Author's Note:
This is my first story. Please read and review! It's not too long (I'm not generally sure how long a chapter should be). Anyway, the idea just sort of came to me. The story basically follows the format of an episode. I could've kept writing but, in my head, I felt that this is where they'd have gone to commercial break. So, enjoy!
DISCLAIMER: I do not own the characters or the show.
CLUNK.
Beckett was not startled by the noise—she had grown to expect it. The to-go cup of coffee always made the same sound as it was placed on her desk. She visually followed the arm being withdrawn from the cup to see the man who presented it to her. Castle always brought coffee, and knew how she preferred it too; no one else she'd met had ever bothered to discover that detail about her.
"Thanks," she offered to the bringer of coffee, picking it up for a taste. Just as she suspected, it was perfect.
"So what've we got today?" Castle queried, always the curious kitten.
"Double homicide. Two vics, completely unrelated to each other. Yet, they were killed by the same gun."
"How do you know?"
"We found it," Kate answered brusquely.
"The killer just left it?" Castle wondered.
"Yeah, at the second scene. Prints wiped off, nothing to go by. All we know is that ballistics came up with a match on the bullets used in both crimes."
"So he no longer needed it?"
"That's all I can think of. Killing these two people would have to mean mission accomplished. Whatever this guy needed done, our vics must have been in the way." The two lapsed into a thoughtful silence.
"So who are our vics?" Castle finally inquired.
"Angela Carson, 45, is a dental hygienist from midtown, and Michael Donovan, 38, is a real estate agent from Queens. Angela was killed around 7:00 p.m. yesterday, and Michael was found this morning. Lanie put the ETD at about 1:00 a.m."
"You're right, they don't mesh at all. How are they connected? CIA?" Castle added excitedly.
Beckett sighed. "I don't care what the law of averages says Castle, it's not the CIA. Nor will it ever be…" she muttered under her breath.
"Then how?" Castle pleaded.
"I'm not sure yet. Esposito and Ryan are running financials and phones now to see if anything pops. Otherwise, I've got nothing so far. Maggie, Angela's sister, says that Angela was the prodigal daughter. She never got into trouble, hasn't had any major problems, no records whatsoever. And Dave, Michael's roommate, said almost the same thing about Michael. If our victims have anything in common, it's that they're a pair of goodie two-shoes."
"Well, not all of us can be as wild as you." Castle waggled his eyebrows suggestively with the remark.
"I wouldn't be talking Mr. Nude Police Horse Thief," Beckett retorted.
"You'll never let that go…" Castle muttered.
"Never," Beckett affirmed with a grin, "it's just too much fun."
"Yo, you'll never believe this," Esposito remarked, entering the bullpen. Not waiting for a response, he started in on his findings. "I found something weird in both financials, and phones. But, they don't apply to both vics."
"What do you mean?" Beckett asked, confusion apparent in her expression.
"Well," Esposito started, "Angela has some freaky financials, and Michael has been getting some strange phone calls. Two weeks ago, 25 grand popped into Angela's bank account, and 24 hours later it was gone. Even the bank doesn't know where it went—or where it came from for that matter. Michael has been getting anonymous calls from a prepaid cell twice a day for the past two weeks. And these calls stopped, guess when?" Beckett gave him a look that clearly said she wasn't in the mood for games.
"Fine," Esposito continued. "The calls stopped the day Angela was killed. Now, the cell's prepaid, so we don't have info on the caller, but Ryan's calling the company to find the buyer. Hopefully they'll be able to figure it out based on the number alone."
"You don't think Angela was our anonymous caller?" Castle hypothesized.
"What makes you say that?" Beckett was already skeptical of Castle's theory.
"Well, it's just that we have no idea how the two are connected. Maybe Angela knew Michael and was being a bit too persistent. Let's say she met him at a bar. He was friendly, bought her a couple drinks. She liked him. He was the first guy she thought she had a connection with. So, she musters up the courage to ask him to dinner. Even though she's never been sure of herself, she takes a chance on this. Only thing is, he says no. But maybe he's interested in the possibility. So, he gives her his cell phone number. She calls too often. He gets a little worried, asks her to stop calling. She continues with her barrage of phone calls. He finally gives in—enough is enough. He blocks her phone. She has no choice but to switch numbers. So what does she do? She buys a prepaid cell phone, untraceable, with just enough minutes to pursue her unrequited love."
"And that explains who killed them, how?" Beckett raised an eyebrow in mock question.
"Well—" Castle was about to add to his far-fetched theory when Ryan walked in with his findings from the phone company. "Tell me it was Angela!" Castle begged excitedly.
"No. According to the prepaid company, the phone was purchased two weeks ago by a sanitation engineer by the name of Mikolo Stravini."
Castle wasn't exactly excited by Ryan's news. "Really? A garbage man?"
"Yeah, a garbage man with a record. He did a nickel upstate back in '03 for attempted robbery. He's had plenty of traffic violations since."
"Anything else on this Stravini?" Beckett asked, sipping her coffee, already suspicious.
"Yeah," Ryan said, knowing what would happen with his next words, "Michael Donovan requested a restraining order against him a week before he was killed."
"Go pick him up."