A/N

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The Castle Wall

Chapter 6

Th Park

Kate came out of the trailer and looked around for cause of the scream. There were several rent-a-cops and uniformed cops rushing toward an area by Turtle Pond. It was behind the authors' displays. Castle had apparently heard the scream, and although he could not leave his table, he watched Kate and the cops as they cordoned off the area and began their investigation. Kate made eye contact with him. He gave her a questioning look and she shook her head. She walked over and showed her shield to the officers standing around the perimeter. She could see a woman on the bank. She was not moving. Neither was Kate. She was preserving the scene in her head. The victim was laying behind Connolly, Castle's and newcomer Joe Buchanan's tables but way down on the bank. The body was barely noticeable lying behind a rock cropping under a willow tree. The police escorted the woman who screamed to a secluded area for questioning along with the man who was with her.

The victim was lying on her face, half in and half out of the water. Her blood was mixing with the algae on top of the pond but Kate couldn't see a discernible wound. A backpack was tangled around her right arm. Kate walked down to the corpse. She had short blond hair, was medium build, wearing jeans and a purple hoodie. Uniforms had finished taping off the area and the curious were beginning to gather. Her experience told her that any area in which there was this many people, would be tough to quarantine. She walked along the bank to see the area from a different perspective. She turned around and found Castle at her elbow.

"Castle, aren't you working?"

"Yes, by being your partner." He looked at her expectantly and cocked his eyebrow.

"I meant the other job; you know the one where you're a bestselling author? Don't you have a contract to fulfill?"

He smiled the same smile he had when he was playing and his voice reflected his enthusiasm. "Are you kidding? This is what my fans live for! They all know that I consult. This is an opportunity for them to see me, I mean us, in action."

Kate looked doubtful. "I'm thinking that since you may be a witness, you may need to sit this one out."

He looked rejected. "Why? If I'm a witness, I could only help, right?" He parlayed. "Okay, but let's remember that a woman was murdered. It's not a photo op. Am I clear?" He nodded.

"Did you notice anything?"

"Like a woman being murdered right behind me? I'll have to say no. Are we sure it was a murder?"

"I'm thinking that given the temperature, she wasn't going for a swim." They started to walk back towards the victim.

Castle's eyes darted to the body and then were sheepish when he said, "Maybe someone wanted her to take the plunge." Kate grimaced. He continued, "Too soon?"

Kate bent down to examine the woman more closely; she didn't touch the body as CSU hadn't done their own examination yet. Castle was making himself busy scoping out the crime scene. He was trying to determine if a shoe print in the mud was fresh or if it had been there before the murder. He had his face close to the grass when he heard Joe Buchanan calling his name. "Mr. Castle?" Castle straightened up and looked around. He walked over to the perimeter where Joe was standing with Connolly just outside the tape. "Joe? Mike." Kate had heard Rick speak of Buchanan. He was a young, rapidly rising star of the genre. Rick liked his work.

"Holy crap! Is...is she dead?" His eyes never left the victim. Buchanan blanched.

"Yeah, are you alright?" Castle searched his face.

He took a few shallow breaths. "It's different… than just…writing about it. I..I mean she's dead!"

"Yes, it is and yes, she is. Joe, do you want to sit down?"

"I think that would be a good idea." He was wobbling.

"Why don't you go to my trailer, sit down, sip some water if you want, but don't eat anything. We're going to need to ask you a few questions after CSU and OCME are finished processing the scene." Castle gestured to a uniformed cop. "L.T., would you show Joe where he can wait for us?" L.T. nodded "Sure, Castle." "Go sit and we'll be over to see you in a few minutes." Connolly made eye contact with Castle and Rick could read his old argument that a writer had no business on that side of the tape. Connolly shook his head and walked away.

Ryan and Esposito arrived and ducked under the tape just as Buchanan was leaving. "Whoa, that dude looked pale." Esposito observed. They were shortly joined by the CSU and Perlmutter, who was muttering about the crowd and how hard it was going to be to do his job.

He walked up to the body and to Kate he said, "Detective, I hope you haven't been letting just anyone," throwing a look of distaste in Castle's direction, "contaminate my crime scene." Kate knew better than to fall into his verbal trap. "We've all been very respectful and cautious."

Castle heard the exchange and made a face. "Perlmutter, you got here very quickly, are you sure you're not a fan?" He grinned wickedly. He enjoyed goading the M.E. It was fun teasing Lanie, too, but at least she begrudgingly respected him. Perlmutter wouldn't shed any tears if he got to a crime scene one day and found Castle on the ground, so Rick figured there was nothing to lose.

Perlmutter began his examination by taking photographs and the victim's temperature. Castle and Beckett were waiting patiently for his report. When the M.E. turned the body over, Castle took in a sharp breath.

"Castle? What is it?" Kate searched his face.

He looked miserable. "Uh...I…um..." She was always concerned when words failed him.

"Rick?"

"It's just, she was in my line. I spoke to her a few minutes ago, seriously just twenty minutes ago or so. She's twenty, going to college at Columbia, she was going to be a teacher. She wanted to teach literature, using my books. to high school kids. Her name was Mandy. I remember her because she had that, not Nikki," He pointed to the book in her backpack and sighed. It was different when there was a connection with the victim, even if it was slim.

Mandy Griffith was carrying a backpack which held her wallet, three books and an Alex Cross t-shirt. Her driver's license and Columbia student ID confirmed what Castle had said. She was wearing a Nikki Heat sweatshirt and in her backpack had a copy of Castle's first book, In a Hail of Bullets. Her neck had been slit.

Kate guided him away from Perlmutter. "Are you okay?" Beckett watched the fun, enjoyment and color drain from his face. He was fidgety, and he didn't know what to do with his hands, in and out of his jean pockets, clasped in front, behind or rubbing them together.

Castle took in a deep cleansing breath and replied, "I will be." She started to turn back to the M.E., but spun around when he continued. "Kate," he began haltingly. "Something's not right." He looked anxious. "In the past twenty four hours, three women that I have some sort of connection to have been assaulted or…" His voice trailed off, his eyes drifting back to Mandy Griffith. He looked back at Kate, searching, hoping she would scoff at his theory, but she didn't believe in coincidences and he knew it. Kate wanted to discount what he was saying, she wanted to remove that burden from him, but she had also had to consider the coincidences and the letter.

While Beckett waited for the M.E.'s report, she had Ryan and Esposito start the interviews. Castle said he needed to walk. His mind was flooded with connections and theories and he desperately needed to expel some energy. He headed down the footpath toward the Met. He said he would be back soon. Kate watched him disappear around the curve of the footpath.

Ryan was interviewing the couple who had found the body. He discovered that they went down to the water to feed the ducks, walked a bit and then saw her. They didn't know the victim and had never seen her before. They didn't see anyone around the area, except for the hundreds of people there for the convention. Espo was walking back from Castle's trailer. He had interviewed Joe Buchanan and Mike Connolly and had uniforms set up to take statements from anyone in the crowd.

Beckett met the boys at the tape. "Ryan, Espo, Anything?

"Remind me that I want to be a writer in my next life. Man, have you seen Castle's trailer, the one he's using just for today? It is crazy comfortable and stocked. I could live there full time." Esposito shook his head and at Kate's expression began his report, "The other authors didn't see anything useful, not that we thought they would have. There are a lot of people here." He held up a book, Love Leads to Murder, "That dude, Buchanan gave me a signed copy. He's pretty cool. Here." He shoved the book toward Beckett. "You like this stuff."

"Thanks?" Kate looked at him. She opened the front cover and read 'To Javier, Thanks for making my first real murder fun. – Joe Buchanan.' She scrunched up her face. "Seriously?" She shoved it right back to him. She turned to an amused Ryan. "Anything better?"

Ryan sighed and puckered his lips "Nada. Jon and Erica Winthrop, from Massapequa. Discovered the body about 45 minutes ago, didn't see anyone else around the pond. Dead end. Where's Castle?"

"He had to walk." She looked in the direction he had gone. "He thinks there is some sort of connection between Gina's assault, the hit and run and now this." She gestured toward the body. "I wouldn't say that the crimes are related in any way, except all of them are linked to Castle through his books. I'm trying to look at them all separately and see where the evidence leads."

Esposito shook his head. "You know, sometimes there are just coincidences. I mean, there have been a lot of book things this week. He is a popular writer. Maybe…"

"Let's start by checking the financials and phones for all three vics, including Gina. I want to know if they had any connection other than Castle's books."

"On it." Ryan and Esposito said in unison. They headed out of the crime scene.

Beckett walked back down to Perlmutter. He narrowed his eyes at her approach. "T.O.D. is within the last couple of hours. Looks like a robbery; no cash or credit cards. Ring's missing from her finger. Her neck was slit with a box cutter or razor." He made a face that looked like he smelled last week's garbage. "Messy. I won't have anything new for you, detective until I get her on my table. So don't ask." The M.E. zippered the body bag and he and his technician wheeled the gurney across the lawn to the coroner's van.

Beckett watched him go and said to herself, "Always a pleasure, Perlmutter."

Castle walked along the rolling hills of the footpath towards Fifth Avenue. His thoughts bouncing back and forth between the three women and if they could possibly have anything in common besides his books. Maybe the crimes weren't related at all. He sighed and ran his hand through his hair. He bought bottled water from a street vendor and climbed onto one of the large rocks that dotted the surface of Central Park. He sat down and opened the water bottle and took a deep drink to clear his head. He followed with deep breathing exercises his mother had taught to her acting class. Rick was the Guinea pig. He got up to start his walk back to the castle area and something caught his eye under the edge of the rock. He walked over to it, bent down to look more closely and reached for his cell phone. He took a picture of a box cutter. It was grey with a black lightning bolt printed on its side; the razor blade was broken and bloody. He looked around the area and called Kate.

"Castle, where are you?"

"Beckett, I found a bloodied box cutter! I'm sending you a picture."

"What? Where are you? Castle!"

"I'm not too far." He tried to get his bearings. While he was walking he really didn't keep track of his path. "I haven't made it to Fifth Avenue yet." He looked around again. "There are boulders where three paths intersect right by the bike path. There's a parking lot, too, and a pretzel vendor."

"Castle, there are pretzel vendors every thirty feet. Any other landmarks?"

He started back out to the main path. "Nope, noth…" His phone was knocked out of his hands.

Well there he was, the great Richard Castle. He was talking on his phone. He didn't see why he was so special. The man sneered at Rick from his vantage point. He was uphill and mostly hidden by the boulder. He had been careless and let the knife drop as he clambered up the rock. It skidded down and came to rest on the ground. He was about to retrieve it when Richard Castle, big as life, came walking down the path. She said not to hurt him unless he got in the way. Well, he was in the way of him getting his knife back. He inched his way down. Castle had his back to him, he was on his phone. A couple of more inches and he knocked into Castle from behind. The cell phone went flying, but Castle rolled and jumped up. He was facing a man who was a good four inches shorter than Rick, but had thick muscular arms. His neck was easily a twenty and he was barrel chested. Even with the height difference, he had forty pounds on him. The attacker let go with two quick jabs to Castle's midsection. When Rick turned to shield his abdomen, the man kidney punched him. Rick fell to his knees. He elbowed Rick in the face and split his lip and smashed his nose. Castle's blood was everywhere. The man kicked at him and caught him in the ribs. His features took on a look of victory and he was bending down to collect the knife. When he was distracted, Rick coughed out blood and decided. He got up, while his back was turned, ran up on the boulder, but quickly changed direction and jumped his assailant, kicking his head on the way down. He ended up on top of him, willing his weight to keep him pinned down. His will was losing. Castle pulled back and pummeled the man's face. All of the anxiety of the last twenty four hours let go in the beating. Castle wasn't one to fight, normally, but he could defend himself and more if pressed and he…had had…enough. He was pulled off of the unconscious man a couple of seconds later by Officer Shannon of the Central Park Precinct. Rick hadn't noticed him gallop up or dismount or hear him as he told him to stop.

Kate jogged in the direction Castle had gone. He was right, he couldn't have gotten that far, and he'd only been gone a few minutes. She came to an intersection, was about to head down the other path when a Central Park Ambulance Service van went by. She followed the van. It was only another hundred yards or so until she got to him. She found him seated in the back of the ambulance, receiving first aid. He looked bloodied and battered, but alive.

She walked to the back of the van. "Castle." Rick turned around and winced in pain.

"Hey." She was surveying the damage; split lip, what would be a black eye soon, bruises on his side and back. His nose was still bleeding and cuts and contusions on his knuckles. She shook her head. "I thought you were just going for a walk." The E.M.T. was just finishing dressing his bandages.

"Well, I did and then I stopped here. Have I ever told you about my powers of observation?" He tried a grin but because of his lip, it failed and he was only able to manage a grimace. The E.M.T. motioned that he could go, but said that he should go to his doctor to get a more thorough check up.

"Rick."

He got out of the ambulance and embraced her. "I'm okay. You should see the other guy." He chortled, but then grimaced. "Ow, I think I'm gonna be sore tomorrow."

"What happened?"

"Yes, Mr. ah Castle? Castle? Crap." Rick and Kate turned to see Tom Demming.

"Demming. Why are you here?" Castle was shocked to see him. Kate was uncharacteristically quiet. She had dated Tom four years ago. She broke it off just as she was discovering the spark of affection toward Castle. He was hurt and it ended badly. Kate was embarrassed to see him now.

"Castle," and turned to Beckett, "Kate." She barely made eye contact. "I was reassigned to Central Park two years ago. But, that is not why we're enjoying this reunion. Castle, why the hell did you beat that man unconscious?"