A/N: I got a Firefly reference in here! I love doing that – bonus virtual cookies when you find it;)
Chapter Twenty: Playing dead for so long don't make you innocent.
"Slaughter's death is undoubtedly a homicide – Lanie says she can prove it and she wants us down at the morgue, says there's something compelling about the shots that killed him that we need to see."
Kate and the boys virtually barrel through the doors of Lanie's morgue, like Hades with the hounds of hell on his heels. And Lanie knows she really shouldn't be smirking about it, knows how hard the last few months have been on her best friend, but she just can't help it – it feels really good to have something concrete to share with them, and to see them all looking so enthused again. Really, really good, and it even looks like Kate might have managed some sleep last night, because the gorgeous detective is looking better to Lanie's highly critical eye than she's appeared since before her partner went missing.
Kate is practically vibrating with purpose and energy, and Lanie's little smirk becomes a full blown mega-watt smile, one which Kate manages to return, and that warms the coroner's heart considerably.
"What have you got?" Kate inquires, suddenly all business, as soon as the morgue doors whoosh close behind them.
Lanie turns to the embalmed, naked and somewhat mottled body that's residing peacefully on her slab, the remains of Detective Ethan Slaughter, still such a large man even in death, just much less imposing and far less annoying.
"Personally, questions about the competency of one of my colleagues!" Lanie answers drily.
Kate's brow crinkles up in confusion at the remark. "What do you mean?" she asks.
Lanie indicates the bullet holes practically dead center of the late cop's broad chest.
"I mean, a grouping like that," she states sounding entirely disgusted. "Dead center of the upper torso and pretty much guaranteed to be lethal when you factor in the number of entry wounds, which by my count is four. I mean you tell me Kate – how does a coroner in this city receive a dead cop on their table with that many bullet holes in him 'center mass', and not even consider that it might not be a case of wrong place, wrong time?"
Kate studies the body silently shaking her head. "I don't know," she says softly, stepping closer to take a better look. "Is that the only reason you think this was a murder?" she clarifies.
Dr. Parish shakes her head.
"Nope," she says grimacing, "I'm appalled to say I've got lots more."
Esposito's face has darkened like a thunder cloud already, and Ryan looks both pissed and vaguely sick.
"More?" Espo practically growls. "You're serious? What kind of moron is this other coroner anyway?"
Lanie rolls her eyes and shrugs her dainty shoulders. "I'm not impressed either Javi, but you need to stand down and let me tell you what I know okay?"
Esposito bristles but flashes a tight-lipped grin at his ex, his shoulders visibly relaxing as he indicates that she should go ahead with her findings.
"Now he was hit in other places," she begins, "there are two other entry wounds. One in his left thigh here – and another that's a through and through on the lower right side of his body, right above his hip. Both of these are non-lethal and here's the thing – both of these shots are postmortem."
Three sets of eyes flick immediately to Lanie's and three sets of eyebrows rise.
"He was shot twice after he was already dead?" Kate asks.
Lanie nods. "The lack of blood flow in the surrounding tissue confirms it. But the really interesting thing here is the angles of all the entry wounds. They're your smoking gun Kate on the case for murder here."
The three detectives turn their attention to the body again as Lanie turns to her instrument table to grab a brightly colored surgical steel rod to better illustrate her findings. She steps up to Slaughter's discolored corpse and gently inserts the rod into the gun shot entry wound on Slaughter's thigh. The rod stands straight up. She moves around the table and does the same thing to the bullet hole above his hip, and the rod stands straight up again.
"He was on the ground, on his back when those bullets entered," says Esposito.
Lanie nods. "Exactly," she says. "These two holes are window dressing."
"What about the shots in his chest?" Ryan asks her.
"Now here's where it really gets interesting."
The petite M.E places the rod carefully into each of the wounds in Slaughter's chest, and the angle of each individual shot is the same – a steep forty degree rise.
Kate looks at Esposito. "He was shot from higher ground," she says, and her partner nods, agreeing with her.
"That's almost a sniper's angle," he says confidently. "Closer range than would be normal for a professional and these shots are from a thirty eight judging by the size of the entry wound." The Latino detective looks over at Lanie for confirmation, the M.E nods.
Espo continues, "And a sniper wouldn't use a handgun, he'd be using a rifle. My guess is the closer range was to facilitate the use of handgun here – make it look more convincing that Slaughter died getting caught in some gang-banger's shootout."
Kate nods. "He was tipped off and sent to his death," she says. "Someone was waiting for him. Someone had it all figured out. And when the Westies and the Cazadores starting shooting at each other, that someone was watching and used all the chaos to mask the fact that they took Detective Slaughter out."
Kate's eyes meet Lanie's. "Who did the original autopsy?" she asks quietly, "Is there any chance, any chance at all that this wasn't innocently missed?"
Lanie looks thoughtful, but ultimately she shrugs.
"Honestly," she answers "I want to say 'No'; no way could any coroner in New York City misses this. I'd rather believe we were dealing with a corrupt M.E who took a bribe to smother his findings. But the thing is, the M.E we're talking about is Dr. Adelei Niska, and he's way beyond the point where he should have retired and a more misanthropic miserable son-of-bitch I've never had the misfortune to meet. Hell Dr. Niska makes Perlmutter look like 'Pollyanna' in the disposition stakes."
Ryan whistles. "Seriously?"
Lanie nods. "Dead serious. Niska is a nut. He was brilliant in his younger days, but I've seen more than one case thrown out of court because his findings are lacking, and I've personally had to re-autopsy people when their deaths have been mislabeled and someone later catches on and starts screaming."
Beckett bites her lip. "So it could be that he heard Slaughter was killed in a gang shootout and when Slaughter lands on his table he just looks at the number of bullet wounds and doesn't look any further. Honestly doesn't see that the killing was clearly targeted."
"Exactly." Lanie replies apologetically. "I mean it seems pretty damn obvious it's suspicious to me, just from the chest wounds alone, but while I've heard other coroners question Niska's capability, I've never heard a single rumor that would suggest he was on the take. Now that doesn't mean you shouldn't consider it a possibility Kate – check up on him, but my gut tells me it's his incompetency that's to blame."
Kate smiles grimly. "We'll proceed with caution," she says. "Ryan-"
"Yes boss?"
"Do a financial background check on our Dr. Niska. Focus on the days surrounding Slaughter's murder, and let's rule out the possibility that Niska knew something and got paid to muzzle it. Then I want you to finish Castle's book for me – you seem to be channeling him better than I am – so finish it and tell me what else he's trying to tell me."
"On it," Ryan responds, squeezing Kate's arm and meeting her gaze briefly – acknowledging both the faith she's showing as well as the responsibility she's placing on his strong shoulders, before he darts from the room.
Esposito looks at Beckett expectantly.
"Espo, you and I are going to re-trace everything that happened on the case that Castle worked with this guy. I've been thinking about how and why Castle's disappearance could possible connect to Ethan Slaughter getting whacked. Castle always maintains that there are no coincidences and this time I think I believe him. This has to lead us back in some way to that one case Castle shadowed Slaughter on. We need to take that case apart again and find out every single person they might have interacted with over those few days. You were paying more attention than I was during that time; I'm going to need your help."
Espo nods.
"You didn't look away for long," he says gently.
Kate shakes her head. "But I deliberately looked away. I let him go and get himself involved with Slaughter when I know I could have just stopped it. I had it in my power to stop it Javi – but I let my fear and my pride get in the damn way. If we do prove that Rick was taken because of that case – how am I not the one to blame?" She asks.
"It takes two to tango," Espo retorts, but he can tell by the stubborn set of her features that Kate doesn't believe him.
The beautiful detective turns to her best-friend.
"Thanks Lanie," she says with a small smile.
The M.E smiles back. "I'll write up my findings and when ballistics gets back to me I'll page you," she says. "There might be more you can use in the bullets and the trace evidence, Kate."
"I'll wait to hear from you," Kate replies. And she and Esposito leave the stillness of the morgue behind, heading back to the Twelfth to begin their murder board, and jump truly into the fray.