Chapter 5
"We're coming up to another interesting part to the story." he said. "Yes, I know you want to know what it is but I'm not going to spoil it for you. Just be a little patient."
"...Several years have passed since we last told of the fair Kate and we now find her ensconced at her desk in the room of the Homicide Squad. It may come as no surprise to learn that she has become one of the squad's high fliers with a clearance rate second to none. There are even some whispers that say she may be destined for the top rung of the ladder.
Even though the fair Kate is still a little on the youngish side age wise, it should also come as no surprise to find that she now leads a team of two investigators. Sir Roy the Sheriff could do no less to reward her for improving the clearance rate. The fair Kate was turning out to be even better than he expected.
Her partners are Javier Esposito, a short but well built young man with dark brooding looks and Kevin Ryan an affable man with a ready smile and sharp wit. Both men are loyal yeomen and it goes without saying that as investigators they are no slouches. The three together make a formidable team of fighters of crime.
Esposito had once been a soldier but soon tired of war. Still wanting to serve the public on his return to the land of New York he decided to join the constabulary. Ryan came from a long line of officers of the law and it was only a matter of time before he joined the family business.
On this day in which our story finds them, our formidable team of crime fighters were doing paperwork. They had closed a case the day before and were finishing up the paperwork related to the case. As any member of the constabulary will tell you whether they are a uniformed member or one of the elite investigators, the world of the constabulary revolves around endless paperwork. It is the bane of their existence but a necessary evil. There are reports to be copied, witness statements to be rechecked and copied, statements by the charged to be checked and then copied, sketches of the crime scene to be collated and then an entire case file created for the prosecution service who will then study it and present the case at the trial.
Our terrific trio had been doing paperwork all day long with only short breaks to get refreshments or have some luncheon. As the fair Kate was doing her paperwork she was silently hoping another murder call would come through that would see her and her two partners racing out the squad room leaving the paperwork for another day. Not that she wished that some one should die, no, far from it. The fair Kate wanted a distraction, she needed a distraction from what appeared to be endless paperwork.
As the afternoon turned to evening, the lamps around the squad room were lit by an orderly providing illumination for the investigators to continue their labours. In an hour or so Kate could call it a day to her own labours. She was at least grateful for the fact that she soon would be heading home.
"Beckett." Esposito called from his desk. "What are you doing at the end of shift?"
Kate looked up from her work.
"Ryan and I are going to go to the Sword and Shield for a couple of tankards, you interested?"
The Sword and Shield was a local tavern whose clientèle comprised mainly of constabulary officers. It was to the Sword and Shield that Kate and her team would repair at the successful completion of a case to celebrate and to unwind.
The fair Kate found the offer tempting, very tempting and she did give it some thought. After a moment's thought she smiled wanly and shook her head slowly. Kate wanted nothing more than to return home to soak in her rather large iron tub and pick up a book to read.
"You don't know what you're missing." Esposito said.
"I have a fair idea." Kate replied. "Watching you chat up some tavern floozy is not what I would call my idea of fun."
"Not fair." Esposito exclaimed.
"But true." Ryan said with a chuckle.
The outraged Esposito turned to his partner and gave him a withering glare. This only made Ryan chuckle even louder. The stout hearted Esposito had an eye for the ladies and never failed to chance his arm when the opportunity presented itself. Kate also chuckled at Esposito's glare before she returned to her work.
It was in that moment that the Universe in her own fickle way chose to intervene in the lives of our terrific transgression terminating trio. And in particular in the life of the fair Kate. Little did she know that her life would be upended in a way she would never have imagined. She continued working blissfully unaware affixing her signature at the bottom of a report she had just completed, closed the file depositing it in a rapidly filling tray and then reaching for another file from another tray.
A dispatcher came bounding into the squad room huffing and puffing from the climb up the stairs to reach the room. He paused a moment to catch his breath and espied Kate seated at her desk. He marched over and came to a stop before Kate's desk. Kate looked up from her work and saw the man holding out a folded piece of paper. She took the paper and opened it. She looked up at the man and gave him a nod of thanks. The man, his task completed returned the nod and departed from the squad room. Kate looked at the note again.
"Esposito, your tavern floozy will have to wait." Kate announced as she rose to her feet. "Let us away, we have a body."
Both Esposito and Ryan were not well pleased to have a new case land at their feet when they were just an hour away from finishing for the day, and dreaming of how the first tankard of ale would taste as it travelled down their throats. It did not happen all the time but it did happen on occasion. They did not voice their displeasure for it would have not met with a sympathetic ear from their team leader. Simply they got to their feet, grabbed their weapons and notepads then quickly ran to catch up with Detective Beckett who was all ready half way down the stairs.
The fair Detective Beckett was the first of the trio to arrive at the scene of the crime. She dismounted from her trusty stead and handed the reins to the uniformed officer who had stepped up to her. She gave the man a nod of thanks, remembering well her time in uniform and having to do these chores and barely getting a grunt out of the investigator who had charge of the crime scene and treated the uniforms as mere vassals there but to do their bidding. For her show of gratitude she was rewarded with a smile from the uniformed officer.
Esposito and Ryan trotted up finally and looking a little miffed at having been beaten by the fair Kate in the race to the crime scene yet again. Ryan was passing fair as a rider but Esposito had been a foot soldier when he had been in the army, horses were for the use of officers and troopers of the cavalry to his way of thinking. He never felt comfortable on a horse. He never felt comfortable hurtling at what he considered break neck speed aboard a four legged vehicle. But when challenged to a race as he had been on this night by their leader, the redoubtable Detective Esposito was up for the challenge. Yet again he lost the challenge as did Ryan. They would owe their leader a tankard of ale the next time they were in the Sword and Shield.
Both Ryan and Esposito carefully dismounted and approached their leader hiding the fact they had lost another race to her. They did not mention the lost bet nor did the fair Kate. There was a time and place for that, and now was not that time.
Kate turned her attention to the building where the crime had been committed.
The building was a multi storey apartment building located in the better part of town. It was of recent construction made of sandstone. The were balconies on each floor overlooking the street and some of the inhabitants had ventured to their balcony to find out what was causing the ruckus on the street below. The entrance to the building was was wide and welcoming with statues of lions guarding the entrance. A number of uniformed officers were standing around the entrance, chatting amongst themselves whilst waiting for tasks to be handed to them. Other officers were holding back the gathering crowd on the street who had come to witness the goings on of the constabulary.
Kate lowered her gaze and took in the surrounding scene and in particular the people gathered. Most if not all had curious looks upon their faces. Detective Beckett was studying these faces looking for any tell tale sign of the murderer. She had apprehended more than one murderer who had instead of fleeing the scene of his nefarious deed had remained to witness the police go about their work. It was a trick she had learned from Sir Roy who had imparted that morsel of knowledge one night at the Sword and Shield.
"The body is on the third floor." Esposito informed her after having spoken to one of the uniforms.
Kate nodded her head as she swept the crowd one final time. If the perpetrator was amongst the gathered crowd she had not spotted him. Turning to the entrance she marched towards it.
The fair Detective Beckett entered the lavishly furnished apartment. There were a number of people in the room, a couple of constables, a police sketch artist was hurriedly sketching the body, a couple of orderlies from the Constabulary Physician were silently and hurriedly gathering physical evidence.
Kate's eyes took in the tableau on the large table in the centre of the room. The body of a young woman lay on it. She was naked but red rose petals blanketed her nakedness and two large sun flowers covered her eyes. Kate bent closer to the body studying it.
"Who art thou?" She said.
"Thou is Alison of Tisdale." Esposito informed her reading from the hastily scribbled notes in his notebook. "Aged twenty-four a graduate student at the local university, part of the social science program."
"Nice place for a social scientist." Kate remarked as she straightened up but continued to gaze down at the body.
"Father's money." Ryan added.
Kate nodded her head slowly but her eyes continued to gaze at the body. There was something familiar at what she beheld. For the life of her she could not put her finger on it. All she knew it would come to her soon enough.
"There was no signs of a struggle." Kate announced. "He knew her."
It was that moment that the constabulary physician Dr Parish made her entrance. She had been in an adjoining room. She came to stand beside her friend the fair Detective Beckett.
"Even bought her flowers." Dr Parish remarked. "Who says romance is dead?"
"I do." Kate whispered. "Every Saturday night."
The petite Dr Parish slid a glance in her friend's direction, a neatly plucked eyebrow raised.
"A little makeup and some lipstick would not go astray." She said also in a whisper.
The fair Kate gave her friend a glare.
Dr Parish shrugged off the glare. "I'm just saying."
Kate did not want to venture into that territory with her friend what with everyone else in the room as an audience. Instead she nodded to the body.
"What else did he give her?"
Dr Parish produced a pair of tweezers from her coat pocket and removed some of the rose petals from the woman's torso to reveal a pair of crossbow quarrels embedded in the young woman's chest with only a the fletching showing.
"Two shots in the chest." Dr Parish announced. "They're small, so my guess is they were fired by a hand held crossbow."
Kate nodded her head and moved slowly around the table until she came to a halt at the head of the table. Looking up at her two partners.
"Does this not look familiar to anyone?"
"No." Esposito said. "But then I don't have a bent for the strange or unusual ones. Give me an Arty killed Gwenny over Lance so I can get my collar and go home."
"Ah my dear Javier the strange or unusual ones require more. They reveal more." Kate intoned. She pointed to the body. "behold how he left her...covered modestly."
"So, what about it?" Ryan said, trying not to look confused. He was much like his partner Esposito. He too was 'an Arty killed Gwenny over Lance' kind of investigator.
"So, despite all of the effort, all of the preparation, you shall not find any evidence of abuse, sexual or otherwise." Kate said warming to her subject.
"Really, you got all that from this?" Esposito waved at the body.
"This and I have seen this before." The fair Kate said. It was in that moment she realised where she had seen this tableau before.
"You have seen this before? Where?" Ryan asked.
"Roses on her body..." Kate said looking from Ryan to Esposito. "...sunflowers on her eyes?"
Kate was stunned by the blank looks on the faces of her two partners. She could no help but roll her eyes at them.
"Truly am I cursed to be partnered with a pair of illiterate buffoons?" She exclaimed throwing her hands up in the air.
After her outburst the fair Kate reined in her emotions quickly and then proceeded to enlighten them about where she had seen this murder scene before. It had been in a book entitled Blossoms for Your Crypt. A book, as it happens, that was by her favourite author. This piece of news though it did enlighten the two male investigators it failed to impress them greatly.
It took an hour or so before our trio of investigators finally departed from the scene of the crime. They had gathered as much evidence they could from the apartment and questioned all the neighbours on the floor. They had leads to follow and a murderer to catch.
Once down on the street in front of the upmarket apartment building the fair Kate ordered her two male partners to return to the squad room and start chasing down the leads and to dig into the life of the deceased.
"And what are you going to do?" Esposito demanded.
The uniformed officer who had been looking after Kate's stead brought it forward without being bidden and handed the reins to her. She nodded her thanks to the man and quickly climbed into the saddle.
"I'm going to see a man about a book." The fair Kate announced.
Wheeling her trusty stead around she dug her heels into the animal's flanks and galloped off..."
Castle paused in his story and let out a yawn. He could feel the call of sleep growing stronger. He released his hold on Kate's hand and rubbed his face. He looked at Kate and found there had been no change. Once more he willed her to open her eyes. That's all he wanted. Just to open her eyes for a moment that was all he wanted for now.
He was suddenly startled by the appearance of a Styrofoam cup of coffee in his field of vision. Looking up he saw Lanie Parish standing beside him. He accepted the proffered cup and took a big sip of the coffee.
"Lanie what are you doing here?" He asked.
"I've got an early start today so I thought I'd come in and see how are girl is doing."
"No change, I'm afraid."
"There will be." Lanie said firmly.
Castle nodded his head more in hope than anything else.
"Castle, you need to get some sleep." Lanie told him.
"Not yet." Castle replied turning back to Kate.
"Castle you look like s..."
"Sleep deprived?"
"I was going to say something stronger but sleep deprived will do."
"I will sleep when Kate returns to us."
Lanie placed her hand on Castle's shoulder and gave him a comforting squeeze. He turned to look up at the petite medical examiner.
"It's some story you've been telling." Lanie said.
"You've been listening?"
"I came halfway through."
Lanie released his shoulder and moved to where the spare chair was. She brought it over and sat next to Castle.
"Quite an audience you've collected, Castle." Lanie nodded in the direction of the door.
Castle turned to look at the people standing around the door to the room. Rebecca was standing there and he gave her a tired looking smile. Rebecca waved back. He took another big sip of coffee. The much needed hit of caffeine had revived him. He took Kate's hand once again, and once again his thumb slowly and lovingly stroked the back of her hand.
"Well Kate we're about to come to the part of the story where it's start to get exciting." Castle said speaking to Kate. "The fair maid meets the ruggedly handsome minstrel."
Well dear reader your thoughts, opinions and criticisms would be most welcome by this storyteller.
Kindest regards
Con