Chapter 3: Indulgence

Castle and Beckett walked into the familiar confines of the morgue. Lanie, in her complete M.E. attire was standing next to a gurney which had Susan Masters' body.

"Whatever it is Lanie, you'll have to be quick. I'm running short on time," said Beckett.

Lanie looked up and motioned them over to where she was standing. When the two got there, she removed the white hospital sheet covering the girl and pointed to her stomach.

"What about it?" said Castle, "haven't we already seen those lacerations?"

"Yes, but what I would like you to focus on is a thin line across her stomach. You'll observe it if you look carefully. It's obscured by the other cuts.

"What so special about it," said Beckett.

"Your girl here had stomach surgery performed on her only a week ago. After a few tests, we found many traces of heroin, cocaine and polyethylene. Your girl was smuggling drugs in her stomach."

"You mean like a 'mule'," said Castle, "They swallow capsules or packets of drugs and fly over to the drop country. Then, they are given laxatives to remove the drugs from their system. It can also be done naturally though. Or in this case, surgically."

Lanie and Beckett just gave him sarcasm filled smiles at that.

"I'm a police officer, Castle. I already know that."

"And I get such cases every week," said Lanie.

"Yeah, well, I was just excited," said Castle giving them his puppy dog look.

"Anything else, Lanie," said Beckett, ignoring the writer but unable to resist thinking about one of his cutest looks. Wait a sec. Did I just think that he was cute?

"Both our victims also had sex quite a few times in the past week," said Lanie, startling the detective. "They were about to today… as evidenced from traces of his fresh semen found on her torso and panties, probably ejaculated during foreplay. There was none in her genital regions though."

A thought occurred to Castle. "Could this girl have voluntarily become a mule?" he said, "It takes a great amount of desperation to be coerced into becoming one. She either owed some very dangerous people or needed money badly. Is there anything to indicate that she was a drug addict?"

"No," said Lanie. "According to the report, there weren't any other drugs in her system. She wasn't consuming methamphetamine, marijuana, LSD or any other famous or lesser known illegal drugs. If she was an addict, there would have been significant alterations in her bodily functions. But apart from the surgery and those traces, there's nothing to indicate that she wasn't a healthy human being. Only somewhat, undernourished."

Anything else that you have for us Lanie?"

"Yes. Apart from the drug discovery, I also wanted to show you this," she said, pointing at Susan's wrists. She held an observing lens over them. Her guests could see black, blue and green bruises all over them. Lanie showed them the same on the girl's legs.

"You can only see them if you look carefully," she said. "She was probably tightly bound at her feet and wrists by a thick nylon rope. I found some fibers of it embedded in the flesh. Judging from that and the discolorations I would say this had happened at least two days ago."

"All right. Thanks Lanie. This tells us that she had either been kidnapped or made to do something against her will," said Beckett

"Could have something to do with the drug op," said Castle looking at Kate. She nodded to him.

"Yes. No surprises on the other body. Just that lone gunshot wound. Also, from some tissue analysis, I found that he was shot before her. There was a difference of at least five minutes."

"So after killing Wellington, the killer waited five minutes to kill her?!" said Castle, a bit incredulously.

"Well yes. She must have screamed and tried to run away. He or she must have had to catch her and then shoot her. That must have taken some time," said Beckett.

"But they were almost certainly in the middle of foreplay when the killer came. Adding that fact and that once he had shot Wellington, she would have been too shocked or scared to move or attack him. He could have easily killed her in a few seconds. Why wait five minutes? He definitely hesitated and that too, for a reason."

"Not necessarily," said the detective although the writer's logic seemed to make some sense to her.

"All right. Maybe. But if I were writing the story, the killer would want to have a few last moments with her."

"A few last moments for what?"

That question stumped Castle and seeing that she was successful in shutting him up a bit, Beckett smiled and made her way out of the morgue.

It was eight pm by the time Beckett finished tidying her desk. She placed the few folders in her hand in a side drawer and got ready to leave. Castle was standing near the elevator waiting for her. He idly chatted with one of the deputies who had also finished his shifts. When Beckett came towards them, the officer and the writer shook hands and said their farewells. Together, Castle and Beckett got into the lift.

Such moments were always awkward for Beckett, whenever she was this close to Castle. At other times, there was always something to say about the case or some idle chit chat but whenever the distance between them was less than six millimeters, she always found her throat dry.

"So…" said Castle.

"So…?"

"Would you like to come with me for dinner?"

"Um… I never go for dinner in my work clothes," she mumbled stupidly.

He was just bemused. "We could drop by your place first."

"Oh no. That's all right."

"How about dinner at my place then? I make some mean spaghetti and your clothes won't matter there."

"No thanks, Castle. I just want to go to my place, relax and well have a quiet meal by myself."

"Well, all right. Can I at least drop you home, seeing as you didn't bring your car today?"

"That would be nice. Thank you," said Beckett thankful that she wouldn't have to take the subway again that day.

In the car, both were silent, preoccupied with their own thoughts. Beckett thought about Castle and this new work relationship between them; about her father who she was supposed to be visiting this week and about what she would have for dinner and about the case.

Castle too was thinking about her, about Alexis but mostly his mind was still occupied by the case.

Beckett looked at him from her reclining position in the passenger seat. "Still thinking about the case?" she asked him.

"Yup. You?"

"Never stopped."

"Same here. So, what have we learnt so far?"

"Well, from the CSU, the interviews and Lanie, we have gathered that Susan Masters, a twenty year old pre law student studying at the University of New York was a bright girl from a small town. She had joined Axtel Corp. two months ago as a paralegal. Wellington's VP said that the old man had an eye on her ever since he had noticed her taking notes at a meeting. According to office gossip that Esposito and Ryan have gathered, the affair had begun two days after that when he took her on a 'business trip' to LA."

"A trip mixing business and pleasure," said Castle.

"Before this," said Kate, Peter had had affairs with ten other women."

"Now, that Wellington was your regular horny, rich, play-boy whose unceasing fervor for amorous relationships with younger flesh was a part of his corporate lifestyle."

"So it seems," said Beckett, "I can't seem to forget those gashes on Susan's body though. They were horrific and I've had my share of horrors in this department. This one is out there."

"Yeah," said Castle. "The killer left Peter's body untouched, though. He or she definitely had something going for this Susan though. Do you think he was out to kill just her and Peter's classic wrong place wrong time case?"

"No, I don't think so. The victims were having a secret affair and the killer couldn't have known where she was going to be that afternoon unless he followed the two up to the apartment. In any case, we already checked the security footage at the entrance. It only shows the two of them arriving together and no one else entered behind them for at least an hour. There are very apartments in the building anyway, all owned by filthy rich who spend less time there and more on their endless cruises and parties and…"

"Could the killer have been a woman?" said Castle, breaking into Beckett's tirade. "One of the dozens who had had an affair with him and had been unceremoniously rejected only to find herself one of countless other deflowered maidens. She vows revenge, starts to investigate him secretly, knows about Susan and him from the office gossip, knows where they are gonna have their tryst, a place she herself had been deflowered in, goes up to wait there, hides in the apartment, hears their passionate entrance and their fervent lovemaking and interrupts them at the moment when…"

"And she must have been Invisible woman to have gotten into that building without turning up on the past two days worth of security footage that we've seen"

"Or she could've been in the building, beforehand."

"We've already been over that Castle. Only three of the six other apartments in the building were occupied at that time. The owners hardly knew the Wellingtons. One of them is an ailing 90 year old widow confined to bed and two servants waiting on her, none of whom had left the apartment in the entire day. The apartment across the widow's is owned by the mistress of another wealthy businessman. She was… entertaining him this afternoon and the two of them never left the apartment. Their servants can vouch for them. The last apartment, this one directly below the Wellingtons is owned by a rich play-boy, a rather, younger version of Wellington, at least according to Ryan. He too was… entertaining some young women the entire afternoon."

Caste gave a wolf whistle at that, "What's with all the entertaining Beckett?"

"What's with all the deflowering Castle?" said Beckett matching his grin with her own. The writer smiled at her and at that moment, the two found themselves in one of their rare moments of intimacy.

The spell was broken when Castle suddenly said, "What if there's another entrance into that building. You know a secret one which Wellington kept for his mistresses…"

"Yeah right Castle, how far will you go to sustain your wild theories? We already covered that angle. The security guard said that the front entrance was the only way in or out of that building."

"But we only spoke to the day security guard. What if the one who has the night shift…"

"According to Jeff, the security guard with the day shift, the night one joined just three months ago and he isn't likely to know much. In any case, one of the uniformed officers was sent to interview him tonight and send in his report. He'll radio in if there is something interesting."

"Then how do you explain the fact that our killer got in and out of the building without turning up on the security footage."

"An explanation will come up and we have enough suspects now."

"I think there's something about that building. It struck me as odd the first time I saw it, the moment we got out of the car today. It's a four storied condominium and incongruous with all the other traditional brownstones surrounding it."

Beckett rolled her eyes at that, "I'm sorry that it doesn't fit in with your sense of style, Castle."

"All that I'm saying is…"

"Hey, look, I recognize this neighborhood. If I turn right here, we can get to the Wellington's condominium in five minutes interview the security guard in ten and still be in time for dinner."

"Castle this is crazy. Besides, he's already been interviewed."

"Okay… oops, I made the right turn. We are on our way but since you don't want…"

"All right, Mr. Writer, if that's what it takes to get this out of your system…"

The night security guard was a young college freshman named Henry."

"I don't understand," said Henry once Beckett had shown him her badge. "I was already interviewed an hour ago by an Officer Bauer. I don't think I helped him much. I just learned about the murder today at 8 pm when I started my night shift here. I didn't see anyone suspicious here yesterday… well, I don't think I can help you in anyway either."

"We understand," said Beckett, "We're very sorry to bother you…"

"Is there something odd about this building, Henry?" said Castle looking at him mischievously.

"Huh? I don't really know. I just joined three months ago. You see the rent in this city is getting steeper and when my friend told me about this job…"

"That's okay," said Beckett. "We understand that you only know so much…"

"Say, Henry," interrupted Castle again, much to Beckett's annoyance, as she gave him a stern look. He ignored her and continued, "You guard an apartment building where quite a few rich men like Wellington live. You must see young women arriving in and out here at all hours."

Henry's eyes lit up at that and a glow came over his young face. "Well I sure do," he said. "You should see the numbers that come in here. It's like watching America's next top model. The guys here really get a lot of action and…"

"Ever seen the girl that was murdered today, before?"

"Well, I couldn't recognize her from that photograph I was shown. She wasn't here in the three months I've been on this job. At least never at night. This Wellington fellow had very few girls up here actually. I know you've seen the logs but with his wife here most of the time, this wasn't a feasible option for his trysts."

"She must've been away on some nights."

"Yeah, but just three or four since I was here and each time he brought up a different beauty. But I think he mostly brings them during the day time. His wife's always away in the afternoons."

"Okay, I guess that's enough," said Beckett, "sorry to bother you again, Henry."

"Nah, not at all. It really isn't a big deal. Hey listen. This didn't occur to me earlier but we've a parking valet here, Arthur. He lives in a small storage shed in the parking lot and has been here longer than me or Jeff. I think he used to be here even before the condominium came up. You could talk to him now if you want. He's old and sleeps very less."

Before the detective could respond Castle was on his way to the parking lot.

It was a typical basement car park with Aston Martins and Maseratis parked between white brick columns. They made their way to a small, out of place shack in the corner. Beckett gave a few short raps before the door was swung open and an aging man dressed in an immaculate but old grey uniform peered at the two of them.

Beckett showed him her badge and explained the situation. The old man, who had introduced himself as Arthur McAllister scratched his grizzly chin that had a week-old stubble. "Say, I was interviewed this evening. What else do you want?"

"We're very sorry about this Mr. McAllister. I understand that you've been here for a long time…"

"That's right, I was. Way back when decent folks used to live in this area and there was none of this rabble around. Young women going and coming in at all hours…"

"What was here before this condominium?" asked Castle, fixing the old valet with his intense gaze.

"You, you aren't a policeman, are you? A consulting author, you say, well you asked a pretty astute question. This condominium was built six years ago. Before that, it was a quaint old two storey duplex owned by a very respectable family, the Bayers. Nicest people you'll ever meet. They owned a big publishing firm on the other side of town. I was their butler and a great job it was. Good people, decent wages… they fell on hard times though and this building was sold to one of those greedy builders who kept the lower storey of the duplex intact, refurbished the basement where I lived into a parking lot and built the condominium on top. Before I knew it, I was out of a job and out of my house. I had to beg and take a huge pay-cut to get this valet job. They kept me on the condition that I would live in this shack as part of my payment."

"And how many years, have you lived here?"

"About fifty sonny. I'm almost sixty-eight now. With no college degree or job prospects for a poor Scottish immigrant like me in the swinging sixties, this job was all I had. This place wasn't so prosperous back then and Mrs. Bayer kept me on as a boot boy at first, financed a bit of my education and I was soon upgraded to chauffer before ending up as a butler. Seeing the family become bankrupt and losing my lofty livelihood was great let-down."

As he said this, tears appeared in the old man's milky grey eyes and his two interviewers felt a pull at their heartstrings.

"That's a very sad tale, Mr. McAllister," said Castle, "You seemed to have done so well for yourself. I don't mean to pry but you must have had some savings for your retirement, what with a butler's salary in the eighties and nineties."

The old man smiled. "To tell you the truth, the Bayers had fallen on rough times since the nineties. I was kept on primarily out of fondness and most of the other servants had been let go much sooner. I was quite happy to receive whatever payment I could but the family wasn't making any money. There just enough to get by. But when the place was sold, it was a terrible blow to my heart. Most of the old family was dead anyway, and the youngsters were getting tired of me. I would've had to leave eventually."

Both Castle and Beckett stood quiet for a moment, not knowing what to say. Beckett was about to murmur thanks in order to depart when the old man looked up at her with a twinkle in his eyes.

"Thank you, for indulging an old man," he said, "no one's ever been much interested in my story. Everyone's rather… abrupt. I think I'm gonna die soon and there's something weighing on my conscience that I'd like to let go off."

This caught Castle's attention and he gazed at the valet with sharp eyes.

"I should've told you this earlier but I've been threatened several times. I…"

"What is it?" said Beckett, looking at him intently.

The old man walked away towards an empty spot between an Audi R8 and a blue Bentley. He stood next to one of the white-bricked columns, laid his left palm on it and started to push into the surface. Within moments, the brick gave way and a slight creaking sound broke the stillness of the empty lot.

A section of the wall, right behind the empty lot seemed to rise up and within seconds revealed a gaping black hole…