"Castle, come on!" she shouted over the city sounds of New York. Castle dragged his feet to the crime scene. He had seen this place before; well actually he had been in this place more than a few times. Now that he was thinking about it this was where he first…."Castle stop daydreaming, let's get to work." She turned around leaving him staring at the dance studio's door walked across the dance floor, "Parish, what do you have for me?" she said addressing Lanie.
"Male, early twenties, athletic, probably a dancer here at the studio," the ME started to explain, "looks like a strangling, and he tried to fight back" she stated starting to point out the blue and purple bruises around the victim's neck. "There are marks here on the upper chest that stretch to his color bone and then into his neck, he may have been suffocated. What has me confused is the hole in the back of his chest, I am not quite.."
"Ever think it might be a high heel, I mean I am not into the dominatrix stuff but I do know some people and this looks like….well high heels in a dance studio makes sense" Castle interrupted routinely.
Beckett shot a glance at Castle; she had already been thinking that, well not the dominatrix part but the high heel in a dance studio part. "As I was saying before you so rudely interrupted" Lanie began, "I am not quite sure what is jammed inside the wound, I will have to extract it back at the lab, may give some clue to who our killer is."
Castle snuck his way behind Beckett and was so close to her and whispered in her ear "A girl in charge can do to things to a man but mainly just two, please him or kill him" Beckett jumped not realizing how close Castle was to her she had already pulled her gun and turned around. "Guess I don't have to ask what kind of girl you are," he continued "but now that I think of it" he purposely slowly looked up and down her body then back into her eyes "you could do both."
"Hey writer boy" Lanie interjected before Beckett got a chance to speak. "Watch the innuendos and have a little respect for the dead! Anyway," she said now addressing the detective, "there is also a cuff link missing on his left cuff, and it looks as though he had sexual intercourse within an hour of being murdered but there are no signs of sexual assault." Castle smiled, but only Lanie saw him and gave him a dirty look.
"What about the time of death?"
"It looks between ten pm and twelve am, I will let you know more after I get this checked out at the lab" Lanie Answered.
"Ok, Thanks" Beckett responded as she went to look at the other parts of the crime scene. There was a loose ballet bar, a small crack in the mirror, a small piece of blue cloth, and then she saw Castle. "What are you doing?" she asked as she watched him sit in the seat behind the reception desk and stare at the floor.
"Remembering…"
"Remembering what?"
"My first time with a dancer, was right here…I was waiting for my mother to get changed after rehearsal, and she always took about thirty minutes so one time.."
"Castle!"
"You asked, I mean if you really are jealous, I wouldn't mind doing an experiment to see who is better…"
"We are at a crime scene, what is wro…never mind" She said realizing this was Castle she was thinking about. He smiled jokingly and got up from the chair.
"Don't worry detective I have a feeling you would give that girl a run for her money" he said leaning to whisper in her ear.
But this time she got him back, kissed him behind the ear and breathed "My dear Castle, you have no idea, Nikki Heat couldn't even keep up with me." She walked away but this time wasn't like the first time she had said those exact same words it was so different. The ball was back in her court and she had all the power, she laughed at herself. Now she saw why Castle bothered her so much, it was fun being in control, knowing someone wants you and dangling yourself in front of them. Some may say its evil but this, this was payback…
She got in the police car with Esposito, leaving Castle to go with Ryan, took out her cell phone and began dialing the numbers of the other dancers on the list, on her way to see if any of them knew the vic. This was going to be a long day
