From all of us in Dallas to all our friends in France
We feel your pain
The couple are heading out on the street going to the university and the newest case for her major crimes unit.
Kate has activated her emergency lights. She wants to arrive as quickly as possible and is also using her siren at traffic lights to expedite their arrival
When they enter the university grounds it is evident that this is definitely considered a major crime. The area around the main building has been cordoned off by uniformed officers and the administration building is being secured by another line of police
Once again they are arriving at a crime scene that is under the jurisdiction of another precinct other than the 12th and the investigators that would normally be in charge are showing their distain for being dropped to second place behind the lead of Beckett's team
Captain Becket presents her credentials to the recording officer who looks at her 'Captain" badge then stiffens realizing exactly who she is. Her reputation is well known in the department and her record of case solving is still unmatched
Once inside the building Castle and Beckett move quickly toward the administrator's office area where they are greeted by Detectives' Allen Sexton and Roland Bryan
"I am Captain Kate Beckett and this is my partner Richard Castle" she introduces themselves to the two men. "What do you have here?"
Using the term 'you' instead of 'we' makes the two men feel a little more wanted instead of the usual being kicked to the curb by the primary investigators.
Allen Sexton responds "We have the university president, Dr. Margaret Sellers, found dead at 8:45 this morning by her assistant, Misty Rowe" he points toward the line of desks where the young woman is sitting, obviously distraught and crying
Roland Bryan continues "Miss Rowe usually arrives about 8:40 to 8:45. If the door is open, she knows that the president has already arrived. If not, then the door is closed"
Sexton continues "She saw the door open, dropped her stuff on her desk and went in to say high to Dr. Sellers. That is when she found her dead on the floor in front of her desk. An obvious head wound with a lot of blood everywhere"
Kate looks in the direction of the inner office "We will be right back out" She and Castle grab a pair of shoe covers and gloves. After putting the evidence protection gear on, they enter the space.
Dr. Parish is leaning over the body "Hey Lanie" Kate remarks when they get close
"Hey yourself" then medical examiner responds without even looking up "What are you doing here? I thought you only got the weird ones…like a girl in a deep fryer"
"That one too, but this is a very high profile case, so my team got called in"
"Glad you did" Lanie responds
"So, what do you have?"
"I looks like she was pushed into the side of the desk" Lanie points toward the edge of the very heavy, very expensive desk "the head wound matches the corner of the desk top and there is blood and fibers on the corner" Again the ME points toward the location
"Do you know how long she has been dead?" Beckett asks
"No more than an hour before it was called in. I am estimating about 6:30 maybe a little earlier but not before that"
Beckett and Castle walk around the room taking in everything they can see when Beckett asks the question "Rick, you have been in this office before. Does anything look out of place or missing? ...or were you too distracted to remember?"
Dr. Parish looks up "Distracted?"
"Nothing Lanie" Castle responds then looks at his wife who is grinning at him and enjoying teasing him
He looks more closely then points toward the desk "She had a desktop pen and pencil set right here" he points toward the center. It was marble with a gold set. There was a name tag on the front facing a guest"
Beckett walks to the chair side then looks at the floor. This is where she locates the described set "It's here on the floor. I will let CSU handle this"
She looks at her husband "Anything else missing or out of place?"
"No. That is the only thing I can remember?"
Lanie stands up and directs the two transport men to go ahead and load the body on the gurney
"I will give you more information as soon as I do the autopsy"
"Thanks, Lanie" Beckett and Castle step aside to allow the technicians room to do their job
As the body is being loaded on the gurney, Captain Beckett and her husband return to the reception area and the two local precinct detectives, who have been waiting the entire time.
As they approach Beckett begins her debrief "Detectives, what do you have so far?"
Detective Sexton answers "We interviewed all the office staff and Misty was the first one to enter the office this morning. The others did not even know anything happened until they heard her scream and then they rushed in to see what happened"
Beckett continues "Do we know if they contaminated the crime scene?"
Bryan answers that question "No. They said when they saw the blood, everyone stopped going any further and called us"
Beckett looks aback toward the door as the coroner personnel are rolling the body out "If you already have the uniforms doing a canvas, you two go back to the precinct. You know what to do. Get started on the murder board and Castle and I will be in shortly"
The two detectives look at each other then walk out of the area.
As they clear the office Sexton turns toward his partner "I thought that she would pull rank and boot us off the case"
"I guess she is not the ice queen we all thought she is" Bryon remarks
His partner also comments "Yeah. In fact she is pretty hot"
Bryon stops walking and turns to his partner "You do know her story…right?"
"Not everything. Why?"
Her mother was murdered and that is why she became a cop. Youngest woman to make detective. In the academy, most of the records are hers and that very large man with her? Richard Castle is her husband…he is personal friends with the mayor, commissioner and several judges. He is wealthy so you don't even want to get caught looking at her that way"
"OH?"
Beckett and Castle return into the inner office and are looking around more closely "Kate" Castle gets his wife's attention "The two chairs are out of place, like someone was here struggling" pointing at the guest seating
She looks at the carpet where the eight indentations are clearly visible where the chairs would normally be placed
She walks around the space "So this was probably not a mugging or break in"
"Probably not"
They spend a few more minutes in the room then she turns to the lead sergeant with the CSU doing the work up. Beckett looks toward the team leader "Sarg, when you finish send your report to me along with whoever is scheduled to get the reports"
"Sure captain" he answers as he turns back to the task at hand
Beckett and Castle are leaving the inner office and back to the reception area. They go to the young assistant sitting still crying at what she witnessed this morning
"Misty, I am Captain Beckett and this is Mr. Castle. We know this had been rough but we would like to talk to you if toy feel like you can do that"
The young college student looks up from the desk and sees Castle and recognizes him from the day he came to see the school president "Yes. I think I can do that. You are the professor who came by a week or so ago"
Beckett sits down next to the girl. "Can you tell up what happened this morning?"
"I came in the main door and dropped my stuff on the desk here" she spints to her normal work location
Castle asks the next question "Was the hall door locked when you arrived?"
Misty looks at Castle "Yes. Yes it was locked"
Castle looks at Beckett "Someone had a key to lock the door back after they left"
Misty looks at the couple "No. Dt .Sellers had an outside door"
"We didn't see any door" Beckett responds
"It is concealed inside one of the bookcases" Misty can be seen turning red
"What is it Misty?"
"Mo one would talk about it but Dr. Sellers used it a lot to have visitors that could come and go without being seen"
She pauses a moment "She had a lot of…visitors…ur…guests that we never saw come in"
"She had a lot of male visitors?"
The young woman turns red once more as she gently nods her head "Yes"
"Misty" Beckett is trying to be gentle with the young woman who seems very embarrassed by the discussion taking place "Do you think one of these men would kill her?"
The pause in her answer leaves Castle and Beckett wondering if she is thinking if there is one or she knows and is trying to figure out a way to not answer
"I don't know who all she…uh…entertains but from how she acts, I think they are not the type to kill her. They seem to be enjoying having her"
After making sure all the evidence is gathered and on its way back to the station, Castle and Beckett are in her cruiser on their way to the 54th precinct to meet back up with Detectives Bryan and Sexton and fill them in on the information they have gathered and review the case information, then they plan to return to the 12th and meet back with her original partners and get up to speed on the girl in the cooker
As they pull out from the Rick's hand and wraps her fingers into his. They ride silently until just before their arrival at the station "Kate. Is something wrong?"
A gentle smile crosses her face "Nothing is wrong. Everything is right. That woman came after my man and he turned her down. I have a man in my life that was not tempted by that cougar back there"
"I wasn't tempted, but how do you know?"
"You didn't know about her secret entrance"
