The Death and Life of Teresa Wyler
By
UCSBdad
Disclaimer: Do I really have to tell you I don't own Castle? Rating: K Time: Shortly after the episode Still.
"Detective Beckett! My office."
She watched as Beckett hurried to her office leaving her partner looking forlornly after her. Richard Castle was certainly not Gates' favorite person, but she had learned that he could occasionally be useful, and he had recently proved his love for Beckett. Gates had learned to work around situations she had no control over, and besides, she had orders.
"You too, Mr. Castle." She said briskly.
When both were inside, she told Castle to close the door.
"Detective Beckett, are you familiar with the Teresa Wyler murder case? That would be some fifteen years ago."
Kate frowned and shook her head.
"That would be about 1998. I was at Stanford. I don't remember hearing anything about it when I joined the force."
Gates saw that Castle was bursting to say something.
"Yes, Mr. Castle?"
"I do know about the Teresa Wyler murder. It was in all the papers and on TV. George Wyler murdered his wife in their townhouse just off Central Park. Several neighbors saw him loading something that looked like a body wrapped in a rug into the back of his car. He drove to their cabin in upstate New York and dissolved the body in something. Wyler was a brilliant chemist and was a millionaire many times over due to his inventions. The police Crime Scene Unit couldn't find anything in the house or the cabin. Wyler said he had a new cleaning agent that would be sold to hi-tech businesses that used clean rooms and he'd tested it on his house and cabin. It completely erased any sign of blood, bodily fluids, DNA, and fingerprints, just everything. He denied killing his wife, but one of her friends testified that Teresa had said she was going to leave her husband. Since there was no body, the case got a lot of publicity, but George Wyler was convicted."
Gates smiled.
"Very good, Mr. Castle, but unfortunately, wrong."
"Wrong?" Castle's brow furrowed. He was positive he'd remembered everything.
"Wrong." Gates repeated. "Three days ago, the "late" Mrs. Wyler was arrested by the police in Los Angeles for disorderly conduct. Imagine the LAPD's surprise when they found they had a murder victim in custody."
"They're sure it's her?" Beckett asked.
"They checked her fingerprints and her DNA. When Mrs. Wyler was a little girl, her mother had her fingerprints and DNA taken as a precaution against kidnapping. It's Teresa Wyler all right, although she goes by the name of Teresa Gordon now."
"Wouldn't this be something for the DA's office of Internal Affairs to handle, sir?" Kate asked.
"Normally, yes. But due to the political complications, someone in One PP thought that someone with Mr. Castle's ability to charm the press would be more useful."
"Political complications? I realize that convicting a man wrongly is a serious problem, but is it that big a problem?" Kate asked.
"Oh!" Castle said. "Oh, yes."
Beckett glared mildly at Castle.
"Care to share, Castle?"
"The ADA who got the conviction is now Congresswoman Elaine Leonard. When Senator Pullman decided to retire, both Congressman Hensley and Congresswoman Leonard decided to run in the primary to replace him. Currently Leonard has a small lead in the polls."
Kate shrugged.
"So? She's not the first ADA to have convicted the wrong person."
"Beckett, she's built her entire career on that conviction. Bob, um, that is Mayor Weldon, knows her. I've even heard her speak once or twice. She can't get through a speech without bringing up that case." Castle imitated the cadences of Congresswoman Leonard. "I was told by men, that I, a mere woman, could never get a conviction with no dead body. I showed those men, what a woman could do to punish men who murdered their wives."."
"Actually, Bob has said that she can hardly order coffee or hail a cab without doing that speech. Bob likes her politically, but she can be…boring."
"Mister Wyler's attorneys have already asked the court to vacate Mr. Wyler's conviction as there's no evidence of a death of any sort."
"He has an attorney already?" Rick said.
"Michael Dunn of Dunn and Fillmore is representing him. Dunn is a very good friend of Congressman Hensley. Needless to say, he'll go out of his way to make Congresswoman Leonard look as bad as possible on this." Gates said.
"Dunn and Fillmore is one of the most politically connected law firms in the city." Kate said.
"So, we're being asked to get in the way of a political battle of the sexes?" Castle asked. "Are you sure we're not getting this because everyone else was terrified of upsetting some powerful politicians?"
"You have your orders, Detective Beckett, Mr. Castle. The records of the trial and the police reports are on their way here. I suggest you study them. Mrs. Wyler, that is, Mrs. Gordon, is flying in from LA tomorrow. You'll meet her and see what she has to say about this."
Kate briefed Ryan and Esposito on their new assignment.
"We've finished the Lowry case except for the paperwork." Kate said. "I don't imagine this'll take much of our time. But remember, there are some pretty big political egos involved in this. Don't talk to the press and don't say anything critical of anyone. Got it?"
Both Ryan and Espo nodded.
Rick checked his watch.
"Why don't we all go to an early lunch? It'll be a while before the records of the Wyler, um, non-murder gets here."
When they got back from lunch, the records were there. They could hardly find Kate's desk for all the records boxes stacked on it.
"Okay, we'll divide it up into four parts." Kate decided. "If anyone finds anything that looks hinky, let us know. I'm pretty sure the DA's office wouldn't have cut any corners on this, too many people involved for that to happen, but mistakes can be made and not caught."
They spent the afternoon reading the files and eventually, Rick and Kate went home.
"Pumpkin, I hope you're not making anything for dinner. I ordered pizza. I tried to call you but you didn't pick up."
"Sorry, Dad. I was studying for my Inorganic Chem final. Lee Ann Browder kept calling me asking questions. She never studies and is going to fail the test, no matter what I do. Did you have a rough day at work?"
Rick and Kate explained the case they'd caught to Alexis.
"I'm sorry to hear that about Congresswoman Leonard. I like her ideas, but I agree. She can't go five minutes without bringing up that old case. Just about everyone has forgotten all about it by now."
"They're going to get a reminder real soon." Rick said.
After dinner, Rick and Kate snuggled on the couch.
"What did you think of the case?" Kate asked.
"Leonard was lucky to get a conviction. No body, no physical evidence from CSU, and Wyler denied everything. Said he'd parked his car behind his place, not in front and never put anything in the trunk. But, the very missing Mrs. Wyler was something he couldn't explain away. He said he had no idea she wanted to leave him."
"Is there anything that Nikki Heat would have done?"
"Aside from snuggling up with ruggedly handsome Pulitzer Prize winning investigative journalist Jameson Rook?"
"Definitely aside from that." Kate giggled.
"Not a thing."
That morning Kate and her team went to JFK Airport to pick up Mrs. Wyler, apparently now Mrs. Gordon. When they got there the disembarking area was crammed with reporters.
"Uh oh." Castle said. "We should have anticipated someone would leak this. We're got both print and TV reporters here and they're looking like sharks that smell blood."
Kate checked the photos they had of Mrs. Wyler from the police files. They showed a slender, brunette with glasses and cute, rather than pretty.
The first woman out was a tall platinum blonde whose short skirt showed off her long, trim legs and who looked like her boobs were about to fall out of her dress top.
"Mrs. Gordon! Mrs. Gordon!" The reporters yelled.
"That's Teresa Gordon?" Kate said, looking at the photos again. "She looks like she's about to fall out of that dress."
"No," Rick said, "It looks like she wants to fall out of the dress."
The detectives and Castle began pushing their way through the throng of reporters, getting nasty remarks from the press. Kate glared at them and Castle smiled, but neither said anything.
"Hey, it's Nikki Heat!" A reported called out. That turned about the attention of about half the reporters to Kate. She just said that she was not Nikki Heat and that any questions about the case should be brought to the NYPD's press office.
Mrs. Gordon, probably wanting to attract the attention of the press back to her, bent over. Rick had no idea how her boobs managed to stay in her dress.
"Mrs. Teresa Gordon?" Kate showed her badge. "I'm Detective Kate Beckett, these are Detectives Ryan and Esposito, and Mr. Castle. We need to take a statement from you. If you'll come with me, please?"
"This is the famous writer Rick Castle and you're his muse, aren't you?"
"That's not what were here for." Kate said, gritting her teeth.
"I'm more than happy to come with you, but first we have to pick up our luggage. Oh, I haven't introduced you to my husband, Duke Gordon. Say hi, sweetie."
Duke smiled and said hi.
Castle looked him over. He looked to be fortyish, tall and fit, and was dressed in cowboy boots, tight white jeans and a blue polo shirt. He had an expensive haircut, a 70s porn star mustache, a fake tan and a fake smile.
"We'll take you to the luggage carousel, Mrs. Gordon."
"Thank you. And, oh, we'll be staying at the Grattan Hotel, right off Broadway. And you're from the 12th Precinct, right, Detective Beckett?" She said all that loudly enough for all the reporters to hear.
"Correct." Kate's jaw was starting to get sore from clenching her teeth.
When they got to the luggage carousel, Duke started to take suitcases off.
"How many suitcases did you bring?" Kate asked.
"Seventeen suitcases in all. We decided that as long as we're in New York, we'd have some fun."
Kate looked at the very large suitcases piling up around Duke.
"Espo, you and Ryan are going to have to put all of these in your car."
"When did I become a taxi driver?" Espo growled.
"Other duties as assigned." Kate growled back.
They drove the Gordons to their hotel and when Teresa came down, she was wearing another, equally revealing dress. Duke had changed his polo for a very bright aloha shirt.
Finally, they arrived at the 12th Precinct, only to find the same horde of reporters trying to get in. In fact, two uniforms were escorting a very abrasive TV crew out.
"How did they get in, LT?" Kate asked, as the reporter yelled about the First Amendment.
"Through the garage. We weren't expecting this kind of coverage."
"And un-coverage." Kate said, under her breath.
Finally, they got Mrs. Gordon and her husband settled so they could take a statement from her.
"Perhaps, Mrs. Gordon, you could just tell us what's happened in your own words and if we have any questions, we can ask them." Kate said.
"Oh, dear. Where to begin?"
"How about when you met Mr. Wyler?" Castle suggested.
"We met while I was in high school. Our school had a work experience program for those who weren't really college material. I got a part time job at WyChem, George's company. As luck would have it, I worked as a file clerk right outside of George's office. He was really nice, polite and friendly and we became…Well, we were friends at first. But then we started dating, and things got serious."
TBC