Genre: Crime, Drama, Family, Romance, Humor
Rating: M for violence, language and sexual situations
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters featured on the show Castle, they belong to the creator of the show, ABC, and the others who do own them.
A/N #1: Loved seeing the response I got for the last chapter very much, and to see how much I got too, so definitely have to say thanks! wendykw (Interesting to see your reaction to the neighbor. And I have to say also was an interesting question about how he responded to Castle), vetgirlmx (I was a bit surprised to see that the trees will be bugging you, wasn't expecting that much of a reaction when I wrote this story, but glad that's something that caught your eye. But I am happy to see you like how everything's going concerning Castle and Beckett hiding their relationship, am relieved too, lol. And I loved reading how the crime scene; now you got more info about it; made you think of a tragedy or fable, and not surprised you were expecting a satyr in there, lol. And am hoping as the case goes on you will keep that interest in it, lol, since starting out it got you hooked! Yeah, be interesting to see what you think as they have to do that balancing act more, between the case and Julia. And so happy to see you enjoyed the last chapter, as well as wanting to read more too!), TORONTOSUN (First wanted to say thank you for the review you gave me for chapter 1, really appreciated that though I'd posted chapter 2 by then. Plus I enjoyed reading that review too! And with your review for chapter 2, am happy to see you enjoyed how Castle and Beckett were working from home so they could take care of Julia at the same time. Thought that'd be the best way for them to do it, lol. And glad that you think them doing it this way is not taking away from the investigation, that it's still working, it's what I was aiming for! And also happy to see you enjoyed the banter too, always great when I can write the banter well as you think I did!), life's a mystery (Glad to see that you liked the chapter of course. But I was happy to see you liked the time that Castle, Beckett and Julia had, that you enjoy reading that. And really pleased you find the case interesting, since that's what I was aiming for of course, lol. And yeah, had to get the others involved; grandparents and Alexis as you said. But glad that you want to read more, now you can!), sammysgirl78 (Lol, was really nice seeing your reaction to the way Castle and Beckett started out their morning, lol, I thought you might like that. And was nice to see you'd noticed that Julia was asking about Castle when she woke up. And glad you could see that Gates would want Beckett on the case still, lol. Thought you might like all the flowers and everyone going to see Julia. And also thought you'd like Alexis wanting to Skype so she could see Julia, so was happy to see your reaction to that! Oh, and very happy to see you too liked the way they're balancing work and also taking care of Julia too. And you'll see if you're right about the case having twists and such, lol. But I was surprised to see your reaction to the trees as well, lol, as I'd said, wasn't expecting that, but do like that it got that! Am happy you liked how the chapter was though), pcol22 (Happy to see right off that you liked the chapter first off. And glad that you too think the crime scene was creepy after getting more details about it. As always, so pleased to see that you want to read more!) and Celticsagittarius (Very happy to see you're enjoying my stories; have seen you following before, so thanks for reviewing! And very pleased to see you liked this chapter as well!). So thank you for all the reviews I got, loved reading them and also appreciated the time I know it took to write them out and send them to me!
A/N #2: The title of this chapter is a lyric from the song Mind Games by John Lennon, from his album of the same name.
Playing Those Mind Games
"Got the copies here," Ryan said, holding up a file as he and Esposito walked into Beckett's apartment. "Are you sure it's a good idea for us to bring them?"
"We need to see them," she said in response. "And one of you is going to need to take Julia to her room while Castle and I look at these."
"I think since I was the first one to see them…" Esposito began, looking at his partner.
"Just don't solve the case without me," Ryan said simply before he went with Beckett to the couch.
"Hey sweetie," Beckett said to her daughter when she reached Julia who was looking at the cards of her UNO deck. "I'm sorry, but think you can show Kauai to Ryan while he's here for a little?"
Nodding, as she knew her uncles were there for work, Julia got up quickly and took Ryan's hand, leading him to her room.
"Alright, now that she's gone, these were in the book," Esposito said, laying down some of the pictures.
"These were at the beginning of the book?" Castle asked, picking up one and seeing it was of just hands.
"Those were the vic's, see the pattern of freckles on that one?" Esposito asked.
"Did you send these to Lanie at all? I want to make sure these aren't other women," Beckett said quickly.
"She has them, and I got hold of the boyfriend, our vic wasn't any kind of artist, and he isn't either, so that was left there," Esposito said. "Plus, CSU said they found this under the bed with some flower branches on it, the same as on the vic's head. And there was a pretty good build up of dust under the bed, so you could see the marks of the killer's fingers as he left it there. He also dragged the dirt that had been around the bed with him, so this is his."
"He was stalking her," Beckett said, taking the pictures as Esposito handed them to her. "Because he dated this back in January, though that could be fabricated of course. What I'm wondering, is the first sketch of her naked real or the killer's imagination?"
"Yeah, she seems a little too curvy," Castle said, turning on the screen before he paused.
"Go ahead," Beckett said when he looked at her.
"I asked Lanie the same thing," Esposito said. "And we'll have the answer now," he finished as his phone began to ring. "Hey Lanie, I'm with Castle and Beckett."
"Yeah, the first pictures of her do not match her body at all, but he was pretty close," Lanie answered. "It's when you get to the last one that the sketch matches her."
"Thanks," Esposito said shortly before suddenly hanging up. "CSU is calling," he said to Castle and Beckett who were watching him. "This is Esposito."
"Detective, we found something else at the apartment; you're going to want to see this," a woman on the other end said.
"Can you tell me what it is?" Esposito asked.
"It's a painting of the vic," the woman replied simply.
"You can't take it back to-" Esposito began.
"There's also a kind of shrine," the CSU member interrupted.
"I'll be right over," Esposito said before hanging up. "I need to get Ryan." His phone then shook, and he groaned, seeing it was a text from the Precinct. "The vic's sister just got here from Hoboken; the boyfriend said she might know if there was anyone harassing her too. She's waiting at the station though."
Sharing a glance with Castle, Beckett then said, "If you let me get Mrs. Parker down the hall, I can go with Castle to the crime scene."
"Are you sure," Esposito said. "Wouldn't Julia want you to stay here?"
"Let me talk to her," Beckett said before turning to leave her office.
Castle nearly went with her, but held back as he watched her go. He looked at the pictures still on the desk and started to pick them up before he said, "The writing is here too," looking up at Esposito.
"Ryan? I need to talk with Julia alone for a second," Beckett said when she reached the doorway of her daughter's room.
"Oh sure, do we have something?" the detective asked.
"Ask Espo," Beckett said simply. "Sweetie," she then said to Julia, picking her up and carrying her to the bed. "I kind of need to go somewhere to help your uncles with what they're working on."
Julia frowned at that, and then touched her mother's bare ring finger; Castle having taken it off for her before the others had arrived earlier.
"He's going to come with me, do you want me to ask Martha to come and watch you, or is it okay if Mrs. Parker does?" Beckett asked, holding up two fingers. "Mrs. Parker?" she said when Julia tapped her second finger. "Thank you so much," she said as she hugged her. "I promise we'll come back, I don't want to stay out late. We'll have something special for dessert after dinner later okay?" She picked up the little girl and walked out to the living room saying, "We'll go, I just need to get Mrs. Parker," as she was dialing the woman's number on her phone.
Ryan and Esposito left then, and once they were gone Castle picked up Julia as her mother was on the phone. "I know she probably said it already, but we'll come back the second we can. I'll make sure we do okay? And hey, maybe we can have a special dessert. Some sundaes with whipped cream, I know your throat will love that," he told her as he kissed her temple and then cheek. "Sound good?"
Nodding eagerly, Julia hugged him tightly and shared a quick kiss with him before her mother walked back to them. "Mommy," she whispered.
"Is something wrong?" Beckett asked as Castle set their daughter down at her direction. She was surprised when she ran to the coffee table and pointed to the back of the UNO deck. "You're going to play with Mrs. Parker?" Julia nodded so she then said, "I think you can make the number one with your finger, since you can't really yell uno."
There was a knock and Castle hurried to open the door, a little surprised there were two men with Mrs. Parker. "Uh, Kate?" he said.
"They're for Julia," the older woman said.
"Thank you," Beckett said quickly as she and Castle each took a vase. "This is from Gates," she said in surprise.
"She's a mother too," Castle said quickly. "And has a daughter."
"I know, I forgot," Beckett replied. "I'll have to call her if we don't head to the station later. And that?"
"Is from Alexis," Castle said, setting the vase with blue hyacinth and heliotrope on the counter. "Looks like you're opening a flower shop," he commented, then grit his teeth when he remembered he'd said something similar to Beckett after she'd been shot.
Squeezing his shoulder as she knew what he was remembering from the look on his face, Beckett said, "We shouldn't be gone for that long, I'll give you a call when we're about ready to head back. She's okay with medicine, and if she wants a snack, there's some blueberry and watermelon Jell-O that Castle made, it's already cut so you just need to serve it."
"She'll be fine," Mrs. Parker told them as Beckett knelt in front of Julia.
"I love you sweetie," Beckett told her daughter. "Rest as much as you can and listen to Mrs. Parker. We'll come home the second we can." She was relieved when Julia nodded, seeing that the little girl seemed to be perfectly fine with them going. She still couldn't help but feel guilty as they hugged, and she kissed her cheek before sharing a kiss with her, stepping back to let Castle say goodbye.
"I love you too Julia, see you later and don't take all the Jell-O, want to try some of that with you tomorrow maybe," he told her. He was pleased when she smiled, but as they shared a kiss he couldn't help feeling guilty as well. He went with Beckett to the door and they waved at their daughter before leaving. "What else do we really need to do?" he asked as they turned the corner of the hall to get to the elevators.
"I know, we'll come back, fast," Beckett said, knowing why he was asking. She was a little startled when he suddenly stopped her, grabbing her wrist to pull her around to face him. She took his quick kiss, and they headed back down the hall, feeling slightly better she wasn't alone in her guilt.
"Detective, it's this way," a CSU member said when Beckett and Castle stepped into the apartment. She went through the back door and stood aside saying, "You can't miss it."
"Thanks," Beckett said, seeing the empty bed as she went into the bedroom itself. She then looked at the trees, reaching up to touch the leaves though she had gloves on.
"They're definitely real," Castle said, watching her. "And dirt," he said, looking at the floor, seeing some petals strewn across the soil.
"And then there's the closet…" Beckett started to say before she trailed off. "This…" she tried to speak again as they stepped up to the open doors. But she found herself without words as she saw the painting that was inside. It was tall, around six feet, and while most of it looked like it had been painted some time ago, the painted skin of the woman; their vic, was fairly fresh.
"So he took the time to finish this up," Castle said, shaking his head as the vic was looking down in the painting. "No wonder she wasn't found for so long, he knew he had the time to do that."
"There are no symbols," Beckett pointed out.
"Yeah, that's strange, but I think the painting and the subject are supposed to be separate," Castle said. "He puts her here, and on this canvas she's perfection, but her body is imperfect, so maybe that's why he… assaults her."
"Tries to rape her," Beckett corrected him. She turned around, looking over the entire room before she went into the bathroom. "Anything here?" she asked the CSU member dusting the faucet handles.
"Nothing, it's likely the killer never made it in here since there wasn't even dirt tracked on the floor," the man replied.
Nodding, Beckett turned and walked to the end of the bed, seeing the bare wall opposite her where it should have been. She noticed that Castle was watching her, but turned away as she didn't want to know why he had the expression on his face that he did. "I-" she started to say before her phone rang. "Ryan," she told her fiancé before answering. "What do you have?"
"Esposito's out getting a possible suspect," the detective replied. "The vic's sister talked about a friend of the boyfriend, who's an artist and would harass the vic. Also he's into Hinduism."
"You want me to talk with him?" Beckett asked.
"And Castle, he might connect with the guy and also help out with the Hinduism part, remember he told us Alexis was studying it?" Ryan said.
"The mythology," Castle said. "But yeah, I know something about the religion. But if he's our killer there's no way in hell I'm connecting with him."
"We'll head to the Precinct Ryan. And about this painting, it needs to go to the station, but we need to store it somewhere," Beckett said, looking at Castle at his swearing.
"I'll talk to Gates," Ryan said before hanging up.
"Any reason why you said that about this artist?" Beckett asked as they left. She paused to quickly tell one of the CSU members to get the painting of the vic to the Precinct, and continued with her fiancé out of the apartment.
"I have my reasons," was all that Castle would say in response as he pressed the button for the elevator down the hall.
Looking up as the door to interrogation opened, the young man glanced at Beckett, his eyes going up and down once before he saw Castle walking in behind her. "Is that Richard Castle?" he asked in surprise.
"It is, but I'm afraid you don't really have time for an autograph Mr. Rowntree," Beckett said as Castle sat at the table and she remained standing. "I have some information on you here, like you're an artist, attending classes at NYU."
"Right, is that why I'm being questioned?" Rowntree asked.
"I'm wondering, if I may ask?" Castle started to say, posing the question to Beckett.
"Oh by all means," she said in reply, pacing slowly back and forth. She didn't like the way the artist kept glancing to her, but forced herself to ignore that as her fiancé began to speak.
"What art period is your favorite?" Castle asked. "Or the kind of technique you prefer. Your medium?"
"Why are you asking me that?" Rowntree said, looking at Castle in a little disbelief.
"Just answer the question," Beckett said.
"I prefer to paint, and… I guess the Impressionists, and I don't really have a specific technique," the man babbled slightly, a little unnerved by Beckett's tone in her answer.
"Do you know Ophelia Meyer?" she then asked.
"Yeah, she's my friend's girlfriend," Rowntree said, recovering a little.
"She was found dead this morning," Castle said as Beckett set down a picture in front of the suspect from the file she was holding.
"She… wait, you think I did this? That I would do that and pose her like that?" Rowntree said in disbelief. When neither Castle nor Beckett said anything in response to that he quickly spoke saying, "I, I liked her and I tried to see if she would date me but, she never went for it," in a rush.
"Then why had she told her sister, and your friend Joseph that you were harassing her, and not just verbally?" Beckett asked.
"Because I was drunk at the time it wasn't just verbally," Rowntree replied defensively. "And I might have tried to grab her… inappropriately, but she slapped me on the cheek before I could. I've never been alone with her again since then."
"Then what were you doing between five and seven yesterday?" Beckett asked.
"I was… I was at my parents' apartment," Rowntree began slowly before quickly remembering. "My mom had her Sunday dinner, and I went to their building. I'm sure there's security footage of me going. I didn't leave until eleven; my dad and I were playing gin rummy after eating until then."
Looking up at Beckett, Castle stood and whispered into her ear before she nodded and handed him a picture. "So you're an artist, have you sold anything?" he said, turning back to Rowntree.
"A couple, I haven't done that many showings though, why does that matter?" the man asked. When Castle set a picture in front of him he frowned and said, "That's not my work, I tend to deal more in watercolors. That's acrylic paint, plus the brushes are… not my type either."
"Would you know of a local artist who paints like this?" Beckett asked.
"Uh… not really, but… you could try the galleries, they would know I'm sure," Rowntree said.
"Are you an avid Hindu?" Beckett asked suddenly, seeing the man fiddling with a symbol that was a pendant around his neck.
"I, yeah," Rowntree said.
"So you know Om," Castle then said.
"Of course, I meditate and read the Vedas," Rowntree snapped. "Does this have something to do with Hinduism? Because that painting doesn't have anything that would work with the religion."
"Okay, we'll have to check on your alibi of course. And I hope for your sake this painting is not a new medium you've decided to try," Beckett said without answering; gathering the pictures before she left, Castle behind her. "Sir," she said when Gates came out from observation at the same time.
"You're supposed to have the week off Beckett," the Captain said simply. "Is he a viable suspect?"
"It depends on his art," Castle said. "That's why Esposito's over at his apartment now."
"And I was going to check at NYU for his portfolio there," Beckett said. "But I don't think he's all that suspicious."
"Any reason why? You haven't even checked his alibi, let alone his artwork," Gates said.
"The symbol around his neck is Om," Castle said. "If he was a devout Hindu; which I think he is because he was praying to Shiva as we left and was doing the same when we walked into the room; there's no way he'd misuse it."
"Not even to invoke our first vic as a sacrifice?" Gates said. When she saw Castle's startled look she simply said, "Ryan and Esposito filled me in on what you had to say."
"We'll still check his alibi of course," Beckett said. "But I'm pretty sure that he'll be cleared."
"Right, but I would ask you to leave that to your partners," Gates said. "You are off for the week and you have a sick daughter at home."
"Yes, thank you for the flowers you sent her sir, she loved them," Beckett said.
"You're welcome. Ryan and Esposito will keep me informed on the case," Gates said as she walked to her office.
"So I'm staying?" Castle asked.
"You're leaving when Beckett's finished Mr. Castle," Gates called out the door.
"Should I say thanks?" Castle whispered.
"I don't think so," Beckett said quietly, rolling her eyes. "Let's check his artwork and I'll make a call for the security footage before we go back to our daughter."
Walking into the conference room, Castle saw that his fiancée was leaning against the table, looking at the painting from the vic's apartment that had been brought to the station. "I made some coffees to go," he told her, handing her a coffee cup. "Okay?"
"Yeah, just, I feel a sense of déjà vu when I look at this, I feel like I've seen it before," Beckett said.
"You think it could be a copy of a painting?" Castle asked.
"I don't know, it's too modern in appearance," Beckett said, stepping closer to the picture.
"You're sure you've never taken an art history class?" Castle said, watching.
"I'm sure, but my dad loves art, you've seen the books at his place," Beckett said.
"He likes the Renaissance artists though," Castle said. "And this is not similar to them."
"And you?" Beckett asked, looking at him.
"Me what?" Castle said.
"Have you ever taken art history?" Beckett replied.
"I did, but pre-1700s," Castle said. "I don't know why I never took the other half of the class, but this is not from that time period. Although-"
"I don't think knowing who they're copying will really help us," Beckett finished for him. She was going to say something else as he nodded, and then looked past his shoulder. "Anything?"
"Got some of this guy's art work, and from what I saw, nothing close to that painting," Esposito said. "Mostly they're parks here in the city."
"So landscapes," Castle said. "I think we unsettled him too much," he commented to Beckett.
"He's not our killer," Ryan said, entering the room then. "Just got through the footage from yesterday at Rowntree's parents' building, and he's there from about four to eleven. No other way to go because the stairs all have cameras and I focused on those two hours for the bottom floor and the floor his parents are on, no sign of him."
"Then you can let him go," Beckett said. "I was thinking though, you might want to have the psychologist come in and take a look at the pictures of how the vic was posed, the sketches and this painting. It might give you more to go on with the killer."
"Right, you're heading back home?" Ryan asked.
"I am," Beckett said. "Unless you need me here?"
"We got this," Esposito said. "We just need to get in touch with some art galleries, and that can be done over the phone."
"So you don't need me to stay here either?" Castle asked.
"I think we can handle it," Ryan said. "You know, in case we get a lead of some kind, or a new clue, maybe you should head back to Beckett's."
"Last I checked," she said as Castle was about to reply to that. "Is that it's my home. And since my daughter is in my home, waiting for me, I'm going." She headed to her desk, but stopped in the aisle as she remembered she hadn't brought her work bag. So she turned abruptly, walking to the elevators and waving over her shoulder as Ryan, Esposito and Castle called a goodbye to her. Inside the car, she quickly texted her fiancé, and walked down the street outside until she was on the next block where there was a park across the street.
"He's never really done that before," Castle said as he was walking up to her a few minutes later. "Sorry, I delayed as long as I thought would work."
"It's not a problem," Beckett said, closing her phone. "I needed to check on something anyways. Come on, we're going somewhere."
"Not your place?" Castle asked. But she wouldn't answer him, so he followed her to the street where she hailed a cab. When she gave the driver an address, he still had no idea where they were going, so it was with a little surprise that they got out in front of a familiar store. "Phoenix Hobbies?" he asked, following her inside. "You want to make a model car?"
"No," Beckett said simply. She led the way to the back and said, "Pick out a plane for Julia."
"You… why?" Castle asked, startled by that. "Oh, the guilt," he said before she could answer. "Yeah, that's a good idea. She was talking about the Hawaiian Airlines plane last time we were here. And you?"
"I'll meet you at the registers, but this is the only time I want us to get her anything," Beckett warned him.
"Of course," Castle replied. "I know you don't want to spoil her. But it's so hard not to," he finished off in a mock whining tone.
"Go," Beckett said, shaking her head, though she was smiling. She left him then and went to the toys section of the store, stopping at the stuffed animals. She was about to reach for something on a shelf when her phone rang and she jumped a little. Taking it out of her pocket, she was a little startled to see it was Ryan, and she answered asking, "You have something already?"
"Not really, we just called a few art galleries, and they're telling us the style of the painting we found is probably the stage before the Impressionist era, the…" the detective began to say before trailing off.
"Romanticism," Beckett supplied for him. "I suppose that could be it, the brush strokes of the background were kind of lighter like the later paintings in that era."
"You don't sound too sure," Ryan said.
"It's just with this painting, it's going to emulate an era, but never really be exactly it. So it's likely it'll be hard to pinpoint it," Beckett said. "But then again it might not be important, just a method to throw us off," she said as she saw Castle down the aisle approaching her.
"Well, it's the best we can do now, CSU just got to me before I called you and there's no fingerprints, foreign fibers or anything that might give us a clue," Ryan said.
"If you want to stick with the painting, I'd suggest trying someone from the Met. Someone who's specific to the 1800s," Beckett said.
Castle waited until she'd hung up a little time later to ask, "A clue?"
"Not really," Beckett replied. "Let's go," she said quickly as she took the stuffed animal she'd been about to grab. As they were walking to the registers she quickly related what she and Ryan had talked about, finishing with, "So they don't really need us, and since it's getting close to four I would like to focus on Julia until we put her to bed."
"I'm surprised they didn't try to have you call anyone," Castle said.
"He said he and Espo were fine before I could even offer when we were back at the station," Beckett said, shrugging her shoulders. "So if they're that determined for me not to help, then I'll wait. But-"
"I knew that was coming," Castle interrupted.
Giving him a look, Beckett finished saying, "I would like to look at vic a little, see if there's anything else she does besides accounting."
"What if she's a Hindu? I know Ryan said she was Jewish, but you never know," Castle said. He saw the glance that his fiancée gave him and gave a suffering sigh; done mockingly; and said, "This is why we work so well together, we think the same."
"Luckily not all the time," Beckett said simply. She smiled when Castle shook his head at her, but then grabbed her phone as it shook, saying, "They must have found something." She read the text then and frowned before looking at her fiancé.
"What is it?" Castle asked. "It's not Julia is-" he started to say, sounding a little concerned.
"No, no, it's from Ryan, that writing on the vic's body? Mamounia," Beckett said.
"As in the Paul McCartney song?" Castle asked quickly.
"That's Mamunia, spelled different, but the word is the same," Beckett said, still looking troubled. "And according to the FBI, mamounia means… safe haven."