Family or Justice
Chapter 5: Ding-Dong Merrily on Die
/ = Time skip
It was Christmas Eve. Presents under the tree ready for the next day and mistletoe hung under open doorways. It was also special for another reason, Castle was finally allowed back to work and solve crimes alongside the most beautiful woman in the world, Kate Beckett.
"I do expect you to take it easy today" said Beckett to Castle as they were stomping through the thick snow walking to their new case.
"Whatever, we need to be more careful from now on anyway, we have kids" answered Castle, eyes widening as he noticed the dead body. "Holy shit, talk about ding-dong merrily on high".
"Yeah but I dont think this guy is having a very merry christmas" Esposito spoke up.
The dead guy's name was Adrian Gallagher, his body was hanging three stories above the ground on the front of an apartment building, with one of his legs caught in a set of Christmas lights.
"Soo, How'd he die then?" questioned Beckett, who was now captain again since the death of Gates.
"A gunshot to each of his nipples" answered Ryan who was now standing with them, the answer causing Castle and Esposito to burst out laughing.
"Oh come on guys, grow up" Beckett inputted, but even she was almost laughing at the cause of death.
"Oh, come on grinch, it's funny, cause it means that a killer specifically targeted the man's tits" replied Castle, now causing Ryan and Beckett to let out laughs.
"Hey teletubbies, are you actually going to do your jobs or are you just going to be laughing like a few middle school girls, I need help to get him down!" shouted Lanie, Beckett letting out a quick "Sorry".
"Weirdly, the gunshots don't seem to be what killed him," Lanie said after examining the body in more detail.
"What do you mean?" questioned Beckett.
"There's a stab wound straight into the heart, that would have killed him instantly"
"So, then how did he get trapped in the Christmas lights?" asked Ryan.
"I'm guessing the killer must have pushed him out of a window to dump the body or something, we have got people searching his apartment right now" Beckett answered, taking a sip of her warm coffee to heat her up on this mighty cold day in New York.
/
It was a bit later in the day and Beckett and Castle were back home preparing all the food for the next day.
"Are you going to be alright tonight and tomorrow?" Castle spoke up whilst he was preparing a roast gammon.
"What do you mean, of course I'll be alright?" questioned Beckett who was preparing a turkey.
"You know what I mean, the dreams or memories" , answered Castle with worry in his voice.
"Every night since what happened in the parking lot, you have had the same dream over and over again and you barely sleep" Castle followed up, his voice cracking with worry over his wife.
"Well, what am I supposed to do about it? I'm going to a therapist to see if that will help," Beckett answered.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry for bringing it up," said Castle, walking over and giving his wife a tight hug.
After a little while, Castle released the hg and they got back to preparing for the following day, plus they didn't have anything else to do as the case had already hit a wall. The only things that they had found in the victim's apartment was his phone, wallet and an address to his parents house.
They were going to go to the parents house on boxing day to see if they knew anything to do with Adrian's death.
/
"Merry Christmas!" screamed Castle as he walked into the living area with a Santa hat on his head, his kids running up to him and excitedly hugging him.
/
Overall, the day was good apart from the fact that Beckett was heavily sleep deprived, meaning Castle was worried for her the entire day but also wanted to make sure the day was fun.
/
"Wow, this place is nice!" exclaimed Castle, like an excited child, as they were approaching a mansion set up in the middle of nowhere that belonged to the parents of the victim, Adrian.
"Don't get too excited, their probably posh idiots," replied Beckett.
As they pressed the doorbell, they were immediately answered by a couple of older age, that's for sure but not people who would be evil.
"Yes, I'm assuming you are the detectives," the old woman asked. Castle and Beckett silently nodded as a response.
"Awesome, we were expecting you".
"You were?" asked Castle, confused.
"Well, yes the victim was our son after all" inputted the dad. Earning questionable looks from both Beckett and Castle.
Castle and Beckett were guided to sit down on a large, leather couch.
"So, then I guess we should start. First of all, how did you know that the victim was your son considering that information hasn't been released to any news outlets or anything?" questioned Beckett, the old couple now looking like they were caught in the act of something.
"Oh, we have a friend that lives around there so she found out and told us" answered the dad.
"Well, then, when was the last time you saw your son?" asked Castle, as he was fidgeting around on the couch trying to get in a comfortable position.
"The day he turned 18" the mum answered, looking guilty.
"How old is he now?" Castle fired back.
"22" the dad inputted.
"So you haven't seen your son in four years, Why?" was all Beckett asked.
"On his 18th birthday he, um, he came out as gay and we didnt take it well and we sort of kicked him out" the mum finished, Beckett rolling her eyes and muttering to Castle "I told you".
"Well I don't want to be here any longer and I think we have enough information," Castle said, quickly standing up and walking to the door, opening it and waiting for Beckett.
"You guys should know, there's not a day that goes by that I don't regret how I reacted," the mum said, clearly saddened but the dad was more unreadable.
Castle just closed the door.
"I told you they were going to be posh idiots" Beckett said as they were walking back to the car.
"They definitely have something to do with the murder, by the way" Castle said.
"What do you mean?" question Beckett, starting the car up.
"Well, they hated their son or at least the dad did, the mom looked quite sad about it, I think we need to talk to the friend they were talking about"
"I agree"
/
"I think you might want to see this?" said Esposito as he and Ryan walked into a conference room, where Castle and Beckett were trying to find out who the friend was.
"What is it?" wondered Beckett, Esposito handing over a tape.
"Secruity footage from the night of the murder" Ryan responded.
They put the tape into a player and watched as they saw a man approach the victim's apartment.
But what was even weirder was that if they squinted their eyes enough you could see that the man had a striking resemblance to the dad of the victim.
"Jesus christ, I guess we've found our killer then" said Beckett, rushing out of the room with the others following behind her.
/
They had reached the parents house but when they knocked and rang the doorbell they got no answer so they bashed the door open. With one big thud the door was on the floor and they were in the house.
"What the hell is going on!" shouted the old woman.
"Where's the man?" asked Castle.
"Out back in the garden" answered the mother, pointing to the door leading into the garden.
"Put your hands up, you're under arrest" shouted Beckett, the man instantly starting to run away.
As the man started to run, Castle quickly ran behind and quickly caught due to his old age but let's just say it was an exciting chase.
"Good catch, Castle" Ryan teased as Beckett was putting handcuffs on the dad.
/
"I've been meeting with him like that virtually every night since he was kicked out of our house, it's not weird. But that night it was different, when I had arrived he was already with something and they were having sex so I got angry ad when I got in the apartment, my mind went blank and I took out a gun that I always carry with me for protection and I shot him twice and then the other dude but that was in the head so he was dead immediately but my son was still alive so I picked up a knife from his kitchen and stabbed him in the heart but when I went to dump his body his legs got caught in the stupid christmas lights." Mr Gallagher explained.
"So where is the body of the other guy?" questioned Beckett.
"I took him back to my house after I realised I couldn't dump the bodies there so he's hid in my home"
/
"Another case solved and another day were still alive" said Castle as he and Beckett were walking into the elevator of the precinct.
"Why did you say that?" asked Beckett, annoyed at him.
"We need to talk about things like this, we have kids I don't know how much longer I can do this for, risking not seeing them anymore every single day of the year, for all we know we might not make it till next christmas," exclaimed Castle.
"So, What do you mean exactly? Like we give up detective work" Beckett asked, confused, to which Castle answered with a "yes".
"Haha" then it was silent.
The End of Chapter 5.