Castle Episode_ Season 3

Prologue

Justin Moore jumped off the edge of the fake building on the Broadway set. He felt a bead of sweat on his brow from the heat of the spotlights. He watched the ground come closer and closer, and knew the wires would catch him soon. But the familiar jerk never came and as soon as he realized, he began screaming. The director jumped out of his seat and watched helplessly as Justin hit the floor.

Chapter 1

"Once again Beckett, great job with that triple homicide. It was a tricky one."Captain Roy Montgomery said.

"Thank you, sir." Detective Kate Beckett smiled.

"You should be thanking me! Considering I cracked this case open." Richard Castle complained.

"Oh? Like all the those times you've apologized?" Beckett sarcastically said, sitting down at her desk.

"I've apologized." Castle protested.

Really? Name one time." She said turning away from her paperwork.

"Uh, there was that time I," Castle snapped his fingers. "I apologized for digging into your mother's case."

You could tell Beckett was caught by surprise. "Uh, name another." This time though, her eyes narrowed and she seemed positive.

Castle started biting his lower lip. "Uh, um. The time, no. Fine you win. But I still deserve a thank you."

"Huh, yeah-" Beckett's phone rang interrupting her. Picking it up she still looked annoyed. "Beckett."

Castle heard a voice but couldn't understand the words. Jotting something down on a sticky note, Beckett hung up. "Let's go."

Castle recognized the tone as a mixture of two different ones. There's- a- murder and don't-mess-with-me. "Who died?" Castle asked, loyally following Beckett.

"A Broadway stunts man." Beckett said, stepping onto the elevator.

"At the Manhattan branch, right?"

"What do you think? We don't have jurisdiction in New York City."

"Can I drive?" Castle asked pleadingly.

"No! You know you should just stop asking because you're never gonna drive." Beckett said annoyed.

"What if I'm a really good driver? You'll never know if you're behind the wheel all the time." Castle tried.

"You could be a great driver, but you see a girl in a miniskirt and boom! We're dead!"

"You could put blinders on me." Castle suggested climbing into the car.

"Blinders?"

"Yeah, you know those black things horses have on their eyes so they focus on what's in front of them."

"Do the help you focus on one thing, because I would really like to focus on the case this time. Honestly, I don't care about your shopaholic skank of a girlfriend."

"You sound jealous." Castle said questioningly.

"Focus." Beckett said simply and strictly as she pulled into the parking lot of Broadway.

"I'll try." Castle promised.

Silently they walked through the double doors and to the stage. "Hey Lanie." Beckett greeted, kneeling down next to her.

"Hey. Victim's Justin Moore. Cause of death is the impact of the ground. Suicide maybe?" Lanie answered.

"Nope. Uniforms found the wires at the top of the building cut. The way it's cut suggests the killer used a pocket knife." Esposito stated.

"Beckett, pocket schedule and cellphone."

"Thanks Lanie." Beckett took them both, and flipped through the schedule. "He met someone named Ella Fitzgerald everyday for the past month. Could be someone he was dating? Ryan look her up and bring her downtown to identify the body."

Ryan nodded and turned and left dialing a number. Castle took the cellphone from Beckett. "The screens cracked." Castle turned the phone over "Actually the entire phone's ruined."

"Yeah most likely from the fall." Beckett looked up. "Probably won't do any good 'cause of the fall, but have Tech pull the SIM card anyway. See what they can salvage, Esposito."

"Yep. Castle." Esposito said taking the phone from him.

"Hey Beckett. Found something." Lanie called. Beckett turned around.

"What?" She said, walking back to the body. Lanie pulled Moore's pant leg up to his knee cap. "Looks like he got a beating. And a bad one at that. From the state of the bruises, I'd say they happened sometime last week."

"That all?" Beckett asked writing down some thing in her leather folder.

"Yep." Lanie nodded.

"Thank you."

Gillian one of the uniforms said, "The director's ready to talk about what happened. He's in the break room behind the stage."