Chapter 105

Beckett was late for work that morning, but she felt a little more positive about things. She'd showered and dressed, barely a word spoken with Castle until she kissed him farewell, and he handed her a piece of toast. They'd said enough that morning and needed time to process their thoughts. They weren't hostile and it appeared they could work through it.

On the way into work Lanie had phoned her with a tip off. One of her work colleagues had an apartment she was about to put on the market. Lanie was able to ger her hands on a set of keys to view the apartment if Kate wanted to continue the pretence she was single. Kate addressed that comment with a curt reply, but had also indicated she was keen to see the property, especially after Lanie gave her the address. It was about a half dozen blocks from Lanie's swish home and not far from Castle's loft.

With her computer on and having read through her emails, Beckett looked up to see Esposito and Ryan who had returned from a job. They had a dig at her for coming in late, but she chose to ignore them. "Hey, guys. What'd you find out at Medina's bank?"

Esposito unfolded a sheet of paper he then read from. "Well, it turns out the deposit and the withdrawal were both made in cash. The bank manager remembers the withdrawal because he personally authorised it."

Ryan continued, "The bank manager was pretty sure Medina was with somebody at the time, so he pulled the surveillance video, revealing this shining example of thuggery." He crossed the floor and showed Beckett a still from the surveillance tape.

Beckett squinted to focus, because her eyes tired from being up so long. "Any idea who he is?"

Ryan turned to Esposito who had joined his team, "Do you wanna?"

Esposito said. "No, bro, you caught it."

Ryan asked, "You sure?"

"Yeah, it's yours. Go ahead."

"You know, whenever you guys are done being cute."

Ryan cleared his throat and pointed at a man in the picture and at a poster.

Beckett said "No, he didn't.'

Esposito said. "Yeah, he did.'

Ryan said, "Aruba is nice this time of year."

Esposito said. "Your boy has arrived." He looked in the direction of the elevator foyer where Castle stepped from the box. Beckett didn't turn so Espo continued, "Meet Mr Norton Grimes. He recently had the privilege of doing two years for drug trafficking at Franklin Correctional."

She said, "That's what the money was for Ryan. Mexico is cocaine central. What better way to sneak drugs into the country other than inside an archaeological shipment?"

Ryan nodded, "Medina was in bed with a drug trafficker, got him killed."

Beckett said, "You know, there's a current address here. What say we go see if he's awake?" She stood up to leave and grabbed her gun from the desk drawer.

They were on their way out as they walked into Castle who had stopped to talk to one of the other detectives. Beckett glanced to Castle as the team passed him.

Beckett said "Come on, Castle. Let's go."

Castle glanced about them. "Can I drive?

Beckett replied, "Are you kidding? You're cursed."

Not long after in an alley, the team gathered, their heads almost touching. They were dressed ready for a tackle and had their guns prepared for action.

Esposito said in low tones, "I got two uniforms posted out in back in case he decides to rabbit."

Beckett looked at her partner. "Castle, you sure you don't want to stay in the car? We don't want the curse to get you."

Castle frowned at her, "I'm good to go."

Beckett nodded to him then to the guys she said, "Okay. Ready? Let's get in there."

Using their tactical training, the police team penetrated the building through an old steel door. A battering ram was used by two police then a swarm of them barged into the building their guns poised. They were loud, yelling out their "NYPD." And "Police".

Beckett called, "Norton Grimes. Police. Show me your hands."

Castle followed them in, blinking when he was inside the dimly let warehouse. He held back in case a gun fight erupted. It was okay to shadow them, but he didn't want to be in the firing line without a gun in his hands. In the distance a dog barked. The barks grew louder. It sounded like a big dog and it was coming closer.

The police team had Grimes on the floor, and he was yelling his objections as Esposito cuffed him. However, Castle was more concerned about the approaching aggressive sounding dog.

Seconds later, he came face to face with the barking, snarling dog, a large mixed breed with a super massive head. Cujo entered Castle mind. His heart rate shot up a notch. The dog skidded around a corner and once it regained its footing it stopped. It saw the crowd of cops but turned its attention to Castle, his teeth bared with the release of a deep and disturbing growl. Castle who faced the dog, remained calm and slowly backed up in the direction he'd come from. He knew the dog was afraid. They were the worst. Rick was terrified.

"Nice doggy," he soothed but the big dog didn't respond the way Castle wanted. "Good doggy." He had the time to recognise there was German Shepherd in the dog and that knowledge unnerved him. It would give chase the second he ran. "Guys!" He shouted with a deep voice, his eyes not leaving the dog's. "Espo, Beckett! I have dog on me." He continued to gradually back up his eyes staying on the dog's head. Sweat broke, everywhere. The second he sensed he was near the exit door, he turned and bolted out of the building.

Esposito shouted. "Castle, run!"

He did exactly that. Outside, Castle felt the dog's teeth make contact with his ass, felt the hard pinching bite, the tug on his jeans, and the rip of denim. He squawked. "Ah! He got me! He got me!"

Castle screeched.

Pursued by the dog, Castle unceremoniously, scrambled up to the roof of Beckett's police car, the dog's jaw snapping the air near his ankles, just missing his mark.

"Beckett!" He slid over the roof away from the dog's snapping jaws. He stood on the roof not concerned whether the car got damaged. His butt was burning hot. "Help!" He pressed his palm to where he was injured and when he held it up, he saw blood smeared on his skin.

"Beckett! I need fucking help!"

Back at the Precinct, Beckett asked Ryan and Esposito to take care of the processing and interrogation of Mr Grimes so she could take care of Castle. He was quite rattled by the dog attack. During their journey in the car, she'd observed Castle enter a mild and brief state of shock which had greatly concerned her. It was unlike Castle to be so reactive, but already pumped up with the action, he'd suffered a confronting experience and copped a decent bite from a set of huge teeth. Even though she'd inspected the wound at the scene and listened to him dismiss the severity of the incident, she had almost driven him to the hospital to have him checked out.

They located a vacant office where they had privacy, and with the hefty sized first aid case opened out on a desk, Beckett once again laid eyes on Castle's wounds. There was a rather impressive bruise forming on his right buttock and the dog's teeth had not only scraped the surface but had broken the skin with two punctures from what she guessed were canine teeth. The bleeding had eased. Castle who was no longer in shock, made the most of the attention he received from Beckett who carefully cleaned the area with an antiseptic solution. She eased his mind and gently soothed his mood while she applied the first aid.

"You're a qualified first aider?" He inquired, peering over his left shoulder to keep an eye on her care.

Hazel eyes were momentarily cast upwards to his. He gave her a quirky smile seeing her impatience loud and clear.

"You still have gorgeous eyes," he softly stated. "But first aid training?"

"Yes," she calmly answered, "but they didn't tell me I'd be wiping ass."

"Oh. Funny. And she smiles." He grimaced when she applied a little more pressure and flexed his butt away from her hand.

"Hold still tough guy." She leaned in to take a close look. "No," she murmured almost to herself, "No stitches. You'll be right."

"That's your prognosis? You'll be right?"

"Mm," she replied as she unwrapped a square band aid she then stuck to his butt. She patted the side of his thigh, indicating she was done. "You'll live," she said as he turned about pulling up his jeans. He frowned at her. She threw the wastes into the waste basket.

"It hurt, Kate. It gave me a weird feeling after."

She raised an eyebrow, "Perhaps you feel violated, like how a woman does when mishandled by a man but in your case a dog?"

He gave her a look. "Well, I wouldn't go that far, but yes, I'm in a partial state of feeling victimised or violated as you said."

She smiled. "You're okay. The dog mostly got your jeans. There's a couple of superficial punctures to your skin."

"So not too bad?"

"No. Sporting a nice bruise though." She raised her eyebrows and smiled.

"Great."

"Still a cute butt," she added. "You'll have a small scar."

"Great. Yeah, you love it."

"I do," she confirmed. "I'm gonna head back to my desk." She packed up the first aid case.

"I need to take a minute in the men's room. I'll see you back there."

"Okay. I will complete an incident form for you to sign. You might have to go for shots."

"Probably," he agreed.

She left the office ahead of Castle and returned to her desk. Castle joined her a few minutes later. He rested his left hand on Beckett's desk, and tried to hold his ripped jeans together with the other hand. He leaned towards her as she lifted her eyeline to meet his gaze. He really was unusually stressed out.

"This is a fucking long day, Kate."

"I agree."

"Mm. I just checked my ass in the mirror. It's a chunky bite. I could've been killed, Kate," he quietly said through gritted teeth, still upset about the attack.

"Drama does run in the family," she quipped, and tried not to laugh.

"Haha."

"But you weren't, Castle." She put down her pen, looked him dead in the eyes and softly spoke. "Look, you go through enough doors, at some point, you're gonna find a dog on the other side."

"Yes, granted, but it didn't happen at some point, did it? It happened today..." He hissed, ensuring nobody heard him. Beckett's cell phone rang and they both glanced to it to see it was a no caller id. Their eyes reconnected and Castle continued, "It happed right after I gazed into the face of the mummy."

Beckett ignored the phone on her desk, "Okay, I admit that the timing was a little troublesome, but I promise you, there is no curse." She gave him a firm look to emphasise her point.

"You gonna answer that?"

"Yes." She hit the accept and picked up the phone, her eyes staying on Castle to see how he reacted. "Beckett." She greeted then listened, "Oh, hey." She whispered to Castle, "It's Lanie," then returned to speaking to Lanie, "Okay. Right. Well, what does that mean?"

Castle leaned in again to hear what Lanie said. "What?"

Beckett stared at him as she asked. "Are you sure?"

She was silent for a few seconds.

"Okay. I will come by your work and pick them up," Beckett said, "Thanks." She disconnected the call then stared at Rick as though he was a pain in the ass ten year old.

"What? What did she say?" He pressed.

Beckett flatly said, "Nothing."

His eyes widened in objection, "C'mon Beckett. That was not nothing."

"Okay. Fine. The lab identified the substance found on the gargoyle, and it was a combination of sodium nitrate, iron oxide, decomposed hemp fibers and-" she lowered her tone to a whisper not wanting to tell him, "Tissue."

Rick's eyes widened. "I'm s-I'm sorry. What?"

Beckett squinted then reluctantly and quickly said. "Ancient human tissue."

Pretending to be horrified, Castle asked, "Mummified tissue? Like mummy flesh?"

Beckett nodded, "Which means at some point, our killer came into contact with the mummies and somehow transferred the substance onto his or her clothing before killing Medina."

"Or maybe... The mummy himself has risen from the grave and is roaming New York seeking vengeance."

Beckett looked at him with scepticism.

Castle smirked, "I'm kidding. Sort of."

Beckett raised a pointed hand in thought, "You know, if Medina was trafficking drugs for Grimes through the sarcophagus, then maybe Grimes got the substance on himself when he went to get the drugs out."

A passing female detective wolf-whistled at Castle who had forgotten to keep the torn part of his jeans up. Because his boxers had also been ripped his bare skin was exposed.

Again, Castle frowned. Simultaneously, Beckett glared at the woman then looked innocently at Castle who hadn't missed a thing.

He whispered, "Jealous girl."

She hummed, not denying her emotions. "My butt," she whispered. She pushed a pen towards him and turned a sheet of paper towards him.

"Oh. I see. My butt is yours." He took the pen, glanced at the paper and signed next to where she pressed her index finger.

"Mm."

"Do you mind flying solo on this one while I head home and change my clothes?" He dropped the pen to her desk.

"I think I can manage," she quietly replied, her focus more on the cop ensuring she had continued on without perving on Castle any longer. "Lanie has the keys to the apartment, and I can inspect it later today. Will you come with me?"

"Okay. This afternoon?"

"Yep."

"Alright. I'll head off." He started his departure.

"Hey, Castle?" She smiled when she saw him stop and wait for her to speak. "Watch out for the mummy."

Castle smirked. "Haha. Really? That's all you got?"

She laughed.

"I will call you later." Castle headed to the elevator foyer.

As he walked away, trying to hold the ass of his jeans together, Beckett checked out his butt. She was really fond of that part of his anatomy and was relieved his flesh had not been badly injured by the dog. She watched him continue on wondering how they had been in such an upheaval during the night when they were so good together during the day.

She sat back in her seat reflecting on that, but also she worried he was more upset by the dog's bite than he let on. She accepted he was in touch with his emotions, that he was sensitive and although he made out he was tough, he was shaken up.

Mostly, she continued to fret he would ultimately make the decision to break things off with her. She read over the incident report she had handwritten out, studied his signature. It was different to his autograph and varied from the way he signed his name when he wrote notes addressed to her. That signature he said, was only for her. One day he'd joked and told her if he ever saw an item on ebay with his special signature he'd know it was her hocking his gifts. Thing was, she kept everything he gave her, and luckily enough her collection had been stored in a safe place that had not been damaged in the explosion.

She completed the form by ticking the box that he had sought medical attention. He might not go today, but she knew he would see a doctor. It was his trait to do so. He was predictable in his nature.