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Disclaimer: I do not own Castle or it's characters.
Christmas Presents and Murder
Today was Christmas and also the day I get out of the hospital. It was early morning and my aunt was signing the release form, and speaking to the doctor. The doctor said my recovery was really well for what had happened to me. They said I was a true Christmas miracle. Nothing can stop me from missing my favorite holiday.
I was getting dressed in the change of clothes my aunt brought me, long sleeve gray shirt, black skinny jeans, my boots, and my heavy light blue coat. I finished getting dressed and went out to find my aunt waiting for me with a young nurse with a wheel chair. I sat in the wheel chair and she pushed me into the hall where I was greeted by other nurses and my doctor.
They all said their goodbyes to me and congratulated me on my quick recovery. I was happy with all the positive comments and knowing that they care. We went out to the front where my aunt's car was parked and I got in. As she pulled off, I waved goodbye to all the hospital staff who took care of me.
We drove down the streets of New York heading home and there wasn't too many people on the road since it was a holiday.
"Happy to be going home?" my aunt asked.
"Yes I am, especially on Christmas," I said.
"Yeah, Merry Christmas, Em."
"Merry Christmas, Aunt Kate."
My aunt focused back on the road and I looked out the window, looking at all the shops that were closed, every once in a while we'd pass by one that was open. We passed by this one alley way and the sight I saw was horrifying.
"AUNT KATE! STOP THE CAR!" I practically yelled.
My aunt slammed the breaks and asked, "What!? Are you okay?"
"Yeah, but that woman isn't."
My aunt followed my gaze and saw a woman laying by the large garbage can, with a knife coming out of her abdomen.
My aunt pulled over towards the curb and got out of the car. Before she closed the door, she popped her head in, and said, "Stay here."
I nodded and watched my aunt walk over to the body. I watched intently wondering what she was seeing up close. I saw my aunt pull out her cell phone, probably calling the precinct. My aunt walked back to me and opened the door.
"I'm sorry Emily, but it looks like I'm going to be working today," Aunt Kate said.
"Don't worry about it. It's your job," I said.
"I'm glad you're an understanding kid."
"I'm here for you Aunt Kate."
She patted me on the head with a smile on her face and said, "Maybe we'll finish this quickly so we'll be able to spend most of the day together."
"That would be great," I said with a small smile.
We heard the sirens coming towards the area, and soon enough, they all pulled onto the street we were at. Uniformed cops started blocking off the area and looking around the crime scene. Esposito came over with a smiling Castle by his side.
"Hey Beckett, Merry Christmas," Esposito said.
"Merry Christmas, Esposito," she said.
"Merry Christmas, Kate," Castle said.
"Merry Christmas, Castle," my aunt said.
"Merry Christmas guys," I said when I exited the car.
"Merry Christmas mini Beckett," Esposito said.
Castle picked me up and gave me a tight squeeze, "Merry Christmas, Emily. Glad you're okay and got to leave on Christmas."
"Thanks Castle," I said.
Castle put me back down and asked, "So, do we know anything so far?"
"No not yet. I didn't look over the scene yet. Emily spotted it as we drove by," she said.
"Nice eye, mini Beckett," Castle said.
I smiled and my aunt said, "Yeah, she does. She almost gave me a heart attack when she screamed to stop the car."
Castle and Esposito chuckled, and Castle said, "Well she knows how to get your attention."
"She certainly does," my aunt chuckled.
They started walking towards the body and I followed after them. The woman looked young, maybe around twenty five, and she was wearing a red cocktail dress. Her long black wavy hair was hanging around her loosely and some strands were in her face.
"Think she was a hooker," Esposito asked.
"No, those shoes and her purse seem to be expensive. Maybe she was returning from a high end party," my aunt said.
"I know her," Castle said.
"You do?" my aunt asked.
"Not personally, but she used to be the spokesperson for LGM, Lester Grains Modeling, and apparently became a partner with Lester about a year ago. Her names Rosalie Martin. I actually went to one of their parties a few years ago. She was pretty snobby and barely talked to anyone accept her boyfriend and high end friends," Castle said.
"Castle, do you know the boyfriends name?" Esposito said.
"If she's still with him, his name is Armando Deleon. At the time I met him he was one of the new models and a rising star," Castle said.
"Okay, I'll go check him out, see if they're still together," Esposito said.
"Okay, we'll stay here and wait for Lanie," she said.
Esposito nodded and walked off.
"Wow, she could have tons of enemy's," Castle said.
"Yeah, people like this are targeted by almost everyone, from fans, to co-workers, to jealous competition," my aunt said.
"Aunt Kate, her purse is buzzing," I said.
My aunt bent down and picked up the victims purse and opened it up. She pulled out her phone and answered it, putting it on speaker.
"Who's this?" my aunt asked.
"Sandra, Rosita's best friend. Who's this?" Sandra asked.
"This is detective Kate Beckett," she said.
"What happened? Is she okay?" she asked.
"I'm sorry to tell you this, but Ms. Martin is dead," my aunt said.
"No… I just saw her five hours ago at our annual Christmas party for LGM," Sandra said sounding distraught.
"I'm sorry Sandra. Will you come by the precinct later on, so we can ask you some questions?" my aunt asked.
Sandra sniffled over the phone and said, "Yeah, I can do that."
"Okay, goodbye, Sandra," my aunt said.
"Goodbye, detective," she said.
My aunt hung up and put the phone back into the purse. She searched through it not finding much but some money, credit cards, and makeup.
"Well she wasn't robbed, so maybe someone tailed her home after the Christmas party," my aunt said.
"Yeah, if they really wanted her things, they would have taken everything," Castle said.
"Yeah," my aunt said.
"Merry Christmas, everyone," Lanie said as she came over to us.
"Merry Christmas," we all said.
"Glad to see you're okay Emily," Lanie said.
"Thanks," I said.
She bent down and started checking the body.
"What can you tell Lanie?" my aunt asked.
"Well, not much. Pretty much the obvious, knife wound into the abdomen, probably puncturing some major organs and arteries making her bleed out in seconds. Seems like she died probably a couple of hours ago maybe more. I'll find out more when I get her to the morgue," she said.
"Okay, thanks Lanie. I'm going to head back to the precinct and see if Sandra shows up," my aunt said.
"Okay, I'm going to get her back to the lab. I'll let you know if I find anything," she said.
My aunt nodded and we went to her car and left for the precinct.
When we got there the whole place was all decked out for the holidays. They had a menorah and a Christmas tree decorating the area. They also had pretty lights strung about and some other festive decorations.
"Hey, Beckett some girl came in named Sandra Jones. She mentioned that she spoke with you earlier," Ryan said.
"Yeah, we found her friend murdered in an alleyway," my aunt said.
"Oh, The new case. Well she's in interrogation now," he said.
"Thanks Ryan," she said.
"No problem," he said.
My aunt and Castle walked to the interrogation room and I was left with detective Ryan.
"Merry Christmas Mini Beckett," he said.
"Merry Christmas Ryan," I said.
"I'll see you around," he said.
"Okay," I said.
He walked off and now I was left alone by my aunt's desk. I decided to go raid the break room because I was a little hungry. I dug through the fridge and found nothing to munch on, but they did have some muffins on the counter in a festive basket. I took a banana nut muffin and started nibbling on it.
The muffin wasn't actually that bad. As I finished it up I happened to look above me and see mistletoe hanging from the ceiling. I smiled mischievously and my plan from a few days ago popped back into my brain. Maybe I can get it down and hang it over my aunt Kate and Castle. I finished the muffin and through the wrapper away.
I grabbed a chair and pulled it to the spot the mistletoe was hanging. I got up and tried to reach for it but I was just too small to reach it. I huffed and looked around for something else to boost my height. I saw a few large books laying by a desk in the room and grabbed those. I placed them on the chair and hoped it would be high enough.
I climbed up carefully and tried to reach the mistletoe. I stood on my tippy toes and just barely grabbed it and plucked it from the ceiling. I watched my step carefully and got down without any problems. I put everything I used back in place and stuffed the mistletoe in my coat pocket, saving it for the right moment to catch them off guard.
As I waited for my aunt, Esposito came in with a man who I assumed was Armando Deleon. He was really hot and I knew why he was a rising star three years ago. He's probably a top male model right now. They walked by and headed to the other interrogation room. I wondered if he was a suspect in this, but for now, pretty much everyone Rosalie came in contact with yesterday is a suspect.
My aunt Kate and Castle came out of the interrogation room with a weeping Sandra following behind them. She walked towards the elevator and I guessed she was released for now.
"Emily, I need you to stay here. Castle and I are going to head to where the party took place," she said.
"Can't I come?" I asked.
"No, I want you to stay here."
"Okay."
"We'll be back soon, okay?"
"Yeah."
They left together and I sat bored out of mind in the chair next to my aunt's desk. This so far has been the most boring Christmas I've ever had. I understand my aunt is a detective and has to work, but I really wanted to spend time together today. I wanted her to open my present and see her face light up with joy.
I sighed and I heard Esposito behind me say, "What's wrong Mini B?"
"Nothing," I shrugged.
"It's definitely something. You sad because you're not having a fun Christmas with your aunt."
"Yeah, but it's no big deal. We'll just have a better one next year."
"Yeah, maybe next year. Just don't get down mini B. We're all here, so it makes Christmas extra special," he said.
"Yeah, it sure does."
Esposito smiled and nodded. He walked over to the crime board and started writing some new stuff from the investigation on it. Looked like Armando was at another party three hours away after he left the party two hours prior to the murder. Guess he wasn't our suspect either. Then Esposito wrote down a new name on the board, J.P. Cooper, CEO of Fancy Serena Makeup.
"Who's J.P.? Was he at the party?" I asked him.
He put the marker down and said, "Yeah, he's been trying to get his products into photo shoots at LGM. Rosalie was reluctant about it and kept turning him down. Apparently he was at the party last night and things got a little heated between the vic. and him, causing him to be kicked out."
"That sounds like a motive."
"Yeah, but we'll have to wait and see. It could just be a dead end, he might have left it go."
"True."
My aunt and Castle walked back into the precinct and started having a conversation with Esposito. Ryan came over too and started to discuss something he found to. I tried to eaves drop, but it wasn't working out to well. I decided to drop it and wait patiently for them to finish up.
"We should bring him in," my aunt said.
"Yeah, if that waiter really saw him hanging around outside after he was kicked out. Then he sure looks guilty," Castle said.
"Yeah, we'll go track him down," Ryan said.
Esposito and Ryan left while my aunt Kate and Castle stayed behind. They looked over the board, trying to make sense of this whole thing. My aunt's phone rang and she picked it up.
"Did you find something, Lanie?" she asked.
A few seconds went bye and she eventually hung up the phone.
"Lanie found some drugs in Rosalie's system. Someone drugged her, probably why she didn't put up much of a fight. If we find the drugs we find the killer," my aunt said.
"So it couldn't be J.P.," Castle said.
"It could be, but he probably had no idea he was going to get kicked out. Why would he take the time to drug her and follow her home, and get kicked out," my aunt questioned the situation.
"Maybe it was someone close to her," I said.
They looked at me and I shrugged my shoulders, "Just a thought."
"Well, it's a possibility. A girl like her probably doesn't let her drink leave her sights because she is a large target to many people," Castle said.
"The only person she'd trust with her drink, would be…" I said thinking about it.
"Her best friend," my aunt and Castle said together.
I nodded and said, "I'd trust my best friend with anything."
"Even your life," my aunt Kate said.
They took some uniformed officers with them to Sandra's house and went to see if our theory was correct.
About an hour later Ryan and Esposito came back with J.P. in handcuffs.
"Where's Castle and Beckett?" Ryan asked me.
"They went to see Sandra," I said.
"Why?" Esposito asked.
"We had a theory that Sandra was the killer," I said.
"Huh," they said.
"Does that mean I'm free to go?" J.P. said.
"No, we're still going to ask you some questions Mr. Cooper," Esposito said.
They took him to interrogation and eventually my aunt and Castle came back with Sandra in handcuffs. They went to the interrogation room and I decided to watch behind the glass.
"You lied to us Sandra. You left when your Rosalie left the party," my aunt said.
"Okay, so I left with her, but I didn't walk with her," Sandra said.
"You may have not walked wither but you did start following after a few minutes. Surveillance cameras in the area showed you returning from the way you went and going the way Rosalie did just a few minutes ago," my aunt said.
"Yeah, doesn't mean I killed her. She would have been home already," she said.
"Au contraire Sandra. You see, Rosalie was drugged and by the time she was heading home she was feeling the effects of it, making her feel uneasy and disorientated," Castle said.
"You can't prove anything," Sandra said with a glare.
"You see we can. We found the bottle of the drug used for her in your trashcan outside the house. We also had our lab find the glass she used at the party, and it had only two sets of finger prints on it, Rosalie's and yours. It was also coated with the drug, so Sandra I'd confess now," my aunt said.
Sandra sighed and said, "I want my lawyer."
"Fine, just know. You're not going to get away with this," my aunt said.
They walked out and I left the room I was in.
"So we were right?" I said with a small smile.
"Yep seems like it," my aunt said.
"Another case solved. It's a Christmas miracle," Castle said.
We chuckled at Castle and my aunt said, "Yeah, I guess it was."
Ryan and Esposito came over to us and Ryan said, "So, Sandra did it."
"Yep, looks like it," my aunt said.
"Great, turns out J.P. didn't know she had already left, so he was still out back for a while," Esposito said.
"I wonder if he'd have killed her if he did get to follow her," Castle questioned.
"We may never know Castle," my aunt said.
"Hey, how about we celebrate this Christmas case with some egg nog?" Ryan said with a smile.
"Yeah, sounds good," Castle smiled.
They grabbed the egg nog from the refrigerator in the break room and some glasses. They all got some egg nog and they made me some yummy hot chocolate.
Castle raised his glass and said, "To many more cases together and Merry Christmas."
"Merry Christmas," we all said and started drinking our drinks.
While everyone was occupied and gathered around talking, I took the opportunity to put my plan into action. I stood up on the chair by my aunt's desk and pulled the mistletoe from my pocket. Since they were standing next to each other and were right in my range, I lifted it between them and Ryan and Esposito looked up with small smiles.
My aunt and Castle looked quizzically at them and Ryan pointed up to the mistletoe. Castle and my aunt slowly looked up and noticed what was above them. My aunt glared at me and I said, "It's a tradition, you have too."
"She's right, traditions are traditions," Castle smirked.
My aunt sighed and said, "Okay."
Castle leaned into my aunt and she closed her eyes awaiting for the kiss. They kissed gently and everyone whooped and hollered at the two. I smiled happily that my little plan was a success, hopefully it'll push them together some more. They separated and Castle had a cheesy grin on his face, while my aunt just had a small smile.
I got down from the chair and Castle said, "Best Christmas ever."
"It wasn't so bad," my aunt said.
"Hey," he said.
"Kidding Castle, it was pretty good," she said.
Castle grinned happily and we all chuckled at him. We hung around for a while until my aunt Kate and I finally headed home.
When we got home my aunt made us a quick dinner that we ate and had a lively discussion. She was kind of angry at me for what I did, but she also thought it was a cute idea. After dinner we sat in the living room and started opening presents. We both left the presents from each other until the end, so it we could save the best for last.
"Here Emily, this is from me," she said.
"Thanks Aunt Kate, this is for you," I said handing her my gift.
She smiled at it and said, "Nice wrapping job."
"I try," I smiled.
She laughed and we both started opening out gifts. I got mine open first because I put a little too much tape on my gift. I opened the small white box and it held a silver heart locket. It had "I Love You" written in cursive and I opened it up to see a picture of my aunt and I that we took at a photo booth a few months ago.
"I wanted you to have me with you all the time," she said.
"Thanks, Aunt Kate. I love it," I said with a bright smile.
She smiled and finished opening my present. She opened the navy blue box holding the silver ID bracelet I got for her with my name on it.
"Emily it's beautiful," she said.
"Look on the back of it," I said.
She flipped it over and read what I told the jeweler to write: "I love you, Aunt Kate." She wiped a tear from her eye and said, "Thank you, I'm never going to take this off."
"Your welcome and I'm never taking mine off either," I said.
She hugged me tight and whispered in my ear, "I love you Emily."
"I love you too," I mumbled.
We helped each other put on our new pieces of jewelry and they were perfect. I fiddled happily with my new necklace and my aunt gazed happily at her bracelet.
"How'd you afford this?" she asked me.
"I came up with half from my savings and Castle helped pay for the rest," I said.
"That was nice of him."
"Yeah, he's great."
"Yeah he is."
We spent the rest of the night watching Christmas movies and eating holiday cookies. Even though we didn't get to spend the whole day together, it was still the best Christmas ever.