A/N: Thank you to those who are now following the story. To those who just started reading, I hope you enjoy it. Do review.
Disclaimer: I do not own Castle.
Chapter 3Kate dropped off Castle near his place and drove off to the precinct. Once she got there, there were plenty of things to keep her occupied. She shrugged out of her warm coat and left it on the back of her chair and sat down to gather her thoughts so far. A few minutes later there were several sticky notes with instructions all over her desk. Once she was satisfied with this work, she moved on to the murder board to update it with the latest information. She'd made a timeline and it always helped her think clearly.
Earlier, Castle made his way into the loft to find Alexis sitting with her laptop at the kitchen counter.
"What are you doing home on this fine afternoon young lady?" he asked her.
"Hey dad. I was just going through several options for my internship. I've been going through these for the past couple of days; I did find a few good ones actually. Now I'm just short-listing the potential one's that I might go in for."
"That's great sweetheart. I'm glad to see you taking the initiative." Castle had a smile on his face and he was brimming with pride for the young toothless red-head who grew into this wonderful young beautiful girl now sitting in front of him.
"Okay. Now what are *you* doing home on a fine afternoon like this? Shouldn't you be out solving crime alongside Detective Beckett?" she asked her father.
"That's why I'm home actually. Say, maybe you could help me with this." He replied
"Sure, shoot."
"Do you remember when I did that research on iconography, semiotics and the rest of that stuff? You wouldn't happen to know where I've kept my papers on that, would you?" He looked at her hopefully.
"Actually I might have an idea."
"Really?"
"Yeah. Remember that one summer when I'd really gotten borderline OCD with my organization skills? I decided to raid your office and clean up your mess after finishing the rest of the house. I catalogued everything on a file on your computer. If any of the stuff you're looking for is from before then, you'll find it on that file." Alexis was reminiscing about the good old days when career didn't matter so much.
"Oh yes! Child, you are brilliant. If you don't get an internship anywhere – which is never going to happen cause no one in their right mind would lose the miracle that is you – but if it does happen for now, I'll pay you to have another bout of that OCD with the rest of my stuff."
"Gee thanks dad. I'd love working for you." Alexis had a smile on but he'd caught the eye-roll and briefly wondered where she learnt that from.
Richard Castle went into his study and switched on his laptop. Despite the extensive cataloguing, it took him about half an hour to find the correct research and yet again he felt glad to have his angel of a daughter who turned out much too well for his understanding. After he found his papers he decided to give it a quick read and by the time he finished it was just before lunch. He called Beckett and told her that he'd found what he was looking for and that he would be at the precinct after lunch.
When he arrived at the precinct just after one thirty, he sat down in his chair besides Beckett and put down his file in front of her looking all too enthusiastic. "I don't know why I ultimately didn't put any of this in my books. It's fascinating stuff."
"You don't expect me to go through the whole thing do you? Read it and give me a summary." She looked up from her work and smiled at him.
"Pushy, pushy. You don't have to ask, I'd have done that anyway." He smirked "Okay so, I was wrong earlier. It isn't the Pagan symbol per se, although that is also a form of a cross within a circle so I guess I was only half wrong –"
"Castle" she glared but with an amused smile in place.
"Right. This symbol, the cross within the circle is seen in multiple cultures across many generations and dates back as far as early man." As Castle went on with his summary, Esposito and Ryan walked over and stood close by to listen.
"Across the ages we see it appear in Mesopotamia, Mohenjo-daro and Harappa, the Samahara cultures. More famously we see it noted as the Celtic cross from the pre-Christian era. The Native Americans used the pattern to represent the 'medical wheel' and it played an important role in their spiritual rituals. Most fascinating of all, the 'quartered circle' is believed to be the spiritual circle with lines extending from the center to the north, south, east and west; a representation of the four main elements namely earth, water, air and fire" he finished with a flourish.
"Woah man. That's a lot of meanings, which one we looking at here?" Ryan chimed in.
"Um. I can't say yet. We don't know that much about the murder." Castle answered.
"Alright, hopefully we'll figure it out soon" Beckett told him. "I called up Ms. Wilkins earlier, fortunately she's in the city and will be coming in shortly for questioning. What did you guys find out?"
This time Esposito spoke, "Not much to go on, boss. No one seemed to have been passing the warehouse around the TOD we got from Lanie. It's ridiculous how easy it can be to get away with murder sometimes." He finished angrily.
Ryan continued, "We did find out more about the vic. Mr. James Wilkins is one of the directors of 'Turbofuels'. As the name suggests, it's a fuel company supplying a lot of the gas stations across this city and others. It's successful to say the least and we interviewed a couple of his colleagues who all say he was well liked."
Esposito said "CSU finished their sweep. This guy was good. No fingerprints, nothing containing DNA besides the vic's and we couldn't find a murder weapon, nor the thing he used to brand him."
"Okay, well keep looking. Go through his financials to see if he had any trouble there. There has to be some motive behind this. Also check his phone calls in the last couple of days and find out where he was headed when this happened. I don't think his destination was an empty warehouse in the middle of nowhere." She said.
"Yes boss", they said as they departed to do their jobs.
"Turbofuels huh? I wonder – nah."
"What are you thinking Castle? Actually, wait, hold that thought. That must be Ms. Wilkins." She nodded towards the elevator as a petit young woman dressed in a skirt-suit came towards them. "Miss Wilkins, thank you for coming in. I'm sorry for your loss. We need to ask you a few questions, let's go in here". Beckett directed them to one of the interview rooms.
Beckett and Castle sat across the young woman who had clearly been crying. He noticed that she looked nervous and shook just a little but not too much given the circumstances. "Miss Wilkins, I'm detective Beckett and this is Mr. Castle" Beckett started.
"Please, call me Maura. My name is Maurice but I go by Maura."
"Okay, well Maura, I told you what happened over the phone sparing some details. Do you have any idea who could have wanted your father out of the way?" She asked gently.
"No detective. He worked hard, long hours. He put everything into his job and he did a great job raising my brother and me. He could be strict at times but he was a gentle creature. Almost all his staff loved him because he was a generous man as well." Maura said.
"Almost all? Castle asked
"There are few in the company who didn't consider him their favorite. But you can't expect everyone to love him. I don't think they hated him though. He never gave me any impression leading me to think otherwise."
"Did he have any trouble recently that you know of?" Beckett asked.
"Now that you mention it, I believe so. Turbofuels had been funding research into a new fuel with a mixed composition. It averaged better speeds on tests but also emitted more fumes. There were these environmentalist groups against the whole thing a few of whom dad said had personally met him regarding the matter and spoken harshly. But it all resolved itself when they stopped the funding because of long term damage to engines." Maura said.
"Okay. I think we can start there. If you could leave the names of the groups that you remember on your way out, we'd appreciate it. If you think of anything else please give us a call." Beckett handed her a card. "Sorry again for your loss Maura."
"Thank you detective" Maura said as she headed out.
Castle looked deep in thought as they got out too. Beckett handed over the information to the guys and told them to follow up with these guys. As she made her way to her desk she asked Castle "What did you say earlier? Before the interview I mean."
"I'm thinking about that symbol again. But I can't be sure yet. I'll sleep on it."
"Okay Castle. The guys are taking one of the two groups who met with Wilkins personally. We'll go see the other." She said as she put on her coat. "A Mr. Pierce, head of this one spoke with him."
"Alright" Castle said as they made their way to the elevator. "Lead the way m'lady."