Still searching for the murderer...
Characters... not mine :) Well some are, but I'm sure you know that.
Chapter 12
The pair walked back into the precinct knowing that Gates was going to be unhappy with them continuing on the case after she told them to go home and rest.
They briefly spoke to Ryan and Esposito and handed them the necklace they had found, and asked them to send a team to the hotel room. They had advised Hayley not to let anyone in that room before the guys had been there. Hayley agreed she would do her best to keep people out, she didn't see why anyone would need to use the room, but the security system logs all entrances so they would know if someone has gone in or not.
Castle saw Gates waiting at her office door, watching him and Beckett. "Beckett, I think Gates is waiting for us," he said.
They entered her office and waited for her to explode.
"I'm not even going to ask what you think two are doing, I'm just going to tell you to go home. If I see you back here again today, I will suspend you! And Castle, you don't even work here, so I can easily get rid of you!" she said.
"Sir," started Beckett. She wasn't sure she would be able to say much but it was worth a try. "Castle has just found a lead, and may have discovered who the killer is. We found the necklace at the hotel and have just asked Esposito to send a team out to do a full sweep of the hotel room it was found in. Mr Martiloni, the hotel manager, and Mark Holt had gotten into an argument this morning. We think Mark has Mr Martiloni and he may kill again!"
Gates' face had changed from a frown to general interest.
"And how do you know for sure."
"We don't," said Castle.
"Castle! Let me do the talking," Beckett said. "Well, we don't know for sure, but we can't wait for another murder before following this one."
Gates had been distracted by something in the bullpen.
"Well, it seems it might be easier than you thought. Mark is out there right now."
"What?" Castle turned around, and sure enough Mark was coming out of the elevator.
Beckett and Castle quickly left the office and took Mark into the interrogation room again.
The three of them sat down. It was obvious to Beckett and Castle that Mark had recently been involved in some sort of fight. He had a black eye and a gash just above it. His lip was also quite swollen.
"Mr Holt. Why are you here and what have you been up to?"
"I have information, about Montana," he said.
Beckett wasn't sure whether she should just let him talk, or if she should be asking him the questions. She decided she would listen to what he had to say first. He obviously had not been beaten for no reason.
Mark told his story. "I went to the hotel this morning. I was upset, I wanted to know what happened to Montana, and I knew someone there had to know something. The girl at the reception desk wouldn't help me and then the manager came out. He took me outside and told me to leave. I told him I wouldn't leave until I had some answers."
"We need the information about Montana, Mark"
"Yes, yes, I'm getting there!" he said. "It turns out that Mr hotel manager had been having an affair with Montana, which I refuse to believe. There is no way she would go for someone like that! He's…"
"Mr Holt. We don't need your personal opinion," Beckett interrupted again.
"Sorry… He and Montana had been seeing each other, he told me she never loved me. When I asked him about the necklace, he said he had no idea what I was talking about. But I knew by the look on his face, he knew exactly what necklace it was. The next thing you know, he had thrown a few punches, I was down on the ground and he had run off."
"You're telling me the well dressed, tall, slim man, actually beat you in a fist fight?" asked Beckett.
Castle was holding back the laughter.
"Yes, he caught me off guard!" said Mark.
"And where is Mr Martiloni now?" asked Castle, regaining composure.
"I don't know, by the time I had gotten up and followed him, he had disappeared around the corner and I lost him. I've been walking the streets looking for him, but when I couldn't find him, I came straight here."
"Stay here Mr Holt," Beckett said and pulled Castle out of the room.
"Do you think he's telling the truth Beckett?" asked Castle.
"If you were telling a story about yourself, would you admit to being beaten by someone like Mr Martiloni?"
"No"
"Well, I think maybe he's telling the truth, and our killer is now on the run. We need to find him before he finds us. After talking to Marks friend Jen, who may have been the one person to see Mr Martiloni with Montana, we were given a list of people who had been at the hotel in the past 2 weeks, who could have been further witnesses to his affair. He wouldn't want us getting any more information. It was probably him who followed us and ran us off the road trying to scare us away from the case. But what was Mr Martiloni's motive for murder?"
"That's an easy one, Beckett!" said Castle. "Jealousy! He noticed Mark hanging around the hotel, found out that he was asking questions about Montana, put two and two together and thought that Montana was seeing Mark behind his back."
"And the whole time, he was cheating on his wife. Seems kind of hypocritical doesn't it?"
"Yes it does!" Castle said.
"Ok. We've got to let Mark go, and then find Mr Martiloni. Hopefully the boys will be back with some more evidence from the hotel room soon."
They went back into the interrogation room and told Mark he was free to go, again. They told him to leave the detective work to the detectives. Then they had to try and track down Mr Martiloni.
After a few hours, Castle and Beckett had tried everything. Mr Martiloni had disappeared. They had gone past his house, his workplace, they had driven the city streets looking for him. He was nowhere to be seen. His phone had been dumped in a gutter not far from the hotel, and he had not used any of his credit cards since the morning. He was untraceable, and he could have been anywhere by now. They put out an APB on him, and all they could do was wait. They hoped that he would eventually use his credit card, or contact his wife. They would get him but for now they had to focus on setting up the case around him. Finding him was one thing, proving he was guilty was another.
The boys had come back from the hotel. The sweep had found an unusual amount of saliva on one of the pillows from the room, so they had sent it off for testing. If it matched with Montana, it was possible they had found how she was suffocated.
They had found lots of prints in the room as expected, so they weren't sure they could get a lot from them. However, if Montana's prints were among them, it would at least confirm further that she had been in that room.
Esposito had also confirmed with the hotel security logs that the only key used to enter that room from Monday until Castle and Beckett went in was the one issued to Mr Martiloni and it had not been entered since Monday afternoon. If everything matched how they expected it to, it wouldn't be long before they could close the case. The easiest way to do that would be with a confession from Mr Martiloni himself, but they had to find him first.
When they realised there was nothing further they could do, they decided they would go home and get some rest. It had been a big day for them, and they were still recovering from the accident the day before. Both Beckett and Castle were surprised that they weren't feeling more sore. It must have been the adrenalin and the excitement of the case that had kept them from feeling any pain.
Castle waited as Beckett collected her things from her desk, and tidied her area. Her car was still in the garage for repairs and with his arm in a cast, he was unable to drive himself and his Ferrari home, so they had decided Beckett would drive him home and then catch a cab back to her place.
They rode the elevator down to the car park together and Castle walked slightly in front of Beckett so that he could open her door for her. The least he could do was be a gentleman after all that she had done for him.
As they were driving home Beckett turned to Castle and admitted something that she never thought she would admit to him.
"Castle," she said.
"Yes Beckett"
"I'm kinda scared."
What Kate Beckett scared? Castle was shocked by this statement. He had come to believe that nothing could ever scare Kate Beckett.
"What are you afraid of?" he said.
"Being alone. Tonight."
Castle could hear the fear in her voice, she really was scared.
"Hey," he turned briefly to look at her, "you don't need to be scared. What exactly is it?"
"Well," she said. "This killer is on the run, we have absolutely no idea where he is, and he's already tried to kill us by running us off the road once. What if this time he tries something different? I just don't think it's safe to be alone tonight."
"You don't need to be alone. We have a spare room, you can come stay with me at the loft."
"Are you sure? I don't want to intrude. Alexis and your mother won't mind?"
"No, they will understand Kate. They will love the idea," he said and he rested his hand on her knee gently stroking it with his thumb.
He knew exactly how to make her feel safe. She loved that about him.
"Thank you," she said, smiling at him.
Castle smiled back and she could see the love and care that he had for her right there in his eyes.
They stopped into Beckett's place to pick up a few things, and then continued on the trip back to Castle's loft.
When they arrived, Castle helped Beckett out of the car with her things.
She reached out for his hand and stopped him before he got to the entrance, forcing him to turn to face her. She was staring at the floor.
He lifted his casted hand and placed his fingers under her chin, lifting her face to look at him.
"What's wrong? Is there something you're not saying?"
"No, no, I just want to make sure you are definitely okay with this. I could call my dad, I'm sure I can stay with him."
"Don't be ridiculous," he said smiling down at her. "You're here now, and I'm glad that you are."
"Ok," she said, looking into his eyes she could see he meant it. He was glad she was there.
"Beckett, promise me, you'll have fun and you'll stop worrying."
"Ok, I promise," she said, starting to feel the worry go from her mind and starting to smile.
He's done it again, he's taken away her worry and replaced it with a smile.
"And Kate, thank you for looking out for me."
"What do you mean?" she said, feeling confused.
"When Gates was threatening to get rid of me today, you stuck up for me, you said I may have discovered who the killer was. You didn't say we, you know that it was more you than me, but you also know that she would have no trouble throwing me out if she wanted to. I'm sure it's not the last time either. So, thank you for looking out for me."
"Always," she said softly with a smile.
Realising she still had a hold of his hand, she let go.
"Now lets get inside before we freeze out here." She said pushing her way through.
Castle followed. It was just like her to break the moment before it became too much for her handle.
