American Crime Stories
A/N: I just realized that it was nearly a year ago when I published the first chapter. So, I thought that is a good opportunity to take stock.
It's been rollercoaster of emotions since then. I got some really nice and encouraging reviews and messages and - as everybody should have noticed from my previous reactions - I also got some stupid ones. However, at no time did I think of abandoning this fic, so I don't really know why so many people asked me to continue the story. Not only, do I not want to give those trolls the satisfactions of abandoning the story, but I also have fun coming up with new scenarios and storylines.
Now, reading this, some of you will immediately think something on the lines like, "What new storylines, he's just repeating canon." I have previously stated my opinion on that and do not want to go into that again. I just wanted to point out that just because I haven't published anything that some of you might construe as "original idea", doesn't mean that I'm not working on it. In fact, I have a pretty detailed worksheet that goes up to the third story arc, but it takes time to write the actual story. For one thing, I want to limit my mistakes in grammar and more importantly, in my plot. So, I often go back and forth in my story, rework previously written chapters, and so on.
In addition, there is this thing called real life. I admire those authors who are able to write and publish multiple chapters per month. I really do. Sadly, my life doesn't give me much time to write. For those reasons, I do not publish new chapters as soon as some of you would like. I hope you understand and stop pressuring me for updates.
Anyway, I appreciate you continuing to read "ACS" and hope that you'll enjoy the next chapter.
Arc One, Chapter six
NEW YORK CITY, NEXT MORNING
TWELFTH PRECINCT BULLPEN
The next morning Beckett was studying the murder board. Her gut told her that something was not right, but she couldn't put the finger on it.
"Hey," Esposito greeted her.
"Hey. What'd you find?"
"Well, they're still processing. But so far there's nothing in his house or his office that connects Kurtzman to the murder."
"Did you check his emails?"
"Yeah, there's no mysterious deletions from his hard drive, no unusual activity. Nothing in his phone records, either."
"Okay, well that's not a surprise. I mean, if he's done this before he knows how to cover his tracks. What about his juvie record?"
"A couple of fights; stole a neighbor's car. Nothing that explains this."
"So then all we have is the neighbor's ID? That's not enough to make a case." A silent shrug was her only answer.
Ryan walked up to them. "I think I might have found something that can help. Something Kurtzman may have missed." He handed Beckett a bag with the earring the uniforms had found in Gina's apartment.
"A diamond earring?"
"We found it in the couch. CSU couldn't pull a print off it, but you see the design? That's custom. Erica Courtney."
"And you know this … how?" Esposito wondered.
"I recognized it. From when Jenny and I went ring shopping. Anyway, I called up the showroom. They confirmed it's one of theirs."
"And do they have a record of who they sold it to?" Beckett asked.
"Yeah, I ran the name and the address. They're both fake."
"What about the credit card info?" Esposito asked his partner.
"Buyer paid with cashier's check. $12 grand."
Beckett sighed. "So we have no way of tracing him or the payment," Beckett stated.
"No, but the store uses digital surveillance and they just sent over the tapes." Beckett looked up. This could be the key to solving the crime.
TWELFTH PRECINCT WORKROOM
The detectives collected their coffee cups and headed to the tech room. The trio gathered around the television screen and watched the scrubbed through the video until he found what he was looking for. "Here's the time code for our point of sale. That's our guy."
Together the three detectives watched as a man came up to the counter. "Look at his height, build, hair color, Esposito says. "That's not Kurtzman. That's –", the man in the video turned his face toward the camera, "- Castle?!" Esposito exclaimed surprised. Ryan paused the video. All occupants looked at the display shocked. That couldn't be right, could it? "There's another explanation," Ryan said.
"Like what?" Esposito wasn't happy either with what they had found.
"I don't know. It's somebody else. Somebody that looks like Castle."
"We found his fingerprints at the crime scene. We got him on video buying jewelry for our victim. It can't be a coincidence," Beckett said to the shock of her male partners.
"Beckett, what are you saying? That Castle's a killer?" Esposito asked disbelievingly. In the past it had been him who had always been given Castle a hard time, at times he had even doubted Castle's usefulness. But over times they had become close friends, especially after Montgomery's death and Beckett's shooting. He had no doubt that castle had an explanation for him showing up on the video and was surprised that Beckett seemed instantly suspicious of their writer friend.
Ryan interrupted. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. No, no, no. Nobody is saying that. All she's saying is that if it were anybody else we'd look into it." Beckett nodded to show her agreement to his statement, but Esposito could see the suspicion.
"We can start by looking into his financials. See if there's any unusual activity around the time of the purchase," he proposed Beckett took a few seconds to consider. The evidence was there and her job was to follow the evidence, she told herself. And didn't have anything to do with the fact that she wanted to know, no, that she needed to know, whether Castle had bought Gina jewelry. "Do it," Beckett ordered and marched past them to leave the room. Ryan shut the door behind her before his partner could leave too. Ryan was much calmer as he searched for Castle's financial history. "Javier, you don't think that Castle had anything to do with this, do you?" Esposito scoffed, but answered immediately. "No, c'mon, bro, no way. But the best thing we can do for him now is to prove this evidence wrong." Ryan hummed in agreement, as he started to scroll through their friends financial records. Something caught his attention and his eyes grew wide. "Hey, Javi." He gestured to the screen. As he looked to the screen, Esposito's eyes grew wide, too.
CASTLE'S LOFT
Later that day Castle stands in his kitchen, preparing dinner for him and his family. After the past two days, they were in need of as much family time as they could get. There was a knock on the door and Castle went to open it. He was greeted with the sight of a very solemn Esposito and Ryan on one side, with a handful of uniforms behind them. Beckett stood slightly to the side, not meeting his eyes.
"Whoa!" Castle exclaimed. Seeing their facial expression, Castle half-heartedly asked, "Wait a minute, did I throw a party and forget again?"
"It's not a party," Esposito answered seriously and handed Castle a paper that Castle unfolds and reads. "Search warrant?" Castle looked down. "Gloves." Beckett still wouldn't look at him. "Okay guys, I get it. The fingerprint thing. I'm sorry. Lesson learned. You can all go home." He was so not in the mood for one the guys pranks at this time.
"It's not a joke, bro," Esposito stated solemnly and moved past him into the loft, the others follow him. Ryan turns to an uniformed officer. "Take him to the kitchen."
"Kitchen? I just –" LT steered him in the direction of Beckett, who had made her way into the kitchen. Ryan and Esposito headed into his office.
"Beckett…" The female detective didn't answer him. "Beckett, what is this?" Castle wanted to know from his partner.
"We found a piece of jewelry in Gina's apartment and we traced it back to the man who bought it for her." He was silent. "Castle, it was you," she spat.
"What are you talking about?" Looked at her incredulously.
"It was purchased with a cashier's check for $12,780." Beckett handed him the surveillance photo from jewelry store. Castle took it and scanned the image. "Earlier that day you withdrew the same amount of money from your pocket account. As a cashier's check." Beckett pressed on.
"You looked into MY financials? You're investigating ME?" Castle asked sharply.
"Of course, we did. There is evidence incriminating you, Castle!"
"Beckett, this is not me. And I didn't buy any jewelry. I certainly didn't use a cashier's check." Castle stated vehemently.
"Then you need to explain it. This, the withdrawal, the fingerprint. You need to tell me what the hell's going on," she told him heatedly.
He had no answer for her right now, but he didn't like the tone of her voice. It was laced with anger and suspicion. He knew that tone, it's the tone of voice usually reserved for suspects in the interrogation room. It's a tone that had send little chills down his spine for the last few years. But not anymore. Beckett was using her interrogator voice on him. She was presenting HIM with evidence – evidence against him. Evidence she actually seemed to believe in. Castle frowned and took a step back from her; Beckett couldn't really think that we was guilty? Guilty of brutally murdering his ex-wife? "Beckett, Kate, you can't possibly think… I mean, you don't really believe-"
"Believe what, Castle?," she interrupted him angrily. "I can't possible believe the evidence? The evidence clearly pointing to YOU!," she yelled at him.
Castle was furious now. Furious about the fact that his so-called friends showed up unannounced on his doorstep with a search warrant, furious that his partner used her interrogator voice on him, and most of all, he was damn furious about the fact that his friend - no that's not right - that his partner – no, that's not right either -, that the detective in front of him clearly believed him to be guilty! Anger and betrayal burned in Castle's gut and he didn't even try to suppress those feelings. "How about you believe me? Believe your partner? Believe the words of your friend when he tells you that this man in this picture isn't him!" Castle waved the surveillance photo in front of Beckett. "Four years, Kate. How can you even…"
However, before Beckett could reply, Ryan interrupted them.
"Beckett? In here." Ryan shouted from the office gesturing to the office. Beckett headed towards him and left Castle standing in the kitchen. He set the photo down and moved to follow her, but LT stopped him. Castle could see the apologetic expression on the other man's face and Castle silently nodded that he understood. He watched as Ryan pointed out something. Their faces fall and Esposito headed towards him.
Oh, oh, this couldn't be good. "What is it?" Castle asked agitated. They were silent, but he could clearly see that there definitely was something wrong. "Guys, what is it?"
Beckett approached him slowly. Castle had seen that face many times, she was in full cop-mode. He saw her right hand moving unconsciously to her gun. He instantly knew what was about to happen. Although he was furious about it, it was Beckett's unconscious move to her gone that shocked him to the core. With quickly looked around and although the others were apprehensive, no one had moved her hand to their guns. Only Beckett. She actually thought him a danger to her and the others. That realization broke something inside him and was the reason why he didn't react with her next words.
"Richard Castle, you're under arrest for the murder of Gina Cowell. Turn around," Beckett ordered him heatedly. Castle looked at her, hurt and betrayal clearly visible for anybody to see on his face. But he knew better than to fight. So Castle simply turned around slowly and let her cuff him. "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law..." Beckett read him his rights.
TWELFTH PRECINCT WORKROOM
The detectives showed Captain Gates what they had found in Castle's office. "The bag is part of a set that he owns," Esposito said and set the bag on the table for Gates to see.
Ryan spoke on. "Wire and hooks are identical to the ones used to bind Gina. There was also a shirt inside that had some blood spatter on it." He handed Gates the folder of evidence.
"The lab says it's a match to Gina's." Esposito stated.
"What's he saying?" The Captain asked and Ryan replies.
"That he's never seen any of it before in his life."
"Sir, he's not a killer," Ryan stated and Esposito nodded. However, Beckett didn't react, which everybody in the room noticed.
"Then how do you explain all of this?"
"The evidence isn't the whole story. Castle's taught us that," Ryan says.
"Well, that may be so for his writing. In the police academy, we're taught to follow the evidence no matter where it leads us. And that is exactly what we're going to do. Check his emails, computer files, and phone records. If he was involved with his ex-wife there's bound to be a record. Beckett, you talk to the family when they arrive. See if anyone else has access to his place." Gates moved past her detectives to leave the room.
TWELFTH PRECINCT INTERROGATION ROOM
Gates took her place in the interrogation room, while Beckett watched the interview through the mirror.
"Where's Beckett?" Castle asked while walking up and down in the interrogation room.
"Under the circumstances, I think it's best if I handle the interrogation."
"That's probably a good idea," Castle replied to Gates' surprise.
"I'm glad you agree," Gates told sarcastically.
Castle sat down and sighed. "C'mon, Captain. I know that we had our differences and that you're not my biggest fan. But surely even in the past nine months you've worked here at the 12th precinct, you must've realized that there is no way that I would be capable of something this."
"I don't know anything like that. Wasn't it you who told me once, that everybody is capable of murder. Anyway, what I think doesn't matter. We still need to investigate and you know that," Gates said in her typically no-nonsense tone. "We have plenty of evidence against you, Mr. Castle. There is the fact that CSU found your fingerprints at the crime scene."
"We went over that. CSU made a mistake," Castle stated adamantly.
"They say that they didn't. I tend to believe them over a murder suspect," Gates retorted. "Anyway, Ms. Cowell was seeing someone. Someone who bought her high-end earrings with a cashier's check for $12,780. The same amount of money that you withdrew that day from your pocket account. As a cashier's check. Then there is this surveillance photo of you buying the earrings." From a manila file folder Gates pulled out a surveillance photo like the one Kate had shown him in his apartment and hands it to Castle. This time the picture was of higher quality – it was blown up, brightened and printed on actual photo paper.
"I told Beckett, that isn't me. I admit, this guy looks slightly like me, but it is not could be anybody!"
"So YOU say. For ME, this looks like you!" Gates accused him. "I understand that after your divorce, you and Ms. Cowell had been involved for a few months. For me it seems that you were trying to rekindle the flame."
Castle scoffed, "That's absurd."
"Again, so you say," Gates said. "Anyway, to the next piece of evidence." Gates laid the bag the police had found in his apartment on the table between them. "Tell me Mr. Castle, how do you explain your fingerprints on the bag?"
Castle stood up. He was frustrated and paced around the room. "Of course it has my fingerprints on it. It's my bag! But I didn't put that stuff in there."
"Then who did?"
"What about Kurtzman? We know he was at her apartment that night. And he lied about it."
"Kurtzman alibied out."
That surprised Castle. "What? When?"
"An hour ago. His lawyer got him to cooperate. Turns out he was lured there."
"Lured?," Castle asked disbelieving.
"By a text message Gina sent. Only it wasn't from Gina. It was from a burner phone. When Kurtzman showed up, Gina told him she didn't send it so she sent him on his way."
"Well then, why did he lie about it?" he asked heatedly.
"Because he spent the rest of the evening with a paid companion. And didn't want his wife to know." At that comment, Castle sighed and sat down again.
"So. What about you, Mr. Castle? Where were you the night of the murder?"
"I was…," Castle paused for a moment and made a split second decision, "at home."
"And did anyone see you there?"
Castles shook his head. "No, I was … alone." As soon as he replied, he realizes that the alibi he told Gates wasn't going to help him.
"So, for the record, you're saying you have no alibi."
Castle paused and mentally walked through his options. He had been shadowing Beckett long enough to understand how dire his situation was. In the end, there was only one solution for him to go on now. A solution that he should have taken directly after his arrest: "I think I'd like my lawyer now."
In the observation room, Beckett shook her head angrily.
TWELFTH PRECINCT INTERVIEW ROOM
Beckett walked into the interview room with trepidation. Martha and Alexis both stood when Beckett entered the room.
"Oh. Catherine dear, where's Richard?" Martha asked concerned. "What's going on? Where is my dad?" Alexis asked at the same time.
Beckett nodded, shut the door behind her and took a deep breathe. "Martha, Alexis, earlier this morning, we have arrested Castle for the murder of Gina Lowell."
"What!" Alexis shrieked. "No, that's impossible. He wouldn't!" "Well, this is madness. Pure madness." Martha stated simultaneously.
"Uhuh," Beckett said vague. "Now, we need to find out some facts. Can anyone else access your apartment? Does anyone have keys?"
"Well, Rosa, the housekeeper," Martha replied.
"Yeah, but she's been with us for over 15 years. And there's a security system. Even if someone had a key the alarm would go off," Alexis interjected.
"Have you noticed anyone out of the ordinary in the building lately? A maintenance worker, deliveryman? Anyone that could have been casing the place?"
"No, no, no, no. Nothing," Martha negated.
"Why has dad been arrested?" Alexis asked again.
"There is a lot of evidence and-"
Something in Beckett's voice must have connected with Alexis. "Did you…did you arrest him?" Alexis asked, her tone of voice obviously indicating anger.
"Right now, we just need –". Kate tried to side-step this question.
"How could you?!" Castle's daughter exclaimed loudly, anger was clearly visible on her face. However, it's Martha who asked the question that would cement the coming relationship between Beckett and the Castle's.
"Detective, do you think he did it?"
"As I said, there is a lot of evidence -" Both Castle's immediately saw through the detective's avoidance of verbally answering the question. That combined with the fact that Beckett looked everywhere but not at the other women in the room was answer enough for the Castle's. SLAP
To the surprise of every women in the room, gentle woman Martha Rodgers had just slapped Beckett. The elderly woman swallowed hard to keep her anger in check when she said. "Clearly, the loyalty and friendship that my son has shown to you, has been misplaced. Good day, Detective Beckett." She turns to her granddaughter. "Alexis, let's go and try to see your father." They walked out of the interview room up and looked around. They saw Esposito walking into the bullpen. "Detectives, could you take us to see, Richard?"
Esposito nodded immediately. "Of course, Mrs. R. Please, follow me." The three walked silently as no one knew what to say at the moment.
When they arrived at the holding cell, they saw Castle's lawyer packing up his stuff.
"Thanks, Harm. See you at the arraigning."
"Don't worry, Rick. Everything will be okay." The lawyer left and a uniform slided the gate shut behind him. Esposito walked up to Castle.
"Hey bro."
"Hey.
"Castle, I'm sorry, man. Whatever is going on, we will figure this out. I promise," Esposito told his friend solemnly.
"I know," Castle said and hoped that he could fool Esposito with his show of confidence.
"In the meantime you have some visitors." He stepped back when Martha and Alexis came down the hallway.
"Dad?" "Oh. Oh, Richard. Oh, darling."
Esposito moved to give them some privacy. When he left the area of the holding cells, Esposito saw a solemn Ryan waiting for him. "What?" Ryan cocks his head to get him to follow.
TWELFTH PRECINCT BULLPEN
Ryan and Esposito walked up to the Captain's office, where Beckett was informing Gates of her meeting with Martha and Alexis. Becket had declined the Captains question whether she wanted to press charges against Martha for assaulting a police officer.
Ryan started to inform the women of the latest developments. "Tech just finished with Castle's computer. Parts of it have been wiped, just like Gina's."
This information surprised the women. "Were they able to recover anything?" Gates asked.
"They found a file that had been deleted. It was a story concept about how to commit the perfect murder," Esposito replied.
"Captain, the character gets away with it by staging a crime scene so bizarre the cops can't see he's hiding right under their noses," Ryan told her.
"It seems like a dry run on paper. All the way down to the weird symbol we found on the victim's forehead," Esposito ended their story solemnly.
"We found something else on his drive. Emails. Dozens of them. Between Castle and the victim." Ryan said and hesitantly hold out a file.
"Seems like they've been in a relationship again," Esposito stated. Beckett was angry. She took the file from Ryan and started to read.
TWELFTH PRECINCT INTERROGATION ROOM
Considering the high profile case, the DA decided that someone from his office should be there for the next interview. His choice felt on one of his best people, his Deputy Bureau Chief of the Trial Bureau, Assistant District Attorney Erin Reagan. Reagan graduated top of her class from Columbia Law School. Like Castle, she was a single parent. She was also the second child and sole daughter of the current New York City Police Commissioner Frank Reagan and his late wife Mary.
Now, ADA Reagan and Captain Gates were once again interviewing Castle. "You lied Mr. Castle, you and the victim were in a relationship. The tech found emails between you and the victim on her computer," Gates accused Castle and handed him a pack of papers. "Those emails came from your account."
"What are you talking about?" Castle picked the papers and read each of them. His ability to speed read helped him to flip through them as he has examined so many pieces of evidence over the last four years. From their content, it looked as though the emails were from a couple – a couple which was fighting more often than not.
"As my client has stated before, he vehemently denies that he has been in a relationship with Miss Cowell and as such did not write emails," Rick's lawyer, Harmon Rabb jr., stated. Rabb, a former Commander in the U.S. Navy, started to work for his friend Marcus nearly a decade ago and become his criminal lawyer nearly at the same time.
Castle didn't know what to make of the emails. They did look authentic, they were send from Gina's and his email addresses respectively. 'C'mon Gina, don't be upset. Beckett is just my partner, my friend. Nothing is going on between us.' He silently read a part of an email that he was supposed to have written. No wonder the Captain and ADA Reagan believe them to be true, Castle thought. He would think the same, if he didn't know them to be truly fake. He knew that he had neither written the part that was supposed to be his, nor did he think that Gina had written the part that was supposed to be hers. Someone had gone through hell of a lot of trouble to fabricate those emails.
Castle sighed. His eyes dart between the ADA's and the Captain's and the papers he held in his hands. "This is ridiculous. Neither did I send those emails, nor have I ever seen those responses before," Castle said. He could see that that they didn't believe him. He realized previously that Gates was convinced that he was guilty. Like Beckett.
"So, what is it you're saying, Mr. Castle? That despite the evidence you haven't been involved with your ex-wife and that someone fabricated those emails?" Gates echoed, ever skeptical, and even a bit sarcastically.
"Yes!" Castle exclaimed in a vehement tone. Rabb held up his hands to salience Rick.
"I think my client has told you repeatedly that he and Ms. Cowell hadn't been in a relationship. In light of this, it seems obvious, that those emails are fabricated," Rabb clarified.
"And who might this mystery man be, Mr. Castle?" ADA Reagan asked him, the disbelieve clearly audible for everyone.
"I don't know," Castle replied frustrated. "Why don't you find out?" Castle replied petulantly. He knew that the question was childish, but his frustration did get the better of him.
"You want to know what I think, Mr. Castle?" Gates asked rhetorically. "Those emails describe a relationship where one partner is extremely jealous. So, one day you tell her that you don't want to go on like that and that your relationship was over. But Gina, she didn't want to break up with you again, to lose you again. As your publisher, she has leverage and threatens you with repercussions for your career. We have several witness statements that told us that there had been some emergency talks about you contract and that that they could hear the both of you argue. So, she threatens you with your career. At this point, you get so angry that you decide that enough is enough. You offer to come over to her apartment to talk things through - and that was the night of the murder. When you get to her apartment, you drug her. When Gina is unconscious, you wrap a rope or a scarf around her neck and strangulate her. Then you put her body on the ceiling with wires and hooks that are identical to the ones that Detective Ryan found in your apartment. Next to a bloody shirt. An apartment that according to your mother nobody but your family and your housekeeper for 15 years can access. Then we have you on surveillance at the jeweler buying earrings with a cashier's check. A cashier's check with the same amount of money you had taken from the bank earlier. The same earrings that we have found in you ex-wife's apartment. Furthermore, we have your prints inside Gina's apartment, even though you claim that you haven't been there since she moved in there. And last but not least, there is the fact that we found a text on your computer that describes the exact same scenario as the aforementioned murder scene."
"What?"
"You tried to delete it so nobody could find it. But our techs did," Gates told him.
"What are you talking about? This is insane. I didn't do anything!" Hearing it all lay out like that made Castle felt a hot burning lump of coal form in his gut. He breathed deeply, trying to calm himself.
"Then why haven't you told us that the murder of your ex-wife was an exact replica of a murder scene you had written before?" ADA Reagan pressed on.
"ADA Reagan, do you know how many murder scenes I have written over the years? It must be thousands. Some I deleted immediately, some I put away for later use. You can't possible expect me to remember every one of those." And that was the truth. He remembered all those scenes that were published, but not all of those he had put on paper for later use. He'd written so many murder scenes over the years that he had lost count of how many there actually were. Most of them would never reach the light of day. They'd never bean read by anyone, not even his publishers. There are so many scenes he had written while sitting around and brainstorming. Or when he should have written actual chapters to reach an upcoming deadline. Sometimes he didn't like those scenes and deleted them outright. Sometimes he thought the scene good enough for later use but decided to go in a different direction with the current project. He'd done that countless of times before throughout his literary career.
"Well, Mr. Castle, you can tell all that to the judge. We have means, motive and opportunity. We'll arraign you tomorrow morning," ADA Reagan told him.
A/N: So, as we have the first appearances from other tv shows, I have moved this story to the crossovers. As I go along and introduce more and more characters from other shows, I will sometimes give you the background. Sometimes, it will be canon, sometimes I will make changes. At those times, I will give you my new interpretation of the characters and their background. However, as it fits this holiday season, sometimes there will just be some Easter eggs.