Disclaimer: wish I owned Castle. Or Harry Potter. Or El Internado. Or El Barco. That way, some of the most idiotic behaviors/behaviours would have been prevente
Chapter 21
Daniel's Worries
When the two detectives presented themselves in the coffee-shop where he works, he felt the need to run away. Given his situation, some might think that this means he is guilty of something, but in reality it was the feeling that he has done something bad, and running away from them would be the natural response. But he also knows that running away would have done nothing good for his case, it would have actually make him look guiltier. So he just lets the detectives take him to the police station. They have told him it has to do with that bitch of Miriam Dayton, although they have not explained why. Whatever it is, he knows he is innocent.
Does not matter much right now, because he is sitting in an interrogation room, where he has been for about ten minutes. He is sitting on a very uncomfortable chair, there are two more chairs and a table in the room. He suspects that the chair is that way to make sure that whomever is getting the interrogation speaks up as soon as possible. At least he is not cuffed to the chair. Just in front of him there is a mirror, but he knows that it is in reality a one-sided window, he has seen it in a lot of films.
The door opens, and two people enter. One of them is a brunette woman, of about thirty years, quite good-looking (not that he actually would go after her, he loves his wife of five years) and very well dressed according to his keen eye, as well as a 'piss-me-off-and-you-will-WISH-you-would-die' . The other person is a man, probably around thirty-five, with good clothes that screamed 'RICH GUY!' from afar, a bit more relaxed and less... authoritative than the woman.
"Mr Morris?" the woman asks, snapping him out of his lucubrations. "I am Detective Beckett, this is Richard Castle, consultant." He is surprised. Richard Castle, the writer?
"Yes, I am the famous Richard Castle," he replies, clearly reading into his face.
"Castle," Detective Beckett warns him. Castle seems contrite, but still smiles at her. She turns to him and fixes a hard look at him. "Mr Morris, where were you yesterday between 6 and 9 AM?"
That is certainly a question he does not expect.
"Why do you want to know that?" he asks, confused.
"Well, obviously you have not heard. Miriam Dayton was killed yesterday morning."
"You serious?" he asks.
"Pretty much, yeah. Would you mind answering the question, please?"
"Why? Are you seriously thinking that I killed that bitch?"
"Pretty much, yeah," Castle replies, in the same tone as the detective. Castle turns then to her. "Why does everybody call Miriam Dayton a bitch?"
"Because she was that and much more, you know?" he says, even if he knows the question has not been directed at him. "I am not sure of who you have been speaking with so far, but believe me, she was a woman who did not deserve being in her position. The only thing she was good at was at getting around, if you know what I mean. Well, not exactly that, she did not sleep around with all the higher ups at the company, but she knew how to use her body to make sure the bosses followed her suggestions or gave her a promotion."
"What the victim did or did not do at her workplace is not what we want to know. What we actually know is that, the day you were fired, you told Miriam that she would regret doing it, so I guess you pretty much had the motive to kill her. The method, well, we still have to check the things, but I am going to ask for a search warrant for your house, and you should pray that we do not find the murder weapon."
"It would be a waste of time. Mostly because I did not kill Dayton. You want to know where I was yesterday morning? I was working at the coffee-shop, you can ask my boss there."
"We will have to check that. Would you mind explaining why you got fired from Novel Models?"
"Why?" He does not actually want to tell them the truth. It is quite embarrassing for him.
"See, we are trying to investigate why she was killed. Anything you can tell us will help us find the killer."
"Look, it is not that I do not want to help, I would love to, but the reason I got fired is not one I like to tell anyone, much less declare about it. Only person I have told is my wife, and it was bad enough when I told her."
"So, it was not that the lady boss caught you having sex with other girl, otherwise you would have not told your wife," Castle says, "and the same can be said of petty things like stealing office supplies. I doubt it was something too serious, like corporate espionage, that would have probably got you sent to prison."
"The way it looks like, it must have been something more personal, related to Dayton, or else you would not seem to hate her so much..." the detective says, continuing the writer's line of thought. "It was something she did, something about which you did not have the fault, and it does not sound like it was something you created which she then appropriated and then fired you over to prevent you from taking due credit, because she had already done several times if what you say is true..."
"ENOUGH!" he shouts, trying to stop them, as he wonders how they do that. Honest, it is as if they are connected through their minds. It is too late, though, because the detective's eyes are now widely open, in understanding, as the writer takes over.
"... she became fixated with you, you were like the forbidden fruit because you are married and in love with your wife, and since you worked for her she thought that she could easily force you to have sex with her, but you resisted her advances constantly, and in the end she decided to fire you using whatever excuse she could think about, and that is when she told you about regretting your choices."
"YES!" he cries out, frustrated. "THE BITCH NEVER GAVE ME A MOMENT OF PEACE, ALWAYS HOUNDING ME, 'OH, DANIEL, YOU KNOW YOU WANT ME, HOW ABOUT A QUICKIE IN THE FREAKING BATHROOM, NOBODY HAS TO KNOW'!"
The two of them look at him with something he cannot quite identify, but it does not seem to be all pity, at least. They wait until he has calmed down to make the next comment.
"Why did you not report it to the police?" the detective asks.
"Oh, yeah, that would have gone really well," he replies sarcastically. "'Look, sir, my lady boss does not stop sexually harassing me and is threatening to fire me if I do not have sex with her.' I would get laughed out of the police station. Once she heard about it, she would have gone to the police station, say it was me who harassed her, she would be believed instantly, and then my life would be completely screwed up because that freaking bitch would not take a no for an answer."
The two look at each other, and back at him. There is a bit of pity in their eyes, but there is also understanding, understanding of the situation Miriam Dayton had put him in.
And he feels that he will soon get rid of this problem.
A/N: Well, there it is, chapter 21. This the first suspect the guys have, and the interrogatory has shown a bit more about the victim. The fact that not only women are sexually harassed is pretty much real (and the fact that some people think they can harass their co-workers just for the fact that they are below them in the hierarchy of the work is disgusting).
In regards to the series, I liked Kill Shot. Kate really suffered a lot, with the PTSD from her being shot, but at least she was able to give the first step towards recovering from that. Rick was great, too, asking Esposito to give Kate a hand in recovering. Wish that Rick had been able to do something more. I can't wait to see Cuffed, especially to see what Rick says when he realises that he is cuffed to Kate. Will something happen between them? (KISSKISSKISSKISS!)
Regarding the reviews... this sucks a lot. 1 review? And here I thought that you were actually interested in my story... Come on, I expected the 652 visitors would have tried to write something!
My former muse: I hope that life takes you where you can be happy.
castlencis: thank you!
Next chapter will be, yes, from Ryan's POV, as the guys check Daniel Morris' alibi.