"So, you found anything yet?" Castle asks impatiently.
Beckett is still sitting by her desk, her eyes at the computer screen. She has been there like this for over 10 minutes, trying to make some sense of the immigration databases. Castle has been playing with his IPhone the whole time, but now he was getting bored. Next level of Rope'n'Fly was too hard for him. So he promptly closes his phone and starts to annoy Beckett. He loves to do that. Oh, he so does.
Kate tears her eyes away from the computer screen and turns her gaze to Castle. "Yes, I have."
"Why didn't you say anything before?" he asks, shifting closer to her, surprise and a little hurt sounding in his voice.
"Because I was checking it over. And you seemed to be busy doing... something," she answers truthfully, shifting her gaze back to the monitor.
"And...? What did you find out?" he decides to poke more, propping his elbows on the table and resting his head in his hands.
She answers while rising up from her chair and heading to the murder board. "Kaarel Voorman has an apartment in the city. His paycheck allowed him to live on the Upper West side. West 83rd Street, near the Museum of Natural History." She reaches to the board and grabs a marker and uncaps it with one swift move. There is a picture of the ex consulate general there. She starts writing the address next to the picture.
"Wow, this is very expensive neighborhood," Castle comments now raising from his chair and walking closer to her. He parks his bottom on the desk and watches her fill out the information on the murder board.
"We should send Ryan and Esposito to check if he is still in the country. Since he doesn't work in the consulate anymore, he could have travelled back to Estonia by now," she thinks out loud, gazing the picture of the older man with white hair. They both fall silent for a while, reading the information from the white board. Their quiet speculation is interrupted by an uniformed lady who interrupts the silence when she walks in. She gives Beckett a file folder, with some papers there.
"Thanks, Leary," she nods to the officer and looks down to the folder. She opens and reads what is inside. After a moment of concentration she huffs out a breath. "Damn."
"What is it?" Castle supports her with a question, sneaking closer to her.
"It's from the Evans' apartment. They found a gun, but it doesn't match the bullets found in victim's body." Beckett is definitely disappointed at this point. "I was so sure it was the crazy mom."
"They didn't find anything else?" Castle asks. Beckett simply responds by handing him the folder, which he takes gladly. A familiar rhythm as they seamlessly work in front of the board.
"Nope," she shakes her head. She raises her hand to her face and slides it over her delicate features. Her fingers stop at her lips. She huffs out softly "Nothing that could tie her to the murder. I have to let her go."
"Hmm..." Castle hums, while checking the papers.
"What?" she asks, her brows furrowing up.
"Kalev's brother didn't kill him, right?" he asks, putting the folder down to her table. When she nods to him, he continues. "Neither did Stephanie nor Amanda." She nods again. He stands up from the table and starts walking towards the whiteboard. "The consulate worker Peeter seems to be pretty innocent too?"
She nods again, getting a little impatient. "What are you getting at?"
"We are running out of suspects," he points to the murder board, the suspect list now only has the picture of the consulate worker Peeter there, other ones have already been removed by Beckett.
"Faster than rats of a sinking ship," Castle and Beckett turns their heads sharply in unison as they hear Esposito's voice from the other end of the room. Both he and Ryan are coming closer to them.
"We just finished the interview with Peeter Kask," Esposito points to the picture of the remaining suspect and yanking his picture off the board. "He alibied out. We got word that he was spotted buying coffee from a nearby Starbucks during the shooting."
Beckett lets loose another sigh. "So we are out of suspects, aren't we?" The boys nod in unison.
"We did manage to pull out some info though," Ryan shares, shuffling closer to the three of them.
"Yes," Esposito supports his partner.
Castle raises his eyebrows to them and Beckett gestures for them to continue talking. "We managed to confirm Castle's theory. The consulate worker turns out to be the lover of the named Kaarel Voorman. He had noticed his health declining as well. And he was pretty sure that Kalev had something to do with it."
"Oh, really?" Castle beams. "I love my google skills!" he squeals out loudly, making Beckett roll her eyes.
Esposito ignores him and continues. "He confronted Kaarel Voorman about his health, but the consulate general didn't share information with him. So, we think that he suspected something as well. Kaarel was taking some measures to get back to Kalev."
Beckett turns herself away from the boys, facing the board again. She writes the name of the ex-consulate general under the suspects column. "So, we have a new suspect then?" she asks, turning back to Esposito.
"It seems so." Esposito nods.
"Detective Beckett!"
All of the four standing in front of the murder board hear a female voice calling for one of them. Captain Victoria Gates is stepping out from her office and heading towards them.
"Yes, Sir?" Beckett answers back.
"I just had a very interesting call from Police Commissioner," The Captain shares the new information with the group.
"Oh?" Beckett is stunned. It isn't very usual that her Captain would just come down and sit with them and share stories with her and her team.
"Yes, apparently the Estonian president is very eager to find out who is the killer of his country's Consulate General." she looks at the detectives, making sure that they would understand how important the case is for her.
"Oh, no pressure then." Castle answers jokingly, trying to ease the tension around them. This rewards him with a stern glance from Captain Gates. He realizes in a heartbeat that it wasn't really funny in this situation "Sorry, Sir," he tries to backpedal. He stops when he feels a hand on her arm and he looks down to Beckett who is trying to shut him up. She answers for him "Sorry, sir. What Castle is trying to say is that this case gets more frustrating by the minute."
Gates just looks at her detectives. "Well, I hope you all can get your act together and start moving towards solving the case."
Both Esposito and Ryan nod at what she said and they all feel a little bit uncomfortable. Gates suddenly asks "What have you got so far?"
Kate is the first to react, she straightens her back and starts talking "Uh. We had three really good suspects. One was the victim's brother, but he alibied out because he was spending the night at home, high as a kite. Next one was one consulate worker who confessed to shooting the victim, but he didn't know the details of the murder. The last one was victim's fiancée's mother who had the motive to kill him. But she was seen on traffic cameras heading out from the city at the time of the murder. Plus, the gun found at her home didn't match with the bullets found in victim."
Gates hums in response, deep in thought, crossing her arms on her chest "What do we know about the victim?"
Esposito shuffles with papers in his hand and answers before Beckett can open her mouth. "Victim is 34 year old, caucasian, male. Originally from Republic of Estonia, moved into the city one year ago. He worked as a Consulate advisor till yesterday. It was his first day at a new job - Consulate General of the Estonian Embassy. He was just coming from his meeting at the United Nations when his car got attacked by killer in black. ME's initial report says that he has 23 bullet holes in his body. We haven't yet been able to track down his apartment yet." He looks up for a brief moment only to see four pair of eyes watching him and listening intently. "Um, ah. We were able to speak with his driver at the crime scene. Driver said that he hadn't seen anything weird before the shooting. Only that Kalev had asked him to crank up the cooling system, because it was too hot in the car. And he seemed to have problems with breathing right before the bullets hit him."
Esposito finishes up the story of the victim. There is a silence in the room. Gates takes a step forward to the murder board and sighs, her face is puzzled. "Why does it sound like everyone wanted him dead?" she wonders out loud.
"That is a good question..." Castle finally gathers the courage to open his mouth again. Gates turns her face to look at him. "Uh, umm. As far as we know, he was the 'take all you want, leave nothing behind' type, stirring up problems in his life. He wasn't a good citizen. Made a lot of enemies," he finishes up, moving slowly behind Beckett who is standing now between Gates and him.
"Okay," Gates muses, eyeing her detectives intently. "He had lots of haters. But yet, we haven't found believable suspects yet."
"Sir," Beckett tries to get her attention. "I think we have a next suspect on the horizon." She points to the picture of the older man in the murder board. "Kaarel Voorman, the former consulate general in the embassy."
"Oh?" Gates is surprised.
"Yes." Beckett nods. "He got sick around the time Kalev arrived in New York. We think there might be a possible link between old CG and the new one. Esposito and Ryan are going to visit him."
"We are?" Ryan asks. "Do we have an address?"
Beckett nods and gives them a piece of paper with address written in there. "I just got this from Immigration."
Ryan takes the paper. After glancing the address on it, he gives it to Esposito. Espo nods and says "Okay, we are off then." Both men turn around in unison and head out from the homicide floor, stopping only by their desks to put down the file folders and taking their jackets.
Gates sees them off and nods to Beckett. "Good job so far, Detective. Keep me updated." And with that, she turns around and heads to her office again, her step certain and her posture emanating power.
"Uh... Thank you, Sir." Beckett huffs to her shadow.
When the door to the Captain's office closes, Castle sits down to Beckett's desk again, running both of his hands over his face and huffs out a breath. Beckett smirks watching him do that. She shakes her head picking up the marker she had put down previously at the board. She resumes writing down the information about their new suspect. They are silent for a while. Castle watches her finishing up writing out the details.
When she finally caps the marker and puts it down next to the whiteboard he rises from the table and straightens. He looks at her and asks "You know what?"
Beckett turns herself to him, throwing a questioning look at him.
"We need lunch," he announces.
"Castle, we can't, I am still waiting on Immigration to get back to me about the address of the victim..." she tries to stop him. They really do need to wait for the address. And she is trying to avoid contact with him. She has decided she really doesn't need to know how good his date night was. She tries to get back to her desk and sit down, but she feels a strong grip surrounding her arm.
"No, we are going to have lunch. You have e-mail in your phone too. And you know, you can forward your desk phone to your cell. So we can get the information as soon as it arrives," he doesn't give up and is tugging her to follow him. She gives a half hearted attempt to shrug him off, but gives in.
"Castle", Beckett says as she levels him with a cautionary glance. She shakes her arm loose from his grip and explains "I need to take my coat."
She grabs her coat from her chair and follows her partner who is heading to the elevator. She catches up to him fast. When they enter the elevator, she warns him. "Let's just make it quick. We have a case to solve."
New York had greeted its residents with a beautiful morning, with many people taking advantage of the nice weather venturing out in Central Park. Esposito and Ryan are cruising close by, Esposito keen to check the address given, Ryan quiet and pensive. This doesn't escape his partner's attention, who is now curious as to why this is.
"So what's up, bro?" Esposito attempts to draw his partner out. Ryan just shrugs and looks out the window to the many joggers and young families leisurely walking by. He starts to fidget a little, and turns to his partner to say something, but turns back, seemingly changing his mind. Esposito decides to wait him out, as he knows Ryan will spill the beans eventually. Gives him five minutes, tops.
Ryan doesn't even last thirty seconds as he clears his throat, "I think I may have screwed up." He continues to look directly out the side window, a worried expression painted over his face.
This wasn't what Esposito was expecting. "Oh? In what way?"
Ryan grimaces, and takes a deep breath, "Well it's Beckett, and Castle, and...well Emily."
"You just figuring out now, it wasn't a good idea?" Esposito is a little amused at his partner's perceived mistake.
"You know, I really want Castle and Beckett to get along, but do you think that will happen if Castle starts dating Emily?"
"Wait. What?" Esposito is startled at the last statement.
"Castle on the date, you know, was the gentleman. Jenny says Emily is very keen to see him again. And let's face it Javi, would you knock down that invitation?"
Esposito pauses for a few moments. His situation with Lanie is still up in the air, but he grudgingly admits, "No, I would definitely take the invite."
"Right. And this is Castle we are talking about. If he and Beckett can't work this out...well then I think the goose is cooked."
Esposito just grunts, as they continue to drive by the side of the park, maintaining a somewhat uncomfortable silence between them. Ryan looks at the address written on the note in his hand, and starts ticking off the street numbers as they pass by. "Turn here, he isn't far down this street."
Esposito turns the car down the side street, taking note of the expensive apartments which line both sides of the street. BMW's and other high end cars are in abundance, and the sidewalks look scrupulously clean, giving the neighborhood a relaxed expansive feel. They finally stop at a magnificent five story complex, the facade on the front of the building a superb Venetian construction. Ryan's and Esposito park outside the entrance and exit the car, and stop on the sidewalk looking up at the building.
"Javi, reckon we could afford a place here one day?"
"I doubt I could even afford a closet here." Esposito and Ryan both laugh and make there way to the front door, where a smartly dressed doorman was in attendance, his red, double breasted overcoat was pristine, every brass button polished to a fine sheen.
"Good morning sirs. Can I help you with anything today?" His manners were exquisite, his voice low and charming.
Esposito pulls out his badge and flashes it at the doorman. "Do you know if Kareel Voorman lives here?"
"Yes he does, although he travels frequently. He has an apartment on the top floor, on the left. He only just arrived this morning, no longer than an hour ago."
"Thanks." Esposito returns the badge to his pocket, as both he and Ryan walk through the revolving front doors. "Looks like we are in luck. Beckett thought we might have missed him." The interior of the foyer is every bit as opulent as the facade suggests, with marble and brass, dominating most fixtures, the carpet a fine, royal blue shag pile.
"Castle would love this place." Ryan chuckles, "It's totally him."
They walk over to the elevator, and notice a security swipe system adjoining near the floor button.
"Take the stairs instead?" asks Ryan.
"Naah, Lets take the elevator anyway". Esposito waves over the doorman, who had been watching them, and now strode over. "You swipe us to the top floor?" he asks.
"Certainly, sir." The doorman pulls out a tiny card from his pocket, and waves it slowly over the security device on the wall. The elevator chimes and the doors slowly open.
"Thanks. Appreciate your help."
"My pleasure." the doorman doffs his hat, and walks back to the entrance, waiting the next resident. Ryan and Esposito step into the elevator, and hit the fifth floor button. The doors slowly close, and the elevator moves silently up.
"Gee, you can barely hear this thing. Compared to the precinct one anyway." Esposito notes to his partner. Ryan smiles and patiently awaits the arrival to the fifth floor. The elevator stops, and chimes again, and the doors open to another small lobby. "Well it's the apartment on the left, so we are told." They make their way down the corridor, and hear something heavy drop to the floor, just around the corner of the passageway.
Both Ryan and Esposito slow down, and look at each other, Esposito holding his hands out in caution, no words really necessary. Ryan loosens his gun in its holster as he peeks around the corner. A tall blonde muscular man is depositing various suitcases outside the hallway, and disappearing through an adjacent door. Ryan nods to his partner, who sneaks a look around the corner for himself. Esposito looks back to Ryan, and they silently head down the corridor, the man unaware the two detectives are approaching behind him.
"NYPD. We have some questions for you." Ryan words freezes the man, who pauses momentarily, looks warily at the detectives, and on instinct, starts to reach inside his jacket.
"Nuh uh. Hands away." Esposito had already drawn his gun, and now had it trained on the tall man in front of him. The moment seemed to have lasted an hour, but in reality only a couple of seconds had passed, as the tall blonde eyes them both, still frozen in place.
"Igor, kes seal on (who is there)?" The tension is broken by a new voice, from inside the apartment. A short older man steps out from the doorway, curious as to the disturbance in the corridor. Seeing Igor hasn't moved, he looks down the hallway, and sees Ryan and Esposito, both with guns drawn at Igor. "Oh it's the police. How can I help you officers?"
It is Esposito who is first to respond. "Kaarel Voorman?"
"Yes. That is correct. Is there a problem?" Kaarel then notices Igor's hand is still reaching towards the gun in his jacket. "Igor, relax, would you. These are friends." His bodyguard breathes deeply, straightens and assumes a more casual pose, his arms now crossed across his chest, well away from his holstered gun. Kaarel looks apologetic, "I am sorry. he is very protective of me. Overtraining, perhaps."
"Going somewhere?" Esposito asks the former Consulate General, noticing the short balding man, with light grey hair, a beautifully tailored dark suit, and unusually, wearing mirrored sunglasses indoors.
"Yes. I am heading back to my homeland tonight. Looking forward to a quiet retirement." Kaarel's voice was calm and collected, already displaying that he was a consummate diplomat.
"Well we have a few questions for you, before you leave us."
"Oh. In relation to what?" Kaarel only looks slightly surprised, his face giving almost nothing away.
Esposito responds, "We need you to answer some questions about the murder of your successor, Kalev Järvesoo."
A/N: I am so sorry, guys, that you had to wait the update for so long. But it seems that the month of October has brought a lot of things to do for both of us, and we haven't been able to update so frequently. Don't worry, we really want to finish this case, it's so interesting. But it will take time. Since both me and Brett are going to the Castle Con this year, it may leave a hole in the posting rhythm again. But hopefully we can manage post as much as we can. And these days – Brett is busy with his work, as am I. I hope you can forgive us, guyse. We will try to do our best to bring this story to you, dears!
Thanks for lv2bnsb and kimmiesjoy for being such an awesome editors! And thanks for raving reviews guys. Love em!