I am backkk! This story is hitting pretty close to home for me so I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did writing it.
This story plays in mid-season 4.
"Okay, what do we have here?"
Ducking the yellow crime scene tape that was cordoning off the dark alley, Kate Beckett walked toward the small gathering of people hovering over a dead body, the sprawled-out form on the damp ground surrounded by soggy cardboard boxes.
Castle was flanking her to the right, their steps in sync as they bridged the short distance to Ryan and Esposito, who stood a few feet away from their victim, both men busy taking notes.
"Male Caucasian, 49 years old, also known as Lieutenant Donald Harrison, NYPD Drug Squad.", the Hispanic detective explained somberly, glancing down at his ledger, his forehead wrinkled in undisguised tension, "The guy who found him saw him have dinner at a local bar, Happy Gary's, approximately half an hour before he was killed. He was alone, didn't talk to anybody…"
"We're also currently tracking his cell …", Ryan added and lifted up a plastic bag containing the deceased's mobile phone, "His apartment is three blocks down the road from here. If we are lucky, we'll see if he stopped someplace before heading home, somewhere our killer might have caught up with him."
Beckett nodded, letting the preliminary information sink in, her experienced mind already loathing the thought of a dead police officer.
"Espo, the guy who found him…anything on him?"
"No. He just happened to frequent the same bar and left a little while after Harrison did. Older guy, probably mid-seventies. If he's our killer, he's doing a good job acting innocent because he…well he…"
Turning around when the detective struggled to find the right words, Beckett frowned, then nodded understandingly as Esposito pointed at a puddle of vomit outside the alley.
"Okay. Thanks, Espo. Lanie, what's the murder method?"
"This is where it gets interesting…", she heard the ME explain over the wailing of sirens passing them by, then watched her lean over their victim, examining his fingertips intently, "Murder method is a powerful jerk to the neck which dislocated his C-4, killing him instantly. It's a quick and painless death, as though our killer chose to be…kind and efficient. At least when it came to the killing part. But before he got to that, our victim was worked over pretty hard. I show contusions to his wrist, upper arms, collar bone and ribs. You would have sworn he was in a bar brawl."
"What's the time of death?"
"Based on lividity and body temperature, he hasn't been dead for more than three hours, which puts TOD right around 7pm."
Beckett stopped short of the body, letting her eyes drift over the civilian clothes belonging to a man she had seen before, a man she had the utmost respect for when it came to his leadership in the force.
Harrison's eyes were still open, lifeless, dull. His limbs spread out to either side of his body, as if he'd just laid down to die. The lack of blood made the scene look eerily peaceful, though it was anything but.
It was the complete opposite of the man she saw holding a news conference regarding a successful drug bust just a few weeks ago.
"So, do you think this was a targeted attack?"
"No sign of robbery…", Ryan answered from behind, "We found his wallet undisturbed, along with two hundred bucks. Apartment keys were still on the body."
When nobody else said anything, Lanie cleared her throat and pointed at her victim's fingers.
"For what it's worth, he put up a fight too. I see some abrasions on his knuckles. I won't know for sure until I get him to the lab, but I can see if I can find traces of our killer's DNA beneath his fingernails. He was an experienced police officer, so whoever took him on was…frighteningly skilled, to say the least."
"Thank you, Lanie.", Beckett said, then pursed her lips, taking in the haunting scene with the eye of an intrigued observer, "Ryan, call Gates and give her a heads-up on who we found. And when you're done with the phone, pull in everything there is on Lieutenant Harrison, any recent threats, any enemies, any family troubles. Espo, canvass the neighborhood. This being a targeted attack, see if you can find out if there've been other attacks, perhaps gangs in the area causing trouble. Somebody must have seen something. But be careful."
Waiting for her two detectives to nod obediently, Beckett ran a hand across her face, then glanced back down at the murdered police officer, feeling the all too familiar sting in her gut.
"Castle, have you ever been to Happy Gary's?"
Appearing next to her, the writer smiled warmly, before shaking his head.
"Not yet, but I'd be happy to give it a try if you ask me out on a drink."
"I'm on duty, Castle.", she replied dryly, then nudged her chin toward the waiting police car, "Let's head on over there and see if we can get some answers."
