"Where's your other half?" Lanie asks as soon as she sees Beckett stepping in the morgue alone.
"What?" Beckett stops on her tracks for a moment and is confused for a second.
"Don't you what me, girl," Lanie gives her a look. "Where did you leave your shadow?"
"He is in the bathroom, he'll be here in a minute," she smiles at Lanie. Lanie nods. That would explain why she arrived alone.
"What's going on with you two?" Lanie leans in closer to Beckett.
"Nothing," she says. A little bit too fast. It's a dead giveaway for her friend.
"Kate," she smiles, "There is something happening. Or something has happened. I can feel it in the air." Lanie waves her hands around Kate, trying to spot her aura, "Now spill."
Beckett rolls her eyes. Lanie will not give up, not now, not ever. Sometimes Kate thinks she has psychic abilities when it comes to relationships, like the gossip girl she is. Especially with her relationships. Lanie knows a whole lot. How does she do it? Beckett narrows eyes on her. She is so sure that things are not over between Lanie and Esposito and Lanie obviously hears things from him.
"There's nothing to spill," she smirks.
"Don't give me that," Lanie pokes Kate in the stomach with her finger. "What did Writer-Boy do this time?"
"What did I do?"
The girls hear Castle's voice coming from the doorway.
Lanie turns herself to face the approaching writer. "That's what I am trying to figure out."
Castle glances at Beckett, trying to understand what the two women are talking about, his face utterly confused. While Lanie's attention is on Castle, Beckett shakes her head furiously, trying to force Castle to be silent about them and what is happening. Lanie turns away from the writer and looks at her intently now. Beckett managed to get her features neutral again, before Lanie brought her attention back to Kate.
"He didn't do anything, Lanie," Beckett sighs. "Leave it alone."
Lanie narrows her eyes on her. "Fine," she grits through her teeth. "Be secretive. But you know that I'll find out about it either way," she says suspiciously as she waves her finger back and forth pointing at the detective and the writer.
"Lanie, why did you call us here?" she asks, trying to change the subject fast.
"I know what you are trying to do here," Lanie smirks at Kate. "But, fine, I will bring you the results," she takes off and quickly makes her way into the office next to her morgue.
"What was that about?" Castle leans closer and whispers.
"I have no idea," she shakes her head, smile creeping slowly to her face. She whispers, "She is like a psychic sometimes. She senses that something is different between us, probably."
"Is there?" he asks, stepping closer to her, eyeing her intently.
She looks up to his eyes, those blue, gentle and loving eyes.
"I think so?" she answers finally, trying to control her features and not to break out the grin that is forcing itself up. He smiles back at her, his whole posture suddenly changes and he seems seemingly at ease now.
"Just ignore her," she whispers a bit louder, just as Lanie is coming in from the other room. "She is crazy sometimes."
"I heard that," Lanie announces when she surfaces from her office, reading a file in her hand.
"I didn't say anything," Kate shrugs innocently and steps closer to her friend. "What've you got for us?"
Lanie narrows her eyes on her once more. Then, finally huffing out an annoyed breath, she holds out a medical form for Beckett to take. Kate takes the paper in her hand and eyes it over. She furrows an eyebrow, not really understanding what she is seeing.
"What is it?"
"It's a blood test results I ordered on the shooting victim," Lanie explains.
"Blood test?" Kate asks, "Didn't he die because of the twenty-something bullets in his body?"
Lanie nods but digs up the file of the dead Estonian. "The victim was already a little bit blue when he came into my morgue. It didn't add up with the bullet holes in his body. There was something off with the wounds."
She opens the file folder and takes out one picture. "What I discovered was that the bullets had entered his body approximately five to ten minutes after his death. It couldn't have been the shooting that killed him. See," she lays down pictures of the victim down to the table, "lack of blood in the entry wounds. No big amounts of blood gushing out, like it happens with ante mortem wounds."
She raises her head to look at Beckett again. She doesn't seem to understand where Lanie is going yet.
So, naturally, Lanie continues, "His heart stopped before the bullets entered his body. As I said, I thought was, odd. So I tested him for blood poisons. There was something in the blood stream, but I couldn't identify it myself, so I sent a sample of his blood to FBI central laboratory. This," she points to the paper, "came back today."
Kate shakes her head. Unbelievable. The story they have been working on involved the shooter. They just caught the man responsible. And now, the whole case is falling apart again. Just because he was dead before the rain of bullets. Damn this case.
"So what killed him?" Kate asks, returning the paper to Lanie's waiting hands.
"Somehow... and I don't know how... he was hit with a blow dart that pumped a poison into his system."
Both Castle and Beckett's eyes widen in surprise. Before Kate can say anything, Castle yells out, "A BLOW DART?"
Lanie suppresses a snicker. "Yes, Castle. A blow dart full of poison."
"How awesome is that?" Castle can't help himself. He smiles, his grin as wide as his face. Beckett just throws him a glance, shakes her head and rolls her eyes.
Lanie continues, "The lab discovered large quantities of antiarins, strychnine and brucine in his blood. They say that the amount of the poison injected could have killed a tiger. I am assuming the FBI has had cases involving blow dart poisons before, because they connected the chemicals with the latex sap from Antiaris toxicaria. "
"A what now?" Castle asks out loud.
"It's a tropical tree," Lanie explains. "Apparently, the latex-like secretion from that particular tree is commonly used in some areas of the world to make blow dart poisons."
"Whoa, this case is getting more and more awesome by the minute!" Castle cheers out excitedly. He seriously looks like a kid at Christmas time.
"Castle, breathe," Kate tries to calm him even though she can't suppress a bubble of laughter she feels coming up. He is as amusing as he is annoying.
She turns to Lanie. "So, let me get this straight. He was somehow injected with poison from a blow dart before the shooting?"
Lanie nods.
"And you are saying he was dead before any of the bullets hit him."
Lanie nods again. "Cardiac failure."
There is a pregnant pause in the room, interrupted only by fast breathing of Castle who is trying to internalize his excited shouts.
"This doesn't help us at all," Kate sighs finally. She glances to Castle for a brief second and turns to her friend "Thanks, Lanie. We better get this to precinct now," she snatches the paper from the good doctor.
"You're welcome. You needed to know that piece of information," the ME shrugs. "And don't think you are off the hook, missy," She points a finger at Kate.
"Lanie," Kate sighs.
"Go get the killer. And then we WILL talk."
Kate stares at her friend for a moment, and then murmurs something under her breath, sounding like "you wish". She turns herself around and starts walking to the door. "Let's go, Castle."
"Thanks, Lanie" Castle smiles at the ME who arches an eyebrow and smirks. Since when has writer-boy ever thanked her? Castle then turns around and realizes that Kate is gone from his side. He heads to the exit and runs after her.
When the door closes behind him, the room falls silent. Lanie smirks again.
"Good grief, those two," she murmurs to herself in the empty morgue. "They totally did it."
Ryan and Esposito gather in front of the murder board with Beckett, pensive expressions drawn on all their faces. To say that this new revelation was a surprise is possibly the understatement of the year. Castle, who is sitting behind Kate's desk, glances at each of them, knowing that they shared the same frustration he is currently feeling... even though it also made him giddy. Seriously, who uses blow darts anymore these days? This is like a gold mine of information. But he also realizes that they are back to square one.
It is Beckett who finally breaks the silence. "So...who the hell killed Kalev?"
Whether she is speaking to them, or to herself, it isn't clear.
Castle coughs slightly and decides to jump in. "Okay. Let's back up here a little and review what we have."
Beckett steps back and nods for him to continue, knowing that Castle's crazy theories were sometimes helpful. God knows they are stuck again with this case. They need some good ideas.
He steps towards the board and pulls off the picture of Kalev and waves it in front of him.
"Kalev, an ambitious diplomat, slowly poisons his boss with arsenic because he has his eyes firmly on the top job at the consulate. He also knows that he has been found out by..." Castle pauses as he grabs the Kaarel's picture off the board as well. "...Kaarel Voorman, having hacked into his emails, and seeing the exchange between Igor and himself. Proving he wasn't smart himself, he also kept receipts on his computer for the arsenic. Do you think he thought being a diplomat put him beyond the law?" He directed the last question at the three detectives all listening to his summary.
"Who knows?" says Ryan as he shrugs.
Castle dismisses it and forges on. "But Kalev is too late. Either that or he is too comfortable. Igor, Kaarel's bodyguard, is already on the job, and fires multiple rounds through his limo door to ensure that the job is done. But, as our esteemed M.E. just informed us, Kalev was already dead by the means of a very rare poison. Do I have that right so far?"
The boys look at each other and then Castle, finally nodding, having nothing more to add for the moment.
Castle smiles to himself and continues. "So...the questions are, where was Kalev traveling from and who administered the poison?"
Then he looks directly at Beckett, and pauses for a few seconds.
Beckett notes that both Ryan and Esposito have also turned towards her, anticipating her input. Her nerves start to fray slightly as she suspects Castle is going to ask her something highly inappropriate, and most likely private.
"What?" she stammers.
"My dear Detective Beckett..." Castle knows he is teasing her, but considers it payback for the moment outside the interrogation room. Beckett bites her bottom lip and braces herself. Another theatrical pause...
"Where was Kalev coming from?" he asks finally. He looks pointedly at Beckett who is staring intently at the murder board.
"Huh?" she stammers. She was expecting a different question altogether.
There is a beat of awkward silence before she answers. "Eer..., according to the driver, he picked up Kalev at United Nations Plaza and they headed to 1st Avenue."
Esposito nods while he listens to the conversation between Castle and Beckett. Ryan, who is picking up on the tension between the partners, silently smirks.
"How much time does it take to drive from the Plaza to 37th Street?" Castle asks.
Before Beckett can open her mouth, Ryan pipes up. "It should take about seven to ten minutes, depending on the traffic."
"Do you see where I am going with this?" Castle asks smiling widely at his audience. He enjoys this. The drama, the theatricality of revealing the last bits of the mystery.
Beckett furrows her brows. The male detectives don't seem to be following his train of thought just yet either.
Castle is beyond excited, but he tries to internalize it. So, he turns serious for a brief minute. His voice calm, he turns to Beckett and finally asks, "Do they have street videos or security cameras in the area?"
Beckett stares at Castle briefly. Then her mind snaps into gear. Kalev was coming from the UN. Street video. Of course. In an instant, she turns to Ryan and orders, "Traffic cameras!"
Ryan, however, has already realized the same thing and is already walking towards his desk, Esposito quick at his tail.
"On it," he tells Beckett before he picks up the phone and starts dialing.
Thank you, all. For reading, for reviewing. We really do love those little notes you sent us. They always make us want to write better. For you. And sometimes, you people, have the greatest ideas! Just keep em coming.
I am sorry for the delays in this fic tho. It is busy time for me and Brett. Especially for him, since he has the busiest time at work. But we are tying to write as fast as we can, for you guys.
Thank you PenguinOfTroy and Shena for being so nice and looking over that fiction of ours.