Death of a Diva
Chapter 1
The day had started far too early in the loft. Martha had been juicing wheat grass for a revitalizing smoothie before leaving to supervise an early workshop at her acting school, jolting Castle and Beckett out of bed.
"If we go back to bed, we could probably catch another half hour of sleep," Kate said yawning, after Martha dramatically swept out the door.
"Or," Rick suggested, pressing his lips to her neck,"we could just go back to bed."
"We could do that," Kate agreed.
"Race you!" Rick yelled, running for the bedroom.
Kate hurried to catch up, trying to push past Rick's large frame in the doorway. Rick landed in a tangle of bed clothes and Kate landed on Rick. "I guess you came out on top," Rick teased.
"Then I guess I'll have to press my advantage," Kate told him, bringing her mouth to his.
Rick returned the kiss with enthusiasm, before flipping Kate beneath him. "Turn about is fair play," he whispered, as his lips blazed a fiery trail down her body. Kate arched as Rick's lips found the center of her excitation. Combing his fingers into her hair, he held her as he brought her to the peak desire.
Kate sought him wildly, fingertips seeking any part of him they could touch. A scream rose in her throat. "Rick, now!"
He came to her and she wrapped herself around him, needing his touch at her very core. The ending left Kate gasping for breath.
She struggled to breathe normally as she reached for her insistently buzzing phone. As she saw the caller ID she wondered why Martha would be calling her. "Katherine," came the distraught voice, "I've just found a dead body."
Castle and Beckett met Lanie. Ryan and Esposito at The Martha Rogers School of Acting. Castle immediately went to hold Martha, who had been giving Ryan her statement. Beckett approached Lanie. "Do we have a cause of death, Lanie?" she asked.
Lanie pointed to the weapon still in the body. "Dagger, straight to the heart,"she replied. "Very theatrical. Very recently, too. I'd say within the last hour."
"Do we know who the victim is?"
Esposito joined Lanie and Beckett. "Martha says her name is Madge Dusay. She was helping to fill in for Martha while Martha was on retreat and getting ready for her new play."
After Martha finished giving her statement to Ryan, Castle took her back to the loft. Castle handed her an Irish coffee. "I don't know how you do it, Richard," she told him. "I've seen plenty of people die on stage, but a real body, and someone I know, it just sends shivers through me."
"It's always harder when it's personal," Castle comforted. "Do you have any idea what happened?"
"I don't know. Madge was working on Lady M. We were going to use her performance as a jumping off point for the workshop. She must have gotten there before me. I wanted her to use a prop dagger, but she insisted that she couldn't get into her character without the real thing. Someone must have taken it and killed her with it."
"Can you think of anyone who might have wanted her dead?" Castle asked.
"I thought about it a few times," Martha replied with a wry smile. "You know how she was always pulling parts out from under me. But seriously, no. I really didn't know her that well. I never met her friends or family. We were just colleagues."
Esposito had started his usual canvass of the area and so far come up empty. Several students had arrived for the workshop and were interviewed by Beckett and Ryan. The students were familiar because Martha had used them to help Beckett pull off the phony case she had given Castle as a birthday present.
Brent Bailey was first. "Mr. Bailey," Beckett began. "How well did you know Madge Dusay?"
"Not well," Brent answered. "She filled in for Ms. Rogers in a few classes I took. I was interested to see what she would do with Lady M. I guess I'll never know."
"Did you ever see her have a conflict with anyone?" Beckett asked.
"Only Ms. Rogers," Brent said.
Sensing Beckett's discomfort, Ryan continued. "Can you describe it?"
"Artistic differences. They had a very different approach to acting. Ms. Rogers is very traditionally theatrical and Madge Dusay is - was very internal. Ms. Rogers accused her of trying to steal her students. I don't even know if Ms. Rodgers was serious. She's always very dramatic."
Beckett closed her eyes in silent agreement. Ryan gave Brent his card and he and Beckett moved on.
Emily Wilson daubed at the eyes in a very pretty face. "I really admired Madge," she told Ryan and Beckett. "She had so much to say about silence, about throwing lines away. I could just watch her for hours. I can't imagine who could do a thing like this."
"Did Ms. Dusay and Ms. Rodgers get along?" Ryan asked.
"They were rivals for the same parts and had very different artistic viewpoints," Emily answered. "But they respected each other. Martha did invite Madge to teach at the school."
Beckett jumped in. "Was there anyone else Ms. Dusay had a problem with?"
Emily looked thoughtful. "maybe Michael, Michael Burnett. I saw the two of them have a couple of discussions. I couldn't hear what they were saying, but neither of them looked happy."
Emily got cards from both Beckett and Ryan and they proceeded to question Michael Burnett. Beckett smiled a bit to see him, remembering the fight they had staged together for Castle, but she let Ryan take the lead.
"Mr. Burnett, how well did you know Madge Dusay?"
"I don't know how well I knew her," Michael answered, "but she was my mother."
"I'm sorry for your loss," Beckett said, noting that Michael did not seem particularly broken up.
"Detectives, I'm not going to try to kid you. She was my mother by an accident of birth, actually an accident period. I was an oops she had in her forties. She didn't want anything to do with my father and she was never interested in me. I was raised by nannies and housekeepers. It wasn't until Martha Rogers got me really interested in acting that mother and I had anything to talk about and we didn't agree much on that either."
"Can you think of anyone who might want to harm her?" Ryan asked.
"Three people," Michael answered, "two exes and my uncle, her brother. Her exes are gigolos who always think she should send them more money. My uncle says he's an actor, but mostly he's been a dry-waller. He's always thought she actively worked to keep him out of roles so that she would get all the attention."
"Can you give us their names, Ryan asked?"
"Sure, my uncle is Morty Goldblum and her exes are Jacques Dusay and Elliott Rollins.
"One more thing, Michael," Beckett asked, "what's your father's name?"
"Eddie, Eddie Burnett," Michael answered.
Beckett, Ryan, and Esposito delved into the backgrounds and financials of the suspects that Michael Burnett had given them, as well as Michael himself, while they waited for a report from Lanie on the dagger. Lanie finally called Beckett to the morgue. "Honey," Lanie said, "I wanted to tell you in person. The only fingerprints on that dagger belong to Martha Rogers."
Beckett returned to the loft with Ryan in tow. Castle met them at the door. "How's Martha?" Beckett asked.
"She's resting in her room," Castle answered. "What's going on Kate?"
"We really need to ask her a few more questions, Castle. Can you see if she's up to coming down?" Beckett asked.
Castle nodded, went up the stairs and came back with Martha. Castle held Martha's hand as they sat across the table from Beckett and Ryan. "Martha," Ryan said, "how did you get along with Madge Dusay?"
"We've been rivals for I don't want to say how many years. But I respect her work, that's why I asked her to fill in for me at the school."
"Did you two ever argue?" Ryan continued.
"We both have - had artistic temperament. We had our tiffs, but it was never anything serious," Martha answered.
"One more thing, Martha," Ryan said gently, leaning in, "where did the dagger come from?"
"I bought it," Martha answered. "That was what Madge wanted to use, but I wanted it to stay with the school as a prop."
"So it would could have had your fingerprints on it?" Beckett asked.
"Of course," Martha answered. "It's my, well the school's, dagger."
"I think that's all I need," Ryan said. "Are you coming, Beckett?"
"No," Beckett answered. "I'll see you first thing in the morning."
"Kate," Rick asked, as soon as Ryan left and Martha had returned to her room, "You don't think that mother...?"
Kate wrapped her arms around his waist and gently kissed his lips. "Of course not, but you know I have to investigate anyway. I'll do my best to make this as easy on Martha as I can. So will everyone at the 12th. Martha is family."
Rick engulfed her in his arms and kissed her hair. "Thank you."