they took off from the parking spot.
The car slowly made its way into the Midtown traffic. It was the high of the day and the weather caused a lot of traffic jams. A black motorcycle pulled up right next to the car carrying a biker dressed all in black. The driver glanced at the biker for a moment but paid little attention to him.
Suddenly, the motorcyclist pulled out a semi-automatic handgun with a silencer attached and pointed right at the back passenger seat, where the brand new consulate general of Estonia sat. The air was full of bullets in a second. They flew everywhere and John ducked to the floor. It felt like forever, the rain of bullets. Finally it stopped. The driver didn't dare to move at first. His heart beat frantically and fear paralyzed his limbs, but finally he gathered the courage and raised his head. He glanced to the back of the car, where his employer was.
Consulate general Kalev Järvesoo was lying dead in his own puddle of blood, around twenty bullet holes in the chest.
"Castle!" Beckett hisses through her teeth. "Stop fidgeting. You are making me nervous."
"I gotta pee," Castle says honestly, doing a little dance with his feet in the passenger seat. She glances at him, annoyance in her eyes.
"You should have gone to the men's room when we were in the precinct," she huffs.
"Well, I didn't need to go then," he shoots back, his mouth pouty.
The car falls into silence for a short while.
"Can you pull over?" He asks again. "I really need to go."
She makes a sound of frustration and pulls over to the side of the street. He immediately opens the door and darts out, heading to the nearest coffee shop. She is annoyed but seeing him run makes her chuckle a bit. She shakes her head. This man is making me go crazy,she sits there for few good minutes, hoping he'll return soon. But of course the man takes his time. The minutes fly by and he still isn't coming out of the Café Reneé.
They were already going to be late to the crime scene. And he still had to do stuff that wasted their precious time. It was annoying. Her phone rings in her lap and she picks it up. "Beckett," she barks to her phone.
"Hey, where the hell are you,"the voice of Esposito comes through the speaker.
"We are halfway there," she answers. "Castle decided that he had to go to pee."
"What?"Esposito laughs "You mean, he is out of the car, pissing against a tree like a dog?"
She snorts. "No. He went into a coffee shop. I am still waiting for him."
At that moment she sees Castle exiting the little coffee store with two coffees in one hand and pastries in the other. She sighs, rolling her eyes. Of course. She should have known. That's why it took so much time for him to get out of that shop.
"I gotta go," she growls. "Castle is coming, we'll be there in 5." She ends the call and watches him walk back to the car.
"I brought you coffee., he cheers when he opens the door, smiling from ear to ear.
"Come on, get in the car, we need to be there as fast as we can," she snaps at him. He extends his arm with coffee in his hand, a smile still plastered to his face.
"Castle, not now!" she hisses again, pushing back the coffee tray. "We need to be at the crime scene ASAP. Esposito called already. It's a high profile investigation, we can't mess it up."
"Okay, easy," he says, his face dropping a bit. "Why are you so cranky today?"
"Because you are annoying," she says, trying to calm herself down.
"This is old news," he tries to joke.
"You know what, enough," she snaps. "Just be quiet until we get to the crime scene. Or I am not calling you to the next case."
"But I... " he starts to argue.
"Enough!" She shuts his mouth and starts the car. "Not a word."
"But..." he tries again, tangling the bearclaw in front of her.
"Castle..." she warns, her voice low.
"Okay, okay," he resigns, pouting in the passenger seat while sipping the coffee and biting the pastry with a gloomy face. "You are mean," he mutters under his breath.
Beckett jumps out of the car impatiently eyeing Esposito and Ryan standing over the black limo. As she strides over to the boys, they look up grinning impishly at her. Castle follows close behind.
"So... held up a bit?" Esposito asks, a smile covering his face.
Beckett sends a glare from Esposito to Castle and snatches the coffee, which he still holds. Castle for his part, tries to look contrite, but a grin sneaks out anyway. Beckett holds his eyes for a moment and rolls her own.
"What do we have guys?" she asks, stepping closer to Esposito and sipping her coffee.
His manner instantly turns serious. "This is going to be messy," he stresses. "Our victim is the new Consulate General to Estonia, mid-thirties, his name being Kalev... umm.. well damn. Can you pronounce that Ryan?"
Ryan looks over Esposito's shoulder at the victim's wallet, sharing a similar confused expression. Castle smiles and says, "Mind if I have a go?"
Ryan and Esposito look at each other, shrug, and pass the wallet to Castle, himself confident in his wordsmith abilities.
"Jaaar-vee-sooh?" he rolls out the name in a terrible fake accent. Beckett inwardly smiles at Castle, secretly amused in his attempted humour. She remembers that she is still mad at him, straightens her face and turns her attention to the victim. She looks around the bullet ridden door to the single occupant lying in the backseat, blood covering most of the rear compartment.
"Jeez. This looks like a war zone. How many bullets you reckon there were?" She wonders out loud. She had seen her fair share of dead and decapitated bodies, but this seemed particularly savage. Not a single shot, but a hail of projectiles making him nearly unrecognizable.
"We are thinking twenty, going by the bullet holes in the door" Ryan replies.
As the detectives converse with each other, Castle inches closer to the car, admiring the door riddled with bullet holes. He sees the body inside. It really is gruesome. Silence embraces the crime scene for a moment.
"Somebody really hated him," Castle offers his insight, ruining the silent state of the surroundings.
The boys turn their faces and glare at him, annoyed. So does Beckett, raising her eyebrow.
He notices the three looks and asks, "What? A... umm.. twenty bullets for one person is an expensive killing," he explains. "Somebody wanted him dead really, really badly."
"This is helping us how?" Beckett asks, incredulity barely covering the amusement on her face.
Before Castle can say anything, Lanie makes herself noticeable. "23 GSWs in victim's chest, arms and head. I think we can safely assume the cause of death." She steps out of the car. "I need to take him back to the morgue..." She glances back inside. "...well, what's left of him at least."
"Any more details?" Beckett asks the ME.
"As far as I can tell, we couldn't find anything else from his body that would suggest something different. I'm off now, see you later, girl."
Beckett steps closer to observe the body and sighs. This really is one gruesome murder. She squats down near to the driver's side door, knees cracking. Her eyes are intent and searching for any clues. Her hand slides over the black marks on the asphalt.
"Ryan," she calls out.
"Yes," he shuffles closer.
"Do you think we could get a print off these tire tracks?" she asks.
"Let's find out," is the only answer she gets before the detective turns around and heads to talk to the uniforms.
She stands up, making her way around the car, looking for any clues with Castle right behind her. She opens the door from the other side of the car, trying to find any clues of what happened. She slides her glance over the bloody seats and floor when she notices a little piece of paper. She extends her arm to reach for it and snaps it from place with her gloved hand.
"Would you look at that," Castle breathes out as she raises the piece of paper to the eye level.
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