Chapter 10
"Well Kate, we come to the part of our story where the ruggedly handsome Minstrel is convinced the constabulary have caught the wrong person and he tries to convince the fair Detective Beckett the error of her way and along the way manages to irritate her..."
"...Richard the Minstrel was a man distracted. He was distracted by the outcome of the murder case he lent his assistance on. He had been distracted when he had sat down with his fellow minstrels, the Lords Cannell and Patterson for their occasional card game when he had returned from his sojourn to the police house.
For the Lords Cannell and Patterson it escaped not their keen attention that their friend and colleague did not have his mind wholly upon the game of cards. Soon enough they managed to extract what it was that was bothering the Minstrel.
Richard the Minstrel being Richard the Minstrel did not explain that it had to do with the case he had assisted the constabulary with, instead he couched it in terms of a story he was writing. Richard the Minstrel had received good natured verbal tomfoolery from his friends at having killed off Sir Derrick of Storm. The Lords Cannell and Patterson found it passing strange that Richard the Minstrel would kill of a profitable character. Soon enough sir Derrick of Storm was forgotten as Richard the Minstrel told his friends the problems of the latest story he was crafting.
The Lords Cannell and Patterson being the giants of their craft soon were able to assist their friend while at the same time lightening his coin purse. Richard the Minstrel was not too perturbed at losing a small fortune in coin to his friends. He knew well enough he would recoup his loses in good time. The Lords Cannell and Patterson imparted their wisdom as to what course of action he must undertake to correct the story he was labouring on.
It was very late in the evening when he had sent his friends the Lords Cannell and Patterson on their way with the promise that he had every intention of recouping his loses in the not too distant future.
The Minstrel now lay in his bed staring up at the ceiling and thinking. He knew what he had to do. How he was going to do it was another matter altogether. In the brief time had been with her, he had found that the fair Kate was a formidable woman and one not to be trifled with.
He knew full well he would have to devise some rouse to obtain the information that the constabulary held and which he needed, that would prove that young Cabot was innocent of the crimes he had been charged with. He lay there in his bed pondering long and hard but nothing of note came to mind. He gave up trying. Something would come to him of that he was certain. It always did.
As the Minstrel closed his eyes and beckoned sleep to come and take him, thoughts of the delightful emerald eyed woman once more came to dance at the forefront of his mind. Once more a smile came to his lips.
Come the morning when he woke Richard the Minstrel had an idea of what he would do.
At about the same time the Lords Cannell and Patterson were lightening Richard the Minstrel's coin purse while at the same time assisting him with his literary dilemma, the fair Detective Beckett was at her desk in the squad room of the police house. Opened before her was Kyle Cabot's file.
Cabot had been charged with the three murders, and she had completed the necessary paperwork that accompanied any successful completion of an investigation. A completed report had been compiled for the Crown Prosecution service and all ready had been forwarded to that office.
The fair Kate looked up from the file she had been reading to observe Ryan and Esposito removing the items from the Wall of Murder and depositing them into the cardboard box that sat upon her desk. The fair Kate felt a little troubled at the outcome of the case. To her way of thinking something did not sit right. What it was she could not put her finger on.
"You know this boy was in and out the system for years." The fair Kate mused as her gaze returned to the file on her desk. "It appears that he never got the proper care he needed until Alison of Tisdale took over his case. She was the one who got him the job at the tavern. And if her notes are anything to go by he seemed to be showing a marked improvement."
"Well our task is done." Esposito informed her as he placed more documents into the box. "It is now the concern of the Crown Prosecution Service."
"Leave the box here." Kate announced when Esposito made to lift it and take it down to the Archives.
"You are certain?" Esposito questioned.
"Indeed." The fair Kate replied. " I shall take care of it later."
Esposito nodded his head. He and his companion Detective Ryan left the fair Kate to her devices while they repaired to the local tavern to enjoy a tankard or two of ale to celebrate another successful case.
The fair Kate continued to peruse through the file before her feeling more and more troubled about the case. The evidence was all there. If Cabot was fortunate he might be incarcerated in an institution that would care for his ailment rather than being locked away in gaol. It was around the time when one day came to an end and the new one began when the fair detective finally closed the file set it atop of the box and departed from the squad room.
Having solved a case successfully Sir Roy the Sheriff allowed his investigators to arrive at work later than they normally would. It was but a little reward for their efforts to bring miscreants to justice. The fair Kate took advantage of that little reward arriving in the squad room an hour before the stroke of noon.
As she made her way to her desk she was much surprised to espy the Minstrel seated at her desk perusing through a file. She frowned at the scene she beheld and quickened her step.
"Pray tell what are you doing, Minstrel?" The fair Kate demanded, looking none too pleased at the man sitting in her chair. She reached down and took from his hands the papers he had been holding and returned them to the file.
Richard the Minstrel graced the fair Kate with a pleasing smile. He rose to his feet.
"Apologies, my dear detective, it is a minstrel's habit." the Minstrel replied. "Poking through people's cupboards and medicine chest, always looking for a story."
"Why are you still here?"
The Minstrel's smile deepened as he bent down and opened the leather satchel that he had placed beside her desk. He removed a gift wrapped box. "I came to give you this." he explained.
The fair Kate looked at the gift the Minstrel held out to her. She hesitated, not sure what to do.
"Do not look so hesitant, my dear detective." He said as he held the gift out to the fair detective.
"Tis but a small gift to memorialise our brief partnership."
The fair Kate took the proffered gift and looked at the smiling Minstrel. Still she hesitated.
"Open it." The Minstrel urged gently.
The fair Detective Beckett undid the brightly coloured ribbon that surrounded the box and lifted the lid. She was astonished to discover that nestled there in the box lay a copy of Sir Derrick's latest and last adventure. Her eyes widened in surprise.
"It is an advance edition." The Minstrel said. "I took the liberty of signing it. Not that you are a devotee."
The fair Kate lifted her emerald eyes to look at the Minstrel who was grinning at her. She cast her eyes again down to the book she held in her hands and opened it to the title page and saw the small inscription he had made. A smile threatened to break out across her face. She was, if truth be told, overwhelmed by the gift. She had not expected such a gift. A gift from her favourite author, and inscribed as well.
"Thank you Minstrel." she said in a low voice. She looked up at the Minstrel. "That is actually sweet of you."
Richard the Minstrel smiled even more as he shrugged his shoulder as if to say that it was nothing.
"Well." The Minstrel said breaking the silence which had descended between them.
"Well." The fair Detective Beckett echoed.
"I has been an immeasurable pleasure to have met you, my dear Detective Beckett." The Minstrel informed her.
Richard the Minstrel leaned closer to the fair Detective Beckett and kissed her chastely upon her cheek. Smiling brightly he stepped back gathered up his satchel, swung it over his shoulder and with a cheeky wink sent in the direction of the fair Kate, departed from the squad room.
The fair Kate was frozen to the spot. She felt the heat rise to her cheeks the moment the Minstrel had kissed her. In the passing moments her cheeks reddened deeply. Desperately she tried not to look flustered but failed. She stared at the gift he had bestowed to her and finally smiled. This was a gift that she would treasure forever and a day. The devotee girl inside of her wanted to start jumping up and down on the spot with the excitement she was feeling.
Recovering her composure after some moments the fair Kate slowly moved over to her desk and sat down. She continued to stare at the book. She opened the book to the title page once more and once more read the inscription. It sent a flutter through her. Her smile grew even more deeper. She could hardly wait to go home and start reading the book.
With some reluctance the fair Kate closed the book and replaced the lid on the box and then set it aside. Suddenly her smile faltered and then faded completely.
"He did not." She muttered to herself. She reached for a file and opened it. A wave of anger swept across the fair Kate's face.
"He did!"
The file she held in her hand was empty of documents. Richard the Minstrel had purloined the documents relating to the case.
The New York Public Library was a vast repository of books, scrolls and other documents of information and learning. Richard the Minstrel loved going to the Public Library. Ever since he had been a young child he would come to the library and while away the hours lost in some adventure of a valiant knight and a fair damsel in distress. It was one of his favourite places. It was a place he found safe.
He had written one or two of his books within these walls. Some of the stories that he told to his adoring public had their birth in here. Whenever he had the opportunity the Minstrel would venture to this learned institution of knowledge and learning and spend time within its walls, whether it was for research or simply to spend a couple of hours reading some obscure tome that had caught his interest.
The Minstrel was located in one of the large private reading rooms seated at long desk. Along the walls of the reading room were floor to ceiling bookshelves crammed with countless books. Arrayed before him were the documents he had purloined from the constabulary pertaining
to the Cabot case which he had been studying. By his side he had a note pad where he had been making notes from the documents and crime scene sketches and points of interest that caught his eye.
Upon leaving the police house the Minstrel had come straight to the library and immediately set about to work. He had little idea how long he had to go over the documents but he knew that once the fair Detective Beckett discovered their loss she would be hot on his trail. He could picture in his mind the look upon her fair face upon discovering he had taken the documents. The thought of the fair Detective Beckett upset at him brought a smile to the Minstrel's face.
Thus far study had revealed several interesting morsels of information.
The large oak double doors of the reading room were thrown open and a thoroughly unhappy Detective Kate Beckett came storming in accompanied by a pair of big and burly uniformed constables.
"Richard the Minstrel, I arrest you in the name of the law for theft and obstruction of justice." The fair Kate intoned solemnly upon reaching where the Minstrel was seated.
Richard the Minstrel looked up from his study to the fair Detective Beckett gracing her with a genuine smile of greeting. For truly he was well pleased to see her.
"Well met, my dear detective." The Minstrel said.
"Minstrel, you are under arrest for theft of police documents and obstructing justice." The fair Detective informed him.
"You neglected to include the charge of making you look foolish." The Minstrel grinned.
The fair Kate rolled her eyes at his jape.
"Truly, there was a moment Minstrel, where you had me believing you were human."
"Oh, my dear detective, I'm all human, all man." The Minstrel wiggled his eyebrows in a suggestive manner as he gazed upon the fair Kate. His action earned him another roll of her emerald eyes, that were still flashing with fire.
"Put the bracelets on him."
Before the Minstrel had a chance to rise from his seat of his own volition, one of the big and burly constables reached down grabbed his arm and hauled him to his feet. The other big and burly constable placed the handcuffs around the Minstrel's wrists.
"Oh bondage." The Minstrel said excitedly as he looked at the fair Detective Beckett. "My safe word is 'apples'."
"No need to be gentle." The fair Detective Beckett said to the constable.
"Tell me truly, my dear detective, how is it that you found me?"
"Unless it has escaped your attention, Minstrel but I am a detective."
"It was my mother, was it not?"
The Minstrel saw the look of hesitation upon the fair Detective Beckett's face and knew that his question had been answered.
"Take him away." The fair Detective Beckett commanded.
The two big and burly uniformed constables placed a big paw of a hand each on the Minstrel's shoulders and turned him to face the door.
"By the way, my dear detective, the rose petals in the Tisdale murder? They're grandiflora and not hybrid teas." Richard the Minstrel announced as the constables hauled him away.
"I shall make note of that, Minstrel." The fair detective replied as she gathered the documents.
"It would be a good idea, seeing that Kyle Cabot is innocent." The Minstrel declared as the big and burly constables hauled him out of the reading room.
It was a rather sheepish looking Richard the Minstrel who was led out of the gaol cell and paraded before the disapproving looks of his daughter and mother who standing in the squad room. Also with them was a stern looking Sir Roy and the fair Detective Beckett. He knew full well he did not present an edifying sight to his daughter. The disappointed look upon her face filled him with no small amount of remorse.
The Minstrel could not help but notice that the fair detective was trying to look serious over his predicament but that there was a smile threatening to break out across her fair face as if this was amusing to her, which undoubtedly it was.
The constable who had removed him from the cell and brought him before these people unshackled the Minstrel's wrists and stepped away. The Minstrel rubbed his wrists where the cold steel of the handcuffs had chaffed his skin.
"Hello father." Alexis said as she stepped up to her father, enveloping him in a hug.
"Hello daughter." The Minstrel replied as he hugged his daughter back and placed a kiss atop her head.
"I am pleased that this time you were decently attired and not in possession of a stolen police horse." Alexis remarked.
"You will not let me live that episode down, will you?" The Minstrel sighed.
"Not while it still retains comedic value."
"I'm doomed for the rest of eternity."
"It would appear so, father."
The Minstrel chuckled and his kissed his daughter once more as together they approached the other people.
"I place blame upon myself." The Lady Martha declared as she looked to the Sheriff. "He never had a father figure."
"Not true, Mother." Richard the Minstrel declared with an easy going smile upon his face. "I had countless father figures."
The Lady Martha had the decency to blush a little. However she was able to recover from her son's good natured jape. She smiled quickly.
"These good people have kindly decided not to press charges, if you agree to behave."
"We will tolerate no more interference with this case, Minstrel." Said Roy in an admonishing tone of voice. "Do we understand each other?"
Richard the Minstrel smiled and nodded his head. He turned his gaze to the fair Detective Beckett, who was still trying not to smile but failing as she watched this familial scene unfold before her. Her smile faltered a little as she was pinned by the look of his blue eyes.
"You still have the wrong fellow." He said.
"Really, darling." The Lady Martha laughed. "Must you always play the cards?"
The Minstrel allowed himself to be led out of the squad room by his daughter and mother but not before he cast a final look in the direction of the fair Detective Beckett. Sir Roy had departed from the scene leaving the fair detective standing alone watching the Minstrel and his family leave.
Realising that she was standing there alone in the middle of the squad room, the fair Detective Beckett turned and marched to her desk. In a matter of moments she had the box containing the documents from the Tisdale case opened and some moments after that she began to return the documents and pictures back on the Wall of Murder. She began to study them once more.
Detective Esposito was surprised to find her staring at the Wall Of Murder. He was surprised that she had pinned everything up again. He saw the look on her fair face and it was one that he knew well enough, having seen it countless times before when they were investigating a case.
"Tell me not that he got to you." Esposito said as he joined her at the Wall Of Murder.
Detective Esposito was not best pleased to see the documents and pictures back up on the Wall of Murder. To him it mean only one thing. The case was not closed as he first thought. The fair Detective Beckett glanced in the direction of Detective Esposito.
"He did not get to me." The fair Detective Beckett scoffed.
Though the fair Kate would never admit it aloud, and was trying not to admit it to herself but the Minstrel had given her pause for thought. The certainty and conviction in his voice before he had departed in the arms of his family from the squad room, and the certainty in his voice when he was hauled out of the library had made her think. His certainty that Cabot was innocent of the murders had made her start to doubt her belief that they had arrested the right man.
She turned and nodded in the direction of the portrait of Alison of Tisdale.
"She did."
"Who, Alison?"
The fair Detective Beckett nodded her head.
"Fisk, the first murder. Cabot knew him from the tavern, and then he kills Alison, his social worker. And then he kills Kendra Pitney, also from the tavern."
"So?" Detective Esposito said, showing upon his face the confusion he felt at his boss's musings.
"So, think on it Esposito." The fair Detective Beckett said. "Cabot starts with a murder of convenience, and then escalates to a murder of somebody he knows very well and then returns to a murder of convenience? It makes little sense."
"When do murders have to make sense?" Esposito said. "He did it."
Detective Esposito saw the look in the fair Detective Beckett's eye when she glanced at him and he knew that the case that they had wrapped up nice and neat was about to be reopened. He said nothing to voice his displeasure at this turn of events but a shake of his head conveyed his thoughts. The fair Detective Beckett did not see his shake of the head. And if she did it would have mattered naught. Her attention had been drawn back to the Wall of Murder and her own thoughts.
"The Minstrel is right." The fair Detective Beckett conceded suddenly after some moments of silence.
"He's what?" Detective Esposito said with some surprise.
"The Minstrel is right." The Fair Kate repeated, glancing at her companion. "If Cabot was trying to follow the Minstrel's books, then the roses on Alison's body were incorrect."
"Okay."
"And Fisk should have been suffocated by a pillow case and not a cravat. Kendra's dress should have been blue, not yellow. For someone as obsessive as Cabot, it would have been impossible not to get the details correct."
Detective Esposito studied the Wall of Murder in silence just like the fair Detective Beckett was doing. After some many minutes of silence he turned to look at his boss.
"If it was not Cabot, then who was it?"
The fair Detective Beckett eased herself off her desk that she had been leaning against and walked up to the Wall of Murder.
"Alison is the key." The fair Kate declared as she tapped the portrait of Alison of Tisdale that was pinned the the Wall of Murder. She looked back to Esposito. "She is the one the killer is trying to hide."
"As far as we know, Alison of Tisdale was not seeing anyone and none of her other cases fit the profile." Detective Esposito informed her.
"Well, somebody had to know something about her."
At that moment while the fair Detective Beckett and Detective Esposito were ruminating over the case, Richard the Minstrel was in a carriage transporting him to his home. Also in the carriage was his daughter Alexis and his mother the Lady Martha. The Minstrel's two favourite women had wisely chosen to leave until later the lecture that had prepared to deliver to the Minstrel for once more landing himself in trouble with the constabulary.
Just as the fair Detective Beckett was studying the case, the Minstrel was doing the same thing as he sat in the carriage.
"Somebody has set up Kyle Cabot to take the fall." The Minstrel said aloud. "Somebody who was aware of his obsession with me to use it to get away murder. Truly we are not looking for a serial murderer. No, we are looking for a good old fashioned murderer. Someone with motive."
"Truly, you think the victims are related?" Alexis questioned.
"If I was scripting this story, the vile killer would would've wanted only one of the victims dead. He would have killed the others just to cover up the crime."
"How do you get away with murder by committing two more, father?"
The Minstrel looked at his daughter with boundless love and pride. She may have been only fifteen summers old but she was at times far wiser than most older people who liked to claim they were wise.
"At one death you look for motive." The Minstrel explained. "At two, you look for a connection. At three you look for someone like Cabot. At three you don't need motive because mentally unstable serial killers usually do not have one."
"That makes as much sense as the play Rodent Snare." The Lady Martha intoned. "I did that play eight times a week for a year and still I have no idea what it was about."
"The vile killer had to have known both his intended victim and Cabot reasonably well." The Minstrel said, ignoring his mother's interjection. "The only victim who had any real knowledge of Cabot's obsessive condition would have been Alison of Tisdale."
Richard the Minstrel leaned back in the cushioned seat of the carriage and stared into the distance. His thoughts revolved around the case..."
Castle paused in his story and noticed that the first rays of the morning were filtering through the curtained window of the room. He looked at the woman laying in the bed and a tired smile rose to his face when he saw the small had returned to Kate's lips. It pleased him to see that she was smiling. It filled him with hope.
"Richard, dear." Martha interrupted. "Now would be a good time to go and freshen up."
"I'm fine, Mother." Castle said in a tired voice.
"Go and freshen up dear."
The firmness in Martha's voice brooked no argument.
"As you wish, Mother." Castle conceded with a heavy sigh.
"I brought you a change of clothes, dear. The bag is by the door."
Reluctantly Castle released his hold on Kate's hand and rose to his feet. He nodded to both his mother and Jim and turned for the door. A small came to his lips when he saw several nurses hanging around the open door. The nurses had been listening to his story telling. They smiled back at him and slowly moved away suddenly remembering they had things to do.
Castle picked up the bag that Martha had brought with her and left the hospital room.
Castle stared at his reflection in the mirror. The long hot shower had managed to revive him though he still felt tired. There were bags under his eyes from the lack of sleep but he definitely looked more presentable than he did a short time ago. He threw on his jacket, collected his bag and walked out of the staff changing room. He left the bag in the care of the nurses at the nurses station and went in search for some coffee. The hospital ward was becoming more alive and bustling with the coming of a new day.
He returned to Kate's room with a tray of coffee. He found his mother and Jim Beckett talking in low voices. He noticed that his mother had a comforting hand upon Jim's arm. The moment he returned to the room they had stopped what ever they were talking about. Normally he would have been curious as to what they had been discussing but today he let it go. Whatever it was it could remain private between his mother and Jim.
"I brought some coffee." Castle said as he passed out the cups.
"Thank you, dear." Martha said with a smile as she accepted her cup.
"Thank you, son." Jim said.
Castle set his own cup on the beside table and sat down in his chair. The smile returned to his face when he gazed at Kate. He reached over and took hold of her hand.
"Well Kate, shall I continue with the story?" Castle asked her. "I know you are eager to hear what happens next. Well, we now come to the part of our tale where the fair Detective Beckett and the ruggedly handsome Minstrel team up together again and finally begin to uncover the clues that will point them to the murderer..."
Truly your thoughts, opinions and ideas would be welcome dear reader.
Con