The Case of Always Buy Retail:

Part 1

The day had not started well. Meredith, ex-wife number one, had made one of her flying visits to New York. At least that is what I thought when I opened the front door and found her standing there with her luggage. I had barely recovered from the shock of the unexpected surprise before we were tearing at our clothes and making our way to my bedroom.

This is in my more shallower days, I hasten to say. In those shallower days I was never above having sex with ex-wife Number One. Despite her betrayal by having an affair with her director, moving to Malibu and then serving me with divorce papers and all the pain that ensued, I could put aside all that and jump into the sack with her.

We had finished round two and were coming up for air and in our post coital high we began to rattle off our top ten best ever bouts of sex. I was amazed at some of the places we had sex. What amazed me even more was how in the world we had not been caught.

It was in that moment when Meredith chose to drop the bombshell. She was moving back to New York. I could not quite believe what she had just said. Her announcement that she was returning to New York to live was like a bucket of cold water in the face. It cooled my ardour pretty quick smart.

I wanted to discuss this shocking piece of news but ex-wife Number One had other ideas as she started kissing me as she made her way down my body.

I was never more grateful for my phone ringing. I almost cried with relief to learn that a body had dropped. I could not get out of the loft fast enough but my mind was distracted about the implications of Meredith's return to the Big Apple. Bottom line, none of them good.

We were standing on the ground floor of an abandoned building that was not long for demolition. The victim lay on his back on a large square of red flannel, a burned-down candle was clutched in his hand and a glass bowl of blood sat near his head.

Detective Esposito was crouched beside the body and Detective Ryan was on the other side of the body.

"The vic's an African-American male, early twenties." Esposito announced. He waved his hand towards the stab wounds. "Multiple stab wounds. Contusions on the arms and torso. Body was discovered by a homeless guy."

"He was beaten and maybe tortured." Detective Beckett observed.

"Looks like some kind of ritualistic killing." Ryan remarked.

"You think?" Beckett retorted.

Beckett turned to look at me. I had been noticeably quiet in the car riding over to the murder scene and was quiet now. I was still mulling over what ex-wife Number One had announced and what I had been doing with her before she decided to drop the bombshell. Ever perceptive, Beckett had noticed my silence.

"Hello?" She said to me, frowning.

I shook off my thoughts and looked at Beckett.

"You okay?" Beckett asked, a note of concern in her voice.

"I had sex with my ex-wife this morning." I confessed.

That announcement caught everyone's attention. All three detectives looked at me.

"My first ex-wife, Meredith. Alexis' mom." I explained.

Once more my mind wandered back to my previous thoughts but this time thoughts were put to voice.

"And she's thinking of moving back to New York. Do you know what that would mean to me? That would be a very special brand of hell. The hell of a deep fried Twinkie."

"A deep fried Twinkie?" Ryan said, looking confused.

"Yeah. The guilty pleasure that you know is bad for you, so you only do it once maybe twice a year for the novelty. But a deep fried Twinkie every day is..." I did not finish the sentence other than to shudder visibly at the thought.

"Castle!" Beckett snapped.

I looked at her. "What?"

"Crime scene. Dead body. A little respect here." Beckett said motioning to the body.

"I don't think he can hear me." I replied.

"Okay, how about a little self-respect, then?" Beckett suggested with a quirk of her eyebrow.

"Fine." I agreed. Admittedly she did have a point. I motioned to the body. "Check his mouth. There's probably a little pouch in there."

On a consenting nod form Beckett, Esposito gently opened the victim's mouth. A look of surprise sprang to his face as he reached into the mouth and pulled out a small white fabric bundle. He looked up and showed the bundle in his hand.

"How did you know?" Beckett said as she rounded on me.

"Open it." I told Esposito.

Esposito carefully opened the bundle to reveal a silver disc that looked like a charm of some kind. On the fabric itself there was a mysterious symbol drawn in red ink.

"What does it mean?" Esposito asked me.

"It's Vodun." I informed everyone.

"Vodun? What is that, some kind of Star Trek thing?" Esposito said with a smirk.

"No dude, it's a religion." Ryan interjected. "Practised primarily in West Africa."

Esposito shot his partner a curious look.

"What?" Ryan said a little defensively. "I read too."

"The blood in the bowl, most likely animal blood. Part of the ceremony." I explained. "The pouch is an offering to the spirits, but I don't recognise the symbol."

"If you did, you'd be a suspect." Esposito said grimly. "So how do you know about all this?"

"Research for my sixth Derrick Storm novel." I explained.

"Unholy Storm." Ryan said with a grin.

I could not help but grin. I was pleased to see that Ryan read my books. I was further pleased to note that more than one detective in this team read my books.

"Yes, thank you." I smiled at Ryan. "And Vodun is not just limited to West Africa. It is also practised by Haitian and Dominican communities right here in New York."

Beckett had been listening to my explanation about Vodun and now she stepped in.

"Have CSU run the pouch. Have the ME test the blood. And let's get his prints in the system, see if there's an ID." She ordered the boys. She turned to look at me.

"I assume that it was done for a specific purpose?"

Before I had a chance to say anything Esposito interjected.

"That's only assuming that guy doing this was rational." He said.

"No, no. Beckett's right." I said. "It might not make sense to you or me, but if we found out why he did this, we might find your killer."

"Yeah, that's kinda how we do it." Esposito said with a smirk.

"Do you still have the research?" Beckett asked me.

"As a matter of fact, I do." I replied with a grin on my face.

XXX

Before Beckett accompanied me back to the loft we made a stop at the precinct to set up the murder board and to print up some photos from the murder scene. While Beckett was writing up the murder board and waiting for copies of the photos I made a call.

I was feeling pleased with myself that Beckett had come back to my place. My intentions were pure, I assure you, really. I had not expected her to. She could have easily asked me to go home and get the research then bring it to the precinct but she didn't.

It was not until I started to open the front door that I realised ex-wife Number One might still be in the loft. I had forgotten about Meredith and all of a sudden I was feeling anxious.

I had vague recollections of Meredith saying that she was staying at some hotel. And I think she might have mentioned something about going out shopping when I was racing out of the loft to attend the murder scene. But knowing Meredith anything was possible. Meredith still being in my loft was a distinct possibility.

There was nothing for it, I told myself as I opened the front door and allowed Beckett to walk in. Thankfully the loft was quiet. There was no sign of ex-wife Number One. I could have sighed with relief at this but I didn't.

I escorted her into my study. I moved over to one of the bookshelves and searched for the book I was looking for. Finding the book I pulled it out and walked over to my desk. I made sure to hide the cover from Beckett's eyes. I opened the book and flipped through the pages until I found the appropriate page. Looking up I saw that Beckett had made herself comfortable and waited for me to start reading.

"The purpose of their rituals was to make contact with the spirits and the spirit world. To gain their favour through sacrifice."

I paused in my reading to glance up and saw Beckett was listening intently. I suppressed the grin that was threatening the break across my face. I lowered my eyes back to the book.

"Storm was pretty sure he'd sacrifice anything when he saw the amulet swaying rhythmically back and forth between the woman's bare, glistening breasts."

"Unholy Storm?" Beckett exclaimed. "You dragged me here so that you could from your own book?"

"Hey, there's a lot of good stuff in here." I defended. "Some of it factual."

So, okay, I was having a little lend of her by reading from Unholy Storm. Beckett had not cracked it for a smile all morning and I thought she needed to smile. I wanted to see her smile. My effort to make her smile ended up face planting on the ground.

Beckett did not look at all pleased. She glared angrily at me and jumped to her feet.

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"I have a murder to solve." Beckett said tersely as she headed out of my office.

I got up and chased after her.

"I thought that's what we were doing?" I said.

Beckett levelled another glare at me and continued walking.

"Okay, I...I am just kidding." I confessed. "I have another source."

"And you call your ex-wife 'a deep-fried Twinkie'"

"Oh trust me. As annoying and intrusive as you think I am, she's a million times worse."

We were crossing the living room with Beckett making a bee-line for the front door.

"What about Alexis?" Beckett questioned. "Maybe she misses her mom. Maybe it would be a good idea to have her back in town."

"Yeah right." I scoffed at her suggestion. "This one time, when Alexis was nine, Meredith dropped by to take her to lunch."

"So?" Beckett said, quirking her eyebrows.

"In Paris!" I exclaimed. "Paris! And then she acted like there was nothing wrong. She's like Aunt Mame on meth."

I still have the occasional nightmare over that particular episode. I was frantic when I couldn't find Alexis. I had done the usual ringing around to her friends but they had not seen her. It got to the point where I was ready to call the police when Meredith called to inform me that she had taken Alexis to lunch. In Paris! I must confess I used a lot of ungentlemanly language on being told what she had done. I swear if Meredith had been standing in front of me I would have strangled her there and then, and Alexis would end up for all intents and purposes an orphan.

I almost did the following day when Meredith and Alexis returned from their jaunt to Paris. Thankfully mother was there to keep and eye on me and restrain me from doing anything rash. I think that was the first time I had wanted to really kill someone.

Beckett had reached the front door and had her hand on the door knob. She paused and turned to look at me.

"If she's so bad, then why did you sleep with her this morning?"

There was a tone in her voice which I could not quite decipher but I did not dwell on it.

I could not help but grin at her. "Let me tell you something about crazy people. The sex is unbelievable."

"How shallow are you?"

"Very." I said truthfully.

Beckett rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"You know, I don't have time for this." Beckett declared.

Beckett opened the door and was startled to find my other source standing in the doorway. Her name was Michelle. She was an attractive African-American woman aged in her early thirties. Michelle was holding a large food delivery bag.

"Did someone order lunch?" Michelle asked, holding up the bag.

I moved to stand beside Beckett.

"Detective Beckett, meet my other source." I said.

It took a little coaxing from me to convince Beckett to stay. I don't know whether it was my pleading, the chance to question my source or the food that Michelle had brought over but Beckett sat at my kitchen table with Michelle and me tucking into the stew that Michelle had brought. I was pleased to see Beckett tucking into the food. There are times when I think Beckett is just a touch too skinny. I don't see her eat all that much.

While Beckett and I were enjoying the food Michelle was inspecting the crime scene photos. She was holding a particular photo studying it carefully.

"The symbol's a Vever a representation of one who can open crossroads into the spirit world." Michelle announced.

I glanced at Beckett, who was sitting to my right. "Michelle taught me everything I know about Vodun." I informed her.

Michelle looked up from the photo she had been studying and gave me a look.

"Which, obviously wasn't much." She said. "That scene with the topless girl and the chicken blood?What was that?"

"I took a few liberties." I said primly.

Michelle levelled another look at me before she drew her attention back to the photograph in her hand.

"You know, from the design, I'd say this isn't Hatian, Jamaican or Dominican. This is hard core Nigerian."

"What about this charm?" Beckett asked as she passed over another photograph.

Michelle studied the photograph a moment and then looked up.

"The charm is an offering to a Vodun saint." Michelle replied. "In this case it's, Orgun. He's usually called upon to help find something that's been lost."

"So our killer is looking for something." I said.

"Something the victim once possessed." Michelle nodded her head.

"Maybe that's why he was tortured." Beckett suggested. She looked over to Michelle. "Could the kind of ceremony indicate what the killer was looking for?"

"Unfortunately, no."

I noticed a look of curiosity settle over Beckett's face.

"How do you know so much about this?" She asked Michelle.

"Because I practice." Michelle informed her. "My junior year, I spent abroad in Nigeria. Fell in love with the religion, the food."

"Michelle owns the best Nigerian restaurant in the city." I told Beckett.

"It's funny, I never would have pegged you for the occult type." Beckett said.

"Occult is in the eye of beholder, Detective." Michelle replied. "As bizarre as Vodun may seem to you, I assure you, the beliefs of Western religions seem just as strange to outsiders."

Beckett nodded her head in understanding and popped another spoonful of her stew.

"How do you like your cow's foot stew?" Michelle inquired.

"Cow's foot?" Beckett said in a low voice. She turned her head to me. "You said it was beef."

"Technically, cow is beef." I replied. "Besides, you said you liked it."

The stricken look that leaped to Beckett's face when she learned she was eating cow's foot stew was so adorable. I almost burst out laughing. There was a moment there when I thought she was going to spit out the food or choke on it. To her credit Beckett did neither. She swallowed recovered from her shock and looked across to Michelle.

"So, this murder, is that part of the ceremony as well?" She asked.

"No. Vodun is a peaceful, deeply spiritual religion practised by millions of people across the world every day."

"I doubt whoever did this is very peaceful." Beckett said waving her free hand at the photos on the table.

"No." Michelle agreed. "Your killer may be Vodun, but that's not why this man is dead. He was killed because he had something the killer desperately wants. And he's not going to stop until he finds it."

Beckett was ready with another question but was interrupted by her phone ringing. She excused herself and answered the call. The call did not take long. On ringing off she informed me that another body had been found in similar circumstances as the body we had found this morning. Needless to say, lunch was curtailed pretty quickly.

XXX

Beckett and I arrived at an Upper West Side apartment to find uniforms and CSU people milling about. Looking around, the place had been trashed. Tables had been overturned, lamps lay broken on the floor, a real mess. Esposito and Ryan were standing over the victim, a female. She was positioned in the same ritualistic position as the first body.

"Victim's name is Darcy Cho." Ryan announced at Beckett's approach. "Second year lawyer at a firm downtown."

"Multiple stab wounds. Just like the first one." Esposito added.

"Neighbour found the door open and called the super." Ryan continued, he pointed to the body on the floor. "This is what they found."

Beckett nodded her head and moved a little closer to the body and studied it. I came to stand beside her.

"The staging is exactly the same." I remarked.

"Yeah. When they saw what they had, the West Side boys gave us a call." Esposito said.

"Looks like she put up a fight. Defensive wounds on her forearms." Beckett pointed out.

"Paraphanalia's the same." Esposito held up an evidence bag for Beckett to see. The bag contained a pouch and a charm. "And I found another charm in her mouth."

"Anything back from CSU on the other scene?" Beckett asked.

"Candle's basic paraffin found in any bodega. Figure it's gonna be the same with this one. Cloth is common red flannel. Glass bowl, made in China." Ryan said.

Beckett motioned to the blood in the glass bowl.

"What about the blood?" She asked.

"Chicken blood." Esposito informed her.

Beckett's gaze moved to the shredded Chanel purse laying close to the body. She bent down and pick up the purse with her pen and studied it closely.

"Maybe she used this purse to defend herself." She suggested.

"We know he hasn't found what he was looking for." I said.

"How do you know?" Ryan asked me.

"The charm in her mouth. He still needs the spirits to guide him." I replied.

A smile broke across Ryan's face.

"Chapter 10." He said nodding his head.

I really had to get Ryan a signed copy of my latest book, I thought to myself.

"Find out what you can about Darcy." Beckett announced looking at Esposito. "See if she knew our first victim. I want to know how these murders are connected.

"Right." Esposito replied.

Esposito and Ryan departed from the scene to carry out Beckett's orders. Beckett and I remained at this scene for a little longer looking it over to see if we could find any clues that could lead us to the murderer. Unfortunately we found nothing, if only it was that easy. We left the scene to the CSU crew to gather what ever evidence they could find and headed back to the precinct.

XXX

At the precinct I helped Beckett set up the murder board while we were making notations on the board, actually Beckett was doing the notations and I stood back supervising, Ryan was interviewing one of Darcy Cho's work colleague who had come in to speak to the police about Darcy. Beckett had assigned Ryan to do the interview.

Now you might wondering why Beckett preferred to write up the murder board and gave the job of interviewing the victim's friend to Ryan. No mystery really. The murder board is pretty much Beckett's baby. It's part of the ritual of any murder investigation she leads. It's her vehicle to find the story behind the murder that will eventually lead to the murderer. She hasn't said as much about it to me but that is what I have concluded.

Once the murder board was up and running listing all the information we had gathered from the two murders Beckett and I went over the information, familiarising ourselves, memorising.

Captain Montgomery stopped by on his way to his office. He had been out of the building and from the look on his face I would have bet he had been down town at 1 Police Plaza, or 1PP for short, attending one of the regular Compstat Meetings. He did not look too hung drawn and quartered, so I figured that the meeting had not gone too badly for him.

Beckett gave him a briefing on the two murders we had caught this morning. The captain listened and asked a pertinent question or two to get a better understanding of the cases. Ryan having finished with the victim's friend had seen the woman out and came to join us.

"I spoke to Jill Button, Darcy's BFF." Ryan announced once he joined us. "She's pretty familiar with all of Darcy's friends and clients, but she's never seen the vic before. The law firm does some corporate stuff, some immigration work, but there's nothing to indicate any involvement in something like this."

"So, our victim gets killed in a religious ritual, and then history repeats itself with this lawyer the very same day?" Captain Montgomery summarised.

"There's a lawyer joke there somewhere, I just can't think of it." I said.

My untimely interjection received what it properly deserved, a roll of Beckett's eyes. I was a little annoyed at myself for not being able to come up with a suitable lawyer joke. I thought I'd better look up some jokes so that I could have them in my armoury for the future, just in case.

"And the killer tosses the woman's apartment, looking for what? Money? Drugs? What?" Captain Montgomery said.

"As far as we can tell, Darcy was clean." Ryan said.

At that moment Esposito arrived on the scene carrying with him a file.

"We got a hit on the first victim's prints." he informed us. "INS database."

Esposito handed the file over to Beckett who opened it and quickly looked through it.

"Jamal Buonsi?" She said.

"Nigerian national." Esposito said. "Entered the U.S. On a student visa 18 months ago. He was enrolled at NYU as an exchange student."

"His visa expired a year ago." Beckett remarked.

"Looks like he decided to stay." I added.

"Lucky him." Ryan said sarcastically.

"Any word on his last known whereabouts?" Captain Montgomery asked Esposito.

"Yeah. I was able to track down the family that he lived with." Esposito said. "Last they saw him, he was in a cab on his way to Kennedy."

I noticed Beckett raising an eyebrow as she looked at Esposito.

"I take it that's not the end of the story." She said.

Esposito allowed a small grin the appear on his face. "Turns out that Jamal and their 13 year old son were pretty close." He informed her. "A couple of months ago, the folks discovered that they were still in touch."

Esposito gave Beckett a sheet of paper.

"Jamal's cell number. Billed to an address on East 3rd." He said.

"That's just a few blocks from where Jamal's body was found." I interjected.

"East 3rd's right near Darcy Cho's law firm." Ryan added.

Captain Montgomery turned his attention to Ryan.

"And you said Darcy Cho's law firm did some work on immigration?" He said.

"Yeah." Ryan nodded.

"You and Esposito take a ride down there." He ordered. "I want you to look at Darcy Cho's client list. Maybe Jamal was using another name."

"We'll get a warrant for the billing address." Beckett informed the captain.

"Find out what this guy wants before the son of a bitch kills again, alright?"

"Yes, sir."

XXXXX

What do you think of this latest effort? Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Con