Shattered Lies
Chapter 39
Lanie looks up from Callie Lowell's body as Kate approaches. "Time of death was between seven and nine last night."
Kate looks at Rick. "That was just a few hours after we saw her."
"You knew her?" Lanie asks before catching sight of Kate's left hand. "What are you wearing on your ring finger, girl? Are you two engaged?"
"Wait? Beckett, really?" Ryan pipes up.
"Yeah, Beckett," Esposito adds, "what's goin' on?"
"Yes," Kate confesses, taking a breath and inclining her head toward Rick, "Castle and I are engaged, and our victim made the ring. I was going to tell you all before Ryan dropped the case on me. So can we get on with it? Lanie, what's the COD?"
"She was strangled. It looks like someone used a fine wire."
"Like one might use to make jewelry?" Castle inquires.
Lanie shrugs. "Maybe. I'll have to check her neck for residue and compare the mark to exemplars to be sure."
"Doesn't look like theft was the motive," Esposito remarks, waving at packed carryalls sitting on Callie's display table. "Her stuff is still here."
"There could be something missing," Beckett notes. "She might have an inventory somewhere. We'll need to check the bags and wherever she lives if it's not here."
"She might have a workshop as well," Castle interjects, "or share a workspace with other craftspeople."
"That's possible," Kate acknowledges. "But step one, as soon as CSU is finished, we go through everything she has here, including her phone if it's on her, and see what records we can find."
Castle nudges Kate into a corner, away from the other detectives and Lanie. "Are you all right? You've got your 'All Business Beckett' persona going full blast. That's usually your shield when you're upset."
"Castle, sometimes you notice a little too much."
"The eyes of a crime novelist or your husband-to-be, take your choice. Either way, I'm going to worry about you."
"It just seems like a bad sign, that's all. We find the perfect ring and the next thing we know, the person who made it turns up dead."
"Maybe it is a sign," Castle proposes, "that we're the ones who are meant to uncover the killer's motive and solve Callie's murder."
Kate rakes back her hair and nods slowly. "I hope you're right, Babe."
Castle scans through Callie's sales records. "It looks like everything is accounted for. She made a note about selling your ring and drew a little happy face next to it. She also sold a few pair of earrings, not very expensive ones."
Ryan strides up carrying a sheaf of paper. "I've been going over Callie's financials. She wasn't too deep in a hole, but she wasn't making that much either. Castle may have been right about a workshop. She was paying rent to one of those warehouses that's been converted into a bunch of small spaces."
"We need to go see it." Kate decides.
"This is no workshop, at least not for making jewelry," Castle declares, as soon as a manager unlocks the door to a small office. "Not much here but a desk and a filing cabinet - a locked filing cabinet. Do you have your tools on you?"
Kate holds up a tiny leather case. "Better. Lanie found this attached to the inside of one of Callie's boots. The key inside would never fit a door lock, but it's just the right size for a file cabinet."
"And booyah!" Castle exclaims as a drawer springs open.
"Here," Kate says handing him a pile of files, "go into your speed reading act."
Castle rapidly flips through pages. "Kate, you and Callie have something in common, besides your taste in jewelry. These files are all about a cold case. Callie's parents were killed several years ago. Apparently, they were into jewelry making too. The N.Y.P.D. came to a standstill in their investigation, but Callie has been trying to work on it ever since. She was convinced that it had something to do with their business, but from what I've seen so far, she couldn't figure out what."
Kate rubs her hand over her face. "Castle let's go through every line. If she got too close, maybe whoever killed her parents killed her too."
Castle rotates his shoulders and stretches his arms above his head. "The files I'm looking at now are all about gems - the market prices, what it costs to put them in jewelry, the prices the pieces need to sell for to turn a profit. Callie documented transaction after transaction that made no sense if stones were acquired legitimately."
Kate uses her forearm to wipe sweat from her brow. "The files I have are records of her parents' business. They were doing well for years, and then suddenly things started to slide big time. They must have been close to bankruptcy by the time they were killed."
"Which would make perfect sense if someone was putting illegally obtained stones into jewelry and undercutting them. Kate, if they found out who it was, it might have cost them their lives."
"You could be right Castle, and it might have cost Callie hers. If we're going to solve this case, we may have to finish what the Lowells started. I didn't think I'd be looking at another cold case so soon."
Castle wraps his arms around her from behind, and kisses the top of her head. "Especially one with so many echoes of your mother's murder. Are you going to be able to handle this?"
Kate curls her fingers around his hands. "If I can't, there'd be no point in trying to start 'Out of the Dark.' We'll solve Callie's murder, and her parents', whatever it takes."
"Whatever it takes," Castle repeats.
Jackson sinks into the net that passes for a seat in a military transport. The terrorist nest is cleaned out, and the plane is the fastest way back to the states. He's been away too long. He knew decades ago when he accepted his job that it would be like this. Links to family were a non-starter.
The only reason he can have a relationship with Rita is that she understands the score. They care for each other and the sex is good, but she knows that he could disappear from the earth at any time and she might never know how or why. Jackson will pop in on her when he gets to New York, but he needs to check on Richard first. One of the phones he got off a dead Afghan picked up a feed from social media, and posts of rumors of the engagement of Richard Castle and Katherine Beckett.
Having his son follow the detective around is dangerous enough, but if he marries her - well Jackson will just have to make sure no more boogie men are lurking in the shadows. He wants to get a look at Alexis too. It seems like every time he manages to catch sight of his granddaughter she's grown an inch. And he's curious about Martha also. Theater notices being what they are, she's rarely been challenging to keep track of, but as yet the diva has barely made it to Facebook, so information on anything other than names and dates of performances and the occasional picture of her with some assumed lover have been hard to come by. Once he checks on what he regards as his family, nebulous as the ties may be, he can have an interlude with Rita.
A/N I have a new The Rookie story called "In Plain Sight." It follows directly from Freefall. Nolan obsesses over Jessica and Henry comes to L.A.