Genre: Crime, Drama, Family, Romance, Humor
Rating: M for violence, language and sexual situations
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters featured on the show Castle, they belong to the creator of the show, ABC, and the others who do own them.
A/N #1: I was really pleased to get the feedback I did for the last chapter, both halves of it, especially since I'd posted a short first chapter the same day, a lot of reading for everyone, so want to say thanks for that! Beckett-Castle4ever (Glad to see you liked how they are as a family, and also that you've noticed that they're getting closer. Definitely got what I was trying to write there! And yeah, lol, usually happens that a murder comes up, you're right, at least for Castle and Beckett it does), vetgirlmx (Lol, well, since the second chapter was so long, I did spoil you, you're right. And it was interesting to see that you want them to go to Spain so badly, happy to see that actually. Not surprised that you want to read about Father's Day, because of Julia and everything, was expecting that. Also not too shocked you want Alexis back, that you miss her, I was expecting that. I'm glad I could make your day with the comment about the buttons, but that bothers me too hearing that, so yeah, couldn't help including that someone's going to sew them back on if they get torn off, lol. Ah, happy to see I could surprise you with the second murder, and not too surprised that you're thinking about this being more complicated, you'll see how things go of course. And so glad that you want to read more already!), pcol22 (So happy to see of course you liked the chapter as a whole. And glad to see a mention about the apartment, not surprised you liked it! And thought you might like them moving the wedding to the beach, 'cause yeah, those can be pretty nice weddings! And to explain it, the guy actually described the sketch artist, not a suspect, hopefully that clears it up! Of course, happy to see you want to read more!), life's a mystery (Glad to see you're liking the story so far. And really pleased to see how much you liked the family time in it, as well as the stuff at home! By the way, don't worry about any kind of delay, I know people can get busy so it's understandable, and you did review here, so it worked out to me!), sammysgirl78 (Very happy to see someone else is enjoying this story though it's just barely been started! I thought you might like the fact that I have more Castle/Beckett time outside of work here. I don't know why… well, lemme take that back, seeing that more readers were like me and wanting to see that, I started around these stories trying to work more in, which I didn't mind believe me, I love writing it, lol. Glad to see your reaction to the case right now and seeing you use the phrase twisty turny, lol. And I'm really happy you're liking how they are as a family, though Alexis isn't there at the moment, you're right. And again glad to see you have some connection to Spain, so am hoping you'll enjoy reading if stuff about that pops up in the future! Oh, and of course so glad that you want to read more, and now you don't have to wait for the next chapter anymore!) and TORONTOSUN (Really happy to see you're liking this story so far as well, always great reading that! And had to laugh at what you said about the apartment, but you do make a point about that, though it's kinda necessary for them to go to another big apartment. And interesting to see that your reaction to Beckett, but you're right about her being herself again). So thanks so much to all of you for your feedback, loved reading everything I got, and as always, I appreciate the time taken to write those reviews, you reviewers are awesome!
Must Not Be So
Walking into the apartment, Castle felt a sense of déjà vu, seeing the body on the floor, the back of the vic's head a bloody mass and one hand reaching ahead of them. "Who is she?" he asked Lanie.
"Her name is Helena Tucker," the doctor answered, handing Esposito a wallet. "This was in her pocket. And she's a teacher, according to her sister who was the one to find her forty minutes earlier."
Looking over to where Lanie pointed, Beckett saw a young woman sitting on a chair at the table in the kitchen with her head between her legs. "Is she okay?" she asked.
"She is, just won't leave her sister, but isn't doing too well seeing her," Lanie said.
"Ryan, think you can talk with her?" Beckett asked. When he went over to the woman, she waited for him to take her outside of the apartment before turning back to Lanie. "How is this connected to our vic?" she asked.
"This," the doctor replied as she picked up a slate with chalk writing on it.
"Shorthand," Castle said when he saw the scribbles, five lines of the same kind going from top to bottom.
"Can you read it?" Beckett asked.
"Not really. Was someone else able to?" Castle said to Lanie.
"I was, I learned shorthand in college to make it easier on me to take notes," the doctor said simply. "It's a little rough, I'm assuming your killer wanted to keep you guessing at what this said, but it's your first vic's name, repeatedly."
"What's the time of death?" Beckett asked quickly.
"I'd put it at about ten to twelve," Lanie said.
"So he was busy last night," Castle said. "But if she was a teacher, would she have been up that late?" he asked, seeing the vic was still in a blouse and skirt.
"Or was it another date?" Beckett said, not surprised Castle nodded at that suggestion.
"It wasn't," Esposito said, coming inside then. "Ryan just got the sister to go to the station. But I asked her that as they were going. Her sister teaches tenth grade History, and she had assigned essays to her four classes, and she was likely grading them last night."
"We did find a large amount of papers in the extra room, on the desk there Detectives," a member of the CSU team said then.
"It's another case of the victim knowing the killer," Castle said. "No forced entry."
"I'm wondering if this is a friend, or someone posing as the parent or family member of a student of hers," Beckett mused. "We need to come in contact with her school, see if there have been any students she's had trouble with."
"Or parents, sometimes they can get really protective," Castle pointed out.
"Are you speaking from experience?" Beckett asked him as Ryan came back inside.
"No way," Castle said, bending over the body. "Is she reaching out for her phone?"
"It's here," the CSU member said, handing a phone in a bag to Beckett.
"Check on this," she said, giving it to Esposito. "And see if maybe there aren't texts between her and the killer. To my mind though-"
"It was an unexpected visit," Castle said.
"Most likely," Beckett said, nodding in agreement. "Ryan, think you can ask LT and Rizzio to do a quick canvas of this floor? And also I'd like you to stay with CSU again. Espo, we need to try and see if there's better security footage of this place than our first vic's apartment."
"On it," Esposito said before leaving.
"Were you able to do any of the autopsy of the first vic before you got called in?" Beckett asked the doctor.
"No, they caught me right as I was scrubbing up for it," Lanie said as some coworkers were placing the vic in a body bag. "But I'll get to it as soon as I get back. Do you want me to call you right after, or perform the second one?"
"Between the two," Beckett said simply. She watched her friend leave with the other two and the body, and turned to see Castle was in the kitchen. "Anything?" she asked.
"Just a chalkboard. Look at this," he pointed out to her.
"Meeting with G.A. mother, Tuesday; which is today," Beckett read. "Okay, that's where looking into her students will help. Right now we need to head back to the Precinct, talk with the vic's sister."
"Think you'll be able to make it back to take Julia?" Castle asked in a low voice once they were in the elevator.
"I'm not sure, it depends on the interview," Beckett said. "I'm wondering if you can go?"
"Yeah," Castle said, knowing she wasn't asking if it was possible for him to leave in the middle of a case. "Do you want me to say anything if she asks about you?"
"If," Beckett scoffed. They had reached the lobby by then and walking out she saw Esposito walking up to them and said, "Anything?"
"Stairs have cameras, as do the halls," the detective replied. "They're getting the hours we need prepared for those and the lobby, just in case."
"Okay, there was a note on a board in the kitchen, the vic was supposed to meet with the mother of a student," Beckett told him.
"Think a woman could swing so hard she'd get blood on the ceiling twice?" Castle asked then.
"Depends on the weapon I think," Esposito said.
"And how strong the person holding the weapon is with adrenaline running through them," Beckett said simply. "I'll take the list of students when we finish talking-"
"Actually, after you talk to the sister, you can head home," Esposito said. When she looked at him he said simply, "Ryan and I will take care of things until you get back from dropping her off."
"Again, if Gates finds out-" Beckett started to say, since it wasn't the first time her partners had done that.
"She knows," Esposito interrupted.
"She knows? And she's okay with it," Beckett said in slight shock.
"She is, because she knows you're trying to juggle Julia and your job, and she's a mother too, so she'll understand your daughter will come first," Esposito said. "As long as Ryan and I pick up the slack and you don't take too long with that, she's fine with it. Plus she did say school's almost over, but isn't Julia going to camp?"
"Yes, but that won't be a problem for Mrs. Parker to take her," Beckett said. "School is different; for some reason Julia has to have me go with her there. So tell Ryan thank you, and Castle, keep out-"
"I'm heading home myself after that interview; I need to meet someone for my book, for research. Thought you might not appreciate me using the station for that… well, you and Gates," he said simply.
"Right, then let's go, I don't want to leave Ms.-" Beckett began.
"It's Mrs. Rousseau," Esposito said quickly.
Nodding Beckett then said, "Okay, thank you for the heads up. Castle."
"Wait, can I talk to him, just a second in private?" Esposito said. "Two minutes," he said quickly.
"Fine, I'll be heading out to the car," Beckett said. She went to the street and was in her car before Castle was joining her. "Well?" she asked.
"I'll explain later," he said, looking irritated as Beckett pulled away from the curb.
"I don't understand how the hell this could happen," the second vic's sister was saying angrily as she paced back and forth in front of Castle and Beckett who were watching her. "Helena was a great person, she never liked to fight or make people mad, who would want to kill her?"
"I'm wondering if maybe she didn't have some kind of trouble at school," Beckett suggested.
"With her students? No, she was a great teacher, they loved her since she made history a lot more interesting," Mrs. Rousseau said quickly. "She… oh, she had a little issue with one student, who was skipping her class. She had to tell the principle of course, and she got him suspended, his parents went ballistic not believing their son would do that."
"What was that student's name?" Castle asked.
"I don't know, she kept the names confidential, to protect the students. She did love those kids, loved being a teacher," Mrs. Rousseau said, shaking her head.
"Did she have a boyfriend, fiancé?" Beckett then said.
"Oh no, Helena wasn't really interested in people like that, so no, nobody romantic in her life," Mrs. Rousseau said. "Well, as far as I know, she could have been keeping that a secret from me as far as I know."
"When was the last time you'd spoken to her?" Beckett asked, writing a few quick notes on her pad of paper.
"Yesterday morning, before she left for class, she's… she was going to throw me a baby shower so we were starting to get that set up," Mrs. Rousseau said, tears forming in her eyes. She sat down quickly and covered her face with her hands. "She was happy, ecstatic to become an aunt and now… Please find who did this to her," she said to Beckett.
"We'll do our best," she replied in as assuring a tone as she could. "I just have one last question to ask Mrs. Rousseau, if you're okay to answer." When the woman nodded, Beckett took a picture of their first vic and showed it to the second vic's sister. "Do you know who this is? Someone your sister might have known?"
"No," Mrs. Rousseau said simply, studying the woman.
"Thank you for talking with us," Beckett said, standing up then. "If there's anything you might remember about your sister that might help our case, please feel free to call me," she said, handing the woman her card. When the vic's sister had been escorted to the elevator by Hastings, she turned to Castle and said, "This is becoming a weird one."
"It's looking that way," he said in agreement. "Two very different women, different looks, different ages, but same weapon used to kill them, whatever that is."
"I have a chance to get started on those names, since Ryan and Espo aren't back yet," Beckett said, glancing at her watch as they went to her desk.
"Why don't you fill out the board, and leave once they get here," Castle suggested in a low voice.
"I will," Beckett said. "I'll text when I'm on my way. But tell her I will take her to school." She watched him go, and then turned her attention to the file on her desk, taking out the picture of the second vic from the DMV. She set it on the murder board and uncapped a marker before starting to write the newest information they had.
"Are you sure you don't want to get dressed yet?" Martha asked Julia as they were finishing breakfast.
"I want to wait for Mommy," the little girl said simply. "Is Castle coming?"
"I don't know darling, I tried to get in touch with him; and your mother; and I think they're busy working," Martha said. At that moment the door opened, and she turned to see it was her son. "Richard, your mother was trying to see if you were coming and I can't get a short message in reply," she chided him half jokingly.
"Sorry Mother, but I was just down the hall when you texted," Castle said as Julia had run over to him. "Good morning sweetheart, sorry your mom and I weren't here to wake you up."
"It's kay, I know Mommy probably worked," Julia said. "Is she coming?" she asked in a small voice.
"She will, but since she might be a little late, I think you should get dressed," Castle said.
"Can she do my hair?" Julia pleaded as he carried her up to Alexis' room.
"Sure, but let my mom brush it out first so you won't be late for school," Castle said.
Martha shook her head with a smile as she watched the two, and started taking the bowls from breakfast to the kitchen. She was heading up when the two came to the top of the stairs and she said in surprise, "That was quick."
"She wants to see her mom," Castle said simply. "Can you-"
"Come here Julia, it shouldn't take me too long to brush your hair," Martha said, going up and leading her back inside Alexis' room.
Going down, Castle glanced at the dishes in the sink, but before he could take off his jacket to get started on cleaning up, he heard faint pounding outside in the hall. He started to walk to the door, when it almost flew open, and Beckett rushed inside. "You're not late," he said quickly as he went to her.
"I know, but she has to get dressed, and-" she started to say.
"We took care of that," Castle said quickly. "Actually, all you need to do is her hair; she won't let us do that."
Feeling a little foolish as she always seemed to forget she wasn't alone in taking care of her daughter anymore, Beckett said, "They didn't get anything from the canvas, and Ryan's starting to go through the footage, tech was able to figure out our killer is about five nine to five eleven. So he's using that as a reference."
"Not going to use the fact the man has no head?" Castle joked.
Shaking her head, Beckett smiled and said, "Esposito is looking into the student, and he'll start on the phones from both vics."
"Mommy!" Julia cried as she came down the stairs to see her standing with Castle near the door.
"Hey sweetie, good morning," Beckett said, walking to the bottom of the stairs. She picked up her daughter, hugging her to her tightly before she kissed her temple gently. "Did you sleep good last night?" she asked.
"Yeah, can I take my fan to school?" Julia asked eagerly.
"I think you might want to leave that at home," Beckett told her. "Why don't you let me do your hair now? That way we won't be late."
"Kay," Julia said, going with her mother to the couch. "I wish I could show Celia my costume."
"Remind us," Beckett said, sitting behind her daughter and starting to part her hair to make braided pigtails. "And we'll pack it with your things tomorrow morning to take."
"I'm a little surprised you're letting her spend the night on a school night," Martha commented, coming over with a mug of coffee.
"With it being the last week of school, things aren't all that busy," Castle said. "According to Julia, and she doesn't have any tests exactly. Just needs to say her ABCs, which I know she will do perfectly."
"When do you need to do that?" Martha asked Julia.
"Thursday," the little girl replied. "But I think I know it good."
"And you don't need to worry about saying your alphabet in front of your classmates remember, everyone is going to say the same thing," Beckett told her. "Do you want to try and say it now?"
Nodding, Julia squeezed her eyes shut tightly and said slowly, "A, b, c…"
Since their daughter was distracted, Beckett was able to finish braiding her hair without Julia noticing. When she finished, Julia was finishing up her alphabet, only hesitating with the last few letters before saying z proudly. "That was very good sweetie," she said, gathering her in her arms to the little girl's giggle. "You'll do a great job on Thursday."
"Thank you Mommy, I wish you could see me say it," Julia said.
"Why don't you give us a private performance Thursday night?" Castle suggested.
"Oh, that reminds me," Martha suddenly said. "Something in the paper…" She got up and went to the table where it was, and handed a page to her son.
"What is it?" Beckett asked.
"A Spanish folk dance show," Castle said slowly, looking at Julia as he spoke. "It's folk dances of the country, including flamenco."
"Can-" the little girl immediately started to ask.
"Yes, I'll call my dad, see if he wants to join us," Beckett said. "When is it?"
"Friday night," Castle said after reading the ad. "It'll be your graduation present," he said to Julia.
"Thank you," she said happily.
"Say goodbye to Martha, we need to go," Beckett said, checking the time.
"I'll stay and try to finish up the chapter I'm on," Castle said to Beckett. "If you get anything at all let me know."
"I'll see you later Kate," Martha said after she'd finished saying goodbye to Julia.
"Probably tonight," Beckett said with a smile. "Thank you for getting her breakfast." When his mother had gone upstairs, she turned to Castle and said, "Friday you're coming with us."
"Sure, but we're going to breakfast after we drop her off, since the ceremony is at eleven," he reminded her. He then turned his attention to Julia, who'd gone over to him, and picked her up. "Have a great day at school; you'll have to let us know what you look at in the Spain book today."
"I will," Julia promised. She kissed his cheek before saying, "I asked Mrs. Clayton if you could come and talk about writing books."
"You did?" Castle asked, looking at his fiancée and seeing the surprise on her face.
"Yeah, but she said it was too late, but next year I could do that," Julia said. "Did she say that 'cause no one is supposed to know that you're gonna marry Mommy?" she asked him.
"I think so," Castle said. "Though she seems to be playing it a little too safe."
"If they tell their parents you're there, they might wonder why," Beckett said simply.
"Good point," Castle said. "Thanks for wanting me to talk to your class though," he said then to their daughter. "But maybe I should wait until next year like your teacher said. For now, I'll see you tonight okay?"
"Kay, thank you for my lunch," Julia said, hugging him before they exchanged a kiss and he set her down. As her mother ushered her to the door, she stopped and tugged her hand saying, "You didn't say goodbye to Castle."
"I'll see her soon," he said quickly. But seeing the slightly upset expression on her face, Castle walked over to them and leaned over to share a quick kiss with his fiancée.
"I'll call," Beckett promised when they had parted. She took Julia by the hand again and said, "We said goodbye before he left this morning."
"That doesn't matter," Julia said. "You do that with me, you should do that with Castle too."
"Alright," Beckett said as they stepped into the elevator, slightly smiling. She ran her hand over her daughter's hair and said, "I'm sure we will now. Do you have everything?"
"Yeah, I have my book, that's the most important," Julia replied.
"And your lunch too," Beckett said before they were walking out of the lobby. She hailed a cab and on the way to the school she tested the weight of Julia's backpack. Frowning as she felt how much the book was pulling on the straps she said, "Why don't I carry this for you?" as she took the book out. "Carry it with you to your dance class, and ask Martha to carry it home okay?"
Julia only gave a half-hearted nod, looking at the book already. She protested when her mother took it away saying, "I'll do that Mommy, I promise."
"I don't want you to get car sick," Beckett said simply. When they had finally reached the school, she took Julia to her class and said a quick goodbye, as they'd been late. She was so late she had to leave via the administration offices in the high school to get back to the street since the gates were closed. Taking a cab back to the station, she checked her phone, but there was nothing from anyone there. She was a little startled, then guessed the boys had held back on contacting her while she was with her daughter.
When she was back on the fourth floor she called, "Anything Espo?" since he was at his desk.
"Nothing with the numbers," the detective said. "No texts either that were suspicious. I sent everything to tech, hoping they might be able to pull any numbers deleted recently, but it's a long shot."
"And Ryan? Anything?" Beckett asked, going to where he was sitting in front of the TV.
"Not really," he replied, looking over at her. "If he came in, he was just like everyone else, so I'm assuming that shot I got from our first vic's building wasn't really going to help us, since we would have only gotten barely a side view of his head."
"So we're in agreement this was a guy?" Castle asked suddenly from the doorway.
"Pretty much, though the father of that one student could have done it," Esposito said, coming up behind him. "Student's name is Gerald Andersen, his parents were complaining to the school about our second vic, and they wanted her fired for accusing their son of playing hooky."
"Was he?" Beckett asked.
"Oh, about a month's worth of absences in the end, and not just from our vic's class, all of them except for the first, math," Esposito said. "Apparently had a crush on the teacher in that one."
"Then they could be angry at all the teachers he has," Castle said. "Except for the math teacher."
"And our first vic doesn't fit into that," Ryan said.
"No she doesn't, but I'd like you two to bring him in and talk to him," Beckett said when her phone rang. She read the text and quickly said, "Ryan, you can hold off for the moment on the footage, help Espo with Mr. Andersen. Castle and I will head down to the morgue, Lanie has something."
"Heard you left the case for a while," Lanie said.
"As I do now," Beckett said, shaking her head at her friend as she knew that was just a joke. "And she's fine, eager for summer."
"Of course," the doctor said before leading them into the room where both victims were. "I've only done the first autopsy, but it was pretty standard. And I have your cause of death for sure, blunt force trauma, and I mean blunt. So much so your killer fractured her skull, and in several places."
"Is that why she's on her stomach?" Castle asked, glancing at the body.
"Basically," Lanie said. "And your other vic too, though I haven't gotten started on her yet."
"No signs of a struggle?" Beckett asked.
"Not that I've found," Lanie said. "But I'm thinking your idea of her turning away from the killer before being struck is your most likely scenario."
"Can you ID the murder weapon?" Castle asked.
"I had to take some pictures," Lanie said, walking over to the counter next to the table. "And even then I almost didn't see it."
"See what?" Beckett asked.
Taking some photographs, Lanie handed them wordlessly to her and said, "The shape is pretty distinctive."
"I… I still don't know what this is," Beckett said, shaking her head.
"It's this," Lanie said simply, holding up a hammer with a hook at the end of it.
"An autopsy tool?" Castle said.
"You've never seen this?" Lanie asked. "Do you ever do research?" she then said when he shook his head no. "It's used with the chisel to separate the calvarium from the lower skull. We call it the silver hammer."
Castle then froze, and looked at Beckett who seemed to be thinking something over. "So," he said, taking her arm and leading her toward the door. "We have a woman who was a chemistry student as the first vic, the second vic was a teacher and… a silver-"
"Maxwell's Silver Hammer," he and Beckett said at the exact same time.
"What?" Lanie asked in confusion, standing near them.
"We need to head back to the station," Beckett told Castle, who nodded in agreement. She started to leave the room when her friend called her back.
"Something I need to ask really quickly," Lanie told her.
"I'll meet you at the car," Beckett told Castle. She turned to the doctor and asked a little impatiently, "What?"
Leaning against the passenger side of his fiancée's car, Castle straightened up when he saw her striding to him. Seeing the expression on her face, he blanched slightly, and hurried inside as he asked, "Do I even want to ask?"
"We can talk about it later," Beckett said. "Much later. For now, we need to find a judge, fast."