Castle stopped for a second, staring at his wife from afar. She was sitting on her desk, legs crossed, intensely contemplating her murder board, as she always did at the beginning of investigations. Her brow was in the beginning stages of a frown as her hand passed through her hair. With a slight rotation of her head, their sights crossed and the frown led place to a gentle smile as he stirred himself in her direction.
"Pretty clean board," he commented as he handed Kate her freshly brewed coffee.
"I know. We've got nothing. Not until we can identify the vic. John Doe in his mid-twenties, bludgeoned to death between 8 and midnight yesterday. It's pretty thin, I've got no timeline, no suspects, no nothing," she acknowledged as she brought the hot beverage to her lips.
They both sat there, on her desk, silently staring at the picture of a dead man pinned on the board, their hands barely touching. Only his pinkie was over his wife's hand gently stroking it. Minutes passed before the quiescence was broken. Beckett jumped to her phone mid-ring and picked it up, acknowledging to the person on the other end. As she hung up, she grabbed her coat and led out, "Come on Castle, Lanie might have something for us down at the morgue."
They pushed through the doors with determination, entering side by side.
"Wow, you guys sure got here fast. Not like," started Lanie facetiously.
Not wanting to get into their little game right know, Beckett, giving her a stare, sternly cut her off. "Please tell me you have something to help us identify our victim Lanie."
Clearly getting the message, the tone in the examiner's voice changed when she replied tough but amiably, "His prints and DNA aren't in the system. I have something, I just really don't know if any of it is going to be helpful at this point. I'm real sorry, hon."
Commanding the duo, Lanie directed them towards the bruised naked body on her table. She lifted the victim's broken left hand and held his palm under the black light. A series of faded out numbers and letters appeared before them.
"R31-789Y6," read Beckett out loud, the interrogation in her inflection clearly transposing to her facial expression as she got silent.
"Code to a secret meeting maybe?" blurred Castle out eagerly.
Both the M.E and the detective exchanged a look of desperation which was then steered in his direction. The novelist smiled as he shrugged his shoulders.
"I don't know what it means, but what I do know is that this code was written 4 to 5 days ago," factually replied the medical examiner.
"Thanks Lanie, anything else?" said Beckett trying not to sound too hopeful.
"His blood-alcohol levels where fairly high. He had more than a couple of beers; I'd say at least 6. His reflexes were probably impaired, making the kill that much easier."
"Okay, thanks. Call me if you find anything else, and I mean anything. We're running on fumes here."
Just before Beckett turned around to follow Castle out of the room, Lanie mouthed a "Call me" towards her friend and got a quick wink in response.
They were walking through the hallway, but Castle suddenly stopped. He grabbed Beckett's hand making her turn around to face him. His face suddenly lit up, "I think I got something."
"I'm all ears, Castle."
"Lanie just told us the guy had drank; he had drank, a lot."
"Yeah, so?"
"Yeah. So. There are only a handful of bars at a walking distance of the place where we found the body."
"What makes you say he was at a bar? He might have been a party. He might have had drinks at a friend's house. He might even have drunk alone at his place. He might have taken a cab or he might have gotten a ride. You've got nothing Castle."
"Come on Beckett, we have nothing more to go on."
"You don't know that. Maybe Esposito and Ryan got lucky with eye witnesses or canvasing the apartments surrounding the alley."
"No. They would have called and you know it. What do we have to lose?"
Beckett realising he was probably right, nodded. She got up to her tippy-toes, her gaze quickly sweeping the perimeter around them as she stole a kiss from her husband before turning around and walking away.
"Let's go then."
The door chimed as they entered the old Irish pub and it slammed behind them. It was the third bar on their list and they were both getting irritated. The bar was almost empty, no more than four people including the bartender. Every one of them drinking alone, light music was playing in the background, giving the bar a gloomy allure. They directed themselves to the colossus of a bartender. He was 6'5", 300 pounds, easy, not the kind of guy you wanted on your bad side.
Castle and Beckett sat down and were greeted by a genuine smile.
"What can I get you guys?" asked the giant politely.
"Actually, we aren't here for a drink. We're investigating a murder which happened a couple of blocks from here." She lifted the bottom of her shirt, just enough to discretely show him her badge. "I'm Detective Beckett, and this is Mr. Castle. Do you mind if we ask you a couple of questions?"
"Of course not. Anything I can do to help, detective."
"Were you the bartender on staff yesterday evening?"
"Yes, I was. Got here at 4 and stayed until closing. What happened?"
Beckett opened the folder she had been carrying, and hands the bartender a picture of the victim while declaring, "I know he's pretty banged up, but any chance you recognize this man?"
He took the picture from her hands and grimaced as he observed the image. He turned the picture over and compassionately placed it on the bar.
"This is seriously messed up. But, yeah, he was here yesterday evening. Nice kid didn't talk a lot though. He seemed to be going through some stuff, so I just let him be. He was sitting right where you are actually," he said pointing to Castle's stool.
"Oh! Oh!" said Castle, quickly leaping from the stool, and standing, focusing on straighten his shirt. He continued, trying his best to look casual, "What do you mean going through some stuff?"
"It's just a feeling, a vibe people emit. You develop this radar when you've worked in bar like this for as long as I have. He also got here around 4, alone. That's also usually a huge tell."
"So you wouldn't happen to have caught his name by any chance?" inquired the detective.
"No, but he paid with a credit card. Is any of that helpful?"
Finally, they had something they could use. Beckett let out a sigh of relief. "Yes. Thank you, Mr…?"
"Mr. Ruiz"
"Well, thank you infinitely Mr. Ruiz. You've been incredibly helpful."
"It's really no problem detective. I still can't wrap my brain around the fact I was one of the last people to see him. Poor kid. Who would do something that disgusting?"
The couple exchanged a look, biting their lips, trying not to laugh. Mr. Ruiz was such a tough looking guy, listening to him go on about how unfair life was and how inhumane that beating had been, made them chuckle. Still babbling on about right, wrong and youth, the bartender stretched out and grabbed a bottle from the top shelf. He goes on to pour three whiskies, sliding the glasses towards his public.
"To the kid!" chanted the bartender.
"No thanks. I'm good, we're on the job," replied Kate pushing the drink away, and glancing towards Castle.
"Come on Kate. It's for the kid," he proceeded at checking his watch. "It's almost 6, we'll probably be going home afterwards anyways." He winked at her as he drank his glass. He closed his eyes letting the beverage heat up his throat. "Hmmmm… Awesome whisky, dude" he let out, opening his eyes and clanking his glass with the bartender's.
"Castle, I'm on duty. I carry a gun, and it's loaded. Guns and alcohol don't mix, even you should know better than that. I'll call the precinct to update them on what we just found. We can continue our investigation in the morning. Tech will have had time to identify our vic through this credit card activity by then. And thank you again for your help Mr. Ruiz." She pulled out her phone and started dialing as she walked away.
Castle shrugged his shoulders as he said to the bartender, "Women, you can't win."
The giant laughed before saying, "You're Richard Castle, right? Man, my mom really loves your books."
Hey guys, I'd really appreciate your input. Good comments, bad comments, constructive ones. I'll take them all. I am pretty new at this, and frankly, have no idea what I'm doing. Hope you're enjoying it though. (Next chapter will be less murdery, more casketty, I promise)
