A/N: I don't know if anyone is still reading this thing but I'm going to finish my story anyway since I started it. Thank you guys who subscribed for alerts. : )
Disclaimer: I do not own Castle.
Chapter 5The next day Castle was still slightly wary of Beckett as he made his way to her desk, two cups of coffee – one of which he handed to her as he sat down on his chair. She took her coffee and thanked him with a smile and took a long sip and let out a contented sigh. It warmed his heart to both see her smile and hear her happy even if just for a moment, especially knowing it was because of his coffee – because of him.
"Thanks Castle. I'm going to need this. We're still nowhere with the Wilkins case. Everyone just seems oblivious to how he just disappeared from his walk, ended up with his hands cut off in an abandoned warehouse and that symbol. Where are the weapons, where's the evidence. There's nothing caught on camera, there's no witness. None of this makes sense."
He could sense her frustration. He knew she didn't like this feeling of being in the dark. Rather, of knowing that she's in the dark but not knowing from what. He also knew, that he was – with full knowledge of his actions – keeping her in the dark too. "We'll catch a break somewhere, Beckett."
"Esposito" They heard him answer his phone. "What? Are you sure? Yeah, yeah fine. Okay yes. Got it! Just give me the address, we'll be there soon." He finished.
"I think we got our break, unfortunately." Esposito told them both.
"Another one?" Ryan asked from beside him.
"Yeah bro. Same MO. Branded with the – the thing" He pointed to his own forehead.
"The quartered circle?" Castle asked.
"Yeah, that."
"Okay guys, let's go" Beckett said as she got up and put on her coat. Castle followed close behind her and they all took off for the scene of this latest crime.
Once they got there Beckett and Castle took their time observing the scene. CSU was already there but waited till New York's finest finished their short exam. Lanie was there too, next to the body poking and prodding with her gloved hands.
This victim was a middle-aged woman, probably in her late thirties. The first thing both of them saw was the symbol etched on her forehead, branded there just like with Wilkins. The next obvious thing they saw was disgusting. Castle thought he did a pretty darn good job holding his breakfast in. Even Beckett's nose crinkled. The vic's sockets had been hollowed. No eyes were there where they should have been. They saw this even though her eye lids were in place though severely deformed.
It wasn't a warehouse this time, but a research lab called 'Auctagnitio'. She still had on her lab coat, crisp and white with huge patches of red. Unlike Wilkins though, she wasn't tied to a chair but was rather slumped on one with her head falling to one side.
"This guy is really giving me the creeps" Lanie said. "At least this time it seems he didn't torture his vic."
"Really?" Castle asked as he pointed to her face "With the – with the – with that?"
"Lanie's right" Ryan said as he came to stand next to them. "CSU found this next to the body; it's been photographed and bagged before we came. They did that so as to confirm what's inside the syringe, but they suspect it's an anesthetic agent and a muscle relaxant."
"Yeah, I found the probably injection site. It's right into her right jugular. You can see some extravasation around the site. It would have acted fast, depending on the dose of course. But he's probably right; it must be an anesthetic agent. She didn't put up much of a fight. He did a pretty good job with the enucleation too although clearly not professional." Lanie said.
"The what?" Castle asked
"Her eyes" Lanie said.
"Oh right. Maybe she knew the killer" Castle said generally to everyone before looking away and puffing his cheeks.
"Maybe. What's the TOD Lanie?" asked Beckett, directing her question to the ME.
"I can't say for sure. I'll have a better idea once I'm at the morgue. But I'd say roughly between 11pm and 1 am last night."
"Okay, thanks. What do you know about this place?" Beckett asked the boys.
Esposito answered, "We're currently at Auctagnitio. It's a research lab funded by private investors. They do research into all kinds of things. The building has several floors and different floors have different divisions. There's one floor just full of bees" he shuddered as he said. "This division worked with crops. They were working on genetically modified wines. Weed-killing wines to be precise. Our vic is a Dr. Rachel White, aged 38, working as the head of this division. She had four people working directly under her, and several others working under them. Guy that found him was one of those four. No kids not married and probably single but we still have to confirm that."
Ryan continued "We've asked the four guys working under her to come to the 12th later for interrogation. CSU will be sweeping the place. We didn't find the murder weapon this time either and we probably won't find fingerprints if the guy has been as careful as last time. But they'll do a thorough sweep nonetheless."
"Okay, you guys try and find out as much as you can over here" Beckett said to both of them. "Castle and I will go to the precinct and start with the questioning. Once you finish up over here, you can join us with the interrogation." She spoke with Lanie for a bit, thanked her and said goodbye and then they were on their way.
"This guy is ticking me off and creeping me out" She told Castle in the car.
"You and everyone else. Gyaauuckh." He said with a final shudder and flailing his hands wildly in front of him.
Even in the serious situation Beckett had to bite her cheek to keep from laughing at his antics. 'Mission accomplished' Castle thought to himself with the smallest flicker of a smile.
When they reached the station, two of the four researchers had already come in. Ryan and Esposito must have sent them directly there. That left one to yet show up and the other was probably giving his statement at the site of the murder. They introduced themselves and took one of the men into the interrogation room.
"Dr. Chance, what do you know about what happened to Dr. White?" Beckett asked.
"I know.. I – Philip told me over the phone. He called me after he called the cops"
"Do you know who would want to do that to her?"
"Not exactly" he said with a little hesitation.
"Not exactly as in you don't know anyone who would gouge her eyes out?" Castle asked earning him a glare from his partner.
He nodded his head as he shuddered.
"She wasn't exactly the best person. She was brilliant really and very organized, no one better to lead a research team. But she was a bi—she was a tyrant. She bossed everyone around, was never even remotely courteous, forget full on nice." He said "I wouldn't doubt that a lot of people wanted her dead. A lot of people I knew and on bad days that should probably include me. But like you said, no one would do it like that. At least I'd hope not" he finished, turning paler by the minute.
"Was it normal for her to be there that late?" she asked.
"Yes, completely. Like I said before, no one better to lead our research group. She worked herself to the bone, had a lot of breakthroughs too."
"Do you know if anyone else was there with her?"
"No, probably not. There were a lot of good workers on this team, but unlike her the rest of us had lives. Families to go back to. But if you want, you can just check the cameras."
"We'll be doing just that. We need to know where you were between 10:30pm and 1 am last night" she said.
"Yes, of course. I picked up my son, Greyson at 9 from his friend's place and then went home for the night. My wife can tell you I never left after that."
"Okay Mr. Chance. You're free to go. If we have anything else, we know where you reach you. If you think of anything, give us a call" she said handing over the card.
"You're son in Greyson Chance?" Castle asked.
"Uh, yeah. That's what I just said."
"You must be so proud. His voice is lovely."
"What?" Chance said looking a little scared and confused. "Why do you know what my son's voice sounds like?"
"Are you serious? All of America knows your boy sings like an angel!"
"Sings like an angel? He can't hold a tune to save his life, bless his soul." Chance said.
"I – oh – um – wrong Greyson Chance I guess. Sorry" he shrugged as Chance left the room looking warily at Castle.
Turning to Beckett who stared at him with a mixture of an amused and annoyed expression he said "What? Doesn't the man watch T.V.? I mean the kid has the same first AND last name! He could've just said it's not the same Greyson. Jeez." She rolled his eyes at him.
They called in the next candidate – a Mr. Patel and saw that the third man, Mr. Smith had arrived and so had Ryan and Esposito. "I like to call them 'Rysposito'" Castle said, earning him yet another eye roll. Beckett instructed them to take the third man in for questioning as they had already finished with the fourth – the man who found her body. She then went back to her own interrogation with Castle following as usual.
They were done in a short time. Patel gave them pretty much the same idea as Chance had. They didn't learn anything new and definitely nothing important. It didn't help that the woman who was killed was wanted dead by so many people. Rysposito's interrogation also yielded similar results.
She told them to go through the camera footage and security system.
'But not like that' all of them had said. Beckett thought it was unnerving that they probably had thought of other ways to kill but pushed the thought aside. God knows she has enough problems to deal with.