Very Castle Celebrations

Chapter 28

Castle glares at the enormous plastic cauldron still filled to the brim with Hershey's finest - the full-sized bars, not what is euphemistically dubbed as "fun size." A few costumed candy cravers had come to the door about as early as their parents could manage to shepherd them around, but it is nearing 6:30, usually the height of the sweets grabbing rush, and no one else is showing up.

Kate lays a hand on his arm. "Sorry, Babe. I know how much you love for this place to be Halloween Central."

Castle insists that there has to be a reason. He checks out the street and sidewalk below the windows of the loft. Both are empty. That almost never happens unless… He pulls his phone out of the pocket of his space cowboy coat and checks his traffic app. Damn! The street is blocked at both ends. For some reason, the vice president has decided to come through town this way, and a security perimeter has been set up. The blockade is supposed to be lifted by 7:30, but by that time, the sun will be down and only the older kids, who should be able to buy their own candy, will be out and about.

He can save a few bars for family consumption and drop the rest of the candy at the 12th Precinct tomorrow. The cops have always welcomed Halloween leftovers - if for nothing else than a shot of energy after dealing with holiday arrests. Still the break in tradition stings.

He and Kate decided over a month ago not to have a party. Kate's never been big on social gatherings anyway, and with Jackson in the house, handling the raucous celebrants would have been a challenge. Kate did agree to a family horror fest, however. Alexis and Cary will be coming for a screening of the worst and the best. The worst was obvious. They settled on Plan Nine from Outer Space. The best required more discussion. Kate has always loved Frank Langella's Dracula. She has that in common with Mother, who is still raving about the play she did with him in summer stock. Castle can't help having a soft place in his heart for an actor who could also play He-Man's arch enemy, Skeletor, but his all-time choice for sheer scariness is the original Exorcist. In high school and college, he'd always found that the video induced an urge in his feminine companions to grab on to him in a very satisfying way. Not that he expects Kate to show fear, but the adrenaline rush could easily result in some interesting late night activity. They decided to have the visiting couple cast the deciding vote.

He has some appropriate snacks planned. Both candy corn and caramel coated popcorn are a must, but he also has the marshmallow ghosts that he and Alexis started making when she was in second grade - updated with a dip in white chocolate. He's also managed to come up with a recipe for pumpkin spice lattes which in his opinion is far superior to anything the Java Hut is offering. He's even made a pumpkin custard for Jackson.

The family festivities won't be beginning until 8:30. At least his daughter and her paramour won't be frustrated by the blocked street. He and Kate will be having monster sandwiches in between, to keep from plunging into complete sugar shock later. Kate has kept her costume a secret, hiding it at work until bringing it home entirely covered by a black garment bag. He tried a couple of times to sneak a peek, but his wife still has cop eyes in the back of her head. She bumped her hip against his and winked when she promised he'd enjoy it, so he has high hopes.

With no ghoulish guests to greet, he turns on the news. A reporter is doing a standup along the route of the vice president's motorcade. Some sort of incident occurred. The Secret Service and N.Y.P.D. have yet to release any details, but she claims that her network has received some information that a body was found. The vice president was apparently never in any danger, and no injuries to anyone else were reported. There will be further bulletins as more information becomes available.

Castle finds the newscast curious. Usually at least some details would be revealed and whatever bystanders can be grabbed would be encouraged to vent their feelings. The lack of the usual flood of words speaks of a deliberate blackout. But on a day when the streets of New York would be filled with both residents going about their business and those getting into Halloween spirit, it is likely that something will seep out from under the official lid. Given the speed of modern electronic social discourse, he expects that it will be before the candles in jack-o-lanterns burn down. He can check a little later. In the meantime, the noise level from Jackson's crib is rising, and he needs to give his son a chance to burn off some energy before the video screenings commence.


Castle checks his phone after Alexis and Cary, clinging tightly to each other, have said their goodnights. Tidbits are beginning to surface on social media. There's still been no identification of the body, but an occupant of one of the buildings along the vice president's route claims to have seen it and said it was a white woman with dark hair. There are a few pictures, but no other features are discernible except that the corpse is not wearing shoes. Late October has suffered a cooldown prompting most residents of the city to not only keep their feet shod but wear jackets. If the unfortunate woman suffered a sudden heart attack or was felled by some other malady, she would have been fully dressed. If she was barefoot, she was running from something or someone. Even on Halloween that was unlikely to have been a ghost or demon. Some human predator was after her and succeeded in catching her. The question is who and why.

Kate tugs on one of his suspenders. "Babe, I know you've got the mystery mice running around in your head, but we should both get to bed."

Castle can't help grinning as he turns to her. "You said bed, you didn't say sleep."

Kate wraps her fists around both of the straps clipped to his trousers and pulls him toward her. "We'll get to that - eventually. I don't have any meetings in the morning until 11. I can grab more sleep after Jackson has his breakfast, and with any luck, you can grab a nap when Jackson takes his." Kate begins backing up toward the bedroom and Castle allows himself to be dragged along. His pants were tight to start with, and they're getting tighter by the second. He hopes that Kate wants to pull on more than his galluses.

For his part, there have been pieces of her costume as a registered companion that he's been wanting to peel away ever since he had his first view of the brightly colored garments. But the decorative pins that restrain her hair will have to be the first thing to go. After that, he will enjoy removing every silky piece of clothing. The vision is so enticing that he may just have to send a thank you note whoever designed the alluring ensemble- if he ends up with the energy to type.