Another Chance
Chapter 18
Castle had never spent a Thanksgiving this way before. Even with the addition of Kate, the staffing at the 12th is still woefully inadequate, and for a lot of the cops, if they are going to give thanks, they will do it at the precinct. He and Kate came in for swing shift while much of New York would be in a turkey-induced stupor. He decided that if Kate had to be there, he would be too, and he'd bring dinner.
He'd been up way too early, putting two birds in to roast, using a portable convection oven for the second one. They'd held an early family fest at the loft, with Mother, Jim Beckett, Alexis, and her new beau, Micah. He immediately remembered the young man. He hadn't had too many science-oriented discussions at cons, and he'd been impressed. He was also relieved when he watched the boy dig into his drumstick and slosh gravy on his mashed potatoes. Alexis seems to have at least found someone who can appreciate the finer things.
There's no doubt that Micah has talent. He managed to reassemble the toy helicopter Castle had crashed, so it could finally make a successful flight around the loft. Alexis is thoroughly enthralled with the guy. Castle's seen his daughter through Owen, Ashley, Max, Pi and a few in between, but he'd never seen her light up quite the way she does around Micah - not even on Christmas morning. She's never handcrafted anything, like Micah's scarf, for one of her boyfriends before, either. Maybe Castle's a little jealous of that. It's been a long time since Alexis presented him with a cookie angel or a beaded bracelet. Once Meredith had thoroughly inculcated her in the art of shopping, her gifts had been purchased - albeit with care. Until now.
Alexis is definitely on the road to something. He just hopes she doesn't attempt to traverse it too fast. And on the subject of fast, the way the detectives from the bullpen are attacking the turkey, it will soon be a skeleton reminiscent of the ones in the desert scenes in old Saturday morning cartoons. There's unlikely to be anything left of the side dishes either, especially the yams, and the total devouring of the pies and cookies is an inevitability.
The phone rings on Kate's desk, and she immediately begins to scribble on a sticky note. He catches her gaze as she puts down the receiver. "Got a case?"
"One of the clowns was missing from a group in the parade this morning. They just found her, dead."
Perlmutter, more surly than usual after being pulled away from his dinner with his brother Edgar, looks up from the body, which was discovered in a shed used to house costumes. "Before you ask, I'll want to get her back to pin down a solid time of death. The temperature dropped last night, and this place wasn't heated, so I'll have to do some calculations and other tests. I can tell you that she's been dead at least 8 to 12 hours, possibly more. She's in full rigor. He gestures as if cracking something in half. "Stiff as a board."
"And what stiffened her?" Castle inquires.
"It's a natural process, Castle. Haven't you learned anything during your tenure as a defective detective?"
Kate rolls her eyes. "Cause of death, Perlmutter."
"Blunt force trauma. Someone bashed her head in. The wound doesn't have the classic signs for a pipe or a bat, but it was with something big and heavy. I'll be able to tell you more when…"
"You get her back to the lab," Castle finishes. "We know."
Ryan wanders up with his ever-present notepad. "Victim's name is Tillie Sondheim. She had an I.D. on her from Macy's."
Kate nods. "A lot of their people get to be in the parade. If she was missing, I wonder why they didn't search for her."
Espo ambles up to stand beside Ryan. "Apparently, they did, but this morning this place was jam-packed with people rushing to get ready. She was lying behind all this stuff, and they were looking for a live person, not a dead body. She's been a clerk at the store for 20 years. I haven't been able to get much else so far. Most of her co-workers are celebrating with their families, but apparently, it was her habit to come and try on her costume and work on her makeup the night before the parade. That's what she would have been doing here, and it wouldn't have been much of a secret that she was coming."
"She isn't wearing a costume or any clown accouterments," Castle points out unnecessarily. "Whoever killed her must have been waiting for her, possibly with the weapon. Who would want to kill a clerk at Macy's? It's hard enough just finding one."
Kate gazes around the shed, taking note of the racks and shelves filled with garments and props from parades past and present. "She was killed at a Macy's facility. One of her co-workers might know why. Not much chance of talking to any of them now. They're probably enjoying what's left of their holiday. They should all be at the store to handle the Black Friday rush tomorrow. Let's find out who the next of kin is and make the notification. Then we can start fresh in the morning."
Castle jams his hands into the pockets of his coat. "Hell of a thing to hear on a day when you're supposed to be counting your blessings."
Kate pulls the belt of her wrap coat tight and heads toward her unit. Castle follows close behind.
Libby Sanders dabs at her eyes with an already soaked tissue. I had a bad feeling when I couldn't spot Tillie in the parade. We just watch it on TV, but she was supposed to be on a float so it shouldn't have been hard to pick her out. I know her clown character. She's been the same one for years. Then when she didn't show up to have dinner with us - my husband and me and the children - I knew something was wrong. If she got held up, she would have called. She always did. She had perfect manners no matter how obnoxious a customer was. That's why the store loved her so much. Usually, she ended up calming whoever is making a stink down and making a sale."
"Sounds like she was great with the customers," Kate comments gently. "How about the other employees? Anyone she didn't get along with?"
Libby shakes her head vigorously. "Everyone liked Tillie. I mean they kept voting her employee of the month and employee of the year. She has - she had- a shelf full of awards. She was very proud of them. She didn't have any family but us. She put everything she had into her job. That store was her life."
Kate slides into the driver's seat of her unit but doesn't turn the ignition. She just sits there, her leather-gloved hands on the wheel.
"Something wrong?" Castle asks.
"I was just thinking about what Libby said about Tillie giving her life to the store. Even with having her sister and her family, that's a pretty lonely way to be. It's kind of the way I was before I met you, giving everything to the job, trying to close the most cases, be the smartest, the best."
"You are the smartest and the best, Kate."
"But it didn't mean much until we started working together and I found reasons to be somewhere other than at the 12th. It's just sad, that's all. Tomorrow the shoppers will rush the doors of the store trying to grab their bargains, most of which will sell out in the first two minutes anyway. The only time they'll think there should be another clerk around is when they have to stand in line at the register. Tillie's life should mean more than that, Castle."
Castle leans across the console to press his lips to her hair. "Kate, we're just starting to find out about Tillie. By the time we're finished, perhaps we'll discover that it does."