Chapter Four
The next morning Beckett woke up to the smell of coffee and a kink in her neck. Rick had gotten up before her and replaced his shoulder with a pillow. As she sat forward and tried to work out the kink Castle came in with a fresh cup of coffee.
"Good morning Kate. You looked peaceful I didn't want to wake you until I had to." Said Castle as he handed over the cup.
Kate took her first sip before replying "Good morning. Thank you for this it is going to e a very busy day."
Ring! Riiinnnggg! Ring!
"Detective Beckett." She answered "Of course sir. Thank you." She hung up and looked at Castle. "that was Gates she wants everyone in her office at 9 am. That gives us an hour with the guys to figure something out. Text Ryan and Espo and tell them to get there earlier if they can. I'm gonna get dressed and head out."
At 7:45 am Beckett walked into the precinct. Ryan and Espo were at their desks and stood up when she walked in. They gathered around Beckett's desk.
"Good morning guys. Thanks for being early. The Captain wants to see us at 9 and we have nothing solid to give her. We have speculations and random facts, but how do they fit. Not to mention a possible mystery woman if Lisa was remembering something. Ok to the board." She said as she walked to the murder board.
She picked up a picture of Aaron Summers and tacked it up on the board. "Aaron Summers, 30, theater actor, ex-military, chemical genius, 2 fiancees, gun shot wound with no bullet." She said aloud as she wrote on the board next to his picture. "Ok guys what else. Meredith said he was fine til two weeks ago. So Espo after our meeting I want you to go back through his financials from then see if there is a routine or something we missed. There are two women in the picture and one has heavy mob connections. Ryan I want you to talk to Meredith again. Find out why she didn't mention the other fiancée. She had to have known. Castle and I will track down the McKenna's and get their take on this. Something, somewhere has got to pop to start us off right." As she turned back around from facing the board she saw Captain Gates at her office door calling them in. Castle sat down at Beckett's desk. "Oh no you too Mr. Castle." Gates called. Shocked he walked in behind Espo and closed the door. "As you know many of your witnesses claimed to have called 911 at the time of the murder. There are no such call, now either there are a lot of people in on this or you missed something." Gates said accusingly.
"Captain…it's not possible for there to be no calls. I saw a couple of them myself. Lisa showed me the history on her phone that is time stamped. I checked a couple others as well. Those calls to 911 were made and answered." Kate replied.
"Detective Beckett I looked through those logs myself. No calls from the campus were made that night." Gates said as she sat down.
"Unless…"Castle started and then stopped as he saw the look on Gates' face.
"Go on Mr. Castle. That's why I allowed you in here. I have no idea about how this could happen." Gates assured.
"Well I was going to say unless the calls were intercepted. Rerouted to the killer." Castle said with a twinkle in his eye.
"Why would he/she do that Castle?" Kate asked amused.
"To give him or herself more time to get away. If the 911 calls would have actually gone through when placed, then he/she may not have had time to get off campus. This just gave them more time." Castle stated proudly.
"And how could that be possible Mr. Castle? It was only the campus calls that weren't routed to 911. Are you saying there is a way to intercept that many numbers?" Gates challenged.
"There must be sir. It's the only explanation." Castle replied.
"Ok for the sake of we have nothing else I want you to scout the campus for a router or something. Let's hope it's still there, or someone comes forward mentioning they saw something." Gates said as she waved her hand in dismissal.
"Well ok new plan. Castle and I will handle talking to Meredith and the McKenna's. Ryan take LT with you and scout around the campus. Esposito I want you to stick with rechecking the financials. We need something to go on guys." Beckett ordered.
"Detective Beckett." A voice interrupted
Kate turned around to see Lisa and another girl standing there.
"Oh Ms. Williams I almost forgot I asked you to come in." Kate responded flushed.
"It's Lisa please, and this is my roommate Sheryl. We can come back later if your busy." Lisa mentioned.
"No, its no problem would you like something to drink?" Kate asked.
"No we are ok. I'd rather just get this over with maybe if I tell you what I remember I won't have more nightmares." Lisa said as she took a seat at the conference table.
"Ok. Sure go ahead when you're ready." Beckett urged.
"Well as I mentioned when I talked to you before I had just seen the play the day before so I wasn't as focused on the set or the scene. I was more interested in the surroundings. I noticed a woman standing off stage opposite of where Aaron entered. She stood there for most of the scene and just before the lights went out she rushed down the stairs. When the lights came back on she was gone. I'm sorry I didn't mention her earlier honestly I didn't think about her at all until Sheryl woke me up and said I was yelling about some lady. It kind of all came back to me."
"Do you think you could describe her for a sketch artist?" Beckett asked.
"I…I could try…but I can't promise." Lisa answered.
"Thank you Lisa, and Sheryl for your time." Kate said as she shook the girls hands.
The girls left and Castle turned to Kate "So did you find that helpful?" Castle asked.
"I don't know … maybe…hopefully her sketch with shake something loose. Let's pray Ryan and Espo are having better luck than us." Kate answered.