Church Business
Chapter 1
Kate just wanted to stay where she was. After hours tramping from wedding venue to wedding venue before being caught in a downpour that left them soaked to the skin, she and Rick had just fallen into bed. It was not the romantic experience she had envisioned. Now, snuggling under a down comforter and warmed by the heat of his body, the idea of movement seemed unacceptable. Feeling his broad chest against her back, she willed the alarm not to buzz.
Rick felt Kate stir. "Awake?" he asked.
"Not by choice," Kate answered. "There's not much time to go back to sleep though."
"Is there time for this?" Rick asked, kissing her neck.
Kate turned toward him. "I don't hear an alarm," she said.
"Maybe I can make you hear bells," Rick suggested, blowing gently into Kate's ear.
Kate gasped, threading her fingers into Ricks hair. Their lips met hard and they drank deeply of each other. Knowing a deadline loomed, they moved swiftly, stroking each other to readiness. As they came together, a buzzing filled the room, but there was no stopping. They worked their way to the peak, taking each other higher with touch and taste. The pinnacle reached and passed, they rested briefly until Kate silenced the din. With hasty showers and a hastier breakfast, Beckett and Castle just made the beginning of shift.
The body lay on the floor of the office, blood staining the wood. When Glen Warren's assistant, Rita Weller found him, she wanted to pray for him, but the words wouldn't come. Unable to call upon God, she called 911.
"Got a fresh one," Ryan announced, waving a post-it between his fingers. "Regional offices of the Church of Disciples of Abundant Joy, Madison and 31st." Esposito, Beckett, and Castle followed him out. They found Rita Weller red eyed and shakily clutching a bible. The uniforms had secured the scene and Lanie Parrish bent over the body. While Ryan took Rita's statement and Esposito talked to the uniformed officers, Beckett and Castle joined the M.E..
"What have we got, Lanie?" Beckett asked.
"Looks like blunt force trauma to the head," Lanie answered, pointing to a heavy brass cross that lay on the floor, "with that."
"Do we have a time of death?" Beckett asked
"Last night some time. I'll know better when I get him to the lab."
Ryan approached Beckett. "Got some information on next of kin. There's a wife, Lois Warren. The assistant gave me her address. Ryan handed Beckett a slip of paper from his notebook.
It was the part of the job that Beckett hated so much and did so well. She and Castle sat down with Lois Warren in her East Village apartment.
Lois daubed at her eyes with a rapidly shredding tissue. "I knew something was wrong when Glen wasn't here this morning. I'm a nurse, I work weekend nights at the hospital. He always has breakfast waiting for me when I get in."
"Mrs. Warren," Beckett said. "I'm so sorry to have to ask you questions at a time like this, but was there anyone who might have wanted to hurt your husband?"
"From what Glen told me, there may have been quite a few. He was helping one of the churches upstate with a project. Some of the local landowners were very upset about it. I don't know who they were, but his assistant, Rita, might. She keeps all his files."
Three days earlier:
The pews of the church were full in the Phaedra Church of the Disciples of Abundant Joy, known by the congregation as "AJ." A sleepy little town in the Finger Lakes region of New York, Phaedra did not usually see this much action, but tonight it was the scene of considerable agitation. AJ was in the process of deciding whether to let Perks Oil drill fracked oil and gas wells on their property that would reach horizontally under surrounding homes. The pastor, John Lumby, a man of good conscience, had called a meeting for the residents of the surrounding area to both gain information on the proposed project and give their input on the matter. There were several camps present. One was comprised of church members who were opposed to any fracking from an environmental standpoint on moral grounds. Another was a group of property owners worried about noise, vibration, toxic spills and property values. The third camp was led by AJ's trustees. They saw the project as an opportunity to gain money for church ministries. They had arranged for speakers from Perks, as well as a local councilman to come to the meeting and dominate the presentations. The point man for the trustee group was Regional Representative Glen Warren, accompanied by his well rendered power point slides.
The land agent from Perks, Sandy Sawyer, who had knocked on all the doors in the neighborhood to get people to sign on, spoke first, receiving thunderous looks from several local residents. He was followed by Councilman Jack Crosby and finally Perks' geologist Jerry Joiner.
When a microphone was finally passed around the audience, one after another, there were complaints that Sandy Sawyer had misrepresented the project. They insisted that they had been told that the wells would be dug at a much greater distance, not on nearby church property. Some had signed on to the deal and wanted to know if their signatures could be removed. Sandy Sawyer responded that the change in the project had been to help the church, an excuse that might have been plausible had not one member of the church asked the best question of the night. Larnie Fox, a retired engineer asked how much money Perks would save by moving the wells from their original proposed location to church grounds. He got an honest answer from Jerry Joiner. It would be in excess of $200,000. With Perks' real motivation for the change suddenly exposed, Glen Warren tried to save the night with a speech about all the inherent risks of life and all the good things the church could do with the money. He didn't change many minds.
Beckett and Castle went through the records provided by Rita Weller. No specific suspects stood out, but the center of conflict was several hours drive from the city. Before planning a road trip, Beckett and Castle dropped in on Lanie at the morgue for update. Lanie noticed that Kate had her hand in Rick's back pocket as they were walking in. "You two are so cute!" she exclaimed.
Beckett suppressed a smile. "Just give me the time of death, Lanie."
"TOD was between eleven and one last night. We confirmed that the cross was the murder weapon. It had the victim's blood on it. It looks like whoever swung it did it multiple times. He had defensive wounds on his arms. And our killer was shorter that our victim, the wounds were aimed upwards."
"That wouldn't be surprising, would it?" Castle asked. "Warren looked pretty tall."
"By my measurement, six four," Lainie replied. "That would make him taller than most of the population, even you, Castle."
"You don't have to remind me of my shortcomings, Lanie," Castle quipped. He inclined his head at Beckett. "That's her job."
"I don't have any problem with your size, Castle," Beckett replied, bumping up against him.
Lanie smiled and shook her head. "That's enough, you two."
Beckett returned to her detective persona. "Were there any fingerprints on the murder weapon?"
"No. It had been wiped, not enough to remove all the blood, but there were no prints.
"Castle, I think we need to go to Phaedra," Beckett said.
"You know," Castle told her, "I haven't really seen the country in that area, but I hear that it's beautiful. In September the leaves are supposed to be spectacular. We might think about it as a place for a wedding or maybe even part of our honeymoon, put the trip to good use."
"That's not a bad idea."
With some help from his phone, Castle found Hearths, a bed and breakfast not far from Phaedra. It was quite late when they arrived and they decided to settle in and pursue the investigation in the morning. The origin of the name of the B & B was obvious. Each room had a large hearth in front of a wood burning fireplace. The rooms were cozy with beautiful but subtly insulated drapes and large inviting beds covered in handmade quilts.
Standing in the doorway of their facilities, Kate gazed at the large claw foot tub and felt right at home. "Want to grab a bath now?" Rick asked, wrapping his arms around her from behind. "We brought your bubbles."
"No," Kate answered, "if I do that after our drive, I'd probably just fall asleep."
"You don't want to sleep?" Rick asked.
Kate turned in the circle of his arms, wrapping hers around him as well. Hazel eyes met sapphire. "Later." she whispered.