It's Always New York

Chapter 2

I still don't own any of these franchises or this would be a movie.

oxoxoxo

Castle and Beckett walked into a rundown taxi building to find a chubby man sitting behind the desk. "Roman's Taxi service," he said, his Eastern European accent showing "how can I - "

"Damnit Roman!" said another man, this one fatter and balding, entering from a door behind the counter. "Where's my money?"

"I'll have it for you soon Vlad, just hold on a bit." Said the first man.

"You better, you stupid peasant." Said the second man, walking out of the room.

"Sorry about Vlad, he's a little..." Roman thought for a moment before returning to "How can I help you?"

"You Roman Bellic?" asked Beckett.

"Yes, that would be me, why?" Roman said slowly.

"We're looking for your cousin Niko, do you know where he is?"

"He's here, just a second, I'll get him." Said Roman, leaving for a moment before coming back a moment later with a taller, thinner man with a buzz cut and stubble.

"You're Niko Bellic?" asked Castle.

"Yes, that's me, why?" Niko responded.

Beckett pulled out her badge. "NYPD, we'd like to ask you a few questions about – "

Beckett didn't even finish her sentence before Niko burst into motion, shoving past her and bolting out the door.

Beckett ran out after him just in time to see him run around the corner of the building. "NYPD, stop where you are!"

Niko didn't stop, he kept running, shoving through a crowd and pushing a trashcan over to stop his pursuers.

Then, he saw his way out, a car was stopped at a red light. The Serbian made a break for the car, but just as he got there, he heard two guns being pulled and turned to see two more detectives.

"Don't even think about it." Said one of them, a Hispanic man with military cut hair.

"дерьмо." Muttered Niko, as the detectives led him away.

oxoxoxo

Niko sat in the interrogation room, waiting for someone to come in.

When the door opened, it was the detective from Roman's taxi building, and the man who was with her. "Mister Bellic, my name is Detective Kate Beckett, this is Mister Castle, we'd like to ask you a few questions."

"Wait, he's the Richard Castle? As in writer of Derek Storm?" Niko asked.

"My reputation precedes me." Said Castle.

"You got that right, I read the Derek Storm books whenever I had time to read. Why'd you kill him?"

Castle was about to answer when Beckett interrupted. "This is an interrogation, not a book signing. Now mister Bellic, we've only heard what your cousin told us: you were a mercenary in Serbia, did some jobs for some suspect people before deciding you'd had enough and immigrating to the US."

"My papers are all legitimate," said Niko "so why is that an issue?"

"That's not," said Castle "But you never mentioned to us that you were working as security to William Rogers and Nathan Gould, why is that?"

"I've only been working for them for a few weeks, and I wasn't there today because of a family emergency." Niko replied, frustrated "Why?"

"Well it's just that you never came forward with that when he was murdered." Said Castle.

"Niko's face went from angry to confused. "What?"

Beckett put a photo of Rogers' body on the table in front of Niko "William Rogers was found shot to death in the Crytek Labs. Uniforms are searching your apartment for the any clothes with fresh gunshot residue on them, and we found this there already." Said Beckett, pulling out a pistol and putting it on the table.

"I can explain, he gave me that when he hired me." Niko said "There's even paperwork to prove that."

Beckett leaned over the table at him. "And where were you between the hours of three and four this morning?"

"I was home." Niko said, leaning back in his chair "I'm staying with Roman, and he was there too, you can ask him. Listen, if you want who killed him, you should look at the man who was funding him."

"Who was that?" Beckett asked.

"Williams needed more money than Crytek was willing to pay him for his project, but he said he could do it if he had that money. It was a big risks, big rewards situation." Said Niko, quietly, as if suspicious that someone was listening in. "He went to a man named Jonathan Gatsby, and made him an offer. Gatsby said he could get money, but first he had to talk to his boss about it."

"So you think this Gatsby guy killed him?" asked Becket.

"Well isn't that just Great?" muttered Castle.

"No, I don't think that, I think he had something to do with it though." Said Niko "I was working one day when a man comes up to Rogers and demands to talk to him. It wasn't Gatsby, but he was dressed similarly to him, I think it might have been his boss."

"Did they talk?" asked Castle.

"No, I told him to leave before I broke his face." Niko said.

"Do you think you can describe him to one of our sketch artists?" asked Beckett.

oxoxoxo

At about 4:00, Castle, Beckett and Esposito were in the bull pen looking over the murder board. The sketches of Gatsby and the unknown man were on the board under suspects. They were discussing who they might be, when Ryan came in, a file under his arm.

"Lanie just sent over the autopsy report." Said Beckett "The bullets that killed Rogers were from a nine millimetre pistol, not sure what make, but we'll know when we run ballistics."

"So I ran the name 'Jonathan Gatsby through our systems." Said Ryan "Name's bogus, but with the sketch Niko gave us of him, I was able to get a real name through facial recognition." Ryan put the file on Beckett's desk. "Real name's Johnny Gat and he works for a crew you might have heard about, the Third Street Saints."

"The Saints are involved?" said Castle. "THE Saints?"

"The very same." Said Ryan "And Gat's pretty high up, and no stranger to a little rough housing. Assault, assault with a deadly weapon, possession, and the list goes on."

"What about the other guy?" asked Esposito.

"No match there," said Ryan, holding up the sketch of the man Niko said made demands of Rogers: male, Caucasian, wearing a fedora. "But I'd have to guess he's another Saint, and Niko seemed to think the same thing."

"Alright, where can we find them?" asked Beckett.

"That's a little tougher." Ryan replied "The Saints operate in complete secrecy. However, they do like to party, and they'll usually throw parties out of word of mouth locations only told to their compatriots and friends. There is some good news though, I have a friend in Gangs who's looking into them. She'll tell me if she hears anything. I'll let you know when that happens."

"You do that," said Castle "I've got to get home to Alexis and my mother before mother gets Alexis out of the house."

oxoxoxo

"Alexis, mother, I'm home!" Castle called out as he walked in. As he walked into the kitchen, though, he did not expect to find someone he had seen earlier that day. "What are you doing in my house?"

Harry Osborne turned around to find the man who sat in on his interrogation that morning standing in front of him. "Well, I uh..."

"I invited him."

Castle turned to see who had spoken and saw Alexis with another boy and two girls behind her.

"Alexis. Who are these people?"

"They're old friends of mine from middle school." Alexis replied "We found out we all applied to Empire State U, and decided to get together and catch up."

"And you didn't tell me this because?"

"I did. I asked you yesterday if I could invite a few friends over and you said it was fine."

Castle thought for a moment. "Oh yeah... That... Right then, so are you going to reintroduce me to your friends?"

Alexis pointed out one of the girls first, a blonde girl with blue eyes and glasses. "This is Gwen Stacy, you know, the daughter of the commissioner." Next was the other girl, a redhead with green eyes "This is Mary Jane Watson, she's actually one of Gram's acting students." And finally the boy, a skinny fellow with brown hair and eyes behind nerdy looking glasses. "And this is Peter Parker, an aspiring photographer. And I'm going to guess you already know Harry."

"Yeah," said Castle, scratching the back of his head "Beckett and I had a talk with him earlier today."

Alexis looked like she was going to say something, but then only muttered "I won't even ask."

Castle gave her a grin and said "Well, since I so graciously allowed them to be here, it would be terribly rude of me not to feed your friends, now wouldn't it?"

Peter spoke up first "Mister Castle, you don't have to do that."

"Ah, but I do want to, Percy,"

"It's Peter, sir."

"What did I say? I'll order you guys pizza and then get out of your hair."

Alexis folded her arms. "You're not going to tell me all the rules about no boys in my room, and all that?"

Castle leaned down to her and spoke quietly "I know you, I know you're responsible, and I know you know my rules. I'll head upstairs when the pizza gets here, and you guys can have this floor to yourselves while you catch up."

About half an hour later, the pizza had arrived and Castle had paid the man the amount he was due and given the two large pizzas to Alexis and her friends.

"You sure you don't want to join us mister C?" asked Mary Jane. Castle had spent the time waiting for the pizza to arrive telling stories about him and Beckett on cases, and they had been into it the whole time.

"I made a promise to you guys to head upstairs and let you catch up," Castle replied "So I'll just be heading up," he was about to continue when his phone rang. He pulled it out to see that it was Beckett calling "Or maybe not." He said, answering the call "Why Detective Beckett, did you call to ask me to dinner?"

oxoxoxo

An hour later, Castle's Ferrari pulled up outside a brightly lit nightclub. Ryan's contact in Gangs had told him that the Saints owned this place and were having a party here. Beckett's badge was hidden, and she had her gun hidden in a coat she brought with her.

The two of them walked up to the door and Beckett managed to charm her way past the doorman with a saucy smile and a wink. Castle tried to follow her in, but was stopped by a large arm. Castle gave him a look that said 'really?' but all he got was a glare. With a sigh, he reached into his coat and pulled out his wallet.

Inside, they saw it was loud, it was full of people in purple and gold clothing and there were occupied stripper poles around the room. "My kind of party." Castle whispered in Beckett's ear.

The place itself was decorated more than one would expect of a gang, even for organized crime. Statues lined the walls, none of them bearing graffiti, and purple and gold carpets and wallpaper were all over the place. A large area in the middle of the place had been cleared out as a dance floor and was currently occupied by half the party dancing to... Flight of the Valikeries?

"Not exactly the thing you'd expect to hear at a gang party." Said Beckett.

When the song finished, the DJ spoke over the microphone. "Alright Saints, I'd like to personally thank my homie Zach for getting these guys to us to do this next song. Fresh off their new album launch, please welcome The Page Brothers!"

The entire room roared as Greg and Ty Page took to the stage. "Wassup Saints?" called Greg "You know what time it is Lil T?"

"What Time is it Big G?"

"You know it's time to move."

The Brothers started rapping "Move that ass. Move that ass.

Get on the floor. Get on the floor.

Move that ass. Move that ass.

Get on the floor. Get on the floor"

"Sexy as hell as I come through the door."

"Twelve gage shotgun, get on the floor."

"Jump on the counter, let off a round."

"You wet yourself as you hit the ground."

"Take command with my outside voice."

"We robbin' this bitch you aint got no choice."

"Don't hit the alarm, don't beg fo yo mama."

"Fill up that bag, won't be no drama!"

Beckett tapped Castle on the shoulder. "I see him, over there on the couch."

Castle had been so engrossed in the song he didn't even notice Johnny Gat in the corner on a couch with a martini in one hand, and a hippie looking girl on the other, dressed in a purple button up shirt and sunglasses. "Same tactic as last time: I go in, bring him down, you come in with the cuffs."

"On your own?" asked Castle "In a party of gangsters?"

"Ryan and Esposito managed to get in, they've got us covered, and we've got backup incoming if they don't hear from us." Beckett said. Before Castle could respond, she was already making her way over to Gat with her most seductive moves possible... Did he really just think that?

Gat saw the beautiful woman approaching him and smiled. A woman wanting him was a sadly common occurrence. "Hey Shaundi, why don't you go have fun, I'll handle this."

Shaundi shrugged and got up, leaving just as Beckett showed up. "Hey." She said, in her 'sexy voice.'

Gat smiled and responded "Hey." as he gestured to the seat next to him. "Don't think I've seen you before."

She sat down, bit her finger as she smiled sweetly at him. "Really now?" she said "Because I've heard of you. They say you know how to keep the party going."

Gat gave her a grin. "You know, this old rival of mine told me a story about this pretty brunette lady who comes up to him in his club, and just as he's passin' her his stuff, she flips him onto a table and takes him downtown." He said, folding his arms "You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"

Beckett's expression soured as she replied "Alright, then maybe I tell you the NYPD would like a word with you, and that before you try anything funny you should know this room is full of cops."

"Talk away unless you have something concrete to take me downtown with."

"We know you were doing business with a Crytek scientist."

"Who, Rogers? I put him in contact with the Boss, said he had a proposal to make. Since this is surely what you want to talk about, I should tell you now I don't know nothin' about it." With that, Gat got up and started to walk off. "So I think we're done here."

He didn't make it very far as Ryan and Esposito were almost instantly in front of him, guns drawn, and Castle right behind them. "I think you should come with us." Said Ryan.

Castle nodded then turned around "Page Brothers," he called out. The brothers turned around recognizing him instantly. "Play us out."

Greg started "Three armed cops and a writer makes four,"

Ty continued "You're under arrest, so get on the floor."

Beckett was about to cuff Gat when someone said "The fuck is this?"

Beckett turned to see the man from the sketch, The face matched the sketch and he was wearing a silk suit, purple shirt, gold tie and a fedora. "What's my lieutenant done to you?" he said, his English accent showing.

"You his boss?" asked Esposito.

"That's what they call me."

"Then you can answer a few questions for us." Said Beckett "Or we can go downtown and ask them there."

The Boss grumbled something. "Fine, we'll talk here. Come up to my office, and let Gat go."

oxoxoxo

The Boss' office was decorated similarly to the rest of the club: purple and gold, statues and occupied stripper poles. When they entered, however, the Boss immediately told the girls to leave as he sat behind his desk. "Alright, I let you in. You wanted to talk, now we're talking, you mind tellin' me who you are?"

"I'm detective Kate Beckett with the NYPD," said Beckett, pulling out her badge "We're investigating the murder of Dr William Rogers."

The Boss looked at her with an expression of confusion. "What you mean 'murder?' He's dead?"

"That's generally what murder means, yes." Said Castle.

"His bodyguard told us that you had an angry discussion with him after you agreed to finance his work." said Beckett "What happened, his price go too high?"

"No his price didn't get too high, that had nothin' to do with it." The Boss said angrily "I fund that guy through his entire project, and a few days ago he just tells me he's puttin' a stop to it, something about one of his co-workers or something. Either way, he sends me an e-mail, telling he'd pay me back every cent I gave him once he could."

"So he didn't pay in time, is that why you killed him?" asked Beckett.

"What? Me, kill him? Why the fuck would I do that? If I killed him, I'd lose the money he promised me. Now that he's dead, I lose all that."

Castle looked on the wall behind the Boss to a pair of pistols on mounted there. "Are those yours?" he asked.

The Boss looked where he was pointing "What, the NR4s? Yeah, those are mine. Gat and I go to the shooting range from time to time, and those are what I use."

"Have you been recently?" asked Beckett.

"Yeah, we went just yesterday, did some target practice, why?"

"Because if I'm right, those guns the same calibre of bullets that killed Rogers." Beckett said "So why don't you tell me where you were between three and four AM?"

The Boss leaned forward in his chair and gave everyone a dangerous look. "I think we're done here." He said "I'm frankly insulted that you think I'd be both sloppy with my work, and that I'd kill someone who was going to pay me. Exactly how bloody stupid do you think I am?"

Castle leaned over to Beckett and whispered "That would be pretty stupid."

"Exactly." Said the Boss "Now do me a favour, and get the fuck out of my club!"

oxoxoxo

"Rogers owed the Saints money, that gives them motive," said Beckett "he had the calibre of gun that killed him, that gives him means, but what about opportunity?"

"I don't think he had that." Said Esposito "Doorman at the Boss' apartment confirms he got there at ten last night, didn't leave until seven this morning."

"You managed to get that without even getting the man's name?" asked Castle.

"Apparently, that's what his apartment is registered under."

"Okay," said Beckett "Maybe he didn't kill Rogers, but maybe he hired someone to do it, or got one of his men to do it."

"If that's the case there will be a money trail." Said Castle "We find who killed him, we can connect them to the Boss."

oxoxoxo

Niko walked into Roman's apartment to find his cousin on the floor. "Roman!" he yelled, running over to him.

Roman groaned as he sat up "Cousin, how are you? Want to go bowling?"

"Glad to see you're okay." Said Niko dryly. "What happened?"

"Well, after you left with the cops, you didn't come back and I closed up." Said Roman "I came back here, and after a while Vlad showed up and asked for his money."

"Didn't he already do that this morning?"

"Well he did, but he decided he should do it again. I told him I was getting the money together, and that you were helping me with it. He apparently didn't like the answer I gave him and he kind of hit me in the face."

"I'll kill that bastard." Niko growled.

"Cousin please," said Roman "The cops are already looking at you for one murder, don't add another one to that."

Niko sighed "Gould is still paying me for security, I don't want to ask for more, but I will if it becomes necessary."

"Thank you cousin."

"You're welcome, now let's get you to the hospital."

OXOXOXO

And there's chapter 2

So who really did kill William Rogers? Will Castle and Beckett manage to link them to the Saints?

Only time will tell.