Chapter 4
This is more with the case and more conversations between the consultants and detectives. There may be some tension in this chapter.
Disclaimer:Don't own either show
Lisbon and and Beckett headed off to go interview Samantha's friend, Amy Peters, who was with Samantha the night of the murder. Cho had decided he was going to stay in the office. Walking to the car, Beckett decided she was going to find out more about Jane and his ways from Agent Lisbon. She hadn't found out that much from Lisbon on how her husband operated. From what Castle learned from Jane, Lisbon, and Jane knew each other for years and from what she learned from Cho, Lisbon, Jane and Cho worked in California together, but that was the extent of her knowledge. She also knew he was very good at reading people and their emotions, hence his reading of her. "So, Agent Lisbon, Agent Cho mentioned he had worked with you and Jane in California, is that true?"
"Yes, at the California Bureau of Investigation. At the time, I was the leader of the team along with two other members as well as Cho and Jane." Lisbon explained not sure of how far she should explain. She didn't really want to get into the details of the whole Blake Association mess and Red John. She hoped the detective didn't question too much further than what she asked.
"So, you were in charge of your husband?" Beckett questioned as she opened the car door and got in the driver's side and Lisbon headed towards the passenger side and both women closed the doors.
"I wouldn't exactly say I was in charge of him. He did pretty much what he wanted and when he wanted regarding cases. I didn't know half the time of what he was doing." Lisbon smirked and rolled her eyes. "He caused a lot of messes for me to clean up." She had to admit she didn't miss those times when she was boss. She had to admit, since not being boss, working became more relaxing and now she could enjoy being part of Jane's plans rather than having to explain them to other cops and people. Cho had to worry about that aspect now and it relieved her. Cho didn't seem quite as worried for doing paperwork for Jane as she had been. He just went along with his plans no matter what they were.
"So, you had no control over him." Beckett said concerningly.
"Not all the time, though he listened to me some of the time. He generally only listened to me." Lisbon admitted. "It was complicated with Jane."
"I heard your husband has unusual plans to solve a case." Beckett noted remembering from Cho's explanation and from Esposito's stories he heard from Agent Wylie.
"Yes, indeed he does, but they work. Like I said before, I didn't know all the time what he was planning. What plans did you exactly hear about?" Lisbon asked. She knew that Beckett was wanting to get information about how Jane worked, she knew she would have to shed some light to the detective. It seemed to her Beckett and Castle worked together closely with each other over the years rather than having the consultant go off on his own like Jane did. She wasn't sure. The woman was concerned, she was serious and practical like she was but obviously won over by a man opposite of her.
"Only what Agent Wylie shared with Esposito. An art con and faking a death to get a human trafficker to confess was the ones I heard about." Beckett admitted.
"Yes, though the trafficking plan was too extreme for me." Lisbon admitted. "But I helped."
"He likes to set up tricks. That sounds like the work of a conman. So, your husband's a conman?" Beckett remarked seriously.
Lisbon got offended by the tone Beckett was using about her husband. Sure, she supposed she should expect that after finding out Jane was a fake psychic. As far as she knew, the detective knew nothing about Jane's past. She supposed by hearing about Jane's plans, it shouldn't surprise her that Beckett would think Jane was a conman. It still didn't mean she liked the way Beckett was talking. She was going to try to get along. She figured the detective didn't have a good experience with conmen. She was sure, they dealt with those type of cases in New York.
"He was a conman. He pretended to be a psychic at one point in his life, but he's not that person anymore." Lisbon simply stated
"How did Jane end up with your team in California?" Beckett questioned again.
"It's a complicated story that I'd rather not go into now. The basic of it is he came one day to the CBI and helped us with his skills and we hired him." Lisbon said.
The two women arrived at the apartment of Amy Peters. Lisbon knocked on the door and a short haired black woman in her middle to late 20s opened the door. "May I help you?"
"Yes, I'm Detective Kate Beckett from the NYPD." Beckett held up her badge.
"I'm Agent Teresa Lisbon, FBI." Lisbon said holding up her badge.
"We want to ask you a few questions regarding Samantha Jenson." Beckett said.
"Yes, I heard about what happened to her, I was very sad about it."Amy said sadly. "Really awful, she was one of my best friends. Come in." Amy led Lisbon and Beckett inside the apartment to a brown leather couch and the women sat down with Amy across in another chair.
"You were with her the night she died, is that right?" Beckett asked.
"We were celebrating my engagement. Five us went to dinner. Me, Samantha, Abigail Jones, Lacey Adams and Sara Hanson." Amy admitted.
"How was Samantha that night, did she seem different at all? Nervous about anything?" Beckett asked.
"She seemed okay. She was happy for me." Amy admitted.
"How did she get along with her mother?" Lisbon questioned remembering Jane's assumption.
"Not very well, really. It was okay but she always talked about her mother not approving this person she was seeing." Amy explained.
Beckett realized Jane was right. How could he possibly know that just by the message? "Who is this person?" Beckett asked.
"Sabrina Mackson. Samantha is, I mean was a lesbian. Her mother was this grade A righteous you know what. I mean she didn't like the fact Samantha wasn't seeking men's attention." Amy said coldly.
"So, do you know where we can find Sabrina?" Lisbon asked.
"I'm not quite sure. I didn't know her that well. I only met her once. She wasn't able to make it to the dinner that night because she was out of town. I do know where they met. It was with this writer's group mostly poetry. The people dressed Bohemian. Samantha recently got into all that too, I mean her apartment's full of furniture and clothes. She just suddenly got rid of her previous furniture and got all this new Bohemian stuff."
"Do you know the name?" Lisbon asked.
"No, unfortunately I don't remember. They met at Oliver's Restaurant though. I do know that." Amy noted.
"Thank you, Amy. You are very helpful. So, where did you go after dinner?" Beckett asked.
"I went home to my fiancee. He can verify that." Amy said. "Do you think she was killed because she's gay? That would be awful if she was killed because of that. I'm for people's rights. I figured Samantha could love whoever she wanted." Amy explained.
"We don't know that for sure. Several other people in New York City have been killed in the same way. That's why I'm here." Beckett explained.
"You're the New York Police. I believe that's where Sabrina was." Amy admitted.
"Thank you, Amy, for your time and your very useful information." Beckett finished.
Jane and Castle continued looking through Samantha's apartment scanning through her clothes and the poetry they found. "So, you grew up in the carnival?" Castle curiously asked Jane. "I've never met anyone with that background because my research never brought me to that person. That'd be an interesting character for a book."
"Yes, I did, but it's not all fun and games. I was one of the acts, actually. "Boy Wonder."Jane admitted. Jane wasn't sure if he wanted to go too deeply into his history, however, he should've expected Castle to question that once Jane mentioned it himself. Castle continued looking intrigued with the notion and was about to answer when the door burst open revealing a Austin Police officer. "Stand still, hands in the air!" An overweight officer yelled. The two consultants raised their hands. "I hate to disappoint you, officer, my wife sent us here." Castle said sheepishly. He waved his hands around attempting to keep them up.
"To do what, breaking and entering at a crime scene?" The officer said pointing to the obvious police tape around the room and the door. He leered at the two men with the hands up.
"To investigate the victim's apartment. "Castle answered still holding his arms out and scanning the room.
"And find evidence." Jane said. "I'm FBI." He said assuredly. "I know you don't believe us, but we were sent here by his wife."
"You're FBI?" The officer looked skeptically at Jane.
"I can prove it. I can show you my badge." Jane carefully pulled his arm down and reached inside his jacket pocket and pulled out his laminate badge.
"You have a badge? I don't even get a name tag." Castle quipped jealously. The officer glared at Castle.
"You're the psychic that works with them." The police looked at Jane again.
"So, I'm told." Jane responded.
The police seriously looked at Castle. "And who are you, the FBI's clown?"
"Hey, I'm not a clown." Castle protested. "I protest this arrest. We were sent. You don't recognize me?"
"Who's your wife?" The officer asked skeptically.
"Detective Kate Beckett from NYPD. She'll verify it that she sent us." Castle said. "Oh, by the way, I'm Richard Castle."
"Is that supposed to mean something?" The officer looked at Castle.
"You don't know me! The author of Nikki Heat series!" Castle exclaimed.
"No. I don't read."The officer responded and then looked at Castle again. "You expect me to believe your wife is a cop?"
"Well, you should read to escape your dull job of arresting innocent men that only did what they were asked of." Castle explained. "Yes, my wife is a cop."
The officer glared at him. "You don't appear innocent."
He looked at Jane. "My wife is an agent. Teresa Lisbon." Jane said. "You should let me go because we have a baby girl, you don't want her to be without her father, do you?" Jane begged. "And have to tell her he got arrested because of some misunderstanding."
The officer carefully looked at the men again. "Now you're using a sob story on me."
"And my daughter's graduating from college, you certainly don't want to deprive her of her father watching her accept her diploma?" Castle grinned.
"You are too." The officer rolled his eyes. "Fine, arms down." The officer said.
"Thank you, sir. I was getting a cramp in my arm." Castle complained putting his arms down and rubbing his right arm.
"Call your wife." The officer said to Castle. "I'll see if what you said is true."
Castle pulled out his phone and pushed Beckett's name. "Here, officer." and handed his phone to the officer.
Lisbon and Beckett left Amy's apartment after getting a lot of good information. They definitely needed to talk to the girlfriend, they knew and track her down. Beckett's phone rang. "Yes, Castle what did you find?"
"Are you Detective Beckett?"
"Yes, I am." Beckett answered.
"I'm Officer Johnson and I have a man that says he's your husband who broke into the crime scene. He mentioned you sent him."
"I told him to call you so yes, I sent him and Mr. Jane there. I'm here in Austin investigating Samantha's death." Beckett explained.
"The manager reported strange activity going on in the room. He thought it was a break in." Officer Johnson answered.
"I apologize for the inconvenience, Officer. Go ahead and release them. I hardly doubt they're harmful to society." Beckett said. "I didn't realize they wouldn't call."
"Alright, Detective. Just remind them to call next time." Officer Johnson reminded.
"Of course. Give me back to Castle."
"Hello, Kate, how are you?"
"I told you to call the police to let you in!" Beckett yelled.
"Well, I'm sorry, I forgot. Jane had a better way to get in. We found out a lot." Castle said.
"Okay, fine but next time call. I'll see you later." Beckett said ending the call and putting her phone back in her pocket.
"So, our consultants got arrested for breaking and entering." Beckett admitted looking at Lisbon.
"Figures. Jane probably picked the lock on the door. When he doesn't want to wait, that's what he does." Lisbon confessed. She should've known he'd do that and she wondered how Beckett would react. Probably not too happily. The cop was definitely one of those who followed the book by the page. Of course, she imagined having Castle with her changed her viewpoint some. From what Beckett said, it was more of him sharing different ideas than Jane's way of not always following rules and solving a case his way and not the agents way. She learned to accept it throughout the years.
"You just allowed him to break into houses?" Beckett seriously asked.
"I didn't always know when he did that." Lisbon protested.
"You just allowed him to break the law!" Beckett yelled.
"Don't you think I know that. Those are the types of messes I dealt with through the years, but he closed cases. That's how he works! I've come to realize you have to bend the law to get things done." Lisbon admitted loudly.
"Why did you even keep him on after you discovered he broke the law solving cases?" Beckett questioned.
"It's complicated. You don't know everything about him." Lisbon yelled. How could she make the detective realize Jane's ways? Yes, in the beginning she berated Jane for breaking in and not following procedures that she had deeply ingrained in her until she met him. And also the tragedy he hardly forgave himself for and the search for a serial killer that kept destroying his life and sanity little by little doing anything to get to him until finally wiped him away. Then he finally found peace on his island haven and finally seeing her again and basically getting her a job at the FBI while working off charges pertaining to his final chase of the serial killer. Though his fears continued to affect him not stating his feelings for her until the last minute during the brief detour with Marcus Pike. She almost began to think he didn't care about her past friendship and a work partner. But now they were happily married with their beautiful daughter.
Beckett looked at Lisbon who seemed to be keeping quiet after her quick words with the agent over her husband's ways. Beckett decided she was maybe being a little too angry with Agent Lisbon regarding Jane. She didn't mean to be but she wasn't sure she could handle a conman. Lisbon did say he closed cases and was similar to Castle's way of thinking. She hadn't worked officially with Jane yet, so she might be getting a little too judgemental of him. She needed to get along and not let misconceptions put her in a bad mood. She hardly knew him other than brief encounters and from other people. She was letting her reluctance of sharing a case get in the way of getting along with the FBI team. It took a lot for her to accept Castle helping her and becoming part of the team. She needed to accept this team too. Beckett needed to apologize. "I'm sorry, Agent Lisbon. I didn't mean to get so angry. I've just been so stressed over this case. We've gotten hardly anywhere on it." Beckett admitted. "Having to travel adds to it. It's not you or your team."
Lisbon looked at the detective. She knew what it was like to have a case get extremely stressful, especially with a serial killer case. She really needed to get the detective in a room to explain Jane more. "I see. I understand when work can become stressful, detective, but you still need to understand my husband when you work with him. His ways may clash with going by the book, I've had to learn that over the years and have accepted it." Lisbon explained.
"I just need to get used to him, don't I?" Beckett questioned.
"Yes, it takes a little time to get used to him." Lisbon admitted somewhat relieved Beckett apologized even though she was still a little upset. "So, what have you gotten from this killer besides what you said at the briefing?" Lisbon questioned.
"He leaves no fingerprints, that's most always with serial killers. We've questioned possible suspects but those were dead ends. Then Agent Cho called our Captain Gates about Samantha Jenson and Gates called us." Beckett explained.
Abigail Sims was the first of the fifteen victims. She was a young college student going into Liturature and was supposed to graduate that year. It affected Castle greatly because it could happen to his daughter.
Beckett and Castle awoke early to a phone ringing. They knew it was a call to a murder scene. "Hello, Beckett here."
Beckett and Castle traveled to O'Malley's Bar and Grill where the victim was discovered in the alley behind the restaurant. Ryan and Esposito were already there. "Hey, guys, this is definitely unusual." Beckett followed the guys to the crime scene and it appeared a naked body of a young woman with an X across her body.
"Whoa, is this from the Exorcist or something. It looks a like a ritual killing." Castle said. "Poor girl."
"What does it mean? It's so carefully planned out. This is definitely not a run of the mill killing of someone angry at her." Beckett said examining the body.
"She was killed with a trauma to her head, but sliced with a sharp object. I can't tell what it is yet, until I get her to the morgue." Lanie explained looking at the body.
"The girl's name is Abigail Sims, college student from New Jersey. She's would've graduated college." Esposito explained.
"She's Alexis' s age then." Castle said. "Oh, my God. This could be Alexis." Castle said concerned.
"Well, she isn't her. We can't be sure yet, this could be the work of a serial killer." Beckett realized remembering the 3XK killer.
The next victims were all in their late 20s or early 30's and with the same X on their bodies and behind O' Malley's Bar and Grill. They tried to figure out the meaning of what the X could mean. They'd gone through theory after theory. They did come to the conclusion the victims might have known each other.
"I forgot to ask, how's your baby? You got her to daycare." Beckett remembered Agent Lisbon's child. She figured this would break their ice more and thaw the contentious feelings from before with the argument about Jane.
"It was hard to tear her away from her father." Lisbon admitted "More like the other way around." Lisbon remembered Jane's reluctance of letting go of their baby. "You wouldn't know it when he works insulting and reading people, when it comes to our daughter he's an emotional wreck."
"Castle really gets that way with Alexis. He got that way when Alexis was kidnapped a couple of years ago. He was going to do everything he could to get her back, including going to Paris after discovering the captors took her there." Beckett admitted.
After talking to Beckett, Officer Johnson turned to Castle and Jane, "Okay, gentlemen, continue your investigation. You're okay now." He rolled his eyes, "You're not off the hook from me that you need to call before you go enter a crime scene." He pointed his finger toward Castle.
"Yes, sir." Castle saluted putting his hand on his forehead. "See I told you my wife was a cop."
"I have what I need." Jane said.
"You really haven't heard of me." Castle looked the officer in the eye. "My books have been on New York Bestseller's list and have won awards. I write mysteries."
"No. I prefer non-fiction." Officer Johnson said glaring at Castle. Jane looked at him humored by the interaction. Castle really wanted to be recognized and in the spotlight. He couldn't accept the fact somebody hadn't heard of him. Sure, Jane had seen the books around but there hadn't been too much time to read lately with taking care of the baby.
"I could bring you a copy of my book." Castle begged to Officer Johnson.
"There's no need, Mr. Castle." Officer Johnson said. "I'll leave you two. Sorry for the misunderstanding."
"It's understandable." Jane replied.
Officer Johnson opened the door and walked out the room leaving the two men.
"So, you like people knowing you?" Jane asked.
"You are right, I love attention. I imagine you did being Boy Wonder." Castle noted.
"My father's doing mostly. He made me do the show. He wanted to show off "my gift." And I ended up doing it afterwards because basically that's all I knew how to do." Jane confessed.
"My mother is from a show business background from the carnival. She's an actress." Castle remembered his mother telling about that one time.
"You just said you never me anybody from the carnival?" Jane questioned.
"I haven't really, just hearing about it from my mother. Now I know somebody."Castle grinned at Jane.
I know I'm having Beckett be very tough regarding Jane. A lot of it came from watching the Castle episode Fool Me Once where the victim was a conman pretending he was in the Arctic and she was very staunch on her position that they weren't good at all and they wouldn't change their ways. So, the idea of Jane conning people from being a psychic and using his plans I don't think would thrill her. Don't worry, I'll get her to lighten up about him.