Chapter 100

Next morning Beckett and Castle were at the Precinct early because they had the police unit and wanted to beat the peak hour traffic, and there were things they had to do prior. After they left the car in the garage and dropped Kate's laptop case at her desk and had her clock in for duty they departed the bullpen to attend a property inspection. They rode the subway to get there, a couple stops and a short brisk walk. It was Castle who repeatedly claimed he couldn't keep up with the stride Beckett set in her heeled boots.

Afterwards, they went on the hunt for food. They settle to dine for breakfast around the corner from the Precinct in a little café the NYPD members mostly didn't like. For exactly that reason Castle did like to dine in the joint. If the cops didn't go there, it allowed him and Beckett a place to drop their guard for a bit, and, despite the opinion, the food served was better than good. Brought to the table in huge mugs, the coffee was to die for. Good quality beans were supplied and the milk was always frothy, and with the walk back to the Precinct, Beckett was usually running to the ladies to relieve herself.

That morning, Beckett ordered bacon and poached eggs on rye bread toast with hollandaise sauce. She added smashed avocado. Castle went with a ham and cheese croissant from which crumbs fell all about the plate and over the table. He made a right mess of it but ate every skerrick. For a quarter hour after they finished their breakfast, they sat together quietly, the big mugs of coffee nestled in their hands, both busy with thoughts.

"I didn't like it," Kate said.

He sat up, looked over her face, initially contemplating what she was talking about: their sex during the night or the selling property they had viewed. "The apartment?"

She nodded the once, gave the hint of smirk. "You briefly thought I was referencing our sex, huh?"

"Well, yes, it did cross my mind you were starting up a debrief. Why, don't you like it, the apartment, assuming you were happy with the predawn service I gave you? I mean, on the spot feedback seemed umm, excellent. That I was hitting the spot." He was cocky about his deliverance.

A beautiful, coy smile broke across her face and her eyes glistened, cheeks colored. "Very happy with that. I trust you were."

He keenly bobbed his head. "Oh yes. Sex with you is out of this world."

"Good." She fidgeted. "Well, the apartment."

He deflated. "Yes, right. The apartment."

"Not enough sunlight, small living area. I couldn't picture myself living there. It didn't fit me."

"It was too small too," he said, "Perfect place for a young person or couple, but if we are looking to the future then two bedrooms and bathrooms is a must." He sat back, looked at Beckett who crossed her arms momentarily. "It had all that but not enough space to spin a cat."

"I agree." She smirked. "Would be struggling to get a king size bed in the master bedroom."

"You anticipate I will demand you have a king size bed? Well, Miss Beckett you really do know your boyfriend."

Again, there was laughter. "I don't need a bed that size."

"But you can appreciate how much fun we have on the big bed."

"Mm. Well, my bed can go in the spare room and we will get a big bed."

"Good. You could also stay in my bed and I will get shoe shelving installed in the walk-in. If you want to stay there." He quietly offered. "Forever."

"Maybe. That's another thing. That apartment didn't have enough storage for clothes and shoes."

"Agree. Not enough for you. Me maybe."

"You only have about four pairs of shoes," she remarked, "Compared to my forty."

"And the rest."

She laughed, picked up the phone when it beeped with an incoming text.

"From Esposito, Castle. He's asking where we are. We have to get going."

"Ask him if they want coffees? I'm going to get another for the road. You want one?"

Beckett inspected her empty mug as she tapped out a text. "Yes please. I will be busting by the time we get to the Precinct."

"You always are." He stood then waited for a return text from Espo. It soon came. "Yes." Beckett said. "Cap for Espo and flat white for Kev. Please." Beckett smiled.

"I'll go order." Castle left the table. Beckett rose from her chair, grabbed her coat and followed him to the order bar.

####

Beckett accepted a call to her desk phone just as she sat her ass in the chair, fresh from the ladies.

"Beckett," she greeted then listened for a while. "Great. Thanks." She hung up then said to Castle who had just given the guys their coffees. "That was the lab."

He sunk into his chair, put his left elbow on the desk waiting for her to continue.

"They didn't find any fingerprints on either one of the death threats, which means all we've got to go on is the postmark."

Castle thought about it, shrugged his shoulders. "So, we're looking for an angry Mayan who mailed a death threat from Spanish Harlem three days ago. How tough can that be?"

"Well, as you know I called the Mexican Embassy and asked them to put their feelers out to the indigenous rights community. You never know."

"You might get a decent tip." Castle leaned towards Beckett, "You know, Kate, this guy Medina, when he was a grad student, he walked into the Amazon with nothing but a back-pack and some satellite images. He walked out a month later with the golden head of Yax Pac. This guy is like Indiana Jones, but with space-age technology." He sat up full of enthusiasm, "Ooh! Which would've been such a better movie than that last one."

"True." She replied, "I'm partial to the original movie."

"Same."

"Hey, Beckett," Ryan called as he came from his desk.

"Hey, did you guys get lucky with the mysterious CT?" Beckett asked.

Esposito said. "Eight people with the initials CT work out of 1127 Avenue of the Americas. None of 'em have heard of Medina."

"And there's a coffee shop on the ground floor." Ryan said, "So maybe he met CT there, but none of the waitresses recognized Medina's photograph."

Esposito nodded his confirmation then asked, "Anything on the girlfriend?"

"No one from the museum can even verify that Medina had a girlfriend. Can you believe it? And that second set of prints that we found at his apartment doesn't match anything in our system. So far, this case is nothing but dead ends." Beckett tossed a pen to her desk.

"Yeah, I noticed," Ryan replied, "You know why?"

Beckett pulled a questioning face. "Why?"

Esposito immediately pointed at Castle. "Because Castle's cursed."

Castle frowned at Beckett who smiled in amusement.

"You had to tell them, did you?" He asked.

"Well," Beckett replied. "Yes. Yes, I did. I had to. Too hard not to have some fun with this, Castle."

For several moments, he stared at Beckett contemplating how he could continue with this. Get annoyed, or join in the humor, because he had to admit it one of them had been cursed he would be giving them hell. He turned about in his chair to face the boys, to simmer them. "Well, gentlemen, you'll be happy to know, I don't believe in curses." He got up and picked up a sheet of paper.

"Seriously, bro," Espo replied, "I saw a special on TV. A bunch of the guys who found King Tut's tomb ended up dying under weird circumstances."

Castle's fingers pressed against his forehead, and he prayed for perseverance. "Yes Espo," he said, then looked at Beckett. "And there's an explanation for that. Evidence shows that some toxins were released when they opened the sarcophagus."

Beckett raised her eyebrows momentarily, "Well, didn't you say that the mummy smelled kinda funny?"

Castle fidgeted. "Well, yes, but there was-"

"And you did gaze upon the face of the mummy?" Ryan inquired.

Silence reigned for several seconds.

Frustrated, Castle said "You guys, there is no curse." He pinned the paper he was holding back on the board. He copped a cut to the side of his middle finger from the edge of the paper, sucked his finger then shook his hand. "Ow. Paper cut," he huffed out.

"Mm-hmm." Beckett gave him a suspicious, I told you so look.

Castle responded with some sarcasm, "Yes Esp, the curse gave me a paper cut."

"These things start small." Ryan teased, "Then they snowball." His arms flew out suggesting an explosion that caused Beckett to snort and nod agreement.

Castle gave her a look.

"Yep." Espo also agreed, "My abuela always said, bad luck always comes in threes."

Castle's frown deepened and Ryan hummed his agreement.

"Threes," Beckett repeated, "Just like celebrities. They always die in threes." She turned her gaze to Castle. "You're a celebrity, of sorts." She smiled, clearly enjoying the conversation.

"I'm living in the dark ages here. And Beckett, you are having way too much fun with this."

A giggle escaped Kate, that surprised the men, but she quickly regained her composure and sat up. "Why don't you guys check with Lanie and see if she found anything, okay?"

Esposito glanced to each of his team members, amused by her outburst of humor. "Mm-hmm. We'll go see Lanie. You be careful around the cursed writer, Chica."

"Don't you worry about that, Espo. I might send him home." She threatened her eyes turning to the writer again. He stared at her with a good dose of impatience.

Ryan called Beckett forty odd minutes later to inform her that they had Medina's cell phone, and were taking it to a tech to have the SIM card read. The MD had found trace amounts of a substance by the chisel markings and had assumed it was probably on the killer's clothes and transferred to the statue when it was pushed off the building.

While she was on the phone to Ryan, a lab rat emailed results to the group emails advising it was determined the trace elements were a mixture of organic compounds, including trace amounts of pollen that only grow in the lowlands of the Yucatán Peninsula. Another lab assistant had also identified trace amounts of the same pollen on both death threat letters.

Beckett relayed the findings back to the boys. She hung up the call and sat back in the chair and looked to Castle who patiently waited.

"Ryan suggested there's a good chance whoever sent the letters, is the killer."

Castle put down the sheet of paper the email was printed on. "The Yucatán Peninsula is where the dig site was. Traces of pollen would be hard to find on a person, unless it was in the last few days."

Beckett instantly brightened. "We need to find out how many Mayans from the Yucatán lowlands flew into New York in the last few days, Castle."

Contrary to his partner's excitement, Castle rubbed his brow in weariness. "How many Mayans could have possibly have flown into fucking New York area in the last few days?" He looked at Beckett's eyes that momentarily narrowed with thought.

"True. I'll phone the TSA." She adjusted in her seat to use the computer, "Once I have their number of course."

"Knock yourself out. I'm going to make coffees. I need to wake up. Mug or cup?"

She smirked. "Oh. The big mug please."

"I'll be back." He mimicked like Schwarzenegger. She smiled, watched after him as he walked towards the breakroom, with much fondness for his very sexy ass. Once he was out of sight she returned to the job on her computer. When her desk phone rang out, she glanced to it, annoyed by the interruption. However, she reached for it and picked the receiver up to her left ear.

"Beckett." Her tone was serious.

"You really like my butt, Love, don't you," Castle's ton was suggestive.

She smiled in a way that covered the need to respond if Castle was in her presence, but gave him a hum, then turned her gaze to the window of the breakroom to see he was poking through the blinds.

"Make the damn coffee, Castle." She hung up. For a moment she sat there, absorbed in the arousal occurring within her. Only his voice had the capabilities of sexually provoking her. The feelings she felt were genuine. The rest of the package had her toppling. There was a heat in her cheeks, her loins.

When he did return, carefully carrying to very large mugs of coffee Beckett leaned back in her chair.

"Progress, Detective?" He placed the pink mug before his lover then waited.

"Bloody, TSA computers are down," she replied her eyes on his, then followed his gaze curious about his silent communication. She leaned in and inspected the mug, a smile breaking. "Oh Castle, you've done it." He'd managed to create a love heart on the froth with the chocolate sprinkle.

"Finally done it." He smugly sat in his chair, "You like it?"

"Love it." She whispered then added. "You too."

Castle leaned toward her and whispered, "Well, that's reassuring."

"I do." She promised, then pointed at her monitor. "You know, Castle, this Kan-Xul was no joke. Legend has it that he personally conducted hundreds of human sacrifices." She showed him a picture from a website.

"I see," Castle said, giving the page a thorough inspection before he sat back, "It also covers his burial. You know why his burial chamber was so hard to find?"

Coffee to her lips she slightly shook her head in the negative.

"Because his own people buried it so that he couldn't come back from the grave and get them."

"Scary mummy," she replied then sat up when she saw a new email. "Castle, the TSA report is in."

"Tell me." He discarded his coffee to the desktop, then leaned in so he could also read from the monitor.

"Umm." She scanned the email. "TSA reports that a Mayan named Cacaw Te arrived in JFK four days ago on a tourist visa."

"Cacaw Te? Cacaw Tay? C T?" He toyed.

Beckett rolled her eyes at his play on pronunciation. "His visa application puts his home address right in the middle of our pollen zone. There's a passport photo of him, Castle." She pointed at the screen.

He checked the image of a serious looking male in his early fifties, long dark hair tied back. "Well, I'm guessing that guy was not class clown in high school."

"No. He looks threatening, but I won't make that judgement just yet. I'll call Ryan and Esposito. This is a local address. They can go get him and bring him back with 'em."