Sincere apologies for the extremely long hiatus. Been reading more fanfics than writing lately. Anyway, here's the next installment. I hope you like. All comments greatly received.
Disclaimer: Oh that I had created this pair, but alas no. Thanks to Andrew Marlowe for the inspiration.
Chapter 3:
Arriving back on their own floor, Kate headed over to where Ryan and Esposito were hunched over Ryan's desk, staring at the computer screen, looking closely at the information listed there.
"Hey guys, whatcha got?" asked Kate, reading over their shoulders, and causing the boys to start slightly. Beckett's presence had that effect on a lot of her colleagues, which was why Castle's easy way of being around her fascinated them so much.
"We got a hit in Missing Persons on our vic. The father, Daniel Caliente, posted her missing this morning. Photo and description match our Jane Doe, sadly for him," added Esposito.
Ryan put down the phone and wandered over to the murder board to update the name of their young victim, together with a photo he'd pulled from the DVM database.
"Our victim is Livia Caliente, aged 21. Father says she's an undergrad at NYU. Eh, marketing," said Ryan reading from his notes. "She also worked part-time at a dress store on West Broadway".
"A block and a half from our murder scene", said Beckett, looking pensive. "Not a coincidence, I'm sure," she added, looking back at the girl's photo id on the screen. "She's young and pretty, busy full life by the sounds of it. Let's interview the father and start making a list of her friends at college, boyfriends, work colleagues, and anyone else who was close to her. Let's search her background for problems so we can rule out a premeditated attack by someone she knew. This has all the hallmarks of random bad luck on a walk to the subway on a hot sultry night. But we need to be sure." She finished, turning back towards her own desk.
"What makes you think that?" Asked Castle, watching Beckett's intense concentration on the murder board. Her quick mind and thought process fascinated him. It was one of the things that made working with her so appealing. That and the fact that she was so darned attractive he found it distracting to be near her some days.
"Well, we know that she was dumped there after the playground closed at 9pm, after the warden had checked the restrooms and locked the gates. She was naked…"
"…and there was no sign of her clothes," Castle finished off for her, grinning as he hitched a ride on her theory.
"So, if we assume for now that her hours at the store finished when they closed up at 9pm and then she walked along Spring from West Broadway…"
"…she was headed to the Subway at the corner of Spring and 6th Avenue." Said Castle, pointing an ah ha finger towards her, as he smiled at Beckett's logic.
"Oh, but getting her over the fence would have been tricky though, if she was an unwilling participant," Said Castle, knitting his brows together and leaning his chin into a cupped hand, after he walked over to stand shoulder to shoulder with Beckett, both of them leaning against her desk facing the murder board.
"You're right, but eh…", Beckett stopped speaking, as Castle's head whipped around and his mouth dropped open as he stared at her.
"You'll catch flies like that, Castle", she said sassily, not even turning her head to acknowledge the gleeful look on his face.
"But you said I was right!" He practically squeaked. Turning to the boys, who stood there watching them as they bantered back and forth. "She said I was right," he mouthed again, quietly to the guys and they nodded back sympathetically. God that man was putty in Beckett's hands.
"Pull it together bro, you're letting the side down," said Esposito, shaking his head at the still grinning writer.
"I was going to say, before your little happy interlude, that luring a girl like that into an empty playground would have been damn near impossible, so force seems to be the natural conclusion. So," she said slowly, "in light of what Mr Castle here points out, I will have Lanie focus closely on any marks she may find on the body for signs of a struggle. Satisfied, writer boy?" She asked, turning to look at his smug grin, before rolling her eyes and stalking off to the break room for a cup of coffee.
Castle would be insufferable for the rest of the day. She knew this from past experience and she inwardly kicked herself for telling him he had a point. But then the little boy in him looked so pleased to have impressed mommy that she had to stifle a small grin as he arrived in the break room close on her heels.
"Geez Castle, what are you a puppy dog?" Beckett asked in a gently irritated tone.
When he looked a bit wounded, she said more quietly, "Just, eh, don't follow me to the bathroom, okay? Captain Montgomery's a stickler for protocol and besides, we wouldn't want people to start talking, now would we?"
"So what do we do now?" asked Castle eagerly, clearly spurred on by his weighty contribution to their earlier theorizing.
"Now? Oh I'm going to visit Lanie to check how she's going with the body and you are going to…to do whatever it is that you do when I'm not around to keep an eye on you," she finished. "Do not touch anything on my desk. You got it? And do NOT play with my computer and don't think I won't know what you've been up to Castle" she said sternly. "I am a Detective remember and the boys…they will choose me over you. Halo or no Halo." She arched an eye brow at the pouting writer in front of her to let him know she was serious, before bumping his arm with her own in a small softening act as she walked out of the door.
"Hey Lanie. Please tell me you have something for me on our victim, Livia Caliente?"
"Well, like I said earlier, we need to wait a while before I can, uh, cut her open." Said Lanie, pausing over her choice of words. "Where's writer boy?" She asked, suddenly looking around for Castle, after realizing Beckett's shadow had gone missing.
"Left him by my desk, sulking," said Beckett, smiling broadly at Lanie. "He made a reasonable point about our victim earlier and I stupidly told him so. Just kinda slipped out. I couldn't stand to have him gloat, so I grounded him upstairs."
"You burst his little bubble, eh? Kate girl you are cru-el" Lanie drawled. "That man worships the ground you walk on, and the sooner you realize that, the happier we'll all sleep at night," said Lanie, winking suggestively at Beckett. "And I include Castle in that thought too."
"Oh dear God Lanie Parish, will you ever stop with the pushing? Castle and I are just good friends." She sighed, half from frustration that Lanie was right and half from frustration that they hadn't become more than just good friends. Though she would never admit that to the MD.
"Not when it's for your own good, girl." Said Lanie. "Man like that won't hang around forever if you keep pushin' him away and I don't want you cryin' on my shoulder when he moves onto someone else. That boy is crazy at times, but he's no fool Kate."
"Okay Dr Parish, I hear ya'." Said Kate, shaking her head at her best friend. "But I did come down here for an update, not to have my head shrunk. So, update?" She tipped her head questioningly at Lanie, as she sidestepped any further discussion of her relationship, or lack of one, with Richard Castle.
"We're not done talking about this Kate. But you're off the hook…for now", she conceded, shaking her head. "There are some marks beginning to appear on the backs of her upper arms and heels. Marks on the arms could be from fingers gripping. Scraping to the heels most likely caused by being dragged across rough ground. I've taken a sample of grit from the skin and sent it to the lab. But that's all I got for now. Sorry I can't tell you more."
"Thanks, Lanie. I appreciate the time delay you're stuck with on this one. Let me know if you get more tomorrow when you can carry out the autopsy."
Kate got up to leave the morgue, but then stopped and turned around to face her friend. "Oh and Lanie?" She said, smiling slightly, "I hear you. Regarding Castle. I do hear you." She repeated, nodding once before she turned back and headed out through the swing doors.
Beckett's head swirled with thoughts thrown up by her chat with Lanie and none of them related to the case in hand. Her friend was right. Richard Castle could have any girl he wanted. He wasn't going to wait around indefinitely for her to sort herself out.
Kate sighed involuntarily to herself, as she slumped down in front of her desk. Why was this so hard for her? She'd dated work colleagues before, so that wasn't the reason she was dragging her feet on moving this forward. But after three years of working together and a mutual attraction so obvious that their work colleagues were running a book on when they'd finally get it together, Beckett had to acknowledge to herself that this time mattered more than all the others. This time she didn't want to mess it up. If she and Castle started dating and things didn't work out, then he'd be gone from her life all together and that was an outcome she couldn't begin to contemplate.
Her mind kept spinning with possibilities as she registered the quiet around her in the bullpen. Castle and the boys had disappeared and it took her a moment to notice the neatly folded note tucked under her keyboard.
The boys were hungry and I was bored without you Detective, so we've gone to Remy's for lunch. Come join us? Rx
PS I didn't touch your computer. I slipped the note under your keyboard wearing latex gloves!
Beckett laughed out loud despite herself. So he was still pouting, she thought, smiling. That man got under her skin like no other. She rolled her head a few times to ease the muscles in her neck before grabbing her phone and heading from the elevator. If she and Castle were ever going to get it together, she supposed she could start with lunch. Baby steps.
Okay, so I hope you like it. Will keep working forward and aim to have another chapter up asap. Any thoughts please?
