A/N: This part is like pulling off a bandage. I had to write it quickly and get it over with. If you don't like this chapter, don't worry, it gets much better, at least in my humble opinion.
"What do you mean, 'he flew backwards into the alley'?"
Detective Kate Beckett of the 12th precinct was not having a good night. She had just gotten into bed when she got the call that a homicide had occurred. On reflex, she called the novelist, Richard Castle, told him the details, and trudged out of her apartment building, only to have the prime witness claim that a Sith Lord had somehow killed their victim.
"I don't know how, but that's what happened," Yue reluctantly lied to Beckett. In truth, Yue knew gravity magic when she saw it, but she couldn't just tell the police that a mage had just murdered someone. After the rather confusing incident with Chao Lingshen, she had decided to keep the status quo until she can think of a solution to the moral dilemma Chao had presented.
"In any case, here's my card if you remember something relevant. Stay in town, Miss…"
"Ayase. Yue Ayase. Former freelance detective, I might add."
That's when Castle decided to jump into the conversation.
"Woah, that was a great line. Cool and natural at the same time. Could you repeat it for me?" Castle said as he took out his notebook and pen.
Beckett sighed and turned away, hoping Lanie had some good news for her.
"Bad news. It looks like our vic got crushed by something really heavy. Really heavy. Like wrecking ball heavy. Problem is, I have no idea how something like that could fit into this narrow alleyway, let alone without being seen," Lanie said confusedly. "Bruising suggests there was a struggle, but it didn't last very long."
As Lanie returned to examining the body, Beckett fell silent, and began to think. How the hell did they pull this off? There have been strange murder weapons, but this…
Esposito, however, cut her thoughts off. "Yo Beckett, Ryan's canvassing the area with some uniforms, but honestly I doubt anything's going to turn up. Man, this is one weird case." He looked in Yue's and Castle's direction, as they began to argue about the merits of fiction versus philosophical writing. "Is that who found the body?"
"Yeah. She says she's a private detective who works freelance."
"OK, and why is the captain pulling up to the curb?"
"Wait, what?"
Beckett whips around and is shocked to see none other than Captain Roy Montgomery climb out of his sedan and walk right over to the victim.
What is with this sequence of events? Something's going down here…
He looked down and shook his head and muttered "I didn't believe it when I heard, but it looks like someone finally got to that bastard…"
Beckett, looking more and more surprised by the minute, asked "Excuse me sir, but did you know our vic? And what are you doing here anyway?"
"Know him?" The veteran captain snorted, choosing to ignore the second question. "Every cop ten years ago knew this guy. Name's Fredric Gustav. This slippery sonuvabitch was famous back in the day for doing anything illegal so long as he got paid. Didn't really matter to him what it was. He's got a laundry list of crimes, including arson and armed robbery. He could have taken down half the criminals in the city with him. Not really surprised someone finally got to him."
The captain finally noticed Yue and Castle, who had stopped arguing and were staring at Montgomery with looks of surprise.
Montgomery raised an eyebrow. "Purple hair, lazy demeanor, and general apathy…Yue Ayase? That Yue Ayase? I heard about your work in the Japanese weapons smuggling case, but what the heck are you doing here?"
Yue blinked. "I'm sorry, but I don't believe we've met…" Am I really that famous?
Montgomery extended his hand. "Whoops, sorry about that. Roy Montgomery, Captain of the 12th Precinct, NYPD. And if I'm not mistaken, you specialize in inexplicable and strange cases, right?"
Yue sweatdropped. I guess he means cases involving mages. "Yeah, that sounds about right. What about it?"
"Well I hate to admit it, but this looks pretty damn inexplicable to me. A man who is crushed by something that seems not to exist. Nobody heard or saw anything, now that's fishy." Montgomery folded his arms and sighed. "I hate to say it, but we could really use your expertise on this one."
Yue put her hands up defensively and shook her head. "Oh, I don't know about that. I'm actually rather busy, and I really should be getting home–,"
"Twenty-five dollars an hour. Independent rate."
If Yue was drinking something (probably eel juice), she would have done a spit take.
"W-What?" That's a hell of a lot of money…
Castle was not as excited. "Wait, why the hell don't I get paid this? I've solved a bunch of cases! Hard ones too!"
"Seriously? You drove here in a Murcielago, and you want me to pay you?"
"…Point taken."
Yue, however, was not listening. My funds are beginning to dry up, and I don't want the discovery of magic by some cops on my conscience… It's also against all of my better judgment…
The captain's voice snapped her out of her reverie. "So, Ayase, will you do it? We're currently short staffed, so it would be a big help to the NYPD."
So I'll just solve this case, take my money, and be done with it? Not to mention I would have to direct the investigation away from magic anyway, so I might as well get paid to do it…
"All right, I'll take your case." Yue whipped a vial out of her overcoat, and began to chug the purple liquid inside. "So, where do we start?"
Beckett had been silent for this whole time, but decisions were being made entirely without her. That wouldn't do. "Well, right now, we'll leave the scene to the CSU unit, and come back in the morning. Sounds good?"
Yue nodded morosely, slightly embarrassed by her show of enthusiasm. As the CSU unit began their sweep of the crime scene, people started to sleepily shuffle away and drive off into the night.
