Moment in Time II

Chapter 26

I Witness I

Worried and antsy for Castle to return, Kate grabbed anxiously at the ringing phone. "Hey, are you on your way home?"

"Castle's voice fought the static on the failing connection. "Kate, he killed her. He killed her – he..." The signal was gone. "Kate can you hear me? Damn it!"

Castle drove further down the road in pursuit of the man who had just dragged a bloody Eva Fairchild from her home. The car was parked in the shadows along the dark road. Castle pulled up behind it, grabbing his flashlight and cautiously approaching. Castle's beam illuminated a seat splashed with blood, but the doors resisted his efforts to enter the car. A crackling of branches drew Castle's attention, pulling him into the gloom of the woods. He never saw the blow coming, falling heavily to the ground, unconscious.

"Castle," Kate called, kneeling beside her husband.

Castle groaned, reaching for the sore spot on the back of his head as his eyes tried to focus. "Kate, how did you get here?"

"Castle, you reported a murder. When I couldn't reach you, I called the locals and used the locator on your car to track you. It's parked about a hundred yards away on an access road. We searched the woods for you." Castle struggled to get up. "Whoa. Just a wait a second, the E.M.T.s are on their way."

Castle pushed up on his elbows. "It's all right Kate. When have you ever seen a P.I. show where the protagonist doesn't get knocked out at least once an episode?"

Kate rolled her eyes. "This isn't TV Castle. Let them look you over and then we'll try to figure out what's going on."

Castle felt his head gingerly. "I wouldn't mind an ice pack lovingly applied by the girl of my dreams."

Kate laughed at the very Castle turn of phrase. "Yeah Castle, I'm sure the E.M.T.'s will have one - the ice pack, not the girl of your dreams."

"Well I'm looking at her." He rubbed his eyes. "Actually two of you."

Castle sighed as he went over his statement again, his head pounding more with every repetition. "Detective Neely, as I already told you, I followed Cole Whitfield out here. He must have knocked me out, because when I came to, you were all here and he wasn't.

"And why did you go to his house in the first place?" the Westchester opposite number of Beckett probed.

"To give the photos to Eva," Castle explained for the third time. "That's when I heard the screaming and I saw him dragging her body through the kitchen. Before I could do anything he drove off with her."

Neely consulted her notes. "Mr. Castle, it says here you only got your PI license a month ago."

"Yes. So?" Castle responded impatiently.

"So are you sure about what you saw?" Neely questioned skeptically.

"Of course I'm sure!" Castle retorted.

"Detective," Kate inserted, "Castle has been working on cases with the N.Y.P.D. for almost seven years. If he says it happened, it did."

"Detective," Castle insisted, "I'm not making this up. The Whitfield house is a crime scene. If we go to that kitchen we will find blood, Eva's blood."

Cole Whitfield opened the door to Detective Neely's knock. She displayed her badge. "I'm Detective Neely. Do you have a few minutes to talk?"

"Yeah," Cole agreed. "Come on in. So, what is this all about? What can I do for you folks?"

Neely ignored his question. "Mr. Whitfield, is your wife, Eva, home?"

Cole hesitated. "No. Why?"

"Do you know where she is?" Neely continued.

"No, I don't. I got home about twenty minutes ago, found this lovely note from Eva," Cole told Neely, handing her a slip of paper. "She figured out I'm having an affair and she left me."

"She left him." Castle whispered to Kate. "I can't believe this guy. He forged that note."

"I can't even get in touch with her," Cole added. "I tried texting her, I tried calling her. The phone just goes straight to voicemail."

Neely handed the note to Kate who continued the questioning. "Do you drive a black Model S?"

"No, that's – that's Eva's car. Has something happened to Eva?" Cole asked.

"We're not quite sure," Neely responded. "But you're saying you only got home twenty minutes ago?"

"Uh, yeah, right," Cole confirmed, "around nine thirty."

"And where were you at seven forty-five tonight?" Kate asked.

"I was, um, I was still in city," Cole stuttered. "I was still at work. You know what?" he asked holding up his glass, "I – I think I need a refill. Excuse me."

"He's lying," Castle asserted as Cole hurried away. "He's lying about everything."

"If you're right," Neely offered, "there should be blood evidence in the kitchen."

Castle crouched on the clean floor of the Whitfield's kitchen, trying to keep his balance while his head spun. "It was here. It happened right here. He must have cleaned it up. Why else would he invite us so freely into his house?"

Neely scanned the area with her UV light. "If he did, he did a hell of a good job of it. UV shows no sign of residue."

Kate put a hand on Castle's shoulder as he struggled to his feet. "Castle..."

"Kate, I know what I saw," he insisted, pointing to a glowing spot on the edge of the counter. "There, there! See, I knew it!

"Knew what?" Cole demanded entering the kitchen. "What is going on?"

"Sir, there's blood residue here," Neely informed him.

"Mr. Whitfield," Kate inquired, "do you know where this came from?"

"Yes. My wife is a klutz," Cole answered angrily. "She broke a jar, cut her hand cleaning it up. Bled everywhere until she finally bandaged it. Why – why are you looking for blood residue? Are you suggesting I did something to my wife?"

"No, we're not suggesting, Mr. Whitfield," Castle told him pointing at the blood spot.

"Get out. Get out of my house!" Cole demanded furiously. "Get out. Now!"

Kate caught Castle's elbow as he tripped on his way out. "Babe, I'm taking you home. We can send someone for your car."

Kate found Castle staring out the window of the loft at the streaks beginning to color the sky. She rested her head against his shoulder. "Hey. How long have you been up?"

"Never really fell asleep. Couldn't get the case out of what's left of my head," Castle admitted. "He probably came home, saw that Eva was about to leave him, and killed her in a fit of rage. I told her everything was going to be all right. I promised her."

Kate nestled into his neck. "I'm sorry, Babe."

"Have you heard from Detective Neely?" Castle asked.

Kate nodded. "There was an email on my phone when I woke up. She said that search teams didn't find anything in the woods."

Castle scrubbed his hands over his face in frustration. "Yeah, that's because Cole knew he couldn't leave her out there, not once I was on to him. So he put her back in the car, dumped it and the body someplace else."

Castle sank down the edge of the bed, his head in his hands. Kate slid next to him. "Westchester's got a BOLO out on Eva's car and they've flagged her credit cards."

"Have they pinged her cell phone?" asked, without looking up.

"They tried. But it's either off or dead," Kate said softly.

Castle stretched backwards, rubbing at the still aching spot on his head."I'm going to go with dead. What about Cole's alibi?"

"You were right. He wasn't at work," Kate reported. "His business partner said that he left at six P.M., not at eight."

"Plenty of time to get back to Westchester by seven forty-five," Castle noted.

"But when Detective Neely confronted him about it he revised his story," Kate continued. "He said he was with his mistress, Taylor McKinley, that woman you took pictures of, until eight P.M..

Castle got up, staggering a moment until he caught his balance. "We need to talk to her."

"Babe, I don't have any jurisdiction" Kate reminded him. "This isn't my case."

"Yes, but it's my case," Castle insisted. "Eva hired me. She was my friend. And he killed her right in front of me."

Kate took his hand. "Okay. I'll talk to the mistress. But just me. Not you. You're too close to this, okay? And you're barely standing up. Try to get some rest. Alexis is here. Let her take care of you. C'mon." She led him to bed and tucked the comforter around him. "I'll let you know if I find out anything." Lightly kissing his lips, Kate left to get ready to work.