A Different Shade of Pale

Chapter 4

As daylight approached, Beckett could see Castle's body begin to sag. "Castle, why don't you sleep in my room while I'm at the precinct? The bedroom has fewer windows than the living area and the bed's more comfortable than the couch."

Castle's eyebrows rose. "You're sure you want me in your bed?"

Beckett rolled her eyes. "Unless you'd rather I found you a coffin. It's not like I'm going to be there with you. Get some rest and I'll take you to the hospital when I get back. I can fill you in on the case while they top off your tank."

"Sounds like you've got the whole thing worked out with archetypal Beckett efficiency." Castle bent forward with a dramatic sweep of his arm. "I bow to your faultless grasp of logistics."

Beckett rapped her knuckles lightly against his bicep and headed for the door. "I'll see you later."

Castle was beginning to wish for the safety of a closed casket. The drapes in Kate's bedroom were better designed for decoration than obscuring light. He struggled to make make the fabric overlap the window frames as the first streaks of vermilion began to paint the sky. Climbing into Kate's bed he decided he could forget the coffin. Her essence clung to every thread of the linens. He pulled the Beckett-scented sheet over his head, and covered himself as best could without smothering, with her heirloom quilt. Kate surrounded him even in her absence and he drifted into Beckett-laced dreams.

"How's your new-fangy roommate doing?" Ryan inquired as Beckett arrived in the bullpen.

"Oh you know. Up all night, craving blood, typical vampire stuff."

Ryan's jaw dropped as Kate's laughter escaped from behind her hand.

"Ryan, he's not a vampire and he's doing all right. But he is convinced that Janice Freeman murdered her son, and there is a chance he might be on to something. I want you to dig into the background of the Freeman family. If there's anything hinky, I want to know about it."

"On it," Ryan acknowledged.

Esposito strolled in from the break room, his mouth still busy on the last of his morning doughnut. Kate smiled as he swiped the sugar and cinnamon from his lips. "Espo, I need you to check with ballistics about the bullet that killed Jonas Westfall."

"Already on it. I also have a call in to the Jersey State Troopers about the woman that's in Jonas Westfall's papers."

Stowing her bag and hanging her jacket on the back of her chair, Beckett headed to the break room for her second jolt of caffeine. She ran her fingers lightly over the metal of Castle's Espresso machine, which had become as much a fixture in homicide as the murder board. By the time she finished struggling to produce what Castle crafted with such ease, Esposito was calling from the doorway. "Beckett, the woman in the drawing, she was shot with a nine millimeter, like Jonas. I asked the Jersey boys to send the ballistics for comparison."

Beckett hunched over her desk paging through Morgan Lockerby's psych file. He'd had a normal childhood growing up and attending school just south of Harlem. His parents had not been wealthy, nor had they been impoverished. He'd been a good enough student in a public high school to avail himself of City College. That had led to a mid-level job in the financial district. The onset of his illness had been sudden and devastating, with no prior reports from family, friends, or his employer, of odd behavior. Found homeless and wandering by police, he had been evaluated at Bellevue before being committed to a state institution. Since his escape several years before, he had disappeared into the sanguinarian culture until his arrest for Matthew Freeman's murder. "Poor man," she murmured, a shudder running through her at the thought of Castle meeting a similar fate. It wouldn't happen, not on her watch.

Ryan approached, file in hand. "Beckett, hinky you want, hinky you've got. Alan Freeman was not always Alan Freeman. His original name was Alan McGinty. When he married Janice Freeman he took her name."

"That's unusual, but not incriminating," Beckett offered.

"Oh, but there's more," Ryan continued. "Alan McGinty was married before, to Elizabeth McGinty, neé Elizabeth Dryden. They had a son, Matthew McGinty. She disappeared when Matthew was two. Janice Freeman was his nanny." He held up a photograph. "This is Elizabeth McGinty. Look familiar?"

"That's the woman in Matthew's drawings. Hey Espo, I need to see something in Jonas Westfall's papers and..." Beckett opened a portfolio of Matthews drawings Ryan had obtained from the design school he'd attended. She searched for a photograph in the file Esposito handed her and compared it to a drawing in the portfolio. "Look, the same tree is in both pictures."

"Matthew could have drawn that from Jonas' file, Esposito suggested.

Beckett turned the drawing over, indicating the date. "This was drawn four years ago. Matthew hadn't even met Jonas. He had to have witnessed the murder. Wait a minute. Elizabeth Dryden? That was the name on the marker Castle showed me in the cemetery near near Matthew's body. The woman Matthew had been drawing from his dreams was his real mother and as a two year old, he saw her killed. The trauma etched her memory into his mind, even if he didn't know who she was. All this time the Freemans had been lying to him. Jonas helped him figure it out. Matthew must have confronted his family with the truth, and he and Jonas died for it."

"Yeah, but how are you going to prove it?" Ryan asked.

Esposito, checked the screen of his phone as it beeped with a text. "I think we've had some help with that. The bullet from New Jersey and the bullet from Jonas Westfall's body, they match."

"Maybe we'll catch a break and the gun will still be at the Freeman's home," Beckett hoped. "I'll get a warrant."

The sun had just fallen below the horizon when Beckett gazed down at the Castle sized lump under her Nona's lovingly wrought patchwork. She pulled back the fabric that covered the face, smiling in sleep, and lightly brushed his neck with her fingertips. "Rise and shine, Castle."

As his lashes lifted, the smile remained. "Kate, hi."

"Move it Castle, You're supposed to be at the hospital in forty-five minutes."

Castle grabbed her hand as she turned to leave the room. "Did you solve the case? Was it Janice Freeman?"

"You were right, Castle. She was the spotted blond. I'll tell you the details later. Just get ready to go."

Castle released her hand, sitting up as she left. A thought hit him like a punch to the gut. What if he'd drooled in his sleep? It didn't happen often, usually only if he was drunk. But what if he did and Kate slept on the pillow? He carefully examined the pillowcase and breathed a sigh of relief. It was bone dry with no telltale blotches. Castle stripped for a quick shower. He ran a hand over his face. There should have been a stubble, but there was none. His beard wasn't growing. He wondered if his hair and nails were. Some of the vampires in the movies had pretty impressive claws, but then some of them also sparkled or turned into bats. He was doing neither. An author's imagination had yet to portray his particular brand of bloodsucker. Maybe that would be his next book: Undead Heat. He had a reflection, but he seemed almost translucently pale. He needed blood.

"So her fingerprints were on the gun that killed both Jonas Westfall and Elizabeth McGinty?" Castle asked as the last of a pint of blood flowed into his arm.

"Uh huh," Kate nodded. "Turns out she was in love with Alan Freeman and wanted him all to herself. Alan had no idea Janice had killed his wife. When she suggested lying to Matthew about who his mother was, Alan thought she was protecting his son. She was really protecting herself."

Castle shook his head as the nurse detached the IV and stuck adhesive tape over the cotton she pressed against his arm. "Sad story. It must be devastating to have lost a son and two wives."

"It is sad," Beckett agreed, "but he and Rosie have each other and they're holding on tight. I think they'll make it. Alan said he's going to make sure Everlasting Blood, Matthew's graphic novel, is published as a memorial to both Matthew and Jonas. Some of the profits will go to help Morgan Lockerby as well."

Castle flexed his arm and nodded his thanks to the nurse. "Can we get out of here before all the decent pumpkins are gone?"

"I don't know Castle," Kate replied, pulling out her car keys, "The way you ogled the slutty nurse costume, the pumpkin I picture you carving would be indecent, probably 'R' rated."

"Beckett give me some credit," Castle protested. "If I do indecent, it will definitely rate at least an 'X.'"