A/N - Hey all you wonderful readers,
This started out being the final chapter, but in order to maintain the integrity of the story, I needed to extend a couple of scenes. The last chapter should be posted tonight. Thanks for your patience.
Thanks for reviewing and sticking with me.
Please enjoy.
~GeekMom
The Mysteries of Crystal Cove
Chapter 7
Glowing, Glowing, Gone!
"Yo, Castle," a cheery Esposito called as he and Lanie came out of their room. Rick and Kate had only just emerged from their own room down the hall. "Thanks for the room, man. How'd you sleep?"
"Very well, thanks," he smiled and then grimaced, "except the room is green. Not as bad as the McAllister place, but what is it with the green?" Kate caught up with Lanie by the stairs as Castle locked the door.
Espo met Castle by his room door, smiled and lowered his voice. "I can honestly say I didn't pay attention to the color of the walls, man. The bed is sinfully comfortable, though and firm." He elbowed the writer in the ribs and winked. "I only had eyes for that beautiful…"
Castle blinked. Lanie's voice cut between them as swiftly and as smoothly as a guillotine cuts between a body and a head. "Javier Esposito! I know you are not talking about our sex life with Richard Castle." Both Lanie and Kate stood at the top of the staircase, some twenty feet away. Both women had their arms crossed over their chests. Lanie was tapping her toe.
"No," he shook his head vigorously. "Now why would you even think that? We were just greeting each other…as friends do in the morning." He elbowed Rick again. Both men plastered their best innocent expressions on their faces. Neither was convincing.
"Nope, no sex talks," Castle shouted to Lanie. He glared at Esposito. "You owe me, big," he said under his breath. He smiled and joined the ladies. "Morning Lanie."
"Uh huh," she sassed as she exchanged a glance with Kate. Rick smiled his best, 'I'm-seriously-not-up-to-anything smile'. Kate rolled her eyes. It amused him. He knew full well that the two friends shared 'notes'. He wondered briefly if he had earned all A's in Kate's grade book last night. Then he smiled carnally: yeah, he knew he had. He covertly fist bumped Esposito as they headed down the steps.
Ryan and Jenny were already seated in the dining room, sipping coffee and gazing lovingly at each other.
"Look at them," Kate said, admiring their devotion. "You'd think they were still newlyweds. It's just…"
At that moment, the Ryan's wound their arms together and drank each other's coffee.
"Nauseating," Espo finished earning a high five from a smirking Castle and simultaneous glares for the both of them from Lanie and Kate. The ladies walked away and the men repeated their ritual fist bumping, grinning wildly.
As the group approached the table, Ryan, always minding his manners, stood and shook hands with his partners.
Castle, eyes still twinkling, asked, "Hey guys. Sleep okay?"
"A – Okay," said Jenny quietly.
Castle smirked as he glanced at Ryan, who bordered on looking embarrassed, and Esposito who grinned proudly and shamelessly. As much as he and his bros were admonished for their locker room humor, the women in their lives played the sport too, only theirs was a much more clandestine affair. He wasn't sure if it was wiser to be straightforward in the debauchery or to furtively conceal it in subtext and nuanced meanings. He guessed it had to do with whom you were playing the game.
He held the seat for Kate, which prompted Espo to jump back up and pull out the chair for Lanie. Kate murmured a thank you to Castle and lovingly caressed his hand, but Lanie's derisive, 'Mm hmm' was the only appreciation Javi heard. Castle gave him an apologetic and sympathetic smile.
"Hey guys," Ryan continued the morning greetings and the group began a pleasant conversation as their breakfast was served.
"Castle?"
Rick had been vaguely aware of the conversation. He kept checking his watch and then the doorway. It was nearly eight-thirty. Sighing he asked, "Sorry Ryan, what did you say?"
Concerned, Esposito cut in, "What's up, bro?"
"Oh, that's right. Castle's waiting for that waitress from last night, right?" Lanie guessed.
"Yeah, she seemed very eager and truthful about having information to share, but she agreed to meet us at eight," Kate said.
"I've got a bad feeling." Castle scowled, wiped his mouth and stood up suddenly. "I'm going over to the restaurant. I'm hoping she got called in." Castle's brain had been spinning scenarios since five after eight and each one got worse and darker than the previous. He finally couldn't wait any longer and had to find out where she was. After all, he was the reason she said anything to him last night. He had to spin the story in public. He silently berated himself. It stroked his ego to watch people become enthralled with his words and he knew it. He'd been selfish in speaking where others could hear him.
Kate caught his eye and instantly he knew that she knew what he'd been thinking. She tilted her head and grabbed her jacket from the back of her chair. "I'm coming with you."
They walked down the street and turned the corner. "Ah, shit," Castle cursed. He recognized the scene as they strode to the restaurant: the yellow tape cordoning off an area at the back of the restaurant, patrol cars parked haphazardly along the street halting traffic and gawkers, cops, well in this case, deputies maintaining the integrity of a crime scene. "It's her."
"Castle, you can't possibly know that."
"No," he shook his head, "I know it." He indicated the alley with a broad sweep of his hand. "What else would keep her? Damn it." He cautiously approached the taped off area and craned his neck into the alley.
"You folks can't be here. Move along." He looked back to the face of a deputy who couldn't have been more than twenty-five.
"I'm Detective Kate Beckett, NYPD." She flashed her badge. "Please tell Sheriff Carter that we may have information about this crime."
"But how…" The young deputy sputtered.
Kate smiled kindly, almost maternally, at the young deputy. "Please let the sheriff know we're here."
Castle smiled as he watched the kid make his way into the alleyway. He crept up until he was standing behind Kate. "You're amazing," he whispered into her ear as he wrapped his arms around her. She smiled just as Carter emerged from the alley.
"Mr. Castle, Detective? What's this about? How do you know the victim?"
Castle exhaled as he came around Kate and extended a hand to the sheriff. "Actually Ethan, we were assuming based on indications. Is the victim Carrie? The waitress who worked here?"
"Yeah, that's her, Carrie...um," he checked his notebook, "White."
"Seriously?" Castle asked.
Carter nodded apparently unaware of the literary reference and then gave them his cliff notes. "Carrie White, 20, a waitress working her way through night school. According to her roommate, Jamie Crouse, Carrie was an only child. Jamie called in the initial missing person report at six this morning. Anyway, she said Carrie's parents had brought her up but as soon as she had moved in with Jamie for college, they sold their house and moved to Nevada. Jamie said she had been Carrie's roommate for three years and yet the young woman had not seen her parents in all of that time."
Castle thought about Alexis and how foreign the parents' behavior was to him, in that he would never have deliberately gone for three days without seeing her, let alone three years. The girl's life home life was heartbreaking, he thought.
Carter continued, "She woke this morning and Carrie wasn't home and hadn't been home."
"Could she have had a date or rendezvous?" Beckett asked.
"Yeah, my first thought too, but unlikely according to the roommate. Came here to check on her whereabouts and found evidence that she may have been taken against her will." Narrowing his eyes, Carter asked, "How do you know her?"
"I…" Castle began and dropped his gaze to the pavement. "I didn't…really. She was our waitress last night at dinner. She…" Castle let his words drift feeling the culpability crash down on him again.
Beckett continued for him. "She heard Rick telling the story of the McAllister's and their plight. She told Rick that she had information about the murders. She was supposed to meet us this morning."
"What happened?" Castle asked.
"Terrible, really," Carter said. "Seems she got off her shift at midnight and that's the last anyone has seen of her. Evidence suggests that someone dragged her into the alley. It looks like she put up a fight though." Carter looked up and down the street past them. He exhaled slowly as if he was mulling over a decision. "I could use some help, detective, if you wouldn't mind. I know you're on vacation, so feel free to refuse." He lifted the tape enticingly.
Beckett surveyed Castle: the possibility of helping to find the young women seemed to considerably lift his mood. He wore the expression of a kid waiting for his mom to say it was okay to go play. Beckett scowled at her own analogy. "Okay, but we can't stay longer than we planned," she said, again frowning at herself; she sounded too like a mom. They'd stay, in addition to Ryan's abduction; it appeared that as soon as Carrie was going to talk to them, she was taken also. They had to be connected.
"Understood," he said, nodding and his eyes alight. He was already under the tape.
The crime scene was not unlike dozens of others they had both investigated. A young woman attacked in a back alley or deserted street, however unlike their usual crime scenes, there was no body. Beckett and Castle held onto the hope that Carrie was abducted just like Ryan had been.
Items that had been identified as belonging to the victim were strewn across the alley. There were also indications of a struggle. Having turned serious and remarkably professional, Castle bent down to examine a marked piece of evidence. "Shit," he said and Beckett saw the remorse wash over his face. It turned out to be the scrap of paper that Castle had scribbled his phone number on and given to Carrie the previous evening. "Kate," Castle said as they walked out of the alley, "I want to find her."
"I know," replied his partner.
"Who's this?" Castle asked Carter as he leaned over to let the dog sniff his hand.
Carter glanced at the animal and remarked, "Just a neighborhood dog."
Castle looked around. The dog was sitting, like he was waiting for someone or like he was ready to help. "Hmm," he mused, "who does he belong to?"
Carter looked up from his notebook. "He's not the vic's: roommate says they didn't have a dog, let alone a big freaking Great Dane."
Castle gave the pooch a rub behind his ears before walking away. "I've heard they're smart dogs."
"Castle, we are not picking up strays." Beckett said, but she stretched behind him and scratched the dog's head on her way past.
"I saw that," Castle said, grinning and grabbing her hand. "Come on, we've got a mystery to solve."
Kate called the others on their way back to the inn and explained the new developments. They met at Castle's truck and decided to return to McAllister's Bluff to investigate the house and field. They called Carter to keep him in the loop. He agreed to meet them there.
"Do you think they have that poor girl in the same place they kept Kevin?" Jenny's voice broke the silence.
Esposito answered. "Probably not. Well, not in the same room anyway. Castle and I did a number on that door." Castle met Espo's eyes in the rearview in a silent 'feed the birds' moment.
"What's the motive for taking her?"
"I've been thinking about that," Castle said. "Carrie has been working there for over two years; all the locals know her. Last night she confessed to me that she knows something about what's going on up here. Someone overheard that confession and kept her from talking to me."
"So, someone who was in the restaurant?" Ryan asked.
"Yeah."
"Do you remember anyone close by?"
He shook his head. "No, and I thought it was kind of comical; the way she kept checking for eavesdroppers. It was very cloak and dagger. I guess she was right to be paranoid." He glanced at Kate. "I only hope…"
She reached for his hand and squeezed. "I know, babe. We'll find her."
Carter met them at the McAllister house. "Got some CC footage and ID'ed a vehicle," he said as he jumped out of the cruiser. He pulled a file folder from his front seat and opened it on his hood. He indicated a grainy black and white photo of the alley where a figure in a ski mask was placing Carrie White in a pickup truck.
"Did you get plates?" Ryan asked, squinting at the poor photo.
"No, but I think I know whose truck that is."
"Whose?" The question was asked simultaneously from the six friends.
"Whoa," Carter said, slightly taken aback. "I think it belongs to Buzby. You never see the driver, but I'd stake my career that that is his truck."
Castle scowled. "Why would he kidnap her? How is he involved with this?"
"Your guess is as good as mine, but Carrie, his truck and Buzby are all missing."
"What's his background, sheriff?"
"He grew up here. Passed the deputy test, been with the department for about ten years. He's lazy; like he doesn't care if he keeps his job or not. Pisses me off most of the time."
"Sounds like a great cop," Ryan said sarcastically.
"I'm glad I don't have to count on him to have my back." Espo held out his flattened hand for his brothers; Castle placed his on top of Espo's. Ryan hocked up a loogie and held up his palm to his mouth.
Esposito shook his head. "Na, na, nah…"
"No, um…no, Ryan? We don't…really need to seal it, do we?" Castle explained as he smiled kindly.
Ryan swallowed. "Yeah, all right." He wiped his hand on his jeans and then slapped his palm on top of Castle's.
As Carter watched the exchange, a variety of emotions clouded his face: disgust, regret, envy, and finally longing. "Um…yeah, well I…I couldn't tell you before because he was around, but there have been strange sightings up here."
"Strange? Like what?"
"Like the glow and other things."
"What other things?"
"Some folk who have been up here say there's…"
"There's what?"
"It's just what people say. I haven't ever seen it, myself, but the people who have…well, I would trust them. You'll listen?"
He received nods from all six. "There's a…" He closed his eyes and willed himself to continue, "A creature that scares people away."
Castle clapped his hands together excitedly and held them clasped in front of his mouth. "A creature?"
"Yeah, they say he or I guess, it, glows just like the crater. I've never seen him, but others have and they weren't some doped up hippy college freaks. We're talking upstanding members of the community. They say the glow creature is responsible for the murder."
Beckett clarified, "That would be Robert Dale's murder; thirty years ago?"
"That's a long time for a creature to live," Lanie remarked though wearing her skeptical mien.
"But, not a man," Jenny added.
"It's just what they say. I've grown up with the all the ghost stories; it comes with being born in Crystal Cove, but we don't usually share that one with outsiders."
"I can't imagine why," Beckett said as she narrowed her eyes at Castle. He automatically looked behind him and then, looking back at her, pointed at his own chest as he mouthed the word, "Me?"
Esposito agreed with Beckett. "Yeah, dude; it doesn't sound nuts at all."
Ryan spun around to face Castle. "Hey Castle, it's kind of like one of your theories."
Castle grimaced: a glow creature, really? He would have said aliens or a CIA conspiracy, maybe CIA weather balloons to discover aliens. "Where does this glow creature hang out?" He asked.
"Up here. Around the house and the field."
"Hmm," Castle pondered. "Why would Enid send us up here if this was such a volatile place?"
"Enid?"
"Enid McAllister. She gave me the directions and key after our reservations were lost at Dale's. Someone was pulling a prank and gave his name as Robert when he took my reservations. I found out later that that was the name of the dead brother." He shook his head. "Very funny joke, by the way."
"Well Robert is dead, but…so is Enid McAllister."
