A Murder Below Zero
By
UCSBdad
Disclaimer: There's zero chance that I own Castle. Rating: K Time: In an AU future.
Rick was expecting that question.
"Sir, I don't see how she could. She wasn't a high value informant, just snooping on some lawyers with some ideas above their stations. We don't even know for sure that she was killed because of that. The lawyers were ninety percent talk and ten percent action, and not very dangerous action. Not the type to assassinate a fellow lawyer."
"Maybe." Montgomery said. "But her jewelry, wallet and other valuables were left behind and there was no sexual assault. Someone wanted her dead."
"And we have no idea who that is." Rick concluded.
"Speaking of assassinations, what about this Coonan case? The man was killed in the same manner as Johanna Beckett. That's got to be more than a coincidence."
"Coincidences do happen, but it doesn't tell us anything, sir. The type of knife used was used by hundreds of thousands of troops since the start of the wars. And plenty of people know to stab someone in the kidney to send them into shock and then die. The same with adding more stab wounds to disguise the killing blow, although it wouldn't fool a good ME for long."
"It fooled the ME who handled Johanna Beckett." Montgomery shook his head. "I know. I know. The man was a drunk and he's dead anyway. Maybe he was just an incompetent boozer."
"Kate is going to be upset if she finds out her mother was one of ours. She may blame us for getting her killed."
"I know, Rick. But there's nothing we can do about it now. Water under the bridge."
Montgomery changed the subject.
"Our corrupt Constabulary captain. The boys from Tenth Directorate really have their tails up on this one. I should tell you to stay out of their way, but you're very good and solving problems for me and I suspect Detective Beckett is equally talented. Keep an eye on her. I've looked up her record and she appears to be as good as you say she is. My Special Ops Regiment could use a talented detective. I think we could get her a direct commission as a captain."
"I'd enjoy having her in my unit, sir."
"Don't enjoy it too much."
Montgomery drained his glass, thought for a moment and then filled it again.
"Get back to your date and have fun."
"Yes, sir."
Rick got to his table to find Kate sipping on a Strathclyde coffee.
"I've never had one of these before." She said. "It's coffee, really good coffee with Strathclyde whisky and whipped cream on top. Angela said she made sure I got the twenty-year old whisky, just like you drink."
"Rank hath its privileges." Rick said, smiling at her.
"What did Montgomery want?"
"He wanted to know all about the cases were working on. Apparently the Tenth Directorate went ballistic when they found out about Demming and his stash of goodies. That's way too much for one man to have all on his own. There have to be other people involved and some of them are pretty high ranking they're betting. You won't be seeing much of the Constabulary around. They'll either be hiding under their desks, or running to MinSec to rat out their friends, whether the friends have done anything or not."
Rick took a sip of his whisky.
"But, please, let's not talk about work. Somehow talking about murders doesn't help my appetite."
"Agreed."
Kate decided that this was the best meal she'd ever had. She wondered if she'd have more dates with Rick. Was he just interested in a quick affair, or did he want something more? She decided she'd like to find out, one way or another.
After dinner, he drove her back to her apartment and walked her to her door. He leaned in to kiss her, putting his hand gently behind her head.
Then his phone rang.
"Damn! That's my emergency ring. I have to answer this."
"Castle." He barked into his phone. He listened for almost a minute.
"Okay, call Ed at Tenth Directorate, send a team to pick up both James Beckett and Gina Cowell. I want them in protective custody at Fort Foster ASAP."
He hung up.
"We have another murder. This time it was Doctor Davidson. His girlfriend let herself into his apartment and found him with his throat cut. First Coonan, then Demming and now Davidson. And two people who had some sort of relationship with Coonan might be next. Do you want to come along? You don't have to. I can have you picked up tomorrow."
"Are you kidding me? That's my dad you're talking about. Of course, I'm coming."
Then she put her hand behind his head and drew him into a long kiss.
"That's for the date. And for thinking to protect my dad."
When they got back outside, Kate wasn't surprised to see two more armored vehicles parked behind Rick's. She wondered if they had followed them at a discrete distance.
They were halfway to the bridge over the Jollie River when Rick got two phone calls. The first was good news.
"I got a team to your dad and they took him to the roof of his building and a helicopter picked him up and took him to Fort Foster. He's in the Special Ops compound. That's about as safe as he can get."
The second call was not good news.
"My team got to Gina Cowell's place and found her gone. They found a neighbor who said she went out clubbing, but he had no idea where. He said she likes to go to the Victory Square area, but there are hundreds of clubs there, assuming she went there."
Rick got on the radio and began coordinating a search for Cowell. He had his own troops, the NEPD, the Constabulary and MInSec on it, but it wasn't enough.
"There aren't enough people to cover all the places she might go and too damned many blonde party girls out there. We've already dragged seven out of clubs who aren't Cowell."
He turned to Kate.
"Any ideas?"
She thought about it.
"Glitter Gulch, maybe? They're supposed to be the hottest clubs in town."
"Glitter Gulch it is."
The armored vehicle stopped just short of Glitter Gulch.
"What is it?" Castle asked the driver.
"There's maybe fifty cars blocking the street, boss. It looks like they've moved the party outside."
"Outside! It's below zero out there."
"I'll bet none of them know the difference, boss."
"We'll have to go back and find another way in."
"No can do. I've contacted the choppers and drones. All the entrances to the Gulch are blocked by cars. We'll have to get out and walk, boss."
"Then we'll walk."
The first club they reached had already been searched by Rick's troops. A dozen of them were standing outside the club with four blondes. The blondes were leaning against each other and at least one appeared to be passed out.
"No Gina Cowell inside." Said one trooper." These four have no ID and they're blonde, so we brought them outside."
Rick checked them over.
"Not who we're looking for. Get them back inside before they freeze solid. Then follow me, we'll check the next club."
The next club was huge. At a guess, Kate thought there might be over a thousand people inside, all pushed together on the dance floor. The music was deafening and the lights were almost nonexistent.
Rick found the manager.
"Turn the lights on and stop the music." He screamed into the man's ear.
"Go fuck yourself." Was the reply.
"Krulak, please ask this man politely to turn on the lights and stop the music."
Krulak picked the man up and shook him hard.
"If you don't turn on the lights and stop the music, I'll have to be more polite. Understand?"
The man understood, but it took five minutes to kill the lights and the music.
Rick stood up on the bar.
"We're looking for a blonde called Gina Cowell. If she's here, or if you know where she is, I want to know now."
That got a lot of obscene comments from people too far back in the crowd to be identified.
Krulak got onto the bar with Rick and fired a whole thirty round clip into the ceiling.
"We're the 10th Special Operations Regiment and if you think we won't haul all of your asses out to Fort Foster for an interrogation and then turn you over to MinSec, you have another think coming. Understand?"
A man who appeared to be under the influence of something staggered forward.
"Gina Cowell? Blonde? Hot? Works as an emotional therapist?"
"That's her."
"Not here. She said this place was so last week. She said she was going to the Purple Palace."
"Where's the Purple Palace?" Rick demanded.
"Three doors down. You can't miss it since it's…purple."
The Purple Palace was even bigger than the last club and it had five stories. The manager explained that the lights and the music weren't on one switch. The controls were scattered all over the building and were hard to get to.
"Okay, have people start turning everything off. We'll look for Cowell."
Rick and Krulak, followed by Kate, pushed their way through the crowd.
"Shit!" Castle yelled. "Half the women in here are blondes."
"They're light blonde wigs. When they turn the purple lights on, their hair looks purple." Kate screamed back.
They pushed past dozens of people and then Kate saw something.
"Over by the bar. That's her! I'm sure it's her."
Rick and Krulak pulled their sidearms and pushed through the crowd. Kate drew hers as well.
Two very drunk women and a man suddenly crashed into Rick and Krulak, knocking them off balance. Another half a dozen people went down with both soldiers now in a pile of people.
That attracted Cowell's attention. She saw Rick and Krulak, then noticed other soldiers heading for their fallen leader. She headed away from them.
Kate managed to jump onto the bar and ran after her. Cowell had almost made it to an exit when Kate caught up with her.
"You have to come with me!" Kate yelled. "You're in danger!"
Cowell swung at Kate and tried to get away. Kate grabbed her and pushed her against the bar.
"Gun! Gun!" She heard someone yell.
A short burst of automatic fire hit a man next to Kate and smashed the mirror behind the bar. Kate threw herself down on top of Cowell. She tried to find the shooter. A burst of fire knocked down two people near her. She found the shooter, but he was hiding behind two women who were just standing there, screaming. Kate couldn't take a shot. She hoped he'd move.
Rick had managed to get to his feet and pushed a couple out of his way. He could see the shooter and he was aiming at Kate and Cowell. He only had a head shot because of all the people in the way. He aimed and fired. The shooter dropped.
Krulak got up and headed for the shooter. Rick headed for Kate and Cowell.
"You okay?"
"Did you have to kill him?" Kate demanded.
"He was about to kill you and Cowell. Seemed like the thing to do."
He helped Kate up and they dragged Cowell to her feet.
"He's dead, boss." Krulak reported. "Nice shot. Half his head is gone."
"What happened?" Cowell said, weakly.
"Someone's trying to kill you." Kate said.
"I thought you were going to arrest me."
"I still might." Kate said.
All of them went back to Rick's armored vehicle. He called for a helicopter to pick up Cowell, him and Kate.
"You're coming back to Fort Foster with me, Kate. Too many people involved in this case are getting killed."
Kate was too tired to argue.
TBC