Disclaimer: You don't need to own the field to play baseball on it.

"If life is just a stage, then we are all running around ad-libbing, with absolutely no clue what the plot is. Maybe that's why we don't know whether it's a comedy or tragedy."

Calvin & Hobbes

Chapter 2: Clue

Beckett clicked on the speaker phone. They all heard "… not marry you today, or tomorrow, or ever. I never intended to tell you like this, leaving you stuck at the ball like Cinderella, but everything kind of happened at the last minute. Do you remember that terrific party at the Edward's place we got to attend last month? Where you met Bill the Barber? Well, when we were separated, I ran into my old friend Ginger Knowles. We'd had a fling earlier, and we've rekindled our romance. Our connection is electric. As I was driving to our wedding, I realized I couldn't go through with my marriage to you. I'm too committed to Ginger.

I know how you believe in fate, and karmic justice. After subjecting you to this, I know someth…"

Agent Crawford had stood up and crossed over in front of Beckett, who was intently concentrating on her phone. She began, "Kate, I'm so sorr …".

Beckett glanced up at her, her eyes glaring. "QUIET!" she snapped.

"… with you. I could build a theory as to why this happened, but building theory is pretty dumb without you. Actually, it's definitely dumb without you. So goodbye, Kate. I will think fondly of you …. forever."

They could all hear the click as the call disconnected. Beckett could be heard whispering "You incredible, incredible man." Then she looked at Esposito. "What do you think?"

Espo grimaced. "Sounded bad, like our boy has landed in some serious shit. Let's get a time and location of the call, then I want to hear the call in its entirety." He glowered at Crawford.

Beckett turned to the agent. "Can you trace his call? Now? It was blocked. My cell number's 917-555-5283."

"Sure. As soon as you guys tell me what's going on."

Beckett gestured impatiently. "Castle is sending up a flare. That call was definitely made under duress, and was being monitored by somebody. We'll go over it in detail once you get a location."

Crawford pulled out business cards from her pocket, shuffled through them, and handed Beckett one. "Forward that voice mail to this number. We'll check ambient noises and stress levels at the lab."

Beckett looked a little lost, so Alexis gently took both the phone and the card from Beckett, pressed some buttons, then handed the phone back to the Detective.

Meanwhile, Crawford took out her phone, and hit the speed dial. She started speaking almost at once. "Charles? Liz Crawford. Look, I need a trace on all activity on a cell phone out here in the Hamptons, and I need it five minutes ago. No warrant needed, we have permission. Phone number is " she looked at her notebook "917-555-5283. We got a voicemail from the victim, but the caller ID was blocked. It should be in your inbox by now. We need the originating phone. Where it is now, where it was when it was used recently, and who it's called. Background noises. The works. Make sure you're still monitoring Castle's cell. I'll hold." She looked around. "It'll be a minute or two."

The study door opened, admitting Martha and Lanie Parish carrying trays of food. Martha looked at Alexis. "Any word?"

Alexis nodded. "Dad called and left a voicemail for Kate. Agent Crawford is trying to track the phone he used, then we're going to review his message. Looks like Dad is in trouble. Kevin is with the other agent at the crash site."

"Well, it sounds like it's about to become busy, so everybody should grab a bite to eat while they can. Especially you, Katherine."

Beckett shook her head. "I couldn't, Martha. Thank you, but I don't need anything right now."

"Yes. You. Do." Lanie towered over her sitting friend. "Don't let her fool you, Mrs R. Kate needs to be fueled. My girl here has the metabolism of a blast furnace." She lowered her voice, smiled, and muttered "the bitch" before continuing. "Since Castle isn't here to make sure she eats, we need to." The two best friends tried to stare each other down.

"Fine!" relented Beckett. She grabbed a fork and took a bite of the polenta. "There! Happy?"

Lanie smirked, victorious. "Ecstatic."

"Wow! This is great!" Beckett looked at the newcomers, and asked "How is it going out there?"

Lanie answered, "That is one great party. Who in the hell did you guys invite, Kate? Outside of your Dad, I don't think anyone has even noticed you guys aren't there. For sure, there's going to be some hurting people tomorrow."

"How is my Dad doing? Should we invite him in here?"

Lanie shook her head. "I did, but he declined. He and his lady friend won't get off the dance floor."

Beckett's eyebrows furrowed. "Who is …."

Crawford raised her hand. "Right here, Charles. What'cha got? … He did? That's clever. … You sure? Okay, thanks. Can you monitor that phone going forward? The moment it goes live, we need a location. Thanks again, Charles. Next drinks are on me."

Crawford hung up and looked at Beckett. "Castle's phone is currently turned off. His only two calls made today were to your cell, Detective. One from the city before noon, and one close to here at 1:43 pm. The other phone you got the voicemail from is a burner, number totally blocked, and was used once at 3:19 pm. Now get this. Normally, we wouldn't be able to track it, but Castle called into your provider, and accessed your voicemail remotely to leave his message. That's why it didn't ring. It's virtually the only way we could have tracked this black market phone. Either Castle is very good or very lucky. He was bounced off a cell tower south of Ridge, NY about 25 miles north northwest of us. We are now tracking that phone as well, but it's off and hasn't been used before or since."

Beckett finished chewing and swallowed. "Okay. Gather 'round, everybody. Let's see what we can get off this message. Beckett started to access her voicemail. "Does anybody know how to a pause a message?"

"Star 5. You restart it by hitting Star 5 again. Star 6 is skip forward, Star 4 is skip back. " Alexis looked closely at Beckett. "Are you sure you and my Dad are compatible?"

"Yep. We took a test."

"Did you guys pass?"

"Well, I did." Beckett put her phone on speaker. They heard, "Katie, it's Ricky. I know this is a terrible way to tell you, but I have some truly shocking news. I cannot marry you today, or tomorrow, or ever."

Beckett paused it and looked at Crawford. "Castle hates the name Ricky, and the only one I allow to call me Katie is my Dad. This is a cry for help. She hit Star 5 again.

"I never intended to tell you like this, leaving you stuck at the ball like Cinderella, but everything kind of happened at the last minute".

Beckett paused it again. "Thoughts?"

Surprisingly, Chief Brady spoke up. "Cinderella was never stuck at a ball."

Alexis added, "He said, 'the last minute'. Dad doesn't use that idiom."

Beckett nodded. "I agree. I think he just put us on the clock. We have until midnight to find Castle, and not a minute later." She pushed play again.

"Do you remember that terrific party at the Edward's place we got to attend last month? Where you met Bill the Barber?"

Beckett paused it again. "We went to the Edwards party out here last fall, not last month. I thought it was nice, but Castle hated it. I certainly didn't meet anybody named Bill, nor any barbers as I recall."

Esposito asked, "Why did Castle hate it?"

"They held it in an outbuilding; used to be a barn generations ago. Castle is such a city boy. He swore he could still smell cows and pigs and chickens."

Esposito smiled, "There you go. He's being held in a barn."

"Okay, but who's Bill the Barber?"

Martha spoke up. "Oh, dear God. That boy watched way too many reruns as a youngster. They totally stunted his cerebral processes. I blame myself." She looked at Beckett. "For Richard, there is no 'Bill' the barber, nor any other barber except 'Floyd' the barber. The Andy Griffith Show"

Chief Brady again. "And there's a William Floyd Parkway up near the town of Ridge."

Beckett nodded. "Okay, we're getting there! We have until midnight to find the right barn off the William Floyd Parkway up near Ridge. Keep it coming, Castle!" She pushed play again.

"Well, when we were separated, I ran into my old friend Ginger Knowles. We'd had a fling earlier, and we've rekindled our romance. Our connection is electric."

Beckett paused Castle's voice again. "We were never separated at the Edwards, except maybe a bathroom break. I don't know a Ginger Noles. Ryan? Oh, Ryan's gone. Alexis, you want to run a search on Ginger Knowles?"

"Don't bother." It's Lanie's turn. "Ginger Knowles is Halle Berry's character in 'Swordfish'. She plays like this undercover CIA double agent, and ends up being a triple agent."

Beckett shook her head. "Typical Castle. I never saw the movie. Is there a kidnapping in it?"

Lanie frowned. "There's a little bit of everything in it. John Travolta gets the computer guy, Hugh Jackman, to work for him by threatening him."

"Holy shit!" Esposito actually turned pale. "Beckett, near the end of the movie, there's a hostage situation at the WorldBank. Revolta controls his prisoners by strapping explosive vests on them, filled with C4 and ball bearings. They become walking, talking claymore mines. They're all on a dead man's switch, attached to a weak transmitter. In the movie, the cops try to pull out some hostages. As soon as they get too far from the transmitter, they go boom!"

Now Beckett is pale. "Okay. What about 'our connection is electric'?"

Esposito shrugged. "Based on the movie, he might be telling us not to kill the power before we breach."

Alexis argued, "But Javi, it sounds like he's saying the connection IS electric. Like he's plugged in." The others could now hear the fear in her voice.

Beckett tabled the discussion. "Let's keep going. Maybe it'll be clearer later."

"As I was driving to our wedding, I realized I couldn't go through with my marriage to you. I'm too committed to Ginger."

She looked around. "Anything? No? Ok, Let's keep going."

"I know how you believe in fate, and karmic justice. After subjecting you to this, I know something bad will undoubtedly happen to me. I'm sure you'll find someone better, someone worthy of your love."

Now Beckett sounded scared. "Castle, don't give up on us, god dammit. Do NOT give up." She looked around. "Anything?"

Crawford asked, "What was all that about fate and karma?"

Beckett dismissed it. "Just another flare. Castle's the karma king, not me." She looked around. "Ready?"

"I'll miss working with you. I could build a theory as to why this happened, but building theory is pretty dumb without you. Actually, it's definitely dumb without you."

"All right. I think he's trying to tell us who's responsible, mentioning work and building theory."

Lanie spoke up. "Pretty dumb? Definitely dumb? He's talking about the movie 'Dumb and Dumber'."

Martha contributed, "Richard hated that movie. Thought it was a total waste of Jim Carrey's talents, as if he could tell the difference between a leading light and a dim bulb."

Esposito quipped, "Actually, some of that movie kind of reminds me of Castle." In response to Alexis' and Beckett's angry frowns, he added "Maybe he's saying there are two captors, and neither is very bright. Or, maybe the character's names are the same as the perps."

Alexis shrugged. "Maybe it's location again. Could they be planning on taking Dad to Colorado?"

Beckett disagreed, "I don't think so, Lex. When we discuss work and building theory, it's almost always about identifying the individuals responsible."

Crawford asked, "Aren't you guys reading too much into this? We are assuming Castle was under duress and closely monitored. How could he pass all of this information to us? He couldn't have had any time to compose this message. He'd have had to do it on the fly."

Beckett explained, "Castle is all about words. That's his job, and he's really good at it. Double meanings, innuendo, inference, and hidden import are his bread and butter. Okay, we'll circle back to 'Dumb and Dumber'. Let's finish this." She pushed play.

So goodbye, Kate. I will think fondly of you …. forever."

Beckett gulped, and whispered, "Hang in there, Rick." She looked over at Crawford, her eyes misting. She cleared her throat. "That's the biggest red flag of all. We have a, um, private word we use between us, and if everything was okay, he would have said it."

Esposito, Lanie, Alexis, and Martha all said in unison, "Always!"

Beckett looked at them in surprise. Martha tsked. "If you two want to keep it private, you should probably stop saying it ten times a day. Honestly, Katherine, I think you give Richard too much credit. Why not a word with more panache; like eternal, or everlasting, or ceaseless? And the word extraordinary? It means extra ordinary. Surely he could do better than that for you!"

Beckett realized Martha was talking to allow her time to regain her composure. She managed a fleeting smile and responded, "Now is not a good time for a mother-in-law moment, Martha." Ha! Castle would be proud of her alliteration. She turned around to look at Chief Brady. "Chief? How many barns would you estimate are up in the Ridge area?"

Brady shrugged. "I don't know, that's a little out of my jurisdiction. Twenty? Thirty? Not too many working farms, and a lot of State Park and State Forest. That's all county land. The sheriff over there is pretty much a waste of air, but he has a young deputy that is really sharp. Grew up right in that area, knows it like the back of his hand." He turned and looked at Crawford. "Can I bring him in on this?"

The blond FBI agent sighed. "Sure. Why not? The more the merrier."

Esposito started thinking about surveillance … and counter-surveillance. "Barns normally are sitting out in the open, without any cover at all. If Castle is wearing an explosive vest, or wired somehow, strolling up and peeking through the windows is not an option."

Beckett said hopefully, "Maybe we can eliminate a lot of them from staking them out from afar. It's only" she glanced at the computer screen "quarter to four. I really don't want to wait until after dark. That would only give us about 3 hours to identify the barn and pull Castle out of there." She turned to Crawford. "Do you still have use of the helicopter? Maybe we could use that."

Esposito shook his head. "Not unless it's equipped with thermal imaging or some kind of penetrating radar. All we'd see is a barn."

Crawford blew a raspberry. "We're not Homeland Security or the Anti-Terrorist group. We don't have any of the cool toys. It's just a common Bell helicopter, has room for 6 passengers and equipment."

"Damn." cursed Beckett, "time is going to get tight in a hurry."

"I know!" crowed Brady, "We'll use a fish finder! Hook it up to the under carriage of the helicopter, and we're ready to go."

Crawford stared at him, as all her fears of working with small town locals were coming true. "Thanks anyway Chief, but we aren't looking for tuna."

"And my Dad is not a fish!"

Brady shook his head. "I guess we don't have any fishermen here? Modern high-end fish finders are extremely sophisticated sonar and imaging machines. All the technology used in the cold war in the seventies is now used to find fish. The best ones have 15 inch, multi-colored screens, thermal imaging, multi-frequency penetrating sonar, and side scan capability better than anything the Russian subs used back then. They're easily mounted and have 360 degree directional scanning, all remotely controlled from the cockpit. It's a lot harder to find a sailfish or marlin than a person." The Chief was obviously an enthusiastic fisherman.

Esposito was smiling broadly. At Beckett's questioning look, he said, "Chief's right. Not only will it work, but with the directional side scan abilities, the pilot won't have to be obvious by buzzing low right over the barn. One pass from the side should do it. How long a range do they have?"

Beckett looked at Chief Brady. "And how long to get one and mount it on the helicopter?"

"Probably, from a helicopter, the range would be half a mile or more. I've used them in 2500 feet of water. They have a couple of the top-of-the-line models at the shop down at the marina. I'll get the marina owner to meet us at the helicopter with the right tools. For a sale like that, trust me, no problem. To mount it, maybe ten minutes."

"Here Chief." Alexis handed the Chief a black credit card. "How much are they?" At his look she said quickly, "Never mind."

"Agent Crawford?" Brady asked eagerly.

She relented. "Okay. The heli and pilot are out at the crash site. Agent James is there now. Have your fish finder guy meet you out there with the equipment and tools, and find a place to pick up the deputy. Make absolutely sure the deputy takes some good maps." She glanced at the two homicide detectives in the room, then went back to Brady. "We need to have minimum exposure. One single pass for each barn, from altitude, at least a quarter mile away. Good Luck." She shook his hand.

As he turned to leave, Beckett stood up and moved in front of Brady. "John?" He stopped in front of her, and she surprised both of them by giving him a quick hug. "Thank you."

"Detective, it's my pleasure. I still owe you and Rick from earlier. I'll call as soon as we find something." He walked out the door.

Crawford commented, "Normally, I dread working with locals. Color me pleasantly surprised. He's pretty impressive."

Beckett smiled. Esposito looked at her. "Agent Crawford, try not to forget that in the city WE are locals."

Beckett added, "While you're feeling so generous, any chance of getting HRT up here?"

The agent shook her head. "The Hostage Rescue Team won't move until they have a definitive target. I'll call and give them a heads up, including what we've guessed from Castle's message, after I call and brief Agent James." She walked away to the corner of the room, her phone out.

Beckett asked Alexis, still working on the laptop, "Anything?"

Alexis replied, "Not really. It should have been called 'A Very Stupid Movie'. The character names were Lloyd Christmas and Harry Dunne, and the bad guy was Joe (Mental) Mentalino. Other than that, I've got nothing."

She walked over to Little Castle's desk chair and draped her arm over her shoulders. "Hey, Lex, it's okay. Investigations are a lot like that, frustrating as hell until you find the missing piece." She looked over at Espo, now talking quietly to Lanie. "Espo, for what it's worth, would you run various combinations of those names. See if anything pops?"

"No problem."

She picked up her cell phone and called Ryan. She found out that nothing earth shattering had been discovered out there, and asked him to come back to the house, where she could fill him in. She started pacing, back and forth, from the desk to the book shelf and back. Finally, she turned to the actress in the room. "Martha, would you please go out and check on my Dad? Make sure he's okay. I can't go out there dressed like this."

"Certainly, Katherine. While I'm out there, I'll scout the rest of the party." Martha sashayed out.

Crawford emerged from her corner. "Chief Brady's already out there with the marina owner, and they're fixing up the helicopter. Agent James is an avid fisherman, and is really excited about this. He thinks Chief Brady is brilliant." Crawford lowered her voice, smiling, so Alexis couldn't hear. "Do you know these things cost fifteen thousand dollars? James and Brady plan on asking Castle to borrow it after he's rescued." She shook her head. "Men and their toys!"

"Oh, I know! And Castle's the worst! One time he …"

Just then, the house phone started ringing . . .