Very Castle Celebrations
Chapter 16
Kate is staring in disbelief at her phone. "Castle, the DNA from the body found wearing Walter Clapper's dog tags matches the DNA of the man you found at the Hampton's house."
"So they were identical twins? Castle queries. "Even those would have a fraction of a percent of difference from mutations and environmental influences."
"Right," Kate agrees, "but from what Lanie's told me, most databases just keep track of markers, not the entire analysis. Differences that small wouldn't pop up. The thing is, there is no record of Walter Clapper having a twin."
Castle wonders if one could have been adopted at birth. Kate shakes her head. "Espo checked. There's no adoption record either, not even a sealed one."
Castle can feel excitement coursing through his veins. "The military must have been conducting a secret cloning program and had a clone escape. When the clone surfaced, they put Walter's dog tags on him and burned his body to hide their covert activities!"
Kate rolls her eyes. "Castle that doesn't make any sense. Even going along with your crazy assumption, why would the army allow the body to be found, with Walter still around? It would almost guarantee exposure of their activities sooner or later. There has to be a more mundane explanation."
Castle can't see anything mundane about human cloning, except as a device in too many science fiction movies. There has to be a story behind how Walter Clapper - or his twin - ended up in a confused state on his front lawn. The mystery is going to keep poking at his thoughts until he comes up with an answer.
He has revisions to do on his latest Drake Bentley adventure, but as soon as he gets them off to his editor, he's determined to do some research.
Castle wryly remembers some advice he'd received early in his writing career, to write the best sentence he could possibly imagine - and then delete it. He'd made the mistake of falling in love with some of the passages his editor wants him to remove. She may be right, but he's going to have to struggle to come up with new ones that won't alter the meaning. That's not only going to require a deep dive into his beloved and dog-eared Thesaurus, but time to consider the impact of every word.
By the time he's finished, he's too fried to sit in front of his computer any longer, even to dig up whatever else he can on the two Walter Clappers. After stiffly unfolding his body, he goes to find Kate. She's reviewing the progress of the current task force cases so she can hit the ground running when she returns to work the following month. Jackson is lounging contently in his swing, a few feet from her.
Castle decides to take a walk to clear his mind. His feet know how to find the park that is a few blocks away without any input from his brain, a definite plus to heading in that direction. The playground is full of children enjoying the sunshine and temperate weather of June while their parents sit on nearby benches, grabbing a few moments of respite.
As usual, his novelist's yen for people-watching kicks in. He spots a couple talking in soft but earnest tones. If he works at it, he can just make out what they're discussing. It doesn't hurt that he gets a hint from the woman's obvious pregnancy. Apparently, the child was conceived by in-vitro fertilization. They're debating what they want to do with the unused embryos if the pregnancy yields a healthy baby. While the male half of the partnership would like them preserved indefinitely, the woman wants to donate at least some of them to other couples who are unable to conceive.
The overheard conversation triggers something in Castle's head. What if one of the Walter Clappers had come from a donated or even stolen embryo? There would be no adoption record. Walter could have been entirely unaware that he had a brother until one showed up. The scenario is still full of questions about how one of the twins came to meet his end and how Walter ended up the way he did. At least the idea of a wayward embryo won't trigger an immediate dismissal from his obsessively rational wife. That's a start, but where the trail will lead, he has no idea.
He hears the familiar siren song of the soft serve ice cream truck coming at him from the street adjacent to the green space. It's a sound he's rarely able to resist. The day will not be complete without licking a cone, but if he gets a covered cup for Kate, it may even survive the short walk home. She won't get a tempting dollop of the sticky confection on the tip of her cute nose but kissing sweet stuff from her lips is an alluring prospect. He hurries to take his place in what will undoubtedly be a long and boisterous line.
Kate scoops out the very last of her fudge topping and licks the plastic spoon. "Castle, your embryo conjecture makes a lot more sense than a rogue government lab, but it doesn't explain anything else about the two Walters. It doesn't even hint at who's the real one."
Castle acknowledges that what she's saying is true, but he has another idea. If the Walter they found is a genuine staff sergeant, then he should unconsciously act like one. His military training would kick in automatically. If there's anyone who should be able to tell if Walter is a true comrade in arms, it's Esposito. It may cost Castle the loan of the Ferrari for a week or two, or the detective may just be curious enough to want to investigate further with no bribery required. Either way, it's worth a shot. He's just hoping that Kate will make the call to persuade her colleague from the blue fellowship to continue the hunt.
Flashing a smile, she runs her tongue around the lip of the colorful ice cream container and promises that she will.
After a dinner only slightly spoiled by frozen deliciousness, Castle is surprised but tickled to find Jackson sitting up in his crib. The milestone is appearing early. The baby won't be four months old for another couple of weeks, and even if he achieved it then, he'd still be right at the front end of the developmental curve. Alexis couldn't sit up by herself until she was almost six months old. On the other hand, Alexis didn't have Kate Beckett as a mother, and Meredith was never a star athlete. Neither was Castle, except perhaps at fencing.
Nevertheless, he can feel his chest expanding while he wonders if his son will show any other signs of precociousness. He pulls out his phone to snap a picture, just in case he can't get Kate into the room soon enough to capture the moment. The photo, complete with a timestamp, will find a place of honor in Jackson's baby book.
He just manages to record the event when Kate calls from the living room, and Jackson flops down, landing on his back. Kate surveys the picture with pride but is anxious to inform him that she's heard back from Esposito. The cop will be going to see the living Walter in a rehab facility tomorrow evening after his shift. He may be able to come up with some insights into the identity of Castle's unexpected guest by sometime tomorrow night.
