Ian 2

Chapter 12

Ryan's eyebrows rose as Kate's voice came through the phone. "Beckett, are you kidding me? You're about to have a baby, and you're calling to ask about a case?"

"That's just it, Ryan. I'm not about to have a baby, I'm waiting to have a baby, and I need something else to concentrate on. So, do you have a body or not?"

"Just a minute Beckett. Javi's coming over, and I'm gonna put you on speaker." Ryan turned to Esposito. "Beckett wants to know about the case."

Esposito's face screwed up as if he'd found a roach in the middle of his jelly donut. "Beckett, just pop out the kid."

"I will, Espo," Kate insisted, "but tell me about your damn case - unless you and Ryan are just sitting around seeing who can make the best paper airplanes."

"It's me," Esposito declared, "hands down. But we do have a body. Seventeen-year-old female, name of Darcy Williams. She had ID's for Bronx High School of the Visual Arts and for the pre-college program of the School of Visual Arts. Hey, doesn't Ian go to that?"

"He does," Kate confirmed.

"I think he knows her," Castle interjected. "He's mentioned a Darcy. Blond, thin, maybe with black ink stains on her fingers."

"That's her, Castle," Ryan agreed. "How did you figure the ink stains?"

"Ian told me she's very good at lettering. She's done some for him and some of the other students at SVU. She'd use India ink. It doesn't wash off."

"She had a few yellow and red stains on her fingers too, but those were the only marks on the body," Esposito added. "Lanie doesn't know what killed Darcy. She said there were signs of kidney failure, but she won't know anything else until she finishes the autopsy and the lab runs all her tests. Darcy was found in her parents' apartment. They went to the Hamptons for the weekend. From what the neighbors said, they were gone a lot. Water was dripping from the ceiling of the apartment downstairs, and when the super went in to check out the problem, he found the bathtub overflowing and Darcy dead. So, he called the cops."

"There's no surveillance video in the building except for the lobby," Ryan put in, "But the neighbors didn't see anyone near the Williams' apartment. There might not even be a case, Beckett. It could just be a tragic death from natural causes."

"But if the girl was sick, why would her parents leave her alone all the time?" Castle wondered. "That doesn't make sense. There's got to be more to it."

"Well so far, that's all we've got," Ryan replied. "Hey, keep us updated on the baby."

"Will do," Castle promised.

Kate regarded her husband. "Babe, you have that 'I have a crazy theory,' look. I could use one right now."

"It will depend a lot on what Lanie finds, but I'm suspicious of the yellow and red stains on her hands. Those could be from cadmium pigments. They are very toxic and have been banned from a lot of uses in this country. I researched that when I was looking into what hazards Ian might be exposed to," Castle explained.

Kate smiled. "Of course, you did. So why would Darcy have been using them?"

"Maybe she wasn't," Castle admitted. "Or maybe she was and didn't know…. What's wrong?"

Kate ran her hands over her belly. "Even with the drugs, I could really feel that contraction. I'm calling Mindy, or whoever is on duty," Kate explained. "I think I'm close." She pushed the call button.


"You were right," Mindy confirmed. "You're at nine, Kate. Almost there. I think your doctor's grabbing a nap. I'll make sure she's up. Mr. Castle, will you be going into the delivery room with your wife?"

Castle rocked up on the balls of his feet. "Just try to keep me away."


Amelia's cry split the air in the delivery room as a nurse put her on a scale. "We'll perform the test anyway, but I don't think we'll have to worry about the maturity of her lungs," Dr. Fury remarked.

"Five pounds twelve ounces," the nurse reported. "Apgar eight."

"That's about what we would expect at 36 weeks, Kate," Fury explained. "Once the pediatrician has checked her out, he'll come see you, but it looks - and sounds - like we kept her inside long enough."

Kate reached for Castle's hand as he bent over and kissed her. The nurse finished cleaning and wrapping Amelia and put her in Kate's arms, still squalling.

Castle brushed the fuzz on the top of his daughter's head with the tip of one large finger. "With projection like that, I think she takes after my mother."


"Hey girlfriends," Lanie greeted Kate and Amelia, as she marched into Kate's room. "I ran out of the lab as soon as I could get Perlmutter to cover. Couldn't wait to see Amelia."

"Nice to see you too, Lanie," Castle drily greeted the M.E.

"You want to hold her?" Kate offered her friend.

Lanie beamed and carefully took Amelia from Kate. "Are you a beautiful girl? Yes, you are," she murmured to the infant, her voice rising an octave. She looked back at Kate. "I love that you named her after Amelia Earhart. I wonder if she'll want to fly a plane when she grows up."

"She certainly likes to break the sound barrier," Castle observed. "I heard the nurse in the delivery room say she was the loudest newborn she'd ever heard."

"You're happy now, aren't you," Lanie cooed. Amelia contradicted her with a wail. "She does put it out there," Lanie noted. "Kind of like her father."

"Hey! I resemble that remark," Castle retorted. "But speaking of putting it out there, did you get any test results on the Darcy Williams case?"

Lanie shook her head, clucking her tongue. "The boys told me you two stuck your noses into that. I can tell you that she died of acute kidney failure and her liver was compromised as well. There were no signs of infection. I'm having the lab run the blood for toxins now."

"Tell them to look for cadmium," Castle said.

Lanie sent a questioning look at Kate. "Really?"

Kate nodded. "Castle has a hunch, Lanie. As a favor to me, just do it."


Ian was uncharacteristically uninterested in the sandwich sitting in front of him in the hospital cafeteria. "Wow, Dad, that's a bummer - about Darcy. I mean, I didn't know her that well, but she was a great letterer, although not so great lately. I could see there was something wrong with her. But's there is always some bug going around. Some of the other kids in my class at SVA haven't been looking too good either."

"The kids who've been looking sick, do they paint? Do they like using very bright colors?"

"Yeah, Dad, to both questions. "Why? You think something is going to happen to them like it did to Darcy?"

"I hope not," Castle said, "but I need to talk to Dr. Parish, and Ryan and Esposito. I need to call SVA, too. If the other students are suffering from the same thing that Darcy was, maybe we can save them."

"Can I help?" Ian asked.

"Maybe. Make a list of all the kids you think might be sick. If I'm right about what I think is happening, SVA should have contact information for their parents."

"Wow, I hope it's something doctors can fix," Ian said, pulling out his phone to use his list app.

"Yeah, son" Castle agreed. "So, do I."