Dreams of Future Past
Chapter 25
A body hanging from the monkey bars and covered in caramel. That's kinky even for New York. But she's seen kinkier in her life - a lot kinkier. There was that time she was hanging with Windsor Northam who idolized the Marquis De Sade. She learned a lot about what she didn't want to do, and now that experience could come in handy. She's also getting some fun driving Castle and the boys crazy by hinting about her mysterious history.
Teasing Castle with a boyfriend is just the cherry on the cake. He can't wait to follow her to a sex store. He believes her boyfriend is imaginary - or does he? He's always reading her better than she thinks he can.
The cuffs were bought by a normal looking guy. They're the ones you have to watch. You never know what freakiness is going on beneath the placid exterior. It was the victim's boyfriend, Tyler Benton. And he's a doctor? Does he want to heal his patients or just enjoy their suffering?
The dead woman, Jessica Margolis, was doing research on sex. Could she have been killed by one of the deviants she was studying? Jessica's roommate Danielle seems to be grieving as much as Tyler was. Maybe more. It is amazing how close you can become with someone, love someone, even if you're not having sex. She and Castle - never mind that. Despite their friendship, Danielle doesn't know anything about Jessica's research. There are things people won't share. She knows that all too well.
Mistress Venom? That sounds promising. Jessica kept her notes locked up. She was competing for a fellowship with her officemate Kelly and another student named Matt Haley, among others. There was little academic comaradery there, more like a bitter rivalry. Is winning a fellowship a motive for murder?
Kelly reports that Jessica was getting harassing phone calls. Maybe they weren't from a fellow student. If a freak found out that Jessica was studying him, might he have killed her?
Maybe she teased Castle too much. He's trying to get her to talk about her own sexual adventures. She's already thinking about sex too much right now and teasing him even more doesn't do a thing to quell visions of what they could do together. He does yoga too and there's a position… No, this has to be about the case. They need to visit Dungeon Alley.
He's excited about going until she finds out that he's to be the target of Mistress Venom's attentions. Maybe he was just talking a good game and isn't into the darker aspects of sex nearly as much as he pretends to be. Could she have a darker history than he does? They'd have to compare notes to find out and she's not about to open that Pandora's box. Too much truth could come flying out.
Mistress Venom isn't at Lady Irina's House of Pain, but Irina is. What? Jessica Margolis was Mistress Venom? Castle looks a little sick. Wow! She didn't think he had that many illusions to shatter. She would have thought he'd find the idea of the academician playing dominatrix cool. She really doesn't understand what's going on inside his head.
Lady Irina is a lawyer. It figures. If she enjoys dominating men, the House of Pain is probably even more fun for her than a courtroom or board room. The woman is hypnotic. Castle can't stop staring at the bright scarlet of her lips. Irina says the lipstick is Mistress Red. Somehow Kate doesn't think it was the color that was holding Castle in its thrall.
One of the black clad mistresses is more forthcoming than Lady Irina was. Jessica had been crying in the locker room about a problem with a first-time client. He had been wearing scrubs! It had to be Tyler! Men have killed for far less than finding out their girlfriends are fulfilling the fantasies of sadomasochistic creeps.
Castle thinks Jessica became a dominatrix because she was afraid of a relationship with Tyler or even someone else. He believes that she became a dominatrix to understand overdependence. Sometimes she forgets how insightful he can be - or how fatherly. Alexis wants to be a cheerleader, but he doesn't like the short skirts. He may be fascinated by whips and shackles but when it comes to his daughter he's more into chastity belts. That is kind of endearing.
Tyler didn't kill Jessica. He was at the hospital all night. His supervisor confirms it. The hospital security footage does too. If it wasn't the jealous boyfriend, it had to be one of her creepy clients.
The answer is in Jessica's notes. The scene Sam I Am had fantasized was the same, right down to the caramel. But a fantasy is not proof. She needs a confession. And who better to get one than a dominatrix?
Sam I Am is William Carraway, president of a Global Consulting Firm, but she can cow him. She doesn't have a whip and even her shoe collection doesn't feature six-inch stiletto boots - at least not anymore. But the leather that sheathes her body like a glove will do the trick.
Sam didn't do it! He was at the party for his anniversary. She feels sorry for his wife. But if he didn't do it, whoever set up the murder scene needed to have access to Jessica's research. As jealously as the student-come-dominatrix guarded it that makes for a pretty short suspect list.
Kelly has an alibi, but she admits to lending her keys to Matt. And there's a picture - with Matt wearing scrubs. The do-gooder supposedly promoting AIDS research killed Jessica for a freaking fellowship. Jack Coonan, Quintana or Matt Haley; it's always the ones who act the most holy who are straight out of hell.
Matt's not a murderer, just a blackmailer. He threatened to expose Jessica to Tyler if she didn't withdraw from competition for the fellowship. Nice. She did, and he left her research at her apartment. Who else could have seen it?
Irina was there. The glass with the lipstick she was so proud of proves it. Of course, she would lawyer up. But she was the last one to see Jessica alive. She had to have done it. She cleaned up with bleach, but the pillow had saliva on it from where she strangled Jessica.
Why does Castle want to know who washed the pillowcase? Why didn't she see that? If there was saliva on the pillow but not on the pillowcase, someone must have washed it. And her own timeline says that it wasn't Irina. Castle just stopped her from tagging the wrong person as the murderer - again.
Castle was right about dependency, too, except that it wasn't Tyler, it was Danielle, Jessica's roommate. Just as she'd seen so many times, the line between love and hate was perilously thin. When Danielle read the papers Matt had left and found out what Jessica really thought of their relationship, she couldn't handle it. She killed the object of her obsession.
Is that what Kate was so afraid of? Loving going terribly wrong? Betrayal by the one you trusted the most? Did Castle really betray her? No, he just gave everything to save her. And she threw his gift back in his face. Who would save her now?