My apologies for the tardiness in posting this chapter. Here it is finally, please enjoy.
Chapter 8
"Well Kate." Castle said as he resumed his story. His voice grew stronger as the tiredness washed away. "We now come to the part of the story where the fair Detective Kate Beckett and the ruggedly handsome Richard the Minstrel are paired together to become the formidable crime fighting duo."
"...Richard the Minstrel found upon returning home sleep was elusive. As he lay in his bed he thought about the two murders and why would someone would use scenes from his books, and if he was being truthful, from his lesser works at that to emulate. It made no sense to the Minstrel.
There was a story to be found in there somewhere he was sure of that.
But it was not just the murders that occupied his thoughts. There was something else, someone else who held court at the forefront of his thoughts. A certain constabulary investigator with the most captivating emerald eyes he had ever beheld.
It was around about that time of the morning when the cockerels shook off their sleep and climbed upon their perches and chorused loud and clear to herald the approach of a new day, that Richard the Minstrel knew what he had to do. With a decision made and his mind set at ease he drifted off to sleep. If one was to look upon the sleeping Minstrel they would have espied a big smile painted across his face and doubtless be curious as to who put the smile there.
The fair Kate returned to the squad room early the following morning leading several uniformed constables. She was carrying a large box that contained countless numbers of letters. The uniformed constables behind her were also carrying boxes full of letters. A couple of the more burly officers were carrying two boxes.
"Is that all of the Minstrel's correspondence?" Detective Ryan inquired, an incredulous look upon his face as he saw the number of boxes that had been brought in.
"What can I say, his devotees are enamoured of him..." The fair Kate said. She passed the box she was carrying to Ryan. "...almost as much as he is enamoured of himself."
Ryan let out a chuckle at the fair Kate's remark. To his unasked question Kate pointed in the direction of the briefing room. Ryan nodded his head and headed for the briefing room motioning to the uniformed constables to follow him.
"Esposito, what about Fisk and Tisdale?" The fair Kate inquired. "Have you found any connection?"
Esposito looked up from the file on his desk to look at his boss.
"Apart from your boy over there...nothing." Esposito reported.
Esposito nodded across the squad room. The fair Kate swung around and looked in the direction of the Sheriff's office. She was astonished to espy Richard the Minstrel talking to Sir Roy as they stood in the doorway of the Sheriff's office.
"What's he doing here?"
"Perhaps he likes you?" Esposito suggested mischievously.
That remark earned Detective Esposito one of the fair Kate's glares but that made the man grin even more.
"Detective Beckett." Sir Roy called out.
The fair Kate strode across the squad room to where the two men were standing. She could not help but notice the smile on the Minstrel's face at her approach. For a moment she wanted to return the smile but it did not come. All manner of thoughts and questions went through her mind but they were soon answered by the Sheriff.
"The Minstrel has graciously offered his services to assist in the investigation." Sir Roy announced.
"Really?" Was all the fair Kate could say in reply as she looked at the Minstrel.
"It is the least I could do for the city that I love." The Minstrel intoned smoothly, a big grin upon his face.
"And considering the nature of the crime scenes, I believe it is a good idea." Sir Roy said.
The fair Kate looked from the grinning Minstrel to the Sheriff, a frown growing on her face.
"Sir, may I have a word with you?"
"No."
With that Sir Roy returned to the confines of his office leaving the ever smiling Minstrel with the fair detective. The fair detective stood there incredulous. She could not believe that the Sheriff thought it a good idea to have this Minstrel, this civilian, helping out on an official murder inquiry
"I am all yours to command my lady." Richard the Minstrel said, bowing his head.
"I'm not your lady." Kate retorted, trying to contain her rising anger.
"Would you like to be?" The Minstrel's eyebrows danced up and down in a mischievous wiggle.
The fair Kate rolled her eyes and shook her head which made the Minstrel smile all the more and made her frown all the more.
And so Richard the Minstrel found himself in the briefing room. The boxes of correspondence had been unpacked and were now stacked in unstable piles up and down the length of the long table. Seated directly opposite him was the fair Detective Beckett.
The Minstrel was giving the missives from his devotees only a cursory look. He knew well what their writing contained, having read some of them before. There were declarations of undying love for his work, there were declarations of undying love for the Minstrel himself, there were declarations from some of the more bolder women of what they would like to do to him if they ever got the opportunity to be alone with him, some of which were so graphic that nothing was left to the imagination. There were offers to bear his children, there were offers to be his obedient slaves, ready to do his bidding.
Richard the Minstrel had grown bored having to go through these letters. He barely gave then a second look. No, his interest was now focused upon the fair Detective sitting opposite him. From time to time he would sneak a glance in her direction, just to watch her as she read a letter that she held in her hand. It amused and fascinated the Minstrel to see her brow furrow as she read something that caught her attention. When the fair Detective Beckett felt his eyes upon her she would look over only for the Minstrel to cast his eyes back to the letter he held in his hand.
This had been going on for a little while. At first the fair Kate tried to ignore his surreptitious glances but soon she began to get annoyed at the constant looks. It felt like she was being observed for reasons that she could not fathom. She found it more than a little uncomfortable to be stared at the way the Minstrel was doing. Catching him sneaking a glance once again she had enough.
"What?" Kate demanded.
"Tis nothing." Richard the Minstrel replied with a small smile upon his features. "I am amused at the way your brow furrows when you're thinking. I find it passing adorable."
"May I ask you a question, Minstrel?"
"Ask away, my dear detective."
"What brings you here, Minstrel?" The fair Kate asked trying not to let her annoyance show. "You care not about the victims, so you are not here for justice. You care not that someone is using your books as a template for the murders, so you are not here because you are outraged. So what is it Minstrel? What has brought you here, is it simply to annoy me?"
Richard the Minstrel looked over to the fair detective. There was one word on the tip of his tongue. Here was here for one reason and one reason only, and she was sitting opposite him. He could not tell her that. He could see that she was upset enough as it was. There was no call to antagonise her further. He paused a moment as if he was giving thought to the questions she had posed.
"I am here for the story." Richard the Minstrel announced finally.
"The story?"
"Indeed. Why those people? Why those murders?"
"Sometimes there is no story, Minstrel. Sometimes the miscreant is just a psychopath." Said the fair Detective Beckett.
"There is always a story." The Minstrel insisted. "I'm a Minstrel and I should know."
The fair Detective Beckett shrugged.
"There is always a story, my dear detective." The Minstrel said, warming to his subject. "A chain of events that makes everything understandable, everything making sense. Take you for example..."
The fair Kate raised an eyebrow in the direction of the man sitting on the other side of the table.
"A fair and comely wench like you..." the Minstrel stopped suddenly at the flash of anger in her eyes. He drew a breath and then corrected himself, offering an apologetic smile. "A fair and comely maid such as yourself should not be working for the constabulary. But yet here you are. Why?"
"I don't know, you're the Minstrel here, why don't you spin us a tale?"
"You're accent bespeaks of having been born and raised in the Manhattan municipality. That bespeaks that you had some privilege, your family had some money, enough for a comfortable living. You had options I should imagine, better options, more socially acceptable options yet here we find you, a member of the constabulary. This tells me that tragedy visited you."
The Minstrel paused a moment as he regarded the deathly still detective seated across from him and then continued his observation.
"You are hurt but not that hurt, so it was not inflicted upon your person...someone you knew...someone close to you...someone you loved. And in all probability you would have been able to live with the tragedy yet for the fact that the person responsible for that tragedy was never caught. And that, my dear Detective Beckett is why we find you here."
Richard the Minstrel stopped suddenly when she saw the look on the fair Kate's face. She tried not to reveal anything, too stunned to say anything but her eyes gave her thoughts away, and the sudden flush to her cheeks. He had struck very close to home. He knew he had said too much. He had stepped over the mark. He felt mortified.
"A cute carnival trick, Minstrel." The fair Kate said after some moments. "But don't think you know me." The fair detective turned her attention back to the letter in her hand trying not to look at the Minstrel.
"The point I'm labouring to make, my dear detective is that there is always a story. One just has to look for it." Richard the Minstrel said soberly and quietly. He picked up a letter from a pile and glanced over it, not able to look at the young woman on the other side of the table.
The fair Detective Beckett put down the letter in her hand in a pile of discarded letters. His observation had unsettled her more than she would be willing to confess. Quickly she picked up a letter from another pile and unfolded it. She found a child-like drawing of the murder scene in Alison Tisdale's apartment. The Minstrel's observation was quickly forgotten as she showed him the letter.
"I do believe I just found it." Kate announced. She showed him the picture.
A dispatch orderly walked over to the fair Kate's desk and handed over a folded piece of paper. She read the note and looked up. It had been some hours that had passed since the discovery of the letter.
"The boffins in the lab have managed to find a set of finger prints on the letter." The fair Kate announced.
"Tis good news." Richard the Minstrel said with some excitement. "What is the varlet's name?"
"That may take a little time." the fair Kate informed him. "There is a backlog down there."
Richard the Minstrel frowned at that piece of news. However a moment later an idea leaped into his head. He beamed as he pulled out a note book from a pocket and immediately began to scribble furiously.
"A backlog in our boffin laboratory inspire you to write a story, Minstrel?" Kate inquired, a little amused.
"A story, no. Inspired me, yes." Replied the Minstrel as he finished his scribbling. He tore off the page and folded the paper. Looking up he caught the attention of a dispatch orderly. The young man thus summoned approached the Minstrel.
"Make haste with this missive to City Hall, and place it in the hands of his Lordship the Mayor himself." The Minstrel ordered. "The Lady Denise is his Lordship's fierce gatekeeper but inform her the dispatch is from me and she will allow you to pass into the inner sanctum. Await his Lordship's response and return anon."
The young dispatch orderly took the folded piece of paper, nodded his head and departed from the squad room as if there were wings upon his feet.
The fair Kate watched the dispatch orderly disappear from view and then slowly turned her attention to the Minstrel. From the look upon her face Richard the Minstrel knew in an instant he had displeased her in some way. For the life of him he had no idea what he had done wrong but he got the distinct impression he was about to be enlightened.
"What did you just do, Minstrel?"
"I merely asked if his Lordship the Mayor could expedite the processing of the finger print we found on the letter." Richard the Minstrel explained.
The fair Detective Beckett leaned back in her chair still looking not well pleased.
"There are other people here who have been waiting on results from the boffins." She informed him as she waved her hand taking in the squad room. "You simply can not usurp the queue."
"Why ever not?" The Minstrel asked.
"There are procedures and protocols to be followed."
"I do believe someone feels threatened." The Minstrel said with a grin.
"I am not threatened." The fair Kate shot back trying not to sound defensive.
"No, I understand you are upset that I have instant access to his Lordship the Mayor and you don't."
"As I said there are procedures and protocols."
"Indeed." The grin on the Minstrel's face deepened. "And you always come to a complete stop at an intersection, and never fiddle with your taxes?"
Richard the Minstrel was graced with another one of her adorable eye rolls and it emboldened him.
"Tell me something my dear detective, do you ever have any fun? You know, let your hair down? Have drinking contests with your colleagues at the local tavern? Drop your top...you know a little Constabulary Gone Wild...?"
"You are aware Minstrel, that I have a weapon?" The fair Kate said tersely.
Richard the Minstrel had no reply to that remark. The confident smile on his face faded as he looked at the fair detective. He did not think that she would use a weapon on him right in the middle of the squad room but the look on her fair face gave him pause to consider the possibility.
Detective Ryan approached the fair Detective Beckett and passed over to her a note that a dispatch orderly had given him. Detective Beckett read the note and frowned deeply.
"We have another body." She announced simply.
The Minstrel leaped to his feet with an excited look upon his face that only a child at Christmas unwrapping their presents could have. He quickly followed Detective Ryan who was heading out of the squad room.
"I can't believe the man has instant access to his Lordship the Mayor." Detective Esposito said.
"You want him, he's yours." The fair Detective Beckett replied sourly as she got to her feet.
"A control zealot like you with something you can not control?" Esposito laughed. "Tis going to be more fun than Orientation Week at the local university."
The fair Detective Kate Beckett glared at the man as they made their way out of the squad room..."
Castle heard the soft chuckling from the man sitting beside him. He turn and saw Jim smiling at him.
"Control zealot." Jim chuckled again. "I like that. I'd like to use that one on her one of these days."
"Feel free." Castle said and smiled.
A nurse that Castle did not recognise entered the room and approached the bed.
"Good morning gentlemen."
"Morning." Castle and Jim chorused.
"The doctor will be here soon on his morning rounds." the nurse announced.
Castle made no move to leave.
"Perhaps this might be a good time to go and stretch our legs a bit?" Jim suggested.
A hesitant look crossed Castle's face. He did not want to leave his partner's side.
"Come on son, I'll buy you a coffee." Jim added. "Katie's going to be fine. She's not going anywhere."
Despite his great reluctance to leave Kate's side Castle did not offer any resistance when Jim rose from his seat put his hand on Castle's arm and slowly lifted him up. Jim guided the writer out of the room and into the corridor of the ward. There was a little more bustle now as the night shift was handing over to the morning shift. Charts needed to be checked, updates on patients reported.
The two men found themselves in the visitors' lounge. There was no one there as it was still too early in the morning for visiting hours to begin. Castle slumped onto a couch and watched as Jim Beckett walked over to the table where the coffee pot sat on the warmer. It was half empty and hadn't been refilled and was barely warm but there was enough for two cups. Jim brought them back and handed one to Castle.
"When was the last time you got some sleep, Rick?" Jim inquired with some concern.
"I got some shut eye a little while ago."
Jim sat down beside Castle and continued to regard the writer.
"No, I mean some real sleep?"
"You're beginning to sound like my mother." Castle said looking at Jim.
"She's just a concerned parent, just like I am."
Castle nodded his head.
"Not since..." Castle didn't finish the sentence. He looked away. As he cradled the cup of coffee in both hands he tried to banished the images of that day from his thoughts.
"You need to get some sleep, son."
"I'll sleep after Kate wakes up."
"I don't think Katie will appreciate it when she finally wakes to find you collapsed in a heap from exhaustion and lack of sleep."
"I'll sleep after Kate wakes." Castle repeated.
Jim Beckett smiled to himself as he brought his cup to his mouth and took a big sip of the coffee. He was used to stubborn. Having a daughter who could be as stubborn as a mule at times made him able to handle the stubbornness from the man sitting beside him. He was not put out by Castle's response. Jim chose not to push the matter.
Castle took a sip of his coffee and then started to rise from the couch. Jim placed a restraining hand on the writer's arm.
"Let the doctors do what they have to do and then we can go back in." Jim said.
The older man knew what was going through Castle's mind. He had not gotten much sleep either since his daughter had been brought into hospital.
"I...I...don't want to be away from her for too long." Castle said sitting back down on the couch.
"I know son. Just finish your coffee first."
Castle nodded his head and then took another sip of his coffee.
"Rick, if you don't me saying so, but you're quite the storyteller." Jim said.
Castle offered the older man a tired smile of thanks.
"I never did understand when Katie started reading your books...why she would read them." Jim paused a moment as he gathered his thoughts. "I found it a little strange that she would read these murder mysteries of yours, after what had happened...but she loved reading your books. I don't know maybe she found some solace in them, I don't know. Whenever a new book of yours came out she would be one of the first to buy it."
Castle grinned. He knew that Kate was a closet fan of his. He had seen his books there on her bookshelves when he had visited her apartment and he noted with amused interest that they were all hardback first editions. He knew full well that she would never admit that she was a total fan but he liked to tease her about it from time to time just to get a reaction from her.
"You know she couldn't stop talking about the dedication in that first Nikki Heat novel? You should have seen the smile on her face."
Castle smiled as he remembered the Nikki Heat book launch. "It was the truth."
Jim smiled and nodded his head. He noticed that Castle had finished his coffee. Jim did the same.
"I guess we might as well head back." He said.
Castle just about leaped out of the couch. The older man had to moved quickly to catch up with the author. As they approached Kate's room the doctor emerged from it.
"Doctor Chan, how's Kate doing?" Castle asked as he reached the doctor.
"Mr Castle, Mr Beckett." Dr Chan said. "Detective Beckett is doing well. Her vitals are good, she is healing slowly but surely."
"Why hasn't she woken yet?" Castle asked, trying hard not to let his concern show.
"She will, all in good time Mr Castle. You just have to be patient."
"Thank you Doctor." Jim said.
"I'll be back in a couple of hours to check on her, now if you'll excuse me but I have other patients to see."
Castle and Jim entered Kate's room and resumed their seats to keep their vigil. The first thing Jim noticed when he sat down was the small smile he had observed on his daughter's face earlier had gone. He was certain that it was not his imagination, it had not been wishful thinking on his part. No, his Katie had been smiling when Castle had been telling his story. The second thing he noticed was that the tired almost haunted look on the Castle's face had faded and was replaced with a gentle, loving smile as he looked at Kate. It made Jim smile.
"Son, why don't you continue the story." Jim said quietly. "I'm sure we'd both like to hear what happens next." Jim nodded his head his toward his daughter.
The smile on Castle's face grew. He took Kate's hand and stroked it.
"Well Kate we now come to another interesting part of our story...I know, I know you want to know what it is we will get to it all in good time. I can't believe how impatient you are." Castle said with a chuckle.
Your your thoughts and opinons are like coin of the realm to this minstrel.
Con.