Disclaimer: I do not own the characters featured on the show Castle, they belong to the creator of the show, ABC and the others who do own them.
A/N #1: It was great to see the feedback I got for the last chapter, so I'll get started on my thank yous! TORONTOSUN (I was pleased to see you thought it was very good writing in the last chapter!) and
Mb (Great to see you thought the last chapter was a nice filler one. And I wasn't surprised at your reaction to the pool room, lol. But you do make a good point and I have to agree with you completely about being jealous, I am too! As to your wondering about the murderer covering their tracks with Matthias, I wasn't surprised that you were wondering that since it wasn't a suicide. Also not surprised that you were glad Mari was there to help Julia if she ended up having possible nightmares after what happened that day. Really pleased to see you thought the first half of the chapter was nicely done. And you're welcome for sharing the first half! It was great to read you thought the second half was nicely done again. And I wasn't surprised you mentioned that there was more information with Matthias getting some of his memory back. And I was so happy to see you thought there were great conversations between Mary, Skye, Castle and Beckett. It was nice to see you smiling at the conditions Eliza and Julia had for Castle's gift of the Vegas trip, lol, I figured they'd do that being told about the trip. You're welcome for the second half of the chapter!).
Thanks for the reviews, loved reading them all and I greatly appreciate the time taken to write them out and send them my way!
A/N #2: The title of this chapter is made up from two different lyrics from the song Pisces Fish written by George Harrison, from his album Brainwashed.
Smoke Signals On The River
"What if you need me to help Matthias while I'm still in school?" Julia asked her parents while she was saying goodbye to them in the quad at the academy.
"We'll take you out," Skye commented. When Beckett and Castle looked at her, she said, "I figured you would."
"We'll try not to," Beckett told her daughter first.
"But if it's necessary we'll get you," Castle said.
"And it'll be after lunch," Beckett added. "So please pay attention," she said.
"I will," Julia replied. "See you later!"
After saying goodbye to her friend's family, her mother and sister, Mari said, "You're not asking to go with them."
"I would have if I didn't know the answer already," Julia said with an exasperated sigh. She then said, "I just hope they can solve it today." She wasn't surprised when Mari nodded in agreement before they were turning their attention to Natalie who was calling to them from the steps to the school.
"Is that why you came with us?" Castle asked as they were walking to the elementary school after the older girls had left them.
"No, Matthias told me to come," Skye replied. She wasn't surprised at the looks she got from the writers and her wife before shrugging and said, "He didn't give me much reason."
"I guess he doesn't need to," Mary said, glancing at Beckett and seeing her uncertainty.
"We'll be right back out," Beckett said before she and Castle walked over to where the others were waiting at the bottom of the building's steps. She was about to reach for Eliza's hand when she heard her phone starting to ring and she stopped, pulling it out hurriedly before she said, "It's Brad."
"It's okay Mommy, Daddy," Eliza said hurriedly while her parents were turning to her. "You have to solve the case." She hugged them tightly and told them she loved them before she went with her grandfather inside. "Brad called my mommy and daddy," she told Darnley since he and Nkosi were walking to the doors. She watched them rush outside and said, "Now Trevor has to walk home alone," to her grandfather before he was replying with a slight smile on his face.
"I think I'll walk with him… Rebecca too," Jim said, seeing the woman leaving the preschool rooms.
"Oh, good," Eliza said, nodding her head. She smiled and said, "I'm glad you have someone to walk with too Grandpapa."
"So am I," Jim said when they were embracing. "But you need to go see your friends," he then urged her because they needed to go before the bell rang. He glanced back at the doors but was unable to see anyone before he took Eliza into her classroom.
"Is everyone there?" Brad asked.
"And a couple others," Castle said. "Not the kids," he said rapidly.
"Okay," the chief said rapidly. "I came into the station not too long ago to find Ms. Gage here, asking to speak to me."
"You want us there?" Beckett replied.
"I'd like you to be," Brad said. "Right now if you're able."
"We have our car," Darnley said when Castle hung up.
"Your father is here," Nkosi said.
"And Rebecca, we walked," Beckett told him.
"I'll be with you guys," Mary added.
"We have to go," Beckett said to Skye. She wasn't surprised when the investigator nodded and turned to her wife, looking at her husband to let them have a little privacy. She then said, "It sounds like she remembered something."
Castle hesitated for a moment before he spoke, a little startled when his wife was doing so at the same time and they both said, "Or she heard about Manaudou."
"I would think that's it," Skye said, walking over to them. Since she had finished saying goodbye to Mary, she waited for the others to say goodbye before she squeezed her wife's hand and they hurried to the parking lot to make their way to the station.
"Great," Brad said when the four got out of the car. "She was upset when she came in, but she's calmed down by now."
"What did she say?" Castle asked as they walked up to the chief.
"That she needed to talk to me," Brad said. "But she did ask for you Kate," he told her as he held the door open for her.
"I'm not surprised," Beckett said with a quick nod. She looked to the interview room and saw the woman there, sitting on the couch with her head bowed. "She didn't say," she commented to Brad, taking off her coat as they were heading over to his office.
"No, but if you're thinking she's afraid the troupe knew she came here," the chief replied. "Wade said they were at breakfast, and she suddenly ran up to him and asked for him to escort her here. Everybody heard."
"Is there anything you'd like us to do while you're talking to her?" Darnley asked.
"There's a video queued up on my computer," Brad said, looking at Castle first. When the writer nodded, he then said, "I got a hold of the pharmacy and they luckily had the bar code record of purchase, so I need you to look at the footage of that day."
"That day," Skye said.
"Three months ago," Brad said. "The fifteenth of November." When the three were heading to his desk he turned to Beckett and seeing she'd hung her outer layers said, "Let's go."
Following him Beckett asked, "Has she been crying at all?"
"She was, not when I saw her once she got here," Brad replied. "But she had been in the car; Bernier confirmed that." They'd reached the interview room and he knocked gently before they went in with him saying, "Ms. Gage," to get her attention.
"Is it true, is Leo dead?" she replied to that tearfully.
"I'm afraid it is," Beckett said gently. "But Leo? You knew him?"
"You didn't know?" Gage said, drying her cheeks with a tissue. When she looked at the two and saw they were nodding she said, "I guess you heard that he yelled at us during our performance and was going to try and join in."
"We did, which is why you can understand our confusion," Brad told her before the performer was speaking quickly.
"The day after we were at the theater and he came backstage to talk to us," Gage explained. "But we wouldn't let him in, so he sent what he'd brought to me though it had a note to the two of us, a bouquet of yellow roses." She looked at the two across from her and said, "Do you know what that means?"
"Apology," Beckett said immediately.
"Friendship too," Gage murmured. "We knew that, and we decided to give him a chance, but we talked to him in the big green room we were all sharing. When he came in, he got on his knees and begged us to forgive him. His co-workers had gotten him drunk that night and because he'd recently broken up with his girlfriend, they'd egged him on so…"
"He yelled at you," Brad said gently.
Nodding once Gage then said, "And they pushed him to go on and join in. We talked for a long time; the three of us; and we could tell he was really remorseful. The next day he dragged two of his co-workers to the theater and made them tell us what they'd done at the show. After that we became friends with Leo as he wanted to be called." She sighed and said, "We weren't best friends or anything, we met occasionally in the few months we knew him. But he did talk to us about continuing to perform; he wondered why we were doing it."
"And when you told him?" Beckett asked.
"He was a little saddened we couldn't move to the other troupe; that Matthias had been in," Gage answered. She paused for a moment and gathered herself before she continued saying, "They wouldn't have taken me of course because they had everyone they needed. I told them I'd be an understudy but the head of the group that ran it didn't like me for some reason."
"He didn't want you for himself?" Beckett asked. She wasn't surprised when Gage's face seemed to collapse, and she was about to speak to her when the woman was doing so first.
"We went to speak to him, and I knew he was interested in me," Gage replied. "I tried to deflect and really pushed me being able to join in. I think Mr. Aumont got what I was doing and didn't like the rejection, so he said no to me. Matthias was angry but I got him out of there and pushed Mr. Aumont not liking I was essentially a porn star."
"He never guessed what the actual reason was," Brad stated instead of replying. At the woman's nod he said, "Have you heard from Aumont since then?"
"No, which was a relief because he was coming on strong at that meeting," Gage said. She shook her head and said, "Leo said he could talk to Mr. Aumont, but I begged him not to, talking to him on my own two weeks ago. But he said he would do it though…"
Not surprised when the woman began to sob into the tissue she was holding, Beckett said, "I'm so sorry." She was able to tell Gage would need to be alone, so she touched Brad's arm and the chief was quickly speaking to her.
"Stay as long as you need, just call one of my officers if you need any help," Brad told her. He wasn't sure if the woman had heard him, but Beckett was standing up and he followed her outside. "Strange," he commented.
"If he was literally on his knees, it makes sense," Beckett said.
"I should have asked her when was the last time she saw Manaudou," Brad said, reaching out to the doorknob.
"Don't," Beckett said, stopping him. At the surprise on the chief's face she said, "Gage said, two weeks ago. She was trying to tell you; I think she knew she wasn't going to be able to keep from crying for that long."
Nodding Brad said, "The computer is still being worked on. Manaudou was a tech wizard too, according to friends."
"Nothing in his life?" Beckett asked. She was startled when the chief took her arm gently then, leading her to his office. She saw her husband and Darnley were in front of the desk and she glanced at Brad before her husband was speaking first.
"She told us to let her look at it," Castle told the two. "She has Matthias with her."
"I thought something was wrong with my heating," Brad said with a frown as he hurried over to the thermostat near the door.
"And Leo," Skye called from the desk.
"Who's Leo?" Darnley asked in confusion.
"Manaudou," Brad said quickly. He then proceeded to tell them what Gage had told him and Beckett before he finished and then said, "He's with you?"
"He's found Matthias," Skye said since the question was direction to her.
"He didn't go to Julia, did he?" Beckett asked.
"He almost did," Skye said honestly, pausing the video she was watching. She stood and stretched before saying, "But Matthias instructed him."
"Was he… listening right now to what I was saying?" Brad asked. He was startled for a moment when Skye suddenly looked away before he recalled she would do that.
"He was, and he says he remembers talking to Sonia," Skye said. "And he never did have the chance to speak to Aumont about her."
"He doesn't remember when he was killed?" Castle asked.
"Are we sure he wasn't killed because he murdered Matthias," Darnley asked, before the cup holder on the desk tilted over.
"That was Leo," Skye said. "I told him you didn't mean that seriously; just a question," the investigator explained. She straightened the holder and said to the others, "He doesn't know why he was murdered, just someone short at his front door. That's all he can tell me."
"How was he able to do that so quickly?" Castle asked.
"No idea," Skye replied. She glanced to her left and said, "He's gone… I guess that was all he could do." She then turned her attention to Brad and told him, "So far I don't have anything."
"How far are you in?" the chief asked.
"Ten in the morning," Skye said.
"You really should fast forward," Brad told her before he walked around the desk.
"Matthias asked me not to," Skye replied simply. "But there's something I'm wondering."
"Yes?" Brad asked.
"Leo's house that's near our creek themed pharmacy," Skye said.
"You want to go there," Brad said.
"No, security cameras, did he have any?" Skye asked. She saw the men looking at each other in confusion before her friend was speaking first to the three of them for her.
"Leo didn't ask," Beckett said.
"She's right, I'm asking," Skye added.
"He didn't," Brad said. "Which believe me I wish-"
"Not him, around him, did you knock on doors?" Skye interrupted him.
"The neighbors, yes, and there was nothing," Brad replied firmly. He wasn't surprised when the woman appeared to be annoyed at that answer and said, "I wish it'd been that easy too."
"Leo told me something about a camera," Skye replied after she'd paced for a moment. "I need to see that computer."
"Still not ready," Brad said.
"Why don't you let me look at the footage?" Beckett asked the investigator when she looked angry again.
"Yeah… go ahead," Skye said. She went around the desk and sitting on one of the chairs groaned as she told her friend, "Wait, I need to do it."
"Why don't you do it together?" Castle suggested.
"Yeah, that's fine," Brad said in a rush when the two women looked at him.
Sitting with Beckett, Skye murmured to her in Russian, "You understand why I said that."
"I do," Beckett replied. She then said, "Do you think someone lied about a camera," speaking in English.
"It's possible," Skye said while they were watching the footage. "Or Leo had a camera that was hidden."
"You know he could have," Castle said. When the others looked at him, he spoke a little faster as he continued, "A pinhole camera, if he was afraid of something happening, he would have set it up. Did he have anything in his front yard?"
"To hide a camera? I guess, I wasn't looking at the landscaping," Brad replied. He looked at the four with him and said, "I'm assuming this means you want to go for sure now," Skye replying first.
"I'd appreciate it," the investigator said.
"Alright, I'll call Hutchinson and let her know to call me if they bring in the laptop," Brad said before he left the office rapidly.
"Are we going to be able to find something that small?" Darnley said. "You said Leo isn't with you right now."
"What's wrong?" Castle asked as Skye looked a little uncertain.
"Don't say it," Beckett said.
"I'm sorry, I didn't think he would but… he went to Julia," Skye said in obvious guilt.
"She's going to be in class," Castle told his wife when she was taking her phone from her pocket.
Stopping before she could open it, Beckett sighed and said, "What if he tries to jump her?"
"He- Matthias!" Skye said before she was running out of the door of the office while Beckett was hot on her heels trying to see what was wrong.
