Chapter Four


When Beckett arrived at Precinct 12 the following morning, Ryan and Esposito immediately handed her a stack of Sunday newspapers. Quickly scanning them, she found that, much to her chagrin, all the papers had reported Ronald Anderson's death as a gangland slaying.

"The Captain wants to see us in his office in five minutes," Esposito warned her.

"Is Castle coming in, too?" Ryan inquired.

"I think we can expect him," Beckett replied. She wasn't sure of her answer, but she received confirmation only seconds later, when Castle stepped out of the elevator and came their way, carrying a box of doughnuts with him.

"Good morning all, I come bearing police food," the author greeted everyone as he placed the carton box on Beckett's desk. Studying their faces, he noticed that they didn't seem too happy at the moment. "Not good? They've got jam and icing."

"Can you all come inside my office for a moment?" Captain Montgomery asked the team from the door opening of his office.

"Yes, sir, of course," Beckett answered for all of them.

"Oh, I get it," Castle commented before he followed the three detectives into the Captain's office. Being the last one to step inside the room, he closed the door behind him and then went to stand next to Ryan.

"As I'm sure you're all aware, the media have picked up the story and have run it as a gangland hit," the Captain began and things began to make sense to Castle. "I got a call from the mayor this morning, so the pressure is on. We have to catch the perp before a full-scale gangland war tears the neighborhood apart."

Beckett nodded. "Yes, sir."

"Officers are on their way to bring in the heads of the two rival gangs. I want you to interrogate them as soon as they get here. Let me know if they give you anything useful."

"Of course."

After a nod from the Captain, the foursome left his office again. As they stepped back into the bullpen, officers were just bringing in Dylan Brooks, thirty-five and leader of the violent street gang the Crosses. His moniker was Smiley and while he had anything but a smile on his own face, he was known to carve them onto the faces of anyone who stood in his way.

The officers placed Brooks into one of the interrogation rooms, closed the door and walked over to Beckett. "He's all yours."

"Thanks," Beckett said with a polite smile and a nod. As the officers walked away, she looked over at Castle, who actually looked a bit scared. Amused, she grinned. "You coming?"

"Isn't that Dylan 'Smiley' Brooks?" he asked her.

"Oh, you've heard of him?"

"Yeah… you don't want to get him mad."

"So, let's try to get him to talk without doing that," she said and opened the door, beckoning Castle to follow her inside as the other two detectives went into the adjacent room to watch from behind the mirror.

Beckett walked into the room with as much confidence as she could muster. It wasn't that she was scared to talk to Brooks, but feeling comfortable around such a tough guy was a whole different story. This time around, she was actually glad that Castle took the seat next to her.

"Talk. Time is money," Brooks said, leaning back in his chair. "What do you need to know?"

"Would the Crosses have any reason to liquidate Ronald Anderson?" Beckett asked him, cutting right to the chase.

"Ah, so the rumors are true. It was little Ronnie Anderson who was found at the Brew House. I didn't know the kid personally, but he seemed like trouble to me and the Crosses don't need that shit."

"Where were you on the night of his murder?"

"That depends."

"On what?"

"On what night you're actually talking about."

"Last Friday."

"Well, on Friday I was hanging out with my crew at the Crash, having shots in the company of a couple of hot chicks. There were about sixty other people doing pretty much the same thing, so they can corroborate that. Why don't you check it out, huh?"

"We will," Beckett told him. "As the gang leader you must know what goes around on and even off your turf. You're trying to tell me you didn't hear anything regarding the murder?"

"Heard about it, sure. Word gets out pretty quickly, you know. Like I told you, I heard the rumors. Didn't get a name, though."

"Who would have the guts to kill Anderson?"

"You know, lady, I don't wanna do your job for you, but I think you wanna talk to Carlos Ortez," Brooks told her, then smirked. "Look, I don't know who killed the Anderson kid. But I tell you what, hot stuff, because I like you so much, I will find out who did it and kill him. Just get rid of the pretty boy sitting next to you, he ain't right for you."

Castle opened his mouth, ready to spew a comeback at the thug, but then thought better of it. Beckett, on the other hand, had already narrowed her eyes at Brooks, who was laughing at them at this point. She pushed her chair back and stood up. She looked at Castle and silently told him to follow her out of the interrogation room.

"What a creep," Castle remarked as soon as he was sure he was out of earshot from Brooks. He didn't want to risk a permanent smile.

"Yeah," Beckett replied, biting her lip. "But if his alibi holds up, he was miles away when Anderson was shot."

"Ryan and I will try to find witnesses who saw him at Crash that evening," Esposito said as he and Ryan joined the other two.

"Has Ortez been brought in yet?" Beckett asked.

"Yeah, a minute ago. He's in box two," Ryan told her, handing her the man's file.

"What's his moniker?" Castle inquired curiously.

"Gordo," Esposito said and then went on to explain. "That's Spanish for fat."

"So, I should expect some fat gangster?"

"Just make sure you don't actually call him that to his face," Esposito told him pointedly.

"Alright… heavyset gangster."

"Better to keep your mouth shut as long as you're in the same room. Just to be safe," Beckett said, then looked at Ryan. "Box two, you said?"

"Yep. Good luck."

"Thanks."

Becket and Castle headed over to interrogation room number two and sat down across from a heavyset and heavily tattooed man. He looked at the duo just as unimpressed as his enemy Dylan Brooks had earlier.

"You have ten minutes. Go," Ortez said, looking at them with confidence.

"Ten minutes? This will take as long as it needs to," Beckett replied as she opened his thick file. "Carlos 'Gordo' Ortez, self-named warlord of the Bullets. According to this file, you've got quite a rap sheet. You don't tend to shy away from anything."

Ortez shrugged. "Well, sweetheart, it didn't stop you guys from bringing me in."

Beckett cringed at the pet name, but knowing he was just trying to get her off track, she continued the interrogation nonetheless. "You know why we did that?"

"Someone took a shot at some kid at the Brew House."

"Well, they didn't just take a shot at him, they killed him."

"My people got nothing to do with it."

"Right, but your on and off turf war with the Crosses is heating up again, isn't it?"

"We didn't start this. They shot our guy, Mark Whitmore, at the liquor store and you did nothing."

"Whitmore was a drug dealer. He was working for you?"

"Forget it," Ortez said, shaking his head. "You cops just don't get it."

"How many tit-for-tat murders followed Whitmore's?" Castle asked him.

"Tit-for-tat?" Ortez repeated, looking at Castle in amusement. "I'm not admitting anything here, Richie Rich."

"Okay," Beckett said, taking over again. "What can you tell us about Ronald Anderson?"

"I've seen him around. Middle of three brothers, right? He the one who got shot?"

"How do you know him?"

"I don't."

"So, he's not a member of the Bullets?"

"Brooks been telling you that? You're going to believe a moron like him?"

"Are you saying he was involved with the Crosses?"

"Nah, he was just known in the hood."

"He had status?"

"Not in my books."

"Alright, no more questions," Beckett said with a nod, closing the file. She stood up and left the interrogation room with Castle hot on her tail.

"We're done with him?" Castle asked her after closing the door behind him.

"Well, if the vic has no connection to the Bullets or the Crosses, then I really doubt the gang angle," Beckett commented as they met up with Ryan and Esposito at their desks.

"But they've both heard of him," Castle remarked. "Maybe through his older brother."

"Maybe. We could check out that connection," Beckett agreed, then looked at the other two detectives. "Did you run Brooks' alibi?"

Ryan nodded. "Yeah, it checks out. The nightclub owner confirms he was there with his homies on Friday."

"Around what time did he arrive at the club?"

"Nine-ish," Esposito answered her. "Didn't leave until closing time."

Beckett sighed. "So, he's not our guy."

"Yeah, another dead end," Esposito agreed.

"Well, I guess we can't do anything now but wait for the fingerprint analysis of the Unit 9 windows tomorrow morning. Hopefully those results will give us new leads," Beckett said. "Alright, guys, let's call it a day and meet up at eight in the morning."

"We go home now?" Castle questioned, sounding somewhat disappointed, while Ryan and Esposito were already on their way out, obviously wanting to enjoy what was left of their weekend. He looked over at Beckett. "Wanna grab a bite to eat with me?"

"I don't think we've got anything to celebrate yet."

"Does that mean you'll have dinner with me as soon as we've solved this case and do have something to celebrate?"

Beckett studied him for a minute, deciding how to answer him. "Maybe."

"I'll take that maybe as a yes," Castle replied confidently. "And we will solve this, soon."

"I hope you're right," Beckett said, not sure herself if she meant that she hoped to solve the case, or if she hoped to solve the case and be taken out to dinner by Castle.

)()()()(

When Castle arrived home, he found the house empty. He knew his daughter was out with her boyfriend and, unsurprisingly, his mother had plans as well. He poured himself a glass of Châteauneuf-du-Papeand took the wine with him to his study. He sat down in the leather desk chair, extended his legs and propped them up on his desk. He grabbed his laptop and opened it on his lap. When all the programs had started up, he opened his latest piece of writing and stared at the screen for a moment. The day's events had given him enough inspiration to write, but his mind kept wandering back to the Anderson case. Naturally, the incentive that Beckett would let him take her out to dinner served as extra motivation to solve the case as quickly as possible.

"Thinking up creepy murder scenarios?" Alexis asked him with a grin as she walked into the study.

Not having heard anyone enter the loft and thus surprised by her presence, Castle sat up quickly and placed the laptop back on his desk. "Hi sweetheart."

"Hi," Alexis said as she walked up to him to give him a kiss on the cheek. "So, what's going on in that brilliant head of yours?"

"No creepy murder scenarios, if that's what you're hinting at," Castle answered. "Actually, yes, I was thinking about creepy murder scenarios, but of the real kind."

"Beckett's case? Can't solve it, huh?"

"Hey, have some trust in your old man, will you? It's solvable, we just haven't put all the pieces together yet."

"Alright, so why haven't you?"

"Well, all of the initial forensics seem contradictory. For instance, the victim left footprints all over the crime scene, yet his attacker did not. The GSR evidence…"

"The what now?"

"Gun shot residue."

"Alright. Go on."

"The GSR evidence and the horizontal line of fire imply that his attacker was standing close to him, but how could he have been inside the unit without leaving tracks himself?"

"That is weird," Alexis agreed with her father. "But how do you know that the footprints belong to the victim? Can't they be from the killer? Maybe the killer carried the victim inside?"

"They compared the victim's shoes with the footprints and they were a match."

"Then the killer must have worn the exact same shoes," Alexis concluded matter-of-factly.

Castle looked at his daughter for a moment, then got up and kissed her forehead. "Of course! That's not such a strange thought. It's definitely a possibility if they wear the same size. You are so smart."

Smiling, Alexis shrugged. "Mmm, I take after my father."

"Oh, you've got that right," Castle said with a grin.


Feedback is greatly appreciated!

NB: anyone find the nod to another great show?