They'd barely stepped off the elevator at the precinct the next morning when the hazing started.
"So Beckett, Castle, looks like a great party last night, huh?"
Castle felt on immediate alert at the way Ryan emphasized the word 'great.' Kate stiffened next to him. Uh oh. Whatever was going on, it couldn't be good.
"Yeah, guys, anything new you wanna share with the class?"
"I mean, we wouldn't want to have to rely solely on the paper for information, now would we?"
"Hmm, I don't know, Ryan, sure makes for some fascinating reading." Espo reached for the New York Ledger lying on his desk and opened it, held a page out for them to see, finger pointing at the fat headline above a large picture of the two of them taken at the party, showing Kate nestled against his side, and Castle's palm resting on her hip.
"Little Rookie on the Way?" Espo read the headline.
"Little Rookie, I kinda like that." Kate glared at him, squeezing his knuckles, hard. "What, it's clever. Rook, rookie cop-"
"Castle!"
"At yesterday's launch party for the latest Nikki Heat novel, High Heat, out in bookstores today," Ryan started reading from the article aloud, looking over the rim of the paper with raised eyebrows, "Richard Castle was repeatedly seen stroking and caressing his wife's stomach. The inspiration for Nikki Heat and wife of the best-selling author, Captain Kate Beckett of the NYPD's 12th Precinct, wore a gorgeous, flowing Vera Wang dress that couldn't quite hide the growing baby bump. Mr. Castle's publisher has declined to comment."
All eyes in the bullpen seemed to simultaneously sink to Kate's midsection, and Castle bristled.
"Come on, guys, little respect here?" Castle grabbed the paper from Ryan's hands, stuffed it in a waste basket.
"Haven't you learned yet not to believe everything that's printed in the tabloids?"
"You know, anytime you're done, gossip girls…" Kate had crossed through the bullpen and planted herself next to the murder board, hands at her waist. The detectives took one look at her and scurried close, looking appropriately chastised.
"Sorry, Captain."
"Won't happen again."
"Can you just knock it off?" Beckett slapped his hand away from where he'd been flipping through the radio stations, turning the music off instead. Silence fell between them, oppressive under the waves of irritation radiating from his wife.
After Ryan had summarized last night's questioning of Luciano DeLuca and the murder board had been updated, Beckett had dispatched the detectives to question the victim's twin brother, while he and Beckett took off to see Lanie.
"You okay?" He eyed her while she drove, the concentration on her face, the rigid clench of her jaw.
"Yeah, I just…" She looked over her shoulder, merged into the left lane. "I hate lying to them."
"I know." Castle ran a hand over her thigh. His touch seemed to soothe her a bit, so he left it there to rest.
"I mean, should we just tell them? Is it silly to still wait, after that stupid story in the paper? They've been suspicious for weeks, but now-"
"I can't answer that one for you, sweetheart. You're the one who's pregnant; it's your choice." She glanced at him, gnawing on her lip.
"We've waited for good reasons," he continued. "It made sense. They'll understand that. But we're there now. We've made it to twelve weeks, and everything is just fine. So if you really want to tell them, tell them."
"But we've got it all planned."
"It's okay to change it up. There are no rules for this kind of thing."
"Yeah." She sighed, pulled the car into a parking spot around the corner from the entrance to the morgue. Beckett turned off the motor, but she stayed in her seat, staring out the windshield.
"You know what, I'm being silly." Kate turned for him, her voice strong with whatever decision she'd just made. "It's only a little longer now. I let that ridiculous article get to me. But I don't want it to have that power, to take that joy away from us. So let's just stick to the plan, do it like we wanted to, instead of feeling pushed into it. Okay?"
He nodded, feeling proud of her. "Okay." She'd struggled with the scrutiny that often hung over their lives, the tabloids and paparazzi, the trappings of fame. It had its downsides, living the kind of life they led, yet once she had chosen to be with him, and all that it entailed, she was all in. She'd been battling her way through it, and she was coming out on top. He was so incredibly proud of her.
"It's going to be such fun!"
"You doin' okay, girlfriend?" Lanie asked as soon as they stepped inside the morgue. "I'd give you a hug, but-" She gestured at the blue gown, the purple gloves. "Morgue grime."
"Yeah, I'm fine." The other woman still eyed her with scrutiny. "Better."
"This case hitting you kinda hard?"
Lanie stood across from them, the slab with the body between them, looking pale blue and grotesque where the skin had stretched to adapt to the pregnancy, and caving in now that the child was no longer nestled within. The victim's straight blonde hair looked ghostly white under the bright glare of the fluorescent lights.
Beckett nodded. "Yeah, it's… Let's put it this way, the parallels aren't lost on me." Castle stepped a little closer, rested his hand over her lower back.
"Mm hm, I gotcha. Well, let me cut right to the chase then." At that, she and Castle took a step closer to the slab.
"The victim died of a single gunshot wound to the chest. The fetus was male, about thirty weeks' gestation, and died within a few minutes of his mother due to the loss of circulation that'd supply him with oxygen." Lanie pointed to the large petri dish placed on the sideboard that held his remains, but Kate couldn't make herself look.
"The bullet was a nine-millimeter, and ballistics matched it to the .38 caliber Smith & Wesson 638 revolver found at the scene. The shot pierced the right ventricle, went straight through and exited-" Lanie turned the body half over, showing Beckett and Castle the exit wound near the victim's spine. "Right here."
The medical examiner returned the body to its original position, pointing her pen at the ribcage. "The victim also sustained a couple of broken ribs, which occurred post-mortem, due to the pressure of CPR being administered. Bruising at the back of her head suggests that she slammed her head really hard on the floor when she fell after being hit."
"She didn't catch herself," Castle stated.
"No." Lanie shook her head. "She died fairly quickly, but, given the placement of her hands when she was found on the scene, it is highly unlikely that she was dead before she landed on the floor."
"She didn't throw out her arms to catch her fall," Kate surmised what she'd suspected all along. "She tried to protect the baby instead."
"Pure instinct, most likely," Lanie agreed.
"Could her arms have been moved into position post-mortem?"
Lanie shook her head. "No. We would see some bruising from that, and strain to the joints if they'd been manipulated by force."
The medical examiner stepped over to the sideboard, then returned, holding a long slim plastic stick. "Now, here's where it gets interesting. The trajectory of the bullet was fairly straight." Lanie carefully inserted the plastic stick into the wound, and the stick stuck out perpendicular to the body, forming an almost completely vertical line.
"It barely hit at an angle, which suggests that the shooter was taller than five foot four, and definitely less than six feet."
"That'd rule out her husband," Castle said, and Kate nodded.
"Now, if I were to guess," Lanie continued, "I'd say the shooter's size was very similar to the victim's height, between five foot five and five foot eight, to be precise." Lanie held her arm out straight, formed her thumb and index finger into a pointed gun, and then pulled the imaginary trigger. "See this straight line?" Beckett nodded.
"Like that. But I can't confirm it that precisely with any authority."
"Thanks, Lanie, got it. Anything else?"
"Well as we suspected, the gun was wiped clean. There were no fingerprints, not even partials, so that's a dead end. And they're still processing the fingerprinting done at the scene, but there's just so many different ones, it's like looking for a needle in a pile of needles."
Kate looked at the body once more, taking her moment to honor the victim that she hadn't been able to focus on yesterday morning with the persistent waves of nausea overwhelming her senses.
"Okay. Castle and I need to head back. Thanks again, Lanie. Call if there's anything else." The other woman nodded.
At the door, Beckett turned back to look at her friend. "You'll be there tonight?"
Lanie smiled. "I wouldn't miss it."
"I knew something was wrong the moment it happened." Sander Van Houten had the same blond hair as his sister, the same facial shape and mouth, the same wide cheekbones. He was several inches taller, but seemed to have shrunk into himself as he sat in the hard metal chair in Interrogation Two. His lawyer sat next to him, chest puffed out in an expensive-looking suit, a writing pad and silver pen placed at precise angles on the table before him.
"Couldn't tell what, but I knew." Van Houten looked past them with an empty stare. It was as if the life had drained out of him.
"Where were you yesterday between six and eight a.m.?"
The lawyer uncapped his pen, but Van Houten didn't move a muscle, his voice remaining the same flat monotone with which he'd spoken so far.
"Home."
"Can anybody vouch for that?"
"My wife. The housekeeper. The gardener, maybe? I had a conference call that morning. With China."
"When?" Ryan asked.
"Seven-thirty. Had this knot in my stomach the whole time." The man pushed a fist to his midsection. "Didn't know why, just that something wasn't right." His eyes shifted to Espo, meeting his gaze for the first time.
"Now I know," he said, his voice barely above a whisper.
Ryan went through the usual questions - did his sister have any known enemies, any financial troubles - yet Van Houten had no information they hadn't already obtained.
"Were you aware that your sister had an affair?"
"What? No." He shook his head, the first lively movement the man had made so far. "She'd never do that. She loved Luciano; she'd fought for him despite the family's objections. And he was so sweet with her."
"You seem certain of that."
"I am certain. I knew her better than anyone; it's a twin thing, I guess. We'd pick up on each other's moods; we've never needed words to understand what the other was saying. I would've known if she- No." He shook his head. "She was not a cheater."
"With your sister dead, you stand to solely inherit the family estate," Espo stated, letting the non-question fill the room with its accusatory weight.
"You don't have to answer that," the lawyer cautioned, placing a hand on his client's forearm.
"I've enough money." Sander Van Houten merely shrugged. "I only had the one sister."
"His alibi holds." Ryan slapped the file folder on the nearest desk.
"Plus, based on Lanie's assessment about the bullet trajectory, at six foot he's also too tall to be our murderer," Castle added.
Beckett pulled Sander Van Houten's photo off the murder board, and slapped it under the 'witness' column, smacked her hand against it for good measure. "What is it with this case? How do we have nothing? We don't even have a single suspect anymore."
The frustration made her irritable. This morning she had already fielded two phone calls from the D.A. and 1PP, practically ordering her to handle the case personally to its conclusion. She knew she was going to fall behind on her other responsibilities for several days. She was long past being surprised at the clout the super-rich and well-connected held with law enforcement, but when it affected her work and the functioning of her precinct, it would never stop being an annoyance.
She ran her hands through her hair, gathered her thoughts. "We ever get the security footage from the victim's apartment?"
"Street cams were a bust. Too much activity. And the building security tapes still haven't been released to us."
"Vikram, get on that. We needed that footage, like, yesterday. And someone find that night doorman and get his statement!"
"On it, boss." Esposito made a note in his dog-eared notebook.
"What about financials?"
"Nothing unusual in the victim's bank statements," Ryan supplied. "No sudden movement of large sums, no suspicious activity, and the info that the husband gave on both the prenup and her will also checks out."
"Interesting…" Castle muttered to himself, and Kate turned to him.
"What is it, Castle?"
"Oh." He looked up from the stack of paper he'd been leafing through. "I've been skimming her bank statement."
"And?"
"Well, there's nothing unusual per se, like Ryan said, but there are recurring charges on her statement from a company called 'Cryonics Labs International.'"
Kate leaned over his shoulder to look. "Castle, this was like eight months ago!"
"Yeah but see, there was an exact charge of $600, once per month, recurring for several months, and then it just stops. What do you suppose that is?"
"Sounds like a doctor's office to me," Espo said. "Maybe she made payments on her bill."
"Why would she do that? She was rich; why wouldn't she just pay off her bill? It was only three grand in total before the payments stopped."
"Maybe she supported some type of medical research?" Ryan asked.
"Dude, I thought they'd pay you for that shit," Espo threw in, "not charge you."
"Cryonics, cryo-technology…" Kate could see the wheels turning in Castle's brain, and braced herself for the impact of the outlandish theory. She wasn't disappointed.
"She was planning to freeze her body after death!" he declared, and she rolled her eyes. "Do they take payments on that…?" Espo groaned audibly. But then something sparked in her mind, something about technology and doctors and testing-
"What about DNA… Some type of DNA testing?"
Castle turned toward her, their eyes meeting, holding. "Maybe she did have an affair… And was having the baby's DNA checked to figure out who fathered it," he said.
"Castle, the payments stopped before she got pregnant-"
"Right. So then… Wait, the payments stopped right before she got pregnant?"
"Maybe she was getting fertility treatments-"
"The husband didn't mention anything-"
"But maybe that's because we didn't ask-"
"Guys, guys. Hey!"
They startled at Ryan's voice, put some distance back between them that seemed to have significantly diminished while they'd traded ideas back and forth.
"Look at the address of that place." Detective Ryan handed over his iPhone, with the information of Cryonics Labs International pulled up on the screen. "Isn't that right by Columbus Circle?"
"That's where the husband's brother saw the victim with our mystery guy!"
"Come on, Beckett," Castle announced, wrapped his arm around her waist. "Let's take a trip to the fertility clinic, what do you say?"
Cryonics Labs International occupied three floors in one of the twin towers of Time Warner Center. Its office space was mellow, all muted colors and understated decor. A subtle scent was filling the air, and Castle heard the distinct hum of white noise piped in to mute the myriad sounds of conversation. It reminded him more of a high-end legal firm than any kind of clinic.
"Captain Beckett, NYPD." Kate had stepped up to the reception desk to announce her presence, while Castle let his eyes wander across the vast space. This reception area was no usual waiting room space, though a few seating areas, with sofas arranged around side tables and dimmed lamps, were placed in strategic corners. A row of headshot photos with plaques beneath hung along one wall, and Castle stepped closer, one picture jumping out at him.
"Beckett?" He called for her. "Come here, you need to see this."
She came to join him and he pointed at the black-and-white photograph. "See anyone we recognize?"
Her eyes widened. "That's the man from the sketch, the one with whom DeLuca's brother saw the victim."
"The company's founder and CEO, Dr. Theodore Vandervahl."
"You're here about Victoria." It wasn't a question. Theodore Vandervahl gestured them inside his cozy office. It was a smaller space than what Castle had envisioned for the CEO, but with its wall of windows overlooking the hectic bustle of Columbus Circle twenty floors below them and muted sunlight flooding in, the space was meticulously designed to be warm, cozy, welcoming. Diplomas, credentials, and awards certificates in expensive frames were lined up along one wall. Tall plants encircled a seating area that reminded him of an inviting family living room.
Dr. Vandervahl sank into his office chair, and Castle pulled out a chair for Kate, then sat down in the one next to her.
"What can you tell us about Ms. Van Houten?"
"I've known her forever. Seems like it's been my whole life." Vandervahl pushed the square, black-rimmed glasses up the bridge of his nose, then folded his slim fingers together, his smile wistful. "Our families were friends, have been connected for generations. You know how it is, old money, same heritage and background. Family trees intertwining in some form or another for centuries."
"You know her brother as well?"
"Sander? Of course. We used to build tree houses together, out on the summer estate."
Castle leaned closer to Kate, murmuring. "Van Houten lied to us then."
Kate nodded, whispering, "Yes. He claimed he'd never seen the man in the sketch."
"He was protecting her," Vandervahl interrupted. "He's always been protective of her."
"Protecting her from what? Attacks on her reputation? Were you having an affair with Mrs. Van Houten?"
"An affair?" Vandervahl laughed without joy. "That is preposterous."
"You were seen together, hugging and kissing."
"It's normal for us to hug. I kiss her cheek to say hello, or if she's upset. We've always been affectionate."
"What about the payments she made to your company?" Castle interjected, wondering if changing the subject would add some forward momentum to the line of questioning, startle the man out of his thoughtful reverie.
"Payments?"
Rick could feel the tension rattling through Kate; he knew she'd had just about enough of the obfuscation. And he didn't have to wait long.
"Dr. Vandervahl, we can just as easily drag you down to the station and conduct this conversation in an interrogation room. Now, if you'd prefer to avoid that spectacle, I suggest you talk. Start at the beginning."
"Look, I-" The man fidgeted, ran his hands through his flawlessly coiffed hair. "I'm gay, okay?"
You don't say, Castle thought, but kept his mouth firmly closed.
"I'm not out to my family; they're very conservative, so Vicky always helped cover for me. Made up stories about dates I'd supposedly been on, excuses if I'd been spotted with a male 'friend' by my family, that sort of thing. So when she came to me for help, I reciprocated."
"What did she need help with?"
"This is a full-service fertility clinic. As a gay man, I've seen enough situations to know the difficulties of conceiving or having children in various circumstances. So I founded this company to help people who needed it, who needed services provided with the utmost discretion and privacy, and of the highest medical standards."
"So Mrs. Van Houten approached you about fertility issues?" Kate questioned.
"She'd found out her husband was infertile. She was just devastated. They'd had some tests done, and she'd intercepted the results. I helped her fake the test results so her husband would never know. You have to understand, they wanted children together so badly. She didn't want him to have to face that devastating truth. And I couldn't not help her."
"And how did she get pregnant, Mr. Vandervahl?"
"She picked a sperm donor from our catalog, someone who had the same blood type as Luciano, who had very similar facial features and coloring, the same ancestral background as her husband etcetera. I personally did her IUI's-"
"Sorry, her what?" Castle interjected.
"Oh. IUIs. Intrauterine inseminations. Took a few trials, and then she was pregnant, and that was that. She was so excited. They both were."
"So that's what the charges were for on her credit card. For her inseminations?"
"Just for the donor sperm. I didn't charge her for any services; she's family. I wouldn't have charged for that either, but legally, we must have a recipient and an invoice on file for every vial used."
"Did anybody besides you and your staff know about this?"
"Just Sander. Vicky told her brother pretty much everything. And Claudia. I think she'd said that Claudia had found out somehow. But yeah, that's it."
