Castle said that you never know when inspiration might strike. Mine apparently strikes on Monday nights about 3 hours before Castle airs. ;)
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Some reviews noted that this fic was like reading an episode. That's extremely flattering - thank you. I'm trying my best.
If that's the case, commercial break is over. We now return to your regularly scheduled "program". :)
"Castle…"
The writer blinked his eyes a couple of times to adjust to the warm sunlight peeking through her bedroom window.
"Castle…"
"Mmmmm," he hummed, the seductive aroma of cappuccino filling his nostrils. "Best way to wake up. The wonderful scent of coffee coupled with the sexy voice of my fiancée."
"I'll remember that the next time you want to have good morning sex," Kate smirked, sitting down on the mattress beside him, lifting the mug to her lips.
"Tease."
"You know it."
He squinted feebly, coaxing his eyes open. "You're dressed," he muttered, a slightly dismayed looked on his face.
"You sound so disappointed."
"Maybe I am…" he teased, his finger inching its way across her abs, seductively feathering her waist.
"No time for that, Castle," she scoffed, slapping his hand playfully. "We gotta get going."
"What time is it?" he mumbled, throwing the sheets aside, swinging his legs off the bed.
"6:00am…" she grinned, rising from the bed and heading into the livingroom. "Now get dressed. We've got a murder to solve."
"Curse you, Ryan…" he huffed under his breath as he shuffled towards the bathroom.
"Nice of you to finally join us," Espo grinned as Beckett and Castle approached the murder board.
"Yeah, well, some us aren't really morning people," Beckett retorted. "And by some of us, I mean Castle," she nodded her head to the side, indicating her partner.
"Hey!" Castle exclaimed defensively before he shrugged. "Ah, well, that's true."
Beckett smiled to herself as she quickly steered the conversation back to the case. "So what did you guys find?"
"Remember how Jack's girlfriend said nothing was missing from the apartment?" Ryan began.
"Yeah."
"That was true," he confirmed. Beckett shot him an unimpressed yet playful glare, a smirk tugging on her lips as she shook her head.
"However," Espo continued, "she neglected to mention the new arrivals."
"New arrivals?" Castle repeated.
"You should've taken a closer look in that music box, Bro. Found these inside." Esposito held up an evidence bag containing two emeralds, each about the size of a quarter.
"Now how did our impoverished Pirate Captain get his hands on these?" Castle inquired, lifting the bag to admire the gems.
"Probably not legally," Ryan answered, "cuz we also found this." He slapped up a picture of a key on to the murder board."
"A key?" Beckett asked. "What's it for?"
"Not sure yet, but that's not the interesting part," Espo remarked. "What's interesting is where we found it."
"Where?" Beckett encouraged.
"Inside the rubber duck," Ryan smiled.
"WHAT?!" Castle exclaimed. "It really was Death by Duck?"
Beckett rolled her eyes.
"No… he was definitely beaten and strangled," Ryan reiterated, "but it seems as though Emma Sparrow might not have been completely honest with us after all."
Beckett narrowed her eyes as she gave the boys their next task. "Bring her in."
Beckett smiled as she observed the master at work. Steam rose from the espresso machine as Castle frothed the milk for the lattes.
"So what do you think those emeralds are worth?" Castle asked while he added a shot of vanilla to the froth.
"Not sure. The appraiser said he'd be able to give me an idea of their value shortly," she noted as the author turned to hand her a mug. "They could even be fake."
Castle shook his head. "Nope. Can't be."
"Why not?"
"We already had a case involving fake jewels. The Blue Butterfly filled that quota. These ones gotta be real," he smirked as he nonchalantly took sip of his coffee.
Beckett bit the inside of her cheek to suppress her amusement, a slight grin escaping her lips. "Castle-logic at its finest."
Castle couldn't help but smile back, his eyes warm and playful. Yeah, he was ridiculous at times, but he was hers, and she loved him.
She was woken from her reverie as her phone buzzed. She didn't even have a chance to check the text message when Captain Gates entered the break room and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge. "So what's the latest on the Armstrong case?"
Beckett straightened herself instinctively. "Upon a second sweep of the apartment they found a few things that didn't add up. Esposito and Ryan are bringing in the girl friend as we speak."
"Excellent work, Detective. Keep me apprised."
"Yes Sir," Beckett nodded as Gates left the room.
"What was that about?" Castle queried as his eyes followed Gates back to her office.
"She's just checking on us…" she snickered. "Making sure we're behaving appropriately."
"Oh, I can understand that," Castle teased, wiggling his eyebrows. "I'm sure it's taking everything in you not to jump me right now."
"You wish," Kate said flatly, rolling her eyes as she got up to return to her desk.
"Yes I do, Detective. And quite often too," he smirked as he followed her into the bull pen.
"Huh..." she muttered, finally checking the text as they approached the murder board. "Turns out those emeralds were real after all, Castle. Apparently they were both 5-carats… the appraiser estimated them to be worth about $75,000…"
Castle's jaw dropped slightly as he eyed the photo of the jewels that was hanging on the murder board.
"...each," she concluded.
"Jack, you ol' sea dog," Castle muttered, glancing at the photo of the victim. "You were holding out on us after all." He paused a moment before asking, "You think he stole them?"
"I dunno," Beckett replied, turning to look at the elevator as it dinged. "But I think we're about to find out," she noted as she watched the boys escort Emma Sparrow into Interrogation Room One.
Emma was very nervous as the two male detectives stared at her from across the table. "Why am I here?"
"Have you ever seen this before?" Ryan inquired, flopping a picture of the key down on to the table."
Emma leaned over to glance at it. "No. Should I have?"
"Really..." Esposito glared, eyes piercing. "What about these?" He removed a photo from his folder and slid it across the surface, placing it in front of her.
Emma's eyes widened immensely as she stared at the green emeralds in the picture. "They're gorgeous."
"We found them in your apartment," Ryan remarked.
"You… what?" she sputtered.
"Yeah," Espo added, slight sarcasm lacing his voice. "Safely tucked into that little music box that was sitting on your shelf. Now you wanna try telling me you didn't know they were in there?"
"I didn't! I swear!" Emma protested.
"You wanna know what I think?" Ryan began. "I think you knew Jack had those jewels and you wanted them, but you didn't know where he hid them. You were searching the apartment when he came home."
"No…"
"He surprised you," Espo continued. "He grabbed you, demanded to know what you were doing. You struggled, got away, grabbed a baseball bat and swung at him trying to defend yourself."
"No, no…" Emma shook her head.
"But when he started to get up, you grabbed a scarf and choked him," Ryan added, leaning forward.
"NO! I WOULD NEVER HURT JACK!" Emma insisted. "I... I loved him!"
The detectives sat quietly for a moment.
"And I was at a business dinner that night. I wasn't even home..." Emma muttered, a tear running down her cheek. "If I'd only been home..."
"Struck out with the girlfriend?" Beckett inquired as the boys approached her desk.
"Yeah," Espo sighed. "Lanie just confirmed that Armstrong was most likely killed between 6 and 8pm, and Sparrow was at that business dinner between 5 and 9pm. Five other people were at that meeting. Her alibi's solid."
"We may not know who the killer is," Castle remarked from his chair, eyes locked on his phone, "but I think I solved the mystery of the matching emeralds!"
"Really?" Beckett asked.
"Yeah, check it out," he stood up. "There was a theft at The Met last week. According to this article in The Ledger, the eyes were stolen from a statue that was one piece of a temporary exhibit that was on loan from a private collector in France."
Ryan rushed over to his computer as Beckett followed up. "Does it say what the statue looked like?"
Castle shook his head as he scanned his touch screen. "Not in this article, no."
"I may have something," Ryan exclaimed, the team gathering around his desk. "Check this out. This French Gargoyle was carved in 1347 by an unknown artist, but the interesting part is that its eyes were identical emeralds."
"Talk about your green-eyed monster," Castle quipped. "And point of fact, this is actually a Grotesque. Grotesques are statues of ugly monsters which are merely decorative. A Gargoyle, by definition, is a Grotesque which also serves as a rain spout. The mouth acted as a gutter system that passed water flowing from the rooftop. That's why they're called Gargoyles - due to the gargling sound that came out of them when…" The writer's voice trailed off as he was met by three sets of unimpressed stares. "...annnd you don't care."
"Okay," Beckett stated, returning to the murder board. "Now we know where the jewels came from, but how did Jack get them? And what's that key for? And who killed him?"
"Well, I don't know that," Espo said looking up from a case file, "but I do know that Emma works for Dugong Publishing."
"So what?" Beckett remarked.
"So guess who owns Dugong Publishing?"
"Who?!" Castle and Beckett inquired simultaneously.
"Our 60th birthday party media mogul himself - Emerson K. Vanderhall," Esposito replied, slapping the picture of the billionaire up on the whiteboard.
"So our vic works his one out-of-character event as a member of the serving staff for the media mogul for whom his girlfriend works not two weeks before he's killed?!" Beckett exhaled in a single breath.
"That can't be a coincidence," Castle stated.
Beckett nodded in agreement. "It never is."
Sorry... gotta pause for another commercial break prior to Act 5.
As always, I love to know what you think. (Do you know who the killer is?) ;)
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So there you go... Judge away. :)