A/N Thanks so much for the feedback from Chapter 1. Constructive criticism is always welcome. I don't own the Castle characters (is it required to say this because it seems everyone does), but if I did there would be a lot more romance and snark and a lot less procedural mumbo jumbo. Enjoy!
Beckett turned the black Crown Vic left onto Canal Street toward Lafayette. With less than a half mile drive to the scene of the crime she contemplated walking, but quickly changed her mind the moment the stinging winter air hit her skin. Out on the sidewalk, men and women in business suits heading into work sped past sequin and stiletto clad young couples stumbling home to their beds.
Inside the warm car, Castle sat in the passenger seat alternating between fiddling with the radio and spreading cream cheese onto her bagel. She wished he'd do more spreading and less fiddling; her stomach was starting to complain loudly.
"So what do you think the perfect date would be?" Castle asked as he handed her half of the bagel. Beckett turned her attention from a young woman who was comically limping down the street, a broken heel hanging off the end of her pump.
"I don't know. Dinner somewhere intimate. Maybe a stroll through the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I had a lot of fun last weekend, and we didn't even manage to leave the loft." She bit her lower lip and glanced at him sideways, a big, mischievous smile plastered on her face.
"While I wholeheartedly agree and you're welcome," Castle said mirroring her smile, "I was actually referring to wedding dates. I know I said we should plan the whole honeymoon thing first, but I've only been able to come up with one other possible ex-wife free destination." Castle's eyes lit up as he leaned in to announce his suggestion.
"Castle if you say outer space I'm turning the car around and taking you back to the loft." Beckett narrowed her eyes at him and a guilty smile spread across his face. Hoping to avoid a Becket eye-roll, he quickly replaced the grin with a look of indifference.
"Yea, never mind. Still brainstorming." He hunched over pretending to be hurt by her rebuke. Although I still think that space—"
"Is a terrible idea," Beckett cut him off.
"All I'm saying is that you haven't fully considered the benefits."
"Ah, do tell. Nausea? Space suits instead of bikinis? Slurping cocktails out of air tight pouches? A five by five foot box instead of the honeymoon suite at the Four Seasons. Yea, I think I've considered the benefits."
"I was thinking more along the lines of zero-G love making."
"Castle, I can promise you one thing. The last thing you will be wishing on our honeymoon is for the sex to be even more exciting." Castle drew the picture in his mind and his eyes widened. Beckett asked him a question but he just sat there staring distractedly out the front window, his imagination running wild.
"Uh Castle. Earth to Castle." Beckett picked up her cell phone and held it like she was talking into a radio. "Castle this is mission control. We're going to need you to get your mind out of the gutter and return to the car. We're approaching crime scene impact in 5, 4, 3…" Becket pulled the car to a stop along the curb in front of a 24-hour pharmacy. The blinking neon sign snapped Castle back to reality.
"Did you say something?" Castle asked, his full attention restored.
"I just said promise me we'll pick this conversation up later," Beckett urged. Castle reached across the gear shift and gently laid his hand over hers. For a moment, the outside world faded away and it was just her and Castle.
"Promise." He softly squeezed her hand letting her know he meant it. He learned long ago just how powerful a small brush of his thumb against her cheek, an embrace, even a handshake could be with the right intention behind it.
Stepping out of the car Beckett pulled her tan Burberry jacket tightly around her. Every time she wore the coat she felt a pang of guilt at just how much money she spent on it, but in a field typically dominated by men, she told herself, sometimes wearing the clothes that make you feel the part is worth the expense.
Before going any farther she took a moment to survey the scene. The yellow crime scene tape was already set up around the alleyway entrance just to the left of the pharmacy. Flashing lights from a couple other squad cars and a lone ambulance already on the scene cast blue and red light on the side of an office building just ahead. An angry delivery truck driver was arguing with an officer, wildly gesturing at the curb. Watching the scene unfold made Becket happy she was long past her uniformed days. Another officer was directing curious pedestrians to the far side of the sidewalk, and a small gathering of nosy onlookers, cell phone cameras at the ready, stood just outside the police line.
Castle walked ahead of her and, like a gentleman holding open the door, lifted the yellow tape for her to duck under. She spotted Esposito first, hunched down next to the victim, jotting something on a notepad. Lanie was behind him pointing to something on the victim's head. From this distance, she couldn't hear what they were saying but their facial expressions let her know it wasn't pretty. Was it ever? In the background a team of forensics scurried about snapping photographs, dusting for prints, and wading through the dumpster at the end of the alley.
"And look who decided to finally show up for work," Espo teased looking up from the body. "Why is it that I'm always here before you, but still get stuck with most of the grunt work?"
"Hey you try showing up early when you're with Mr. Primp and Preen over here." She cocked her head toward Castle. "Those designer button-up shirts take time."
"Yea dude, what is up with you and the button ups?" Esposito stood up and reached out to smooth down Castle's collar. He playfully elbowed him in the ribs and continued, "All I'm saying is a nice sweater, a form-fitting t-shirt, might save you a lot of time trying to maneuver those tiny buttons with your freakishly large man hands."
"Hey, I'll have you know it's not easy looking this good, and since when are you one to complain about my ruggedly handsome appearance?" He focused his gaze on Beckett who just shrugged her shoulders and smiled. Lanie kept her focus on the body, not in the mood to get involved in their ragging.
"Speaking of showing up early," said Becket, "where's Ryan? He'd normally be here by now."
"Ultrasound appointment with Jenny," Esposito spoke up. "I guess their finding out the sex of the baby today. He should be at the precinct by the time we get in."
"Wait there finding out the sex of the baby today and nobody told me," Castle griped. "That only gives me a couple hours to start a betting pool. I call boy."
"Nah man, girl for sure. Ryan is going to have a daddy's little girl," added Esposito. "Beckett what do you think?"
"I think it'd be a better use of our time to focus on our victim here," she said redirecting their attention. As much as Beckett was keenly aware of the emotional distancing necessary to do the job for this long, she still felt the weight of her responsibility to bring justice to the victim. "What do we know so far Espo?"
"Victim is female, mid-20s, dressed like she was out for the evening." Beckett surveyed the low-cut, metallic cocktail dress and the flashy diamond pendant hanging from her neck. She might almost be mistaken for an overzealous partier who crashed on the way home if it weren't for the blood pooling around her head. "The manager of the pharmacy found her around 6:00 this morning when he went to take the garbage out."
"Do we know the cause of death?" Beckett asked, staring at the large gash on the side of the woman's head. She always found it best to never assume the obvious. Assumptions all too easily led to critical oversights.
Hearing her cue, Lanie piped up. "I'll have to wait until I get her back to the morgue to know for sure but it looks like she was killed by a blunt force trauma to the back of the head." Lanie gently picked up the woman's head and turned it to the side revealing a caved-in portion of her skull.
"Do we know what she was hit with?" Castle asked. Lanie motioned toward a large broken bottle laying a couple feet away from the body.
"I'm still waiting for forensics to bag it for me, but based on the blood spatter on the bottle and the shape of the indentation on the victim's head I'd guess that." Castle crouched down next to the bottle, craning his neck to get a better look at its underside.
"Hey guys, this isn't just any bottle," Castle observed, the excitement in his voice getting the attention of the others. Beckett dropped to a squat next to him to get a closer look. "The black bottle. The silver label. And then there's this," Castle pointed to a jewel set on the bottle's front. He looked from Beckett to Esposito to Lanie like the answer should be obvious. "Oh come on, am I the only one who keeps up on pop culture and current events?" He was met with blank stares all around. "You are looking at a bottle of Gout de Diamants, the most expensive bottle of champagne made, ever." Castle looked at the bottle like he was seeing one of the seven wonders of the world.
"So what are we talking about, two, three hundred dollars?" Esposito asked, confused by Castle's reverie.
"Try more like two million dollars a bottle," Castle marveled. Esposito did a double take of the bottle. "See that diamond right there? 19 carats. And the name plate. 18 carat white gold. Forget the actual champagne in the bottle, it's the bottle itself that sells. This has got to be the most expensive murder weapon ever." Castle's face lit up like a kid on Christmas.
"If we have the murder weapon maybe we'll get lucky and get some prints," Becket said, looking hopefully at the bottle.
"Doubt that," continued Lanie "notice what's missing?" Beckett scanned the bottle, but it didn't take more than a second for her to see it.
"The neck and top of the bottle are gone."
"Unis have canvassed the whole alleyway and are working on the dumpsters a few blocks each way, but I'm guessing whoever did this took it with them to cover their tracks," Esposito added.
"Do we have an ID on the victim yet?" Beckett asked Esposito.
"Negative. No wallet. No ID. No purse or jacket even. Maybe a mugging gone terribly wrong?"
"How do you explain the two million dollar bottle of champagne then?" asked Castle. "You'd think if it was money the murderer was after they wouldn't toss a bottle encrusted with a 19 carat diamond to the ground."
"They might not have realized the value," proposed Beckett. "More importantly though, where did the bottle even come from? My guess is the victim was carrying it because the attacker would have taken off with it if he knew its value. But who carries something that valuable down the street in the middle of the night anyway? Do we have an estimated time of death?"
"Based on body temp and lividity I'd say we're looking at anywhere from one to three am. But again, I'll know more—"
"When you get her back to the morgue," interjected Beckett finishing Lanie's sentence. She had been in this same spot so many times, asking the important questions, directing the investigation that it should all feel routine by now. But it never did. She knew there would be family and friends to inform, and for their sake, she always did her best to view each case with fresh eyes. Sensing the importance of expediency she barreled forward. "Okay, let's get a couple unis to check with the other shop owners around here. See if they saw anything." She craned her neck up to look at the towering building across the street. "Let's also get someone to do a door-to-door with all those apartments facing the street." She pointed to the hundred or so windows frosted over by the cold air. "Maybe someone was up burning the midnight oil. Espo, when you get back to the precinct ask Ryan to track down any surveillance cameras within a few block radius." Beckett felt like she was on cruise control, mechanically doling out tasks, when she heard Castle mumble something off to the side.
He was standing over the victim, intently analyzing the girl's face. "Guys, I think I know who the victim is." Beckett's brain shifted out of cruise control and she focused all her attention on Castle. "I didn't make the connection until just now. The Gout de Diamants. The young blonde dressed up for a night on the town. This is Caitlyn Madison."
"Who?" Esposito asked sheepishly, unsure of whether he should be able to place the name. Castle looked up and was again met with blank stares all around.
"Really, guys? Really?" Castle was secretly pleased he was the only one able to place the victim. "And you wonder why you keep me around. I'm starting to think I should ask for a consulting fee."
"Castle?" Beckett decided to squelch his bragging before it got out of hand. "The victim?"
"Right." He went on to tell them all he knew. Caitlyn Madison was a girlfriend of one of New York's most infamous playboys, Daniel Henry. He made a fortune opening high-end night clubs all over the country, but his flagship club, Club Couture, was here in New York, just a block down from where they were standing. Just last month they held a launch party for the pricy champagne since they were one of only two clubs in the US that were selling it. "Side note, I actually got invited to that party," he bragged.
"Castle." Beckett narrowed her eyes at him.
"Hey, I would have asked you to go but we were both a little preoccupied at the time, you know, being trapped inside that creepy old crypt. I still say finders keepers on those coins." Beckett intensified her glare but couldn't hold it for long as amusing memories of Castle pretending to get his hand stuck in the wall flashed through her mind.
Castle leaned in a little closer to the victim's face. "Yea, that's definitely her. She came with Daniel to my launch party for Deadly Heat. Smart, funny girl. Seemed a lot brighter than his other girlfriends."
"Other girlfriends?" Esposito said in disbelief, cocking his eyebrows. "Man you weren't joking when you said playboy. You friends with the guy or something?"
Castle thought carefully before answering. "Let's just say he and I were fairly chummy back in my younger days." He glanced over at Beckett to gauge her reaction. Her expression didn't give away anything. "My much younger days."
With more facts on the table Beckett shifted back into auto-pilot. "Okay Espo, head on down to the club and get a list of anyone who was working last night. Bartenders, the door man, security. I want to know if they noticed anything unusual. Also make sure to get any footage you can from the club security cameras. Castle and I will head into the precinct and contact Caitlyn's family and Mr. Henry."
With each of them assigned a task, Castle and Beckett headed back toward the car, leaving the flashes of forensic cameras in the shadows of the alleyway. The chaos that Beckett often felt upon approaching a crime scene was replaced with a zen-like focus now that she had a lead to follow and her victim had a name. As she crossed back over the police tape onto the pedestrian-ridden sidewalk she took a deep calming breath, now feeling invigorated by the cold air.
"So apparently we get invited to parties that I don't know about," she chided, slipping into the driver's seat.
"I never said we got invited anywhere. I believe I said I got invited. Besides I didn't think the night club scene was really your thing."
"Like you said, in my younger days." She purposefully remained vague. She learned a long time ago that letting him insinuate her meaning was much more fun, and led to much more colorful stories, than the reality. "I think it could be fun though. Have some drinks. Some dancing. I still have some moves even you'd be surprised to see." Beckett watched Castle drift off into his imagination again. He was too easy. "Speaking of dancing. I already have a great first dance song picked out." She shifted the car into drive and eased the nose out into the heavier 9:00 traffic.
"Ooh, ooh, ooh. Let me guess."
"Castle I can just tell you."
"Where's the fun in that?" Years of board game nights and laser tag matches with Alexis had taught him that anything could be turned into a game. "I know. Twenty questions. Yes and no answers only. If you stump me, we go with your pick. If I get it, you agree to dance lessons and learning a choreographed dance for the wedding. I'm thinking tango. What do you say?" Beckett knew resistance would only encourage him more.
"Fine. But with one exception. If you don't guess it and we have to do a dance, I get to pick the style."
"It's a deal." Castle reached back across the gear shift and grabbed her hand, settling into the same position as before they got out.