The three Guardians quickly shrugged off the disorientation that came with teleportation, double-checking their surroundings to ensure their safety. It was only then that they noticed the man who let out a gasp when he finally turned to notice them. "Jesus," exclaimed Perlmutter, "I didn't see you guys there."
"That's because we weren't here a second ago," Lanie teased with a smile. "Got anything on Hightower?"
"You're lucky Hightower doesn't have any family in town to claim the body," Perlmutter countered. He picked up a manilla folder from the desk and handed it to his colleague. "I checked that substance you got from the Engebretsen crime scene against Hightower's head wound. It was a match."
Ryan and Esposito flanked Lanie, each looking over one of her shoulders at the file. "So the bird killed Hightower?" asked Ryan.
"Can't be sure of that," replied Lanie, her eyes never leaving the file. "All we know for sure is that there was a ghost around the head wound when Hightower died."
Ryan's participation in the conversation was cut short by his ringing cell phone. "Ryan," he greeted the caller. Putting a finger to his other ear, Ryan tried to identify the caller, "Beckett? Is that you?" Hearing nothing intelligible on the other end of the line, he hung up the phone in favor of more reliable communication. Beckett? Ryan projected through the mind-link, did you just try to call?
Yeah, sorry about that, Beckett replied, cell phone reception here is beyond terrible. Can you guys get back down here? The GM just gave permission to canvas the entire cast and crew about the accident.
Castle grabbing us, or do we have to go the old-fashioned way? asked Ryan.
Sorry, replied Beckett with a chuckle down the mind-link, you'll just have to take the scenic route and drive.
Funny, Ryan countered with just a hint of sarcasm as he closed down the link. Focusing his attention on the people in the room with him, he told them, "Bro, Beckett needs us to head back to Lincoln Center and interview the cast and crew."
"Are we looking for potential suspects or potential targets?" asked Esposito.
"Probably some of both," Ryan shrugged. "I'm just hoping no one's been possessed by our prime suspect..."
Two hours later, the four Guardians were collapsed on the red cushioned benches backstage. Ryan rested his head against the wall and closed his eyes. "Nothing," he breathed out in frustration. "We got nothing!"
"What we *have*," Castle chimed in, "is that no one in the *crew* saw or heard anything out of the ordinary until the machine started to lift the Rhinemaidens onstage. We haven't been able to talk to any of the cast yet."
"Most of the cast weren't anywhere near the scene except for the Rhinemaidens," said Beckett. "Esposito, any luck with the other two girls?"
Esposito shook his head. "Neither girl saw anything out of the ordinary, but by the time they were in their riggings they were off in their own little worlds. They barely noticed Alex was in trouble until the cable snapped and she screamed."
"So the only person left for us to talk to is Alex Korotkin," announced Ryan.
Beckett agreed. "We should get to the hospital..."
"...or you could talk to me right now." Alex Korotkin walked up to the group and introduced herself. "You're the cops that are investigating why my wire snapped?"
When Beckett nodded, Bryce asked, "But I thought that was an accident?"
"It might have been," Beckett told her, "but since this happened so close to Thomas Engebretsen's death, we have to suspect there might be a connection between the two incidents."
"*Especially* since I should be dead right now," Alex insisted to both women.
Castle was surprised by the woman's insistent declaration. "You sound very sure about that, Ms. Korotkin?"
"Well, when the fifth doctor starts calling you a walking miracle you start to understand how close you came to death," Alex joked. A nervous edge suddenly entered the woman's voice as she continued, "That, and..."
"And what, Alex?" asked Beckett.
Alex shifted her weight between her feet, suddenly unable to look the detectives in the eye. Finally, a look of peace settled on the woman, and she focused her eyes back on the group once again. "I saw a sirin, detective. That's how I was so sure I was about to die."
Beckett's eyes widened with recognition as the other three Guardians frowned in confusion. "What's a sirin?"
"An old Russian legend," explained Beckett. "They were kinda like the Greek sirens: singers whose beautiful music compelled men to follow them to their deaths."
"But that's not what the sirin was doing when I saw it," Alex picked up the explanation.
"What was it doing?" asked Beckett.
Alex swallowed a dry lump in her throat before answering. "It was chewing on my wire, detective. That's why I fell."
Bryce moved in, prepared to offer an explanation for her girlfriend's outlandish story. What she wasn't prepared for was Beckett's total acceptance of Alex's story. "Castle, Ryan, go get scrapings from that wire," she ordered them, "we'll need to compare that to the other crime scenes."
"On it," the two men replied as they headed back to the stage.
Bryce gawked at the two women in disbelief. "You seem pretty sure she's telling the truth, detective."
"Surprised?" asked Beckett.
Bryce nodded. "You don't seem like the X-Files type."
"I'm more inclined to keep an open mind than you'd think," countered Beckett.
Alex noticed something else in what Beckett said...and what she didn't say. "You are familiar with the legend of the sirin, detective?"
Beckett nodded. "We also talked to Stephanie Frederickson. Actually...she did say that you've seen the sirin before tonight?"
"I saw Stephanie's ghost," Alex clarified before she completely processed Beckett's statement. "Wait, Stephanie's seen a sirin?" Beckett nodded again. "More than once?"
Beckett frowned at Alex's second question. "Is that important?"
"The sirin sings a song that leads people to their deaths," replied Alex. "So if Stephanie keeps seeing the sirin, then the bird..."
Beckett completed the thought "...is just singing a longer, more complicated song. But Stephanie is still the sirin's target." Alex nodded in agreement.
Bryce listened to the conversation between Alex and Beckett with a growing sense of fear. "Alex," she finally asked in a trembling whisper, "if you see this...this sirin thing, it means you're going to die, right?"
"Yeah?" asked Alex.
"Wha...what does the sirin look like?"
Beckett had a hunch she knew what was causing Bryce's racing heartbeat and rapidly paling skin. "It has the head of a woman and the body of an owl. Why?"
Bryce sounded like she was trying desperately to hold onto her last shreds of hope. "Because I saw one. Three nights ago."
Beckett popped open a dry-erase marker, carefully writing down any information they had gotten from the accident at Lincoln Center and subsequent interviews. She double-checked her work to make sure that there was no mention of ghosts, sirins, wizards, or her old training partner in the public copy of her notes. The detective stared at the murder board as if willing more useful information to appear before her. She felt the presence of her teammates before she ever saw them. Anything I'm missing that's 'safe' information for us to put on the board? she asked the group through Ryan's mind-link.
You mean stuff that wouldn't have Karpowski labeling us as crazy? Esposito teased before studying the board for himself. Perlmutter connected Hightower's drowning to Engebretsen's crime scene.
Beckett added as much of Hightower's information to the board as she could. How'd he make the connection? she asked.
Ectoplasm, replied Esposito. There was some on Hightower's head wound that was a match to the stuff you scraped off the theater wall.
So the sirin was at the fountain when Hightower died, Beckett commented through the mind-link, do you think the bird killed him?
If you had asked me back at the morgue, Ryan replied while sipping his coffee, I would have said we didn't have enough evidence to say that conclusively. But after hearing Alex accuse the bird of chewing through her wire...
Beckett nodded. Yeah, my money's on the sirin now, too...
Still, chimed in Castle, that doesn't explain Engebretsen's death, from what you told me. The sirin could never have held that spear, let alone rammed it through his throat like that.
Not to mention that Lanie said the spear didn't have any ectoplasm on it, chimed in Esposito.
Beckett continued to study the board, looking for the odd socks. The spear's a weak link here, she mused. Hightower's death and the attack on Alex were made to look like accidents. Engebretsen's death was clearly set up to look like a homicide.
So why him? asked Castle.
"Maybe we're looking at the wrong group of enemies," Beckett told the group out loud. "We've been focused on the company's enemies. Maybe Engebretsen just got somebody mad enough to kill him and his death is unrelated to the other two cases. Either way, we need to get a closer look at Engebretsen's life and *especially* any possible enemies, especially-from what I understand-his exes. Ryan, can you work on that?"
"No problem," said Ryan.
Can you check out the spear from Forensics to look at it tonight? Castle asked his partner.
I should be able to, replied Beckett, why?
The spear wasn't completely clean, even if it was free of ectoplasm. You said you felt residual magic energy when you touched the spear.
Beckett nodded. You think you might be able to trace that magic back to the wizard who used it?
Worth a shot, Castle shrugged. I'll call Alexis, see if she's free to help us work on this.
Esposito took a call on his office line while Castle was on the phone. The group conversation resumed when both men's conversations ended. "That was forensics," Esposito announced to the group. "They got back the prints on the letter. One set of the prints belonged to Vanderkellen, one set isn't in the system..."
Beckett pushed when her fellow detective hesitated on the third set. "And?"
And the third set they said was impossible to identify as human.
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