Title: Lady of the Lake
By: greygoose70
Summary: Because Beckett has a knack for getting the weird ones.
Day One
The Crime Scene
"Hey Lanie, whatta we got?" Detective Beckett shouted as she ducked under the yellow crime scene tape followed by her partner and boyfriend mystery novelist Richard Castle.
"Morning to you too Kate…Castle," Lanie replied in her usual irritated tone for this hour of the morning. "Looks like one dead knight…"
"Sir Galahad," Castle spoke interrupting her; "I recognize his shield, white with a red cross.'
"Yeah, well we won't know who he really is till I get him back to the lab and out of this metal suit," Lanie countered.
"Okay Lanie what can you give us?" Kate asked.
"I'm guessing he's been dead three, four days, looks like he's been frozen so I can't be sure. You'll really need to wait till I get him back to the lab."
"Well let us know as soon as you can, Lanie; come on Castle let's see if the guy's found anything."
Heading back to where she parked her cruiser they spotted Ryan and Esposito coming their way. "Find anything?" She asked as they approached.
"Nope, nada," they responded in unison. "Not many people in the park that early in the morning," Espo added.
"Who found the body?" Beckett asked.
"A George Knudsen called it in," Ryan answered retrieving his notepad and reading from it. "Officer Dawson took his statement and contact info then released him; said he needed to get to work but would make himself available."
"Okay, not much more we can do here; we'll meet you back at the precinct."
"Let's swing into Beatrice's Diner for breakfast. I'm buying," Castle commented upon receiving a growl from his midsection.
"I'm in," Ryan said. "Me too," Espo agreed. "Why not," Beckett responded noting that the diner was right across from the precinct.
The Precinct
Following a healthy breakfast Beckett started working on her murder board, which took maybe all of two minutes to complete since she actually had nothing of any substance to put on it. She just needed to wait for a report from Lanie and CSU.
Plopping down in her chair she looked over seeing Castle searching for something on his new tablet, the one she got him for his birthday. "What are you doing Castle?"
"Looking up info on Sir Galahad. Seeing if it can give us a clue as to why he was killed."
"And what has it come up with, Mister historian?" Beckett replied giving him that smile she reserved just for him.
"Well according to several sites Galahad was killed during the 'Battle at Camlann, which in itself doesn't really help but further searches lead to the fact that Mordred the self-proclaimed King of Britain and bastard son of King Arthur was slain also, by Arthur himself but not before Mordred issued a severe wound to Arthur."
"So how does this help us find our killer?"
"Well if I had to hypothesize, if our killer believes himself to be the reincarnation of Mordred he will want to be certain Arthur is dead so he can claim Excalibur and declare himself the one true leader of the British Empire.
"So your saying there's going to be another killing."
"Probably one, maybe two," Castle replied.
"Who else besides Arthur would he want dead?" Beckett did not like where this was headed, it had the all the makings of a serial killer.
"Guinevere," Castle responded instantly; "Seems there was also a long running feud between the two families that Mordred felt she was responsible for."
Just then Beckett's phone rang, it was Lanie asking her and Castle down to the morgue.
The Morgue
Beckett pushed open the door to the morgue and seeing the M.E. standing next to their dead body excitedly asked her what she discovered.
"Meet Steven Galahad," the M.E. replied; "small time crook from Detroit. Died from a stabbing that penetrated his kidney, probably bled out in minutes. But here's the thing he's been dead for three days, has probably been kept on ice till he was staged in the park.."
"What was he stabbed with?" Castle asked already suspecting what the answer would be.
"You're going to like this Castle," Lanie said amusingly. "It appears to have been a sword, but he wasn't wearing his suit of armor at the time. CSU says they didn't find much blood inside the suit and there should have been a lot of it."
"Yeah and there wasn't much at the crime scene either," he commented.
"Lanie, if this guy was from Detroit, how did you ID him; was he in our database also?" asked Beckett.
"No, when he didn't show up in ours had CSU run his prints threw the Feds database where he popped up."
"Good work as usual Lanie, email me your report," Beckett told her turning and heading for the door.
Back in Homicide
"Ryan contact Detroit PD get everything they have on Steven Galahad, he's our victim. Espo see if he had any contacts in the City." Beckett ordered.
"On it," they cried simultaneously.
"Coffee?" Castle asked not really expecting an answer but headed for the breakroom anyway. As he stood there waiting for Kate's latte his phone buzzed indicating a text. Pulling it from his pocket he pressed the message icon instantly recognizing the phone number the message came from. He opened it and read what it said, Galahad isn't the first, see you in 2. JS. Castle finished making the coffees drawing his usual heart in Kate's latte and went back to the bullpen where he set the coffees down then handed Beckett his phone, the text still up on the screen.
Beckett took his phone and read the message then had but one thing to say. "AW FUCK!"
Chapter Two
Almost two hours to the minute later the elevator doors slid open and FBI profiler Jordan Shaw stepped off. Castle being the first to see her greeted her with a brief hug, Beckett doing the same when they met.
"So what makes you think Steven Galahad wasn't the first victim, Jordan," Beckett asked when they separated.
"A report crossed my desk a week ago, victim named Luther Pendragon found dead dressed in fifth century cloth…"
"Arthur's father," Castle injected immediately.
"Ran his name looking for known associates," Shaw continued; "and Galahad is one of the names that came up. Then when your CSU team ran his fingerprints through our system I was alerted."
"So like Castle you think the killer has a vendetta against King Arthur."
"It would appear that way," Shaw answered.
"Okay Mr. Historian," Beckett began turning to face Castle; "I know I'm going to hate myself for asking but you need to give us everything you know about King Arthur."
"Okay, but but it's quite a lengthy story, so don't hate me," he replied with a smile. "Never," Beckett responded, her own special smile for him once again appearing.
"The story begins with Nivianna, the Lady of the Lake, and Merlin, the two were lovers. It was Nivianna that gave Excaliber to Merlin who cast it into the stone that Arthur extracted it from as a boy. The boy that grew up to be a warrior after seeing his mother and father slain by a hoard of Saxon. The boy that became the leader of the 'Knights of the Round Table' and eventually the King of Britain. During one of the jousting events held at Camelot Arthur was introduced to Guinevere and her sister Morgan, daughters of a small land owner in the area."
"Castle…" Beckett started to say but Castle held up a finger, shushing her then continued with the story.
"Arthur and Morgan took a liking to each other and began a relationship, then one day Morgan was just gone. Arthur was told buy Morgans father that she went to live with a distant aunt but was given a reason as to why.
Guinevere had become jealous of Morgan when she started a relationship with Arthur, she wanted him for herself so during Morgans absence she vowed she would win Arthurs heart. Arthur after a while resolved himself to the fact that Morgan was not going to return and succumbed to the wails of Guinevere and eventually made her his wife.
Morgan discovering she was pregnant decided she needed to leave, she could not tell Arthur, would not force him into marrying her because of her condition so she packed a bag, told her father she was going to live with her aunt and left. Nine months later she bore a son, naming him Mordred.
One day while out on a ride Guinevere met the handsome Sir Lancelot, King Arthur's most loyal knight and best warrior among the Round Table knights. Guinevere became enthralled with him as he did with her and they began meeting on a regular basis. Eventually there passion became too overwhelming and they united their bodies together into one. Afterwards, feeling they had betrayed their king and the land they vowed never to see each other again.
Arthur eventually discovered Guinevere's infidelity and banished her from Camelot, he himself falling into deep despair at losing not only Guinevere but also his best friend Lancelot who has since not returned to Camelot and the Round Table."
At this point Castle stopped suggesting they take a coffee break before he continued."
"Good idea, Rick," Jordan said; "but not to long, okay, I can't wait to hear more of the story." Everybody then headed for the breakroom, even Ryan and Esposito who had pulled their chairs closer to listen were enthralled by Castle's narrative joined them.
With lattes made for the ladies, coffee poured for the guys they stood around making small talk. It was Kate that finally spoke up. "So what do you think Rick, King Arthur, fact or fiction?"
"I can't honestly say one way or the other, even some historians disagree and there's no evidence that can confirm or deny his existence."
"How many King Arthur movies have you seen?" Jordan asked with a laugh.
"Probably all of them," He answered; "even read a few books about him including 'Historia Regum Britanniae'."
"Huh?" Ryan muttered.
"History of the Kings of Britain, written in the 12th century by Geoffrey of Monmouth."
"Oh, right. I'll be sure to put it on my preferred reading list," Ryan spouted.
"Don't bother unless you can read French. Okay everyone; I see that you've finished with coffee so whatta ya say we go back to our seats and I'll continue the story."
With everyone back in their places Castle began. "As the years past Arthurs health slowly began to deteriorate. He was devastated so much so that he regularly refused to eat, barely slept, did nothing but set in in his throne all day.
During this time, Mordred had grown into a young man and a fierce warrior. He proclaimed that due to his fathers condition and himself being the rightful heir to the throne would be assuming the role as Britanniae King and would take his place on the throne after slaying Arthur and relieving him of Excalibur.
When word of this reached Arthur he sent a message to Mordred telling him as a bastard son he had no right to the throne, that the next king would have to be someone true of heart of which Mordred was not. This of course infuriated Mordred so he assembled a small group of his best soldiers and headed to Camelot.
Upon their arrival Mordred and his men were met by Arthur along with some of his Round Table knights. Following a heated argument between Arthur and Mordred, Mordred proclaimed they will settle things on the battlefield, that in seven days time his army would be waiting south of Camlann Village. Mordred and his men then turned and rode off not waiting for an answer. Mordred knew his challenge would be accepted."
"Okay here's where it gets interesting since there are two versions to the story. I'll go with the most accepted version first. During the Battle at Camlann, a catastrophic conflict, Arthur and Galahad fought side side by side against Mordred's forces. Eventually Galahad was slain, supposedly by Mordred who trust Galahad in the back with his sword as Galahad fought a rash of opponents, slaying them all even in his near death condition.
Eventually it came down to a one-on-one confrontation between Arthur and Mordred where in the end Arthur is killed when Mordred spears him with a lance and Arthur in one final thrust sends Excalibur's blade into Mordred's heart.
Seeing their leader slain the remainder of Mordred's army laid down their arms and surrendered. Percival being one of the Round Table knights still alive rushed to Arthur's side, removed the lance that held him up and laid him down. Arthur in one last desperate act handed Percival Excaliber telling him to locate the nearest body of water and throw Excaliber in. Percival argued against doing so but in the end did as Arthur requested.
Percival finding a lake nearby dismounted his steed, walked to the edge , removed Excaliber from its scabbard, drew his arm back and with all his strength threw the sword as far as he could. He watched the sword reach its peak then begin its descent where he saw the arm of Nivianna rise out of the water catch Excaliber by its hilt then disappear back into the water.
Percival remounted his horse and raced back to Arthur but getting there all he saw was a float with his beloved king laying at rest, on his way to Avalon."
"Okay Castle, how does version two differ?" Ryan asked almost immediately.
Castle instantly responded. "Mordred having buried his sword into Galahad picked up a lance and rushed at Arthur piercing him in the side with it. Arthur in a final move swung Excaliber hitting Mordred's helmet with a blow that sent him staggering. Percival seeing his king in danger ran to him. Mordred seeing Percival rushing toward them knowing he was in no condition to continue fighting decided to make an exit and ran away. Percival reaching Arthur, withdrew the lance, moved him to safety and attended to his wound.
Now as the story goes Arthur recovered, lived to the ripe old age of sixty-nine when he died of pneumonia, but before his death had received word that Lancelot defeated Mordred in battle, had him imprisoned along with Guinevere's corpse as his only source of food and later died. Following Arthur's death Percival took Excaliber and threw it into the lake where it was caught by Nivianna."
Pausing briefly Castle gazed upon his captive audience. He managed to gain their attention with a clap of his hands then saying, "That's it people, everything I know and now it's dinner time. I'm starving and going to Remy's, you all are welcome to tag along."
Without failure there was instantly a trail of bodies making their way to the elevator.
Chapter Three
Day Two
Castle stepped off the elevator this morning carrying a tray with three coffees, two Lattes, a box of donuts and a bag containing a warm bearclaw. He headed directly to the conference room where he found Beckett, Jordan, Ryan and Esposito sitting at the table. He set everything down where each individual reached over and retrieved the cup with their name on it. Castle no sooner sat down next to Kate, his back facing the door when a known voice bellowed out, "There better be a jelly filled donut in that box for your Captain!"
"Heaven forbid that I would forget our beloved leader," Castle instantly spouted as he lifted the lid, grabbed a napkin, pulled out a large frosted jelly donut from the box turned and handed it to him. Montgomery took the offered donut but instead of retreating to his office took a seat at the table then asked them, "How's the case coming?"
"Not very well Sir," Beckett replied; "People weren't big on last names back then. And by using just a first name you get close to a thousand hits."
"Yeah, and Guinevere has at least ten different spellings," Ryan told him.
"The only respectable hit I've gotten is a Franklin Moredrin," Shaw commented; "arrested for bank robbery some twenty years ago, did five years, been clean since, lives in White Plains now.''
"How about you Esposito?" Montgomery asked.
"I've struck out so many times the coach should bench me," he retorted.
"Castle."
"I've put a call into Interpol, see what they can come up with. My search has a possible last name for Guinevere, Gawr, also the cognate name for Guinevere in modern English is Jennifer."
"Gee thanks, Castle," Beckett growled; "that's gonna be a big help."
"Well just keep at it people, I'm sure you'll eventually find something," Montgomery told them as he got up and headed back to his office.
"Feel like going for a ride Jordan?"
"Sure Kate, where to?"
"White Plains, you got an address?
"Of course."
"You want to go Castle?"
"No, you ladies go ahead, I'll stay and help these guys."
White Plains
Jordan pulled her SUV in front of 30 West Hillside Terrace and parked. She and Kate got out and walked up to the door and knocked. Gazing around at the place as they waited they could see that other than the place needing a fresh coat of paint it was otherwise well kept. When the door was opened they were greeted by a young lad. "Can I help you?" He politely asked.
"Good morning, I'm FBI Agent Shaw and this is NYPD Detective Beckett, is your father home?" Jordan said in greeting as she and Kate produced their IDs.
"Yes but he's probably asleep," he promptly told them; "may I ask what this about?"
"Just some routine questions," Kate replied; "Is it alright if we come in?"
"I guess so," he responded stepping aside allowing them to enter.
"What's your name?" Shaw asked.
"Morgan,' the boy answered, "Morgan Moredrin."
"How old are you Morgan and why aren't you in school?" Beckett following Shaw's lead. Just by looking at the boy she figured him to be much older, he stood close to six feet tall and looked to be in pretty good physical shape.
"Twelve. No school today some type of teachers conference."
"Well you look to be in good shape for your age, you play sports?"
"Football, I'm on the freshman team at Alexander Hamilton so I try and workout on a daily basis."
"Sounds like you keep a hectic schedule; who tends to your father when you're at school?"
"Our housekeeper, Gertrude Jones, she's also a retired nurse.
"No other relatives?"
"Just my Aunt Jennifer."
"And where does she live?"
"Grosse Pointe Michigan."
"Well why don't go see if your fathers awake, okay.?
"Okay, follow me." Morgan then lead toward a door at the end of the hall. He opened it, stuck his head in quietly asking if his father was awake, for which he got a positive response. Morgan entered holding the door open allowing Shaw and Beckett to enter as well.
The instant the two women saw Franklin Moredrin they knew one thing for sure, he wasn't a suspect. No, the man they were looking at was bed ridden with an IV bag attached to a catheter in his arm and multiple wires running to a heart monitor. "We're sorry to disturb you Mister Moredrin, we just have a couple of questions. "Do you know a Steven Galahad or Luther Pendragon?" It was Shaw that was asking."
"Galahad, no; Pendragon, yes; he was one of the men in on the First National bank robbery."
"The robbery you were arrested for," Beckett responded, more like a statement than a question.
"You said others, can you give us who else was involved?" Shaw then asked.
"Sure, what does it matter I'm dying anyway."
"DAD! Morgan suddenly shouted.
"It's okay Morgan," he told his son; "Agent the names you want are Lance Fanalot and Percy Jenkins."
"Thank you Mr. Moredrin, we'll leave you now. If its any consolation to you Luther Pendragon was murdered a week ago," Shaw told him.
"Nice meeting you," Beckett speaking to Morgan while he let them out; "and we're sorry about you father." The young lad just nodded his head thanking them.
"That was interesting," Kate said as Jordan drove them back to the precinct, "A family name that could be shortened to Mordred, a son with a given name Morgan and a aunt named Jenny, short for Jennifer that lived in a city close to Detroit."
"Yeah and three accomplices with names embedded from that same time period. I'd say we need to examine Rick's account of King Arthur a little more closely," Jordan replied. "You think he recorded it?"
" Absolutely, you can count on some version of this case will be in his next book."
"He does know how to tell a story, had me captivated from the start."
"Twenty-six best sellers not counting the first two Nikki Heat books that just about every bookstore in town was out of within twenty-four hours of its release. He was doing two signings a day for two weeks."
"Why don't you text your team the names…"
"Already done," Kate answered even before Jordan finished.
The Precinct
As Shaw and Beckett entered the conference room they immediately saw the empty donut box. "What the hell guys, you ate all the donuts!" Beckett shouted.
"NOOO," Ryan responded back. "Karpowski's team," Espo cried out. "Don't forget LT and Johnson," Castle acknowledged.
"They should know better, it's only 'open season' on food when in its the breakroom," Beckett explained; "I'll remind them of that fact later. For now what'd you find out on the names I sent you?"
"You might wanna sit for this it could get lengthy," commented Castle.
Chapter 4
"Our story begins," Castle started but then sees Beckett start to give him 'the look' to which he shook his head no to and continued on. "with Galahad and Pendragon two small time crooks robbing mostly gas stations and convenience stores who one day decided to escalate to banks, they shouldn't have. On their first job, during their escape Galahad was shot, took a bullet in the rear when the security guard fired at them, he evidently a backup weapon. Galahad was arrested a short time later when he went to a hospital to have the bullet removed and it was reported.
With Galahad now in prison Pendragon needed a new partner, someone that was more familiar at robbing banks. What he found instead was a gang in need of another member, a gang that include Fanalot, Jenkins and Moredrin. For roughly the next few years they robbed small town banks throughout Michigan and Indiana, always maintaining at least six months between jobs.
It was during one of these breaks that Moredrin met Sally Kirkland, got married and eventually had a son. Then five years ago things went to shit for Moredrin, his wife died and he discovered he had cancer so he quit the gang, moved himself and his son to White Plains.
As for the others they decided to continue their criminal ways with just the three of them, moved their modus of operation to Illinois and began anew. Bad move on their part, after pulling their first job in the small town of Watseka Illinois they attracted the attention of the Illinois State Police Task Force. The Task Force instantly began alerting all small town police forces paying particular attention to those near the Illinois/Indiana border. Six months following the Watseka job the gang hit the Illinois State Bank in Paris Illinois where they got into a shootout with the local PD, they managed to escape but not unscathed. Both Pendragon and Jenkins took hits, Jenkins the worst of the two having been hit in the chest. He was found near death outside the ER of a hospital in Clinton Indiana where doctors managed to save his life. The bullet they removed was sent to the FBI, they discovered it came from the service weapon of Brent Taylor, a Paris PD deputy. Agents were sent and Percival Jenkins was arrested, tried and convicted of multiple counts of bank robbery and is currently serving a fifty year sentence in the Federal Penitentiary in Marion Illinois. As for Fanalot and Pendragon they departed ways and disappeared."
"And there you have it, a compiled accounting of what we found."
"So how does all that help in finding our killer, Castle?" inquired Beckett
"To be perfectly frank Beckett, it doesn't," he replied; "Fanalot being the only one still unaccounted for could have killed both Galahad and Pendragon, for what reason, who knows. The only reason I can think of is Fanalot has changed his identity, maybe become a public figure and those two are the only ones that could identify him. If that's not the case then we're missing another player or two"
"What about Moredrin he could identify him?" Shaw asked.
"That would depend on a number of factor, almost to many to name here," Castle told her.
"Such as," Beckett jumped in saying.
"Such as in what state, or city, representative or senator, the list is endless."
"So how do we narrow it down?" Ryan asked. "Yeah and who would the other victims be?" Esposito following up with a question of his own.
"Arthur and Guinevere, Espo, and Mordred himself if the story plays out as I explained in version two of King Arthur's story. As for narrowing down our suspect pool, Ryan; this how I see it."
"This isn't going to be one of your crazy CIA theories is it, Castle?" Beckett joked.
"Ha, ha Beckett but no. I'm gonna go with New York State for where; why? The victim pool is bigger, primaries are just two months away, every municipality in the state will be holding elections; and let's not forget that Galahad was killed here and Moredrin lives just up the road.'
"So if our suspect is going to be in the running for some office in one of these municipalities he would have posters with his picture, our dead vics could have seen one, sought him out and tried blackmailed him."
"Good scenario Shaw. I would guess that to be Pendragon who maybe contacted Galahad." Castle said.
"That still doesn't help name our suspect," replied Beckett.
"No but this might. Remember the six months gap between jobs?" Castle watched as everybody nodded their head. "Well during that time I'm guessing our robbers didn't use their real names and lead law abiding lives."
"SOOO," the choir of voices rang out.
"Okay. Beckett imagine this. You've gone undercover to infiltrate a counterfeiting ring, your walking down the street with a member of the ring when an old college friend sees you and calls out to you. What does he or she call you?"
"Kate, they'd calls me Kate."
"Correct, whether you're undercover or taking on a second identity you never, ever change your given name. That's how you avoid situations like I just described. It's easier to come up with a convincing story than trying to explain why someone is calling you by a name other than the one they you know you by."
"You want us to get a list of every municipality in the state holding an election and whose on the ballot with the first name Lance."
"That's where I'd start, Jordan," replied Castle. "But lunch is here so let's eat."
Chapter 5
Following a lunch of Deli sandwiches and French Onion soup the group reassembled in the conference room. Beckett was the first to break the silence asking, "So where do we start?"
"The State," Castle replied; "Who's on the ballot for U.S. Senator, Representative, Governor, et cetera, names that will be on every ballot throughout the state. From there we can start with counties of which there are 62 in the State of New York, then its on to municipalities. These are broken down into two groups, Cities numbering 62 and Towns numbering 932."
"Castle where you getting all this info?" Espo asked.
"Wikipedia," he answered. "Castle, not all candidates running for U.S. Representative will be listed as a group on any one ballot," Beckett told him.
"You're correct, but there are only 27 electoral districts in the state. Run a search for candidates running for congress in Electoral District 1, New York State, and see what you come up with."
Beckett quickly opened her browser, type in her request in the search engine and came up with three names, Terry Perkins - Republican, Gloria Tanner - Democrat, James Montihew - Independent.
"Wow Castle, that worked."
"The more defined you can word your search the quicker you can get the results you want. Let me do this with one with someone else, Jordan you up and ready?"
"Ready," she answered sharply.
"Type, '2010 Ballot for Manhattan County New York State'."
"Okay, Ryan and Esposito we'll get you started in the towns, I'll take the cities."
Just then LT entered handing Castle a stack of papers. Castle gave one pile to Ryan, one to Espo, keeping a third for himself. "What you have is a complete list of the 932 Towns, Espo you take numbers 1 through 20, Ryan 21 through 40. Now type in '2010 Ballot for (Name of Town) followed by (name of county) State of New York. Okay let's get started." Castle then began his own search.
Beckett was the first to finish having the least number saying she found two. "Good, run each name see what you can find out about them," Castle told her as he continued his own search.
"I got two also," Jordan cried out. "Any of them the same as Becketts?" Castle asked. "No, one for sheriff, one for judge. Doing an info search now."
"Well I found three, one for councilman here in Manhattan, one for for mayor in Buffalo and another for a circuit court judge in Rochester. Printing out search results now."
"How you doing that so fast Castle?" Remarked Beckett.
"Second search window," he responded. "How you guys making out?"
"Just finished 41 thru 60, starting 61 thru 80," Ryan replied. "I'll take 81 thru 100 then," Espo said.
"Let's give them a helping hand ladies." Working together they completed all the towns in an hour including all the name searches.
"Okay let's start eliminating names; Beckett you had electoral districts, whatta ya think?" Castle asked her.
"I'm gonna say no to both, Hendricks is running for reelection and Denison is in a densely populated district the only large city being Rochester."
"Okay, Jordan you had counties, what's your opinion?"
"Lance V. North, Manhattan County, running for councilman in 32nd Precinct."
"My turn. I have one, Lance T. Banks running for mayor of of Adams NY in Jefferson County. Ryan what do you have?"
"Two. Lance V. DeWitt also running for mayor, Gainesville NY, Wyoming County; and Lance M. Brant going for city council seat 3 in Deerfield NY, Oneida County."
"Lance R. Irving," Espo spoke; "City council seat 3, Johnston NY, Fulton county."
"Guess it's time to be making phone calls," Castle declared taking out a cell phone punching in the number for the Adams NY PD.
Beckett seeing Castle pull out his cell said to him, "Whoever you're calling isn't going to give any information to a writer Castle."
"Maybe not but they will give it to Agent Rodgers, Homeland Security," he retaliated before greeting whoever answered on the opposite end. "Good afternoon Officer Jameson may I speak with Chief Gunther please, tell him it's Special Agent Rodgers with the Department of Homeland Security."
"Sorry George wanted Officer Jameson to know this was an official call. What can you tell me about Lance T. Banks?" After listening for a few minutes Castle told him "thanks" and he'd come up for a visit when this case was settled then hung up.
"Well we can scratch Banks," Castle told the group. "Same for DeWitt," Ryan said right afterwards.
"I think you can add Irving to that list," Espo responded; "he died of a heart attack a week ago, was too late to remove his name from the ballot."
"That just leaves Lance V. North and Lance M. Brant," Beckett clamored; "We need to dig deeper into them, but its almost quitting time why not call it a day start fresh in the morning."
"Works for us," Ryan and Espo replied almost as one then began gathering up their equipment just as they heard Beckett's cell phone ring. "Beckett," she said when answering.
"What's the matter Morgan? She asked when the caller had identified themselves then immediately putting her phone on speaker.
"I just got home from the gym and found Gertrude on the kitchen floor, looks like she was stabbed. I went to check on my dad and he wasn't there. Somebody took him!
Beckett could tell from the sound of Morgan's voice he was in shock so she spoke to him softly but firmly. "Calm down Morgan and do exactly as I tell you. Take a couple of deep breathes," Beckett waited and listened while Morgan inhaled deeply; "Better?" She asked when he came back on the phone. "Yes detective," he replied.
"Okay. Now I want you to hang up and call 911, tell them exactly what you just told me. They will sent a unit to secure the site, let the officers know that the NYPD and FBI are on the way; and Morgan please don't touch anything, we'll be there shortly." Beckett waited till she heard Morgan hang up then ordered Espo and Ryan to pick up Lanie that she, Jordan and Rick would meet them add the Moredrin home. "Ryan I'll text you the address, lets go."
Chapter 6
Since they were in Shaw's vehicle with Jordan doing the driving Beckett was able to place her call to Captain Montgomery, explain to him the situation, asking him to send a unit to pick up Lance North, bring him in for questioning then contact the Deerfield PD have them pick up Lance Brant. Montgomery said he would take care of it.
Arriving at the Moredrin home they saw two WPPD units and an ambulance. Jordan parked her SUV, got out, flashed her credentials, at the first officer she found, asked who was in charge then was directed inside where she was introduced to detective Bob Robertson. After introducing herself, her companions, why the NYPD and FBI is involved Detective Robertson took his leave and they got to work. Lanie instantly began her examination of the body, Beckett and Castle sought Morgan so they could get his complete statement, Esposito located Franklin Moredrin's bedroom while Ryan checked for points of entry the murderer may have used. Suddenly Shaw heard someone calling for Beckett from the front door. Going to investigate she met John Edison the NYPD's lead CSU technician and his team.
"What can you tell me Lanie?" Beckett asked upon her return from her interview with Morgan, "I'd say she's been dead about five hours placing TOD around noon. From the shape of the wound, the complete penetration the weapon was a sword."
"Kay Lanie thanks. Lets go everybody nothing more we can learn here till CSU finishes up. As they made their way back to the precinct Beckett received a call from Captain Montgomery him telling her that Lance North had been brought in, that he came willingly but he hadn't heard back from the Deerfield PD yet on the status of Lance Brant.
The Precinct
The second Beckett's feet hit the homicide floor she stored her weapon, asked where they put her suspect, Lance North. Told he was in interrogation room one Beckett motioned for Jordan to join her. As Beckett entered the room she immediately introduced herself and FBI Agent Shaw then began with her questions, "Do you know why you're here, do you know any of these people," slapping pictures of the victims on the table, "where were you two days ago?" The questions being thrown at North so fast and with such venom he didn't have time to respond till Agent Shaw gently tapped Beckett's shoulder getting her to stop.
"Detective, from your attitude I'm guessing you think I either killed or know who may have killed these people, none of which I know or have ever met. As to where I was two days ago, Manila, the Philippines, just got back home yesterday."
"We'll assume for the time being you can verify that," Shaw replied to North's statement.
"May I," North asked reaching into his jacket pocket; Beckett instantly going for her weapon, which she didn't have on, until she saw him pull out a cell phone. North scrolled through the phone finally coming to what he was searching for then handing it over to Agent Shaw so she could see. Shaw in turn showed it to Beckett who taking a close saw it was a boarding pass for a flight from Manila to NYC scheduled to land yesterday.
"If you'll scroll down a couple of places you'll find the one where I flew from NYC to Manila."
Beckett scrolled down found the boarding pass from five days past, handed the phone back to Shaw and headed for the door mumbling the word "fuck" as she passed. Agent Shaw gave North back his phone, apologized for the inconvenience telling him she would get an officer to take him home. North told her thanks but he would rather take a taxi then got up and left.
Jordan was pretty sure she would find Kate in the breakroom, and she was right. She found her sitting on the well worn sofa supporting her head in her hands while massaging her temples. She went over sat down next to her and started to speak, "Kate…" but was interrupted. "I was so sure it was him, everything about him fit and I went in there like a damn rookie," Kate spouted. "We only have one more shot with Brant, if it isn't him…."
"Well don't give up just yet," came a voice from behind her.. Turning her head Beckett saw Captain Montgomery. "Why's that," she replied.
"Just heard back from Deerfield PD, Brant's wife told them her husband has been in NYC for three days attending meetings at the Four Seasons."
"Thank you sir. I'll send Ryan and Espo to pick him up."
Going out to the bullpen, shouting out instructions to her guys, getting an "you got it" in return as they got up heading for the elevator. As Ryan passed by he gave her a sheet of paper telling her it popped up on his computer while she was interrogating North, "might be relevant" he added going to catch up with his partner.
Beckett took a look at what Ryan had given her discovering it was a missing persons report for one Jennifer Gaur, been missing for three days. She then showed it to Jordan who then passed it off to Rick. "You thinking what I'm thinking, Castle," Beckett asked?
"Yeah, he's found his Guinevere," he replied.
"So what comes next, Rick?" Jordan asked; "You're the expert here."
"Well if he follows the storyline he'll imprison Mordred, Moredrin in this case, in a dungeon along with a dead Guinevere, Jennifer."
"Okay but where, its not like we have a lot of dungeons in the city," Kate said disgust in her voice.
Suddenly Rick got a big smile on his face. "What is it Rick? You've got that I know something look on your face."
"Open up your browser Kate,"
"What your phone not working," she retaliated turning to her computer accessing her browser program. "Now what?"
"In the search window type 'the dungeons nyc'."
"Seriously Rick."
"There used to be a club I believe it was in Queens named the The Dungeon Club. Refine your search."
Kate deleted her previous entry, typed in her new one, hit 'enter' and waited. Instantly a new window appeared giving various choices. Reading aloud she began at the first entry. "The Pennybaker Club, formally known as the The Dungeon Club, located at 109th Street and Atlantic Avenue," that's where she stopped, gave her companions a grin saying, "Looks like we're going to Queens."
Shaw pulled her SUV into the alley next to the Pennybaker Club where the three amigos got out. Castle started heading deeper into the alley when Beckett yelled out to him, "Where you going Castle?"
"Follow me," he responded as he continued walking. Beckett and Shaw just looked at each other, shrugged their shoulders and took off in pursuit of him.
When they caught up with him Shaw remarked they had already passed the rear entrance to the club. "True," Castle said, "but this is the door that leads to the dungeons." He pulled on the door handle but it didn't budge. "It's locked Castle," Beckett told him.
"Not a problem Beckett." He then whipped out his snap-gun lock pick, proceeding to successfully gain entry. He reached around till he found the light switch, flipped it on illuminating the stairway leading down to the basement or the dungeons as it had come to be called in years past.
Reaching the bottom they found themselves in a large room filled with what must have been decorations from when the place was known as the Dungeons Club. There were suits of armor against one wall, shields with different designs hung on another, weapons of varying types. "This way," Castle told them heading down another hall where he came to a steel door with a iron bar across it that would prevent anyone on the other side from getting out.
Castle removed the heavy iron bar, flipped open the four latches and pulled it open. Again he located the switch for the lights and turned them on. There seated on the floor leaning against the wall was Mordred, or in this case Franklin Moredrin, semi dressed in armor. At his feet was a naked Guinevere, Jennifer Gawr, one arm having been ripped off and laying at Mordred's side. As they took a closer look they saw teeth marks on the arm where skin and muscle had been bitten into giving the appearance Mordred had been eating on her to survive, just like in the story Castle told and if it wasn't for him this crime scene would never have been found.
Beckett took out her phone but discovered she didn't have a signal. "Need to go upstairs," she said, turning to leave, "No signal down here."
"We might as well go up with you, nothing we can do down here," Shaw replied.
Hours later after the bodies were removed and headed to the morgue, when two CSU teams had completed their work Castle, Beckett, Shaw, Ryan and Esposito sat in the breakroom drinking coffee wondering what to do next. Lance Brant had already checked out of the hotel, Montgomery has initiated an APB on him but so far nothing.
"Well he can't go home," Espo declared. "Deerfield PD will be waiting for him," Ryan responded afterwards.
"He'd go somewhere he's familiar with," Shaw inputted. "Somewhere he's lived before," Beckett added. "Ryan what does his file say were some of his other residences before moving to Deerfield?"
Castle who has been quiet through this back and forth banter finally spoke. "Never mind Ryan, he hasn't left yet, he's still in the city, he's not done yet."
"Whatta ya mean he's not done yet Castle,' Beckett spouted; "Who's he got left to kill?"
"No one, he's not finished the story. I know exactly where he's going and what he's going to do."
"The Lake," Shaw said.
"Correct Jordan. One of the swords that used to hang in The Dungeon Club was engraved Excaliber, he's going to throw it in the lake."
"In your story didn't you say it was Percival that threw it back," Ryan inquired.
"True Ryan, however in our real life enactment our Percival is imprisoned so Lancelot has been given the burden to do it,"
Central Park, The Lake
Beckett looked at her watch for what seemed like the hundredth time. It was almost three o'clock and she was beginning to think Castle got it wrong this time. "Rick," she whispered. "Patience Kate," He whispered back, "It won't be long now. Brant will want to make sure this area of the park is completely empty before making an appearance." Just then Beckett got a crackle over her radio then a voice coming over telling her a car just pulled in and parked.
Maintaining her cover Beckett watched as Lance Brant made his way to the shoreline, stopped there began drawing his arm back. No she immediately thought she needed that sword as evidence. She took off running toward him yelling, NYPD BRANT, DROP THE SWORD! But she was a fraction to late as he swung his arm forward releasing Excaliber out toward the water just as Beckett barreled into him causing them both to go into the water.
Castle upon seeing Brants success at throwing Excaliber into the lake kept eyes on it hoping to see how far out it went. Beckett would have divers out here immediately to find and retrieve it. But as the sword began its descent he saw something he was not sure he could explain for suddenly an arm sporting a gold armband shot up out of the water catching Excaliber by its hilt then instantly retreating back below the surface. Looking around he was pretty sure none of the others here witness it, they were all headed to help Beckett and Brant out of the lake. And to be honest with himself he wasn't so sure what he saw was real, maybe he was so familiar with the story his mind imagined it. Anyway to be on the safe side he decided it would be better to keep it to himself. Later after getting home, after Kate was asleep he searched the internet for every picture and drawing he could find of Nivianna and in every one she is always wearing gold armbands.
Epilog
For the next week NYPD divers searched the 'The Lake' from one shoreline to the other always coming up empty handed. Beckett was out there every day, guards were posted every night keeping 'The Lake' secure. Finally after the tenth day the search was called off, Excaliber was just…not there.
Beckett was at her wits end. Okay she was able to get Fanalot, aka Brant, for the murder of Jennifer Gawr, the bite marks on her matched the impressions they took of Fanalot's bite. His fingerprints were found in the kitchen and bedroom at the Moredrin home and on the armor Franklin was wearing in the dungeon so she got convictions there also. But without Excaliber she was unable to get him for Steve Galahads and Detroit didn't have enough evidence to charge him with the murder of Luther Pendragon, in the end those cases remaining unsolved.
THE END
Author notes: Having seen every movie about King Arthur myself, every one with a different take on the story I felt additional research was necessary. It was through my research that I put together my version of Arthurs life and death with both versions of his death being the most popular. Hope you enjoyed the story, be sure to give it a review if you so desire.