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Disclaimer: I do not own Castle or it's characters.
It Wasn't Me!
I'm currently in a holding cell, awaiting my fate, as the clock ticks down my dwindling freedom. The only way I can get out of this is if my aunt and uncle can find the truth, and soon. I don't want to spend the rest of my life behind bars for a crime that I didn't commit. Who would have thought that I'd even be framed for a crime like this? I know I didn't. I thought things were finally looking up for me, but today proves that I was quite wrong with those thoughts. It all started a little over twenty-four hours ago, when I got a call from my new best friend.
Twenty-four hours Earlier
I was sitting across from my uncle in his PI office, waiting for something interesting to happen. We were here for about three hours, and nothing has happened. No phone call, no walk in, absolutely nothing.
"I don't know why I agreed to come with you… There's nothing to do," I said with a sigh.
"Have some faith, I'm sure a case will walk through that door any second," he said.
"Yeah, sure."
Just then, Hayley and Alexis walked in with some food, and Castle said, "Well, it's not a case, but at least it's lunch."
Alexis placed a bag of food on his desk and asked, "You haven't gotten anything yet?"
"Uh, well… No… But I'm sure we'll have something soon."
"I'm sure I can find something if you want," Hayley said as she rifled through one of the bags.
"Thanks Hayley, but I'm sure I'll be able to get a case myself."
"Sure, you will…" I mumbled.
I earned a glare from Castle, and then his phone started to ring. He gave me a smirk as he picked up his cell phone, putting it on speaker, so everyone could hear.
"Hello, Beckett. Is there a case that I need to help you solve?" Castle asked.
"Yes, down at the Grand Manor Hotel," my aunt said.
"I'll be there as soon as possible."
"Okay, see you soon."
Castle hung up, and I said, "Welp, I guess we got a case."
"Yep, I told you we would," he said with a smug grin.
"I guess you were right."
"We'll see you ladies in a bit, and don't eat my sandwich, it's my thinking food."
"All right. We'll be here if you need us," Alexis said as she went over to eat with Hayley.
We left Castle's PI office, and headed over to the Grand Manor Hotel. When we arrived, there was police flooding the building, and concerned hotel guests looking on in horror. We headed to the room number one of the uniformed officers gave us, and found Aunt Kate, Ryan, and Esposito talking with each other. We walked up to them and Castle asked, "So, what do we got?"
"A 32-year-old female, named Maggie Lawson. She was in town visiting family, and when she didn't meet with her parents for breakfast today, they called the hotel to check on her. One of the room attendants came in and found her stabbed to death," Ryan said.
"Wow, that's awful."
"Yeah, it is. But the worst part is, the security system has been down for the past few days."
"Do you think it was someone who knew they were down?"
"It's possible," Esposito said with a shrug.
"It had to be someone that Maggie was familiar with. There was no forced entry, and it doesn't seem that Maggie put up much of a fight," Aunt Kate said as she looked around the room.
"Yeah, barely any signs of a struggle. Her wounds look more like a crime of passion, rather than a random target," Castle said as he observed the body.
"Oh, my god!" we heard a woman cry out from behind us.
We all turned around, and found a woman being held back by a uniformed officer, looking distraught as she looked at the body on the floor. Aunt Kate walked up to the woman and asked, "Do you know Maggie?"
The woman nodded her head vigorously before she spoke up, "Yes, we were best friends in high school. We were going to get coffee and lunch this afternoon, but she didn't show… Oh god…"
"When was the last time you saw Maggie?"
"Last night…"
"Last night?"
"Yes, we had a few too many drinks, and I wound up here…"
"What time did you leave this morning?"
"Around six… I had to get to work by seven."
"Mind if I ask you a few more questions down at the precinct?"
"No, not at all."
We were at the precinct, and Maggie's friend, Kristen, just finished getting interrogated by Esposito and Ryan. Her alibi happened to check out, and we were now back at square one. Castle was looking at what little information was on the investigation board, and said, "I wonder who could have done this. Maybe an old flame who found out she was in town, or possibly an angry relative?"
"It could be anyone right now, Castle. We just have to comb through everyone Maggie has gotten in touch with and seen while in town," Aunt Kate said.
Ryan came over to us and said, "Hey, I just got off the phone with Maggie's parents, and they mentioned that she had some big news for them."
"What kind of news?" Castle asked.
"They don't know. She was supposed to tell them today at breakfast," Ryan said.
"That's strange… I wonder what the news could have been."
"Not sure, but it must have been something important."
"And possibly, something that got her killed," my aunt chimed in.
"I think I know what the news was," Esposito said as he made his way over from his desk.
"What do you got, Espo?"
"I talked with Maggie's employer in Vermont, and it turns out, Maggie gave her three weeks' notice, three and a half weeks ago."
"Maggie was moving back to New York," Castle said.
"Apparently, because I called her tenant back in Vermont, and he said that she moved out on the same day that she left to come here."
"Okay, I want you guys to go back to her hotel room and see if we missed anything," my aunt said.
Ryan and Esposito nodded, before they headed off to gather more information.
"Maggie had to have told someone that she was moving back," Castle said as he pondered the new information.
"I think she did, and that someone could possibly be our killer, or know who it might be," aunt Kate said.
"I think it was her friend," I said.
They both turned to face me, and gave me a questioning look.
"What makes you say that? Her alibi checks out," Castle said.
"Didn't something seem a little off to you? Plus, if they did get a little tipsy last night, and wound up hanging out together, don't you think Maggie would have spilled the beans."
"Hmm… I guess so."
"But if Maggie was killed around ten, ten-thirty this morning, then Kristen would have been at work," Aunt Kate said.
"Just because she went to work, doesn't necessarily mean that she couldn't have left and gotten back to the hotel to kill her," I said with a shrug.
"She does have a point. Kristen does own her business, so she doesn't have to confer with anybody if she wants to leave," Castle said with agreeance.
"I'll go call her shop, and see if any of her employees saw her leave this morning," my aunt said before she walked off to her office.
"What made you come up with that?" Castle asked.
I shrugged and said, "I don't know. I guess I've spent way too much time here over the last five years."
"I guess you have, but you're becoming a good detective."
"Well, we don't even know if my hunch was right. It could be a terrible theory just like most of yours are."
"I actually think you could be on to something… Hey, my theories are usually spot on."
"Like 45% of the time, if that…"
"More like 75%..."
"I'll compromise at 50."
Castle stared at me, contemplating his next words, and said, "Okay… 50 percent."
My phone started to buzz, so I took it out of my pocket, and checked my new text message. Castle looked down at my phone and asked, "Who's that?"
"Elizabeth… She asked if I wanted to come to her house tonight for a sleepover party," I said as I looked the message over.
"Sounds like fun. You should go."
"I guess so…"
"I thought you liked Elizabeth."
"I do, but it's not going to be just us."
"Oh, she's inviting other friends over."
"Yeah… five other girls, four are from her school and one's a neighbor who lives a few houses down."
"You've never met any of them?"
"Nope."
"I think it would be good for you to spend time with girls your age."
"You think so?"
"Yes, go for it."
"Okay, I will."
I texted Elizabeth back, and she sent me a quick happy face emoji showing her excitement. Aunt Kate walked out of her room, and asked us, "What's going on?"
"Emily got an invite to a slumber party at Elizabeth's house with some other girls her age," Castle replied.
"That sounds great. Hope you have a good time."
"Thanks, me too," I said.
"Did you find out anything on Kristen?" Castle asked.
"I did… Turns out, she left around 9:30 a.m., and never came back. She called them after we released her, to let them know that she wasn't coming back today for personal reasons."
"Looks like your theory might be right, Emily."
As they went to investigate their case further, I headed over to Elizabeth's house after picking up some stuff from home. Castle was nice enough to drop me off at her house before he headed back to the precinct, to see if they've found anything more on Kristen and Maggie. I knocked on her front door, and I didn't need to wait long before the door flung open, and I was greeted with a beaming smile from Elizabeth. She gave me a quick hug and said, "I'm so glad you could make it Emily. We're all going to have such a good time."
"I can't wait. Is everyone here already?" I asked.
"We're just waiting on my neighbor. She just got back into town after a few weeks away. Her family decided to take her along with them for a new project her dad was working on in Washington. I think he was building a new wing at one of the hospitals, or something…"
"Wow, they must be rich!"
"Oh yeah, her whole family is filthy rich. They even have one of the largest houses in this neighborhood, and own like ten different places around the US."
"Whoa, can't wait to meet her. Is she nice?"
"She has her moments… I only hang out with her because her mom and my mom grew up with each other, and now we're growing up with each other."
"Ahh… That's cool."
"Yeah… let me introduce you to the other girls."
Elizabeth lead me into her living room, and there were four girls chatting with each other. Elizabeth brought me over to them, and said, "Hey, guys. This is my new friend Emily, the one I did the play with."
"Oh yeah, I remember you talking about her. Nice to meet you Emily, I'm Jasmine," a cute girl with pigtails said.
"Nice to meet you too," I said.
"Hi, I'm Fae," a girl with short blond curls said.
"Hi Fae."
"I'm Luna, and I'm Fae's twin," a girl, who looked almost exactly like her sister, said.
The only thing differentiating the twins was that Luna's hair was longer, straighter, and slightly darker. Other than that, they had a whole bunch of similarities between them.
"And I'm Kaylee," a girl in a ponytail said.
"It's really nice to meet you all," I said.
"You too," they said.
There was a knock on the door, and Elizabeth said, "I'll be right back, that must be Stacey."
She walked off, and I looked questionably after her. The girls name was the same name of the girl who nearly destroyed my life only a few months ago. It could be an odd coincidence that her neighbor just happened to have the same name as my enemy from school, but honestly, I wouldn't doubt for a second that it couldn't be her. The two girls walked in from where the front door was, and lo and behold, it was the girl that I completely despised. She looked around and when she spotted me, I could see her face change from shock to anger within a matter of seconds.
When the two reached us, I decided to speak up first, and said, "Hello Stacey."
"Emily," she practically sneered.
"You two know each other?" Elizabeth asked with shock.
"She's the girl that made me leave school. The one who took my boyfriend, and bullied me for months," I said.
"That was you Stacey?"
"I see you've been hearing Emily's lies… I was just having some fun with her, she shouldn't have taken it so seriously," Stacey said with a huff.
"I think you're the one who's been lying… I thought you left because you didn't like it there."
"I didn't, but she helped me get out of there. Even though I now have an expulsion marked on my record, and bullying."
"It's not my fault you're a terrible human being. I didn't deserve anything you did to me," I said.
"Whatever… Let's just get on with this sleepover, because the sooner it ends, the sooner I get to leave."
"Fine… I think my mom said the pizza came, so let's eat," Elizabeth said.
We all went to Elizabeth's dining room, where her mother was setting down the rest of the of the plates for dinner. She smiled at us all and said, "Glad you all are here. I have some drinks and stuff set out, so you can eat whatever I have here. Have fun, and after dinner, maybe you guys can watch some movies, or play some games before bed."
"Okay, thanks mom," Elizabeth said.
"You're welcome. If you guys need anything, I'll be in my office down the hall. I have a few things I need to get done, so don't hesitate to come and get me."
"Yes, mom."
"Okay, see you girls in a bit."
We all sat down and dug into the food that Elizabeth's mom provided for us. Thankfully I was sat between Jasmine and Elizabeth, but Stacey sat diagonally from me, and I didn't miss the several dirty looks thrown my way during our dinner. It was slightly uncomfortable, but I did my best to ignore her, and converse with the new girls that I met tonight. Once we finished pigging out in the dining room, we decided to head to the living room and watch a few movies on their large flat screen television. We were starting to get tired after our third movie, but we didn't want to go to sleep, at least not yet.
"How about some horror stories before bed?" Elizabeth asked.
"I don't know… I'm not very fond of horror stories," Kaylee said with nervousness.
"Don't worry, they won't be that scary, and we'll all be here for you if you get scared."
"Well, okay…"
"I know someone who can tell real scary stories," Stacey said.
"Who?" Fae asked.
"Emily…" she turned to me with a deadly smirk, and said, "Isn't that right, Emily?"
"Shut up," I said.
"What is she talking about?" Elizabeth asked.
"I have been through a few scenarios where the ending wasn't always the best, but I would hardly call them horror stories."
"Really? The ones that I've heard seem pretty scary to me. Weren't you buried alive, almost shot by a mobster, tortured during a livestream, stabbed with a syringe…" Stacey rattled off.
"Okay… But you don't know the whole story."
"Seems like it is the whole story."
"Were you really buried alive?" Luna asked.
"I was, a few years ago. One of the mobsters that I met prior, broke out of jail and kidnapped me. He buried me under some dirt and snow, in a small wooden coffin."
"Wow… How'd you get out?"
"My Aunt's a detective and her team was able to track me down in the nick of time."
"That's so cool. You're like a superhero," Jasmine said.
"More like the damsel in destress, but I have survived all of these scenarios so far."
"True, but maybe you're super human or something. You can't die," Kaylee said.
"Seriously, you guys are okay with this?" Stacey asked with confusion.
"I think it's cool. Emily has been through a lot and survived some crazy ordeals. It's like those shows you see on TV where they survive these outrageous, traumatizing events, and come out of it with only a few scratches and minor injuries," Elizabeth said.
I smirked at Stacey, seeing that her plan to turn everyone against me wasn't working. She glared at me before she looked somewhere else.
"Do you have any more stories Emily? I'd love to hear what else you've went through," Luna asked.
"Me too… I find this oddly fascinating," Fae said with a small giggle.
"Well okay, if you really want to hear it," I said.
"Sweet," they said as they scooted closer.
I wound up telling half of my crazy survival stories to all the girls in the room, and they all looked at me with shock and horror, but you could tell they were interested, hanging on every word. Stacey just sat there glaring at me the whole time, while her arms were crossed in front of her chest. It made me feel good on the inside, that I was able to make them like me, and not let Stacey get into my head. It was pretty late by the time we finished, so we decided to hit the hay, and we all retreated to our own sleeping bags.
I woke up the next day with a very strong scent of blood wafting through my nose. I sat up in my sleeping bag, and found my arms covered in both dried and wet blood. My eyes went wide as I looked at my blood caked body. I went to stand up, but my right hand landed on something sturdy and hard. I gripped the item in my hand and lifted it up in front of me, coming face to face with a blood-soaked chef knife.
I couldn't wrap my head around what was going on, and I finally stood up from where I was seated. I looked at my fellow companions, and found their bodies lying about in their sleeping bags, blood caking their own bodies. I was stuck in place as I looked on in horror, trying to figure out what I have done. I was sure that I didn't do anything, but looking at the sight before me, I possibly could have.
A high-pitched scream rattled through the home, and pulled me from my racing thoughts. I looked up and found Elizabeth's mother staring at me with pure horror on her face. I went to step closer to her, but she said, "You stay away from me! You stay away!"
I dropped the knife and put my hands out, trying to plead with the woman, "I didn't do this, I swear. I won't hurt you."
"No, get away… I'm calling the police."
"Wait… I didn't…"
She quickly ran up the stairs, and I assume she went to her room to phone the police. I looked around at the crime scene again, and tried to figure out how and why I did this. I ran a bloodied hand through my hair and tried to think of a way to get out of this situation. I heard sirens in the distance, and I figured the authorities were on their way. I could only think of one thing to do during this time of panic, and that was to run into one of the guest bathrooms they had, and lock myself inside. I paced back and forth as the blaring sirens got closer, and I knew that it meant I'd be losing my freedom very shortly. If we didn't figure this out, or if I really did do this, I'll be spending the rest of my life behind bars. The sirens were right outside now, and I could faintly see the red and blue lights flashing from the small bathroom window.
"She's in there… She locked herself in there," I could hear Elizabeth's mother say from down the hall.
I heard footsteps getting closer and closer to where I was currently hiding out. The footsteps stopped in front of the bathroom door, and my heart started racing, thinking about what's going to happen to me. There was a loud bang on the door and I heard a familiar voice say, "Come out with your hands up!"
"Don't make us break down the door!" I heard another familiar voice say.
I knew they'd come in here one way or another, so they could arrest me, and I really didn't want to add resisting arrest to my rap sheet. I decided to unlock the door, and the first voice I heard earlier, said, "Open it slowly…"
I let out a short breath, as tears slowly rolled down my face, and opened the door as slow as I could. When I had the door opened wide enough to reveal myself to the two detectives and a few uniformed officers out in the hall, I saw their faces change dramatically. Esposito looked over at his partner, and Ryan just stared at me with wide eyes. We all just stood in place for a few seconds, silence filling the air, as the officers kept their guns trained at me.
Esposito finally snapped out of this weird trance we were in and he said sadly, "Turn around Emily… Hands on your head."
I did as he said, and he patted me down quickly before taking my hands and putting them behind my back, placing me in the steel handcuffs he had. He let out a small sigh, before he read me my rights, and handed me over to one of the uniformed officers. As the uniformed officer started to escort me down the hallway, I looked back at Esposito and Ryan, and found them whispering to each other, before Ryan took out his phone and dialed who I assumed was my aunt.
I was at the twelfth precinct, and currently sitting in the interrogation room, bouncing my legs up and down nervously. I had to change my outfit since my clothes were evidence and soaked in blood, so they put me in a white, scrub like, outfit. It's been a long time since I've been on this side of the interrogation table, and this time, I really did commit a crime.
The door to the interrogation room opened, and I looked over to see Ryan and Esposito entering with solemn faces. They sat opposite of me, and Esposito placed a folder in front of him, which I assumed had pictures and information in it that pertained to the case.
"Emily… Why did you do this?" Ryan asked me.
"I didn't do it! You've all got to believe me! I wouldn't do something like this, and you know that," I said with frustration.
"Emily, we have evidence that you killed two girls, and left four of them badly wounded and in the hospital," Esposito said as he showed me the pictures of the evidence and victims.
"I… I… I didn't do it though. I woke up, and I was covered in blood… I had no clue what was going on."
"Emily, your fingerprints were on the knife," Ryan said.
"It was on my sleeping bag, and I happened to grab it when I woke up. I swear it wasn't me…"
"Why was the murder weapon on your sleeping bag then?"
"I don't know!? Maybe someone planted it there."
"This'll be much easier if you just tell us the truth. We can help you, you know that," Esposito said as he tried to reason with me.
"I am telling the truth. I was not involved in this whatsoever."
The door opened once again, and my aunt walked into the room.
"Let me talk to her," she said lowly to them.
They nodded before they got up from their seats, and headed out the door, closing it shut behind them. My aunt Kate took a seat in front of me, and looked at me with sadness in her eyes.
"You've got to believe me, Aunt Kate," I cried out.
"Emily… I want to believe you, but…" she started to say, but couldn't finish it.
"But what!? There's to much evidence to go on… I'm your niece, you know I wouldn't do something stupid like this."
"You've been on a downward spiral for months Emily. You had motive."
"I may have hated Stacey's guts, but I would never stoop that low. I even tried to be as civil as I could with her while we were at the party. I didn't kill her."
"Technically you didn't kill her."
"I didn't? Who did I kill?"
"Fae and Kaylee."
"Wow, that's horrible…"
"It is, and if you just tell us what happened, I'm sure I can help make this process easier and possibly get you a lesser sentence."
"You really don't believe me?" I questioned her, as I sat back and crossed my arms in front of me.
"I don't know, Em… This is hard for me to send you to jail, but all the evidence links to you."
"Well, I've already said my piece… If you guys don't want to believe me, then fine. Send an innocent thirteen-year-old to jail."
"Em, please… Don't be like this."
I stayed silent as I looked away from my aunt, having nothing more to say to her. She let out a sigh, before I heard her get up and leave the room. I couldn't understand why they didn't believe me, well I kind of do, but they should trust me and know that I wouldn't do this. I just hope we're able to get to the bottom of this, before it's too late.
So, here I was, lying in a holding cell, waiting for my fate to play out. I was sure hoping that Castle was working on a plan to prove my innocence and get me out of this mess. I wasn't doubting him though, he had a lot of people on his side to help him out, and I'm sure the 12th will lend a hand, even though they're not supposed to, especially when the case is practically closed.
"Excuse me?" I heard a woman whisper over to me.
I looked over and found the woman who was accused of killing her friend in the holding cell next to me. I sat up on the metal bench I was laying on, and said, "Your name is Kristen, right?"
"Yes… You were at the crime scene," she said.
"Yep, that'd be me."
"What are you doing in here?"
"They think I've killed a couple of girls at a sleepover that I was attending."
"But you didn't?"
"Nope. As much as I hated this girl named Stacey for bullying me, I'd never stoop to that level."
"I'm sorry to hear that."
"Thanks… How about you? Did you really kill your friend?"
"I didn't kill Maggie. I loved her."
"As in a friend, or…?"
"As a lover, yes. We were going to try this out. That's why she was moving back to New York."
"Did you tell the detectives that?"
"No… I figured they didn't believe me already, and that it would make me look even guiltier."
"Did anyone else know about all of this, or were you two still keeping it a secret?"
"Maggie was supposed to break the news to her parents this morning at breakfast, but she never made it."
"Oh, that's what the big news was."
"Yep."
Tears started to flow down Kristen's cheeks as she sat down on one of the metal benches in her own cell. I felt bad for the woman, especially since I was the one who accused her of the heinous act. Seems like we were both in the same predicament, and needed to find some clues to help prove our innocence.
"Hey, I'm really sorry," I said.
"For what? It's not your fault I'm in here," she said with a sniffle.
"Well, not technically… I might have pointed a finger at you though."
"What?"
"I thought you were suspicious… I figured Maggie would have told you what the big news was and that you killed her because of it. Now I know that you were one of the main parts of the big news."
"Oh… I guess I was technically the only suspect. I just don't understand how my finger prints were on the knife."
"Did you happen to use any knives while at the hotel?"
"No… Actually, we were eating a little snack before we went off to bed. I think I might have used the knife to cut open the packages."
"Hmm… maybe someone used it while wearing a glove, and preserved your fingerprints on the murder weapon."
"Possibly."
"So, no one else knew about you two?" I asked the woman as I walked over to her cell.
When I got closer, I noticed that she had a tattoo on her left wrist, and she was rubbing small circles around it, which I guess was a way to calm herself. It was definitely a different type of tattoo, and it had a unique design of a heart with something around it, which I couldn't quite make out. She shook her head at me and answered my question, "Not that I'm… Wait… While we were at the restaurant last night, her high school and college sweetheart, Jimmy, ran into us."
"Oh, and how did he handle the two of you being together?"
"Not well, of course. He was desperately trying to get her to go out with him again, especially since she was moving back here. We tried to explain to him that we were together, but he didn't want to hear any of it."
"So, he could have followed you two to the hotel, and planned to confront Maggie once you left."
"I guess so."
"Did you two always like each other more than friends?"
"We experimented back in college, but she was confused. We both were. So, we decided to forget about it, but when we got back in touch a few years ago, those feelings came flooding back."
"Sorry that you lost her like this."
"It's okay… I just hope we get to the bottom of this."
"I'm sure we can. We'll both be able to walk out of here freely in no time."
Just then we heard the doors open, signaling someone was here to either take one of us away, or pay us a visit. I was hoping for a visit, because we both weren't ready to leave yet, not until we've gotten to the bottom of things.
Castle made his way down to my cell, and I smiled brightly at him. I was sure glad to see him, especially since I can relay all this new information to him, and get us both out of here. When he reached my cell, I said, "Boy, am I glad to see you."
He gave me a small smile, and said, "I know. How are you holding up?'
"As well as one could, especially when they're about to be sent to jail for a crime they didn't commit."
"I believe you Emily."
"I figured you would… Do you have any theories?"
"I thought my theories were only 45 percent right."
"Okay, okay… Seriously though, do you have anything?"
"Well, I have a feeling you know who would want to frame you."
"Yeah, I do. How are we going to prove it though?"
"I'm still working on it, along with Hayley and Alexis."
"Aunt Kate?"
"She believes us, and you. She helped buy more time for you as well."
"That's great. I hope Stacey goes down for this, and hard too."
"I understand Emily. We'll figure this out."
"How about Kristen, can we help her too?" I asked, looking at the woman I had befriended in here.
"I thought you said she was guilty?" Castle asked me in a hushed tone.
"I believe her now, especially since I'm going through a very similar scenario."
"Got it."
"You can tell Castle everything you told me. He'll help you," I said to her.
"Are you sure?" she asked as she made her way over to us.
"I assure you I can help. I recently went to trial for a murder I happened to witness, and it turns out what I saw wasn't the whole story. The woman I thought was the killer turned out to be her secret lover, and she was trying to save her," Castle said.
"That's awful…"
"Actually, it seems kind of close to your story," I said.
"You two were together?" Castle questioned her.
"Yes… We were going to try this out," She said.
"So, that was the big news she was going to tell her parents."
"Yes, she was supposed to tell them about us, but I don't know if she would have went through with it or not."
"Okay, start from the beginning, and I'll see what I can do."
Kristen told him the whole story, and we were sure that Jimmy, Maggie's ex, was the real culprit. Castle furrowed his eyebrows and asked Kristen, "Everything seems to add up, but why did you leave work early?"
"I was a little nervous about the whole thing. I decided to take a walk through the park before I met up with Maggie at the diner. I didn't think anyone would believe that," Kristen replied.
"I understand, especially since no one can confirm that."
"Exactly."
"Think you can pull up some security footage around the area? There might be something there that can confirm where Kristen was," I suggested.
"Smart thinking Emily," Castle said.
"Thanks."
"Okay… You two sit tight, and I'll see what I can find."
"Will do… I don't think we really have much of a choice anyway."
Castle gave me a sympathetic smile, before he walked off to go and find any information that might help the two of us get out of here.
"Is he really going to be able to help us?" Kristen asked me.
"I sure hope so…" I said.
Hours have gone by and there was still no word from Castle, or anyone, for that matter. I've been pacing my cell for the majority of the time, and if this was a cartoon, I'm pretty sure I would have made a hole in the floor from doing so.
"I don't think they're going to find anything… It's taking too long," Kristen said with a sigh.
"No, I have faith in Castle and his team, along with the 12th precinct. We just have to keep our hopes up and wait a little longer. I know they're close to figuring out our cases. I've seen them do this hundreds of times, so I believe in them," I said, trying to reassure her, and maybe myself as well.
"Well, if you say so. I just don't want to be blamed for the murder of my best friend, my girlfriend. I'd never do that to her."
"I know, and I wouldn't hurt anybody either. I may not have been close to everyone there, but I wouldn't want to throw my life away like that."
"I understand…"
The doors opened once again, and I went over to the door of my cell, to see who was coming. It happened to be Castle and Aunt Kate, and they were making their way over to us.
"Please tell me you have good news," I said to them once they reached my cell.
"Yes, and no," Castle answered with a sigh.
"Eh… I don't like the sound of that."
"Actually, you're in the clear, Em. We checked around the crime scene some more, and found evidence that Stacey indeed set you up," Aunt Kate said.
"I knew it… That slimy son of a," the two adults in my life gave me a disapproving look, and I cleared my throat before saying, "So… Did she confess?"
"Yes, we visited her at the hospital, and told her that we can prove that she was the true culprit in this crime. It took her a good few minutes to come clean, but she did," Castle said.
"Hmm… did she say why?"
"Kind of… She didn't like that you were getting along with everyone and that she doesn't like you. She thought it'd be easier to frame you for murder, instead of just killing you herself."
"And I thought I was the one who needed therapy."
They chuckled a bit and Aunt Kate said, "But that's not the only thing we found out."
"What was the other thing?"
"Elizabeth was in on it."
"She was? Why?"
"Apparently, Elizabeth and Stacey concocted this whole thing a couple of days ago," Castle answered.
"I can't believe Elizabeth would stab me in the back like this... I thought we were friends."
"I know Em… She was reluctant at first, but Stacey persuaded Elizabeth to help her by offering her a doll house that she's wanted since they were younger. So, Elizabeth decided to go along with it, and while everyone was sleeping, they put their plan into action."
"Wow… I can't believe they did that. Just to get me thrown in jail, because Stacey didn't like me."
"Yep, teenage girls are scary," Castle said with a shake of his head.
"I agree, and I'm one of them."
"You may be a teenager, but you are certainly not one of them."
I smiled and said, "Thanks… So, what's the bad news?"
"Actually, the bad news is for Kristen."
"Oh, great," Kristen sighed as she came over to us.
"Well, we do have reasons to believe that Jimmy is our murderer. We spotted him on surveillance cameras around the restaurant and near the hotel, following the two of you. We checked the footage after you left the hotel, and a couple of ours later, Jimmy shows up once again," my aunt said.
"Then what's the bad news?"
"We haven't been able to find Jimmy. The last time we spotted him was about thirty minutes after he supposedly killed Maggie. We checked his apartment, his workplace, and a few other places, but we haven't been able to track him down."
"So, this whole thing is going to be pinned on me?"
"Not necessarily… We did check out your alibi, and we do have surveillance footage from a restaurant by the park, and you were there during the time of Maggie's murder," Castle said, reassuring Kristen.
"That's good. I just hope we can find Jimmy. I always thought he was a creep, but I didn't think he'd ever do something like this. I just want justice for Maggie."
"We understand, and I'm sure we'll find him. He can't hide forever."
Kristen and I were finally let out of our holding cells, and we were now sitting in the precinct, awaiting the capture of Jimmy. Apparently, someone happened to spot a person who fit Jimmy's appearance at a bus station just a little while ago. Ryan and Esposito took a team out to the bus station, so they could possibly apprehend their new suspect in this case.
Not to long after they left, they were back at the precinct, and had Jimmy along with them. Jimmy didn't look anything like I had pictured him, and he didn't even look like he could hurt a fly to be honest. I guess looks could be deceiving sometimes, and Jimmy might have gotten angry enough to actually kill poor Maggie.
Castle and I decided to watch from the observation room, and we invited Kristen to join us, to see Jimmy get taken down for what he did to her girlfriend. Kristen excepted, and the three of us watched as my aunt Kate and Ryan started to question Jimmy about what happened.
"Mr. Taylor, do you know why you're here?" Aunt Kate asked him.
"Look, I didn't kill Maggie. I'd never hurt her," Jimmy said with a frustrated sigh.
"This surveillance footage shows that you were near the hotel around the time of her murder," Ryan said as he showed Jimmy the surveillance pictures.
"I went over there to speak with her yes, but she didn't answer when I pounded on her door. I figured she must have went out somewhere, so I left."
"The surveillance camera says otherwise. You didn't leave the hotel until thirty minutes after you went to visit her."
"So, I sat around her hotel door for a little while to see if she'd come back. I had to get to a meeting though, so I left. I didn't kill her."
"Why did you go visit Maggie anyway? To get her back?" My aunt questioned him.
"No… I don't even like Maggie anymore. I went to apologize for how I acted at the restaurant."
"That was it?" Ryan asked.
"Yeah… I didn't want to get off on the wrong foot knowing that she was going to be back in town. So, I thought that I'd make amends, and start over."
"Do you really expect us to believe that?" My aunt asked him.
"Yes, and what other evidence do you have on me? All I see is some crappy surveillance footage, putting me in the area of the restaurant and hotel. Nothing shows that I've actually killed her, or that I was in the room with her."
"I can't listen to this… I think I'm going to go wait out in the haul," Kristen said.
"Okay, just don't stray too far," Castle said.
She gave him a small nod before stepping out into the hallway, closing the door to the observation room behind her. I looked up at Castle and said, "Do you think he's telling the truth?"
"Honestly, I have no clue, Emily. I think we're missing something," Castle said with a look of deep thought on his face.
"I do too, but what?"
"Not sure, but I'm sure we'll figure it out."
I nodded my head and continued to watch the interrogation in the other room. Jimmy rolled up his sleeves as he answered the next question and I spotted a tattoo on his wrist. It was heart shaped, and it had a weird design around it. The only reason I happened to notice the tattoo, is because just hours earlier, I noticed a very similar tattoo on Kristen's wrist. Then it hit me, they were in on this together. That means Kristen didn't just step out for air, she's making a run for it.
I ran towards the door, opening it quickly, before I flew out the room and to catch up with our other suspect. I saw Kristen closing the door to the elevator, so I ran as fast as I could before it could close on me. Just as it was about halfway shut, I was able to slide my way inside and came face to face with a potential killer. I was suddenly regretting my decision, and thought about how stupid it was to jump in an empty elevator with the suspect.
I decided to stand my ground anyway, and said to the woman, "You lied to me…"
"I'm actually surprised you figured it out. I was really shocked at how gullible you were, and how easy it was to manipulate you… all of you. I really thought I'd be spending the rest of my days in jail," Kristen said.
"Why'd you kill her?"
"She loaned me some money since my business hit a little bit of a slump."
"So, you killed her because you didn't want to give it back?"
"No… I killed her because she found out about my whole plan."
"What plan?"
"I seduced her and asked her to come and help me get my business back on its feet. I didn't think she'd actually want to go further with this whole thing, including moving back to New York, and dating me."
"So, Jimmy… He's your real lover?"
"Good job in piecing that together, but yes, he is. We've been together for quite some time now."
"This whole thing was over some money that you borrowed from her, manipulating her feelings, which she eventually figured out, and wanted it back."
"To put it short and simple, yes. I was going to break up with her that night at the restaurant, but Jimmy happened to show up. I had to make sure that everything didn't go south, so I had Jimmy pretend that he still wanted her."
"How did she figure it out? You two went back to the hotel together, and you left for work, so why go back and kill her?"
"When we sobered up the next morning, she noticed the tattoo on my arm, and said that Jimmy had the same one. Eventually, she pieced it together like you did, and got angry at me, kicking me out. She said she wanted the money back too, and never wanted to see us again."
"Then why not try to work on getting the money back and leave it at that?"
Kristen chuckled and said, "You really are a little detective, aren't you?"
I shrugged and said, "Just curious…"
"Hmm… Well, Jimmy and I happen to have a side business going on as well, and Maggie knew about it."
"So, she was going to turn you in for your illegal business if you didn't get the money back to her."
"Exactly, and at the moment, we're just keeping afloat, so I wouldn't be able to have the money quick enough for her liking. I couldn't afford to go to jail."
"Then you decided that murder was a good choice."
"I had a plan worked out."
"To let Jimmy take the fall."
"No, Jimmy was never supposed to take the blame. We knew that the security cameras were out because Maggie happened to tell me, so we knew we wouldn't be seen. Then we were going to sneak in and suffocate her."
"How comes it didn't go according to plan?"
"We were running late, so when we got there, Maggie happened to be leaving to go meet with her parents. I begged her to stay, so we can talk about it. Thankfully she fell for it, and invited us in."
"Then what? You just killed her?"
"We were having a reasonable conversation with each other, and I thought we could work everything out. Then Jimmy had to ruin it all, by opening his big mouth, and then Maggie went off on me. I honestly didn't want to kill her, she was my best friend, but I couldn't let her tell the cops about our other business. So, instead of killing her like we planned on doing, I wound up grabbing the knife that she still had out from the night we spent together, and I stabbed her. I thought Jimmy was going to clean everything up, but apparently he didn't."
"Wow, it sucks that your friendship had to end like that."
She shrugged her shoulders and said, "Yeah, I guess so..." she looked around the elevator and asked, "Are we even moving?"
I smiled at her and said, "Well, while you were talking about your own plan, I put my own plan into action," I undid the emergency stop button on the elevator and said, "We never left the floor."
The doors opened, and standing there were several police officers, detectives, and of course, my aunt and Castle. A uniformed officer grabbed Kristen and started to put her in handcuffs, and my aunt said, "Kristen Miller, you are under arrest for the murder of Maggie Lawson, and for running an underground drug rink."
The officer walked off with Kristen, and I stepped out of the elevator with a heavy sigh. Everyone slowly returned to their work, and aunt Kate asked me, "Emily, what were you thinking?"
I scratched the back of my neck and said, "Catching the bad guy mostly. However, once I was in the elevator, I figured out how stupid I was to jump in there with a potential killer."
"Yes, it was… But I'm glad that you're alright."
"Me too, but nice thinking with stopping the elevator," Castle said.
"Thanks… I figured she didn't notice that I hit the button, and I kept her occupied long enough for my plan to work."
"Well, I'm just glad everything worked out in the end. These past couple of days have been wild," Aunt Kate said.
"Tell me about it. I almost went to a maximum security juvenile detention center, and then possibly prison."
My aunt pulled me into a warm embrace and said, "I know… I'm sorry I couldn't help you out sooner, but we had too much evidence that pointed to you."
"I understand. I know how this works, I've been here long enough. I'm just glad we could figure it out before I was falsely accused for this murder."
"Yes, me too."
"I still can't believe they'd do something like that… Especially Elizabeth, I really thought she was my friend. But I guess people lie, just like Kristen did."
"Yeah, it's a shame people are like that. But remember Emily, not everyone is like that, and you should still be able to trust people," Castle said.
"I know… I just have to be wary about who I'm trusting for now on."
"It's never going to be easy, but you're a smart kid, you'll figure out who your real friends are."
"Why, don't we head home? I'm sure your exhausted after the last couple of days you've had," my aunt said.
"Yeah, I'd like to be in my own room again. Laying on a metal bench for several hours really makes you think about what you had."
They chuckled at me and Castel said, "Well, at least you learned from it."
"I did…" we stepped into the elevator and I asked them, "Can we get some pizza too? I'm starving…"
"Sure, we can do that."
"Awesome."