Chapter 109

The evening before, the CSI team had identified the fingerprints on the sarcophagus to be those of a dealer named Charles Taylor who happened to run his business in the city. He was a hard man to find. Ryan and Esposito looked for him first thing the next day without any luck, but the uniforms assigned with the task located Taylor late morning and brought him into the Precinct.

After some pressing by Beckett during an interview during the morning, Charles Taylor admitted to being in the basement of the New York History Museum five days earlier. He'd heard Medina was dead but didn't want to get mixed up in a murder. He said he was sent to the museum to examine the mummy by a private collector who was interested in adding something really special to his collection.

The collector was from Taipei, a regular client of Taylor's. He asked that the mummy be carbon dated to make sure it was real.

And, in Castle's opinion, that's when the case became interesting. It had a story.

It was complicated, but it was good.

Taylor explained to Castle and Beckett that to date the age of deceased matter, the carbon 14 was test because that is what begins to decay in the body as soon as it dies. Castle soaked it up like a sponge as Taylor said that by examining the rate of decay, he could date the age of the dead organism with incredible accuracy. When Taylor tested the mummy, he took samples from the sarcophagus, the cloth the mummy was wrapped in, and a small piece of bone, and ran them through a mass spectrometer.

Taylor sat back, looked between Castle and Beckett and declared that was when things got weird.

Castle leaned in curiously. "Define weird, Charles."

Taylor too leaned forward. "Well, the samples from the sarcophagus and the cloth dated at over two thousand years, but the piece of bone." He paused, shook his head in disbelief.

"The bone?" Castle prompted.

"It was too young to date, meaning that it was less than five hundred years old."

"How much less?" Beckett asked, her brows furrowed, and she glanced at Castle who was almost bursting with excitement.

"I have no idea, Detective." Taylor replied. "Five hundred years is as low as the test goes."

Castle asked, "Are you saying that the mummy Medina was trying to sell was a fake?"

"Well, all I know is that there was a discrepancy. So, I called Medina, and I told him that, and he didn't believe me. He insisted on coming to the office to see me. That was the night that he died."

Montgomery opened the door, poked his head in, "Beckett. Uniforms just found your mummy."

Beckett held up a hand to pause Taylor, then turned her attention to the Captain. "Where, Sir?"

"In a dark corner of the museum basement. Someone was doing their best to make sure it was never found."

Beckett looked to Castle. "Medina's buyer rejected the mummy because it wasn't real. And then when Medina started asking questions, he was killed."

"And now someone's trying to make it disappear?" Castle asked.

"I think we need to take a closer look at that mummy." Montgomery suggested.

"I'll wrap this up." Beckett returned her attention to Charles. "Mr Taylor, if we have any questions, may we seek your expertise?"

"Certainly."

"Thank you. Your information has been valuable to our case. You can leave and thank you for coming in."

"You're welcome."

Everyone stood from the table. Beckett and Castle waited for Charles to leave ahead of them, then they returned to Beckett's desk and she immediately made a call to the city morgue.

They travelled directly to the morgue, and Lanie returned Beckett's phone call to her cell phone to confirm she had received the body. Together, they walked into the examination room where Dr Parish already had the body out on the slab and she was stuck into her post mortem routine.

"Your carbon dater was right." Lanie said, inspecting Kate who entered the morgue with the writer at her side. "This girl's body is definitely less than 500-years dead."

Beckett closely inspected what appeared to be the body of a mummy then glanced to Castle beside her in order to gauge his response, as she asked Lane, "How much less?"

"She died four months ago," Lanie replied.

Castle took a curious inspection of the body. "It really does look like an ancient mummy. If she's been dead for four months, why does she look just like the other mummies?"

"Because whoever mummified her knew what they were doing. Her blood's been drained, there's an incision on her left side," she pointed to the place they both inspected, "Which her killer used to remove her organs before starting the desiccation process."

Beckett searched for visible wounds, something to show how the woman died but there wasn't anything obvious. "How did she die?"

"Blunt force trauma. Someone hit her in the back of the head. She never saw it coming." Lanie pointed at the back of the deceased's head with a pen."

"Do you have any idea who she is?" Beckett asked.

"No, and I was unable to get a usable fingerprint." The doctor pointed at the fingers of the deceased. Both visitors took a closer look at the crinkled, dried fingers and made their own decisions.

Castle raised an arm in the air and waited for the ladies to turn their attention to him. "We don't need them," he said. "She died four months ago. I know exactly who this is."

At the Precinct about an hour later, Beckett was in the Captain's office, debriefing him on their progress. She was half watching Castle who was outside the office chatting with Ryan, and had part of her attention with Montgomery and their discussion. "Dental records confirm that the body is Nicole Graham, the first victim of the curse."

He looked at the photo of the mummy, "I thought this girl was killed by an animal in the jungle."

Castle leaned in the doorway and said "Turns out they never actually found the body. Just her bloody clothes and a piece of scalp. It seemed obvious to the Mexican authorities what had happened."

"Instead, somebody killed her and turned her into a mummy?" Montgomery inquired.

Castle said, "Hell of a way to get rid of a body, hide it in plain sight, ship it out with the other artefacts."

"And, Castle, no one would've ever found out if Medina hadn't decided to sell the wrong mummy." Beckett's eyes shined as she sat up facing the writer.

"But, when the collector refused it, Medina must have decided to take a closer look," he said.

"And then that suspicion must have tipped off our killer," she said, "Who had to murder Medina in order to keep the secret safe."

Montgomery was becoming dizzy from glancing between the pair. "It makes sense," he butted in, "But who's our killer?"

"The only person with the skill to mummify a body," Beckett replied and raised her right eyebrow.

Montgomery looked to Castle whose right eyebrow went up too.

"Well, you both better go and find that person."

Castle looked at Beckett. "Get your skates on, Beckett. Road trip."

"Little girl's room first," she answered as she stood. She passed him on the way out the room.

"I'll gather up the guys," Castle said as he pushed off the door frame he'd been holding up for the past few minutes. He said to the Captain. "You know Roy, in all the years I've watched crime drama TV shows I've never heard the main lead say they need to run off to the err, little girl's room, before they go arrest someone carrying a gun, of course."

Montgomery smirked, "Yeah, no one talks about the times you're on the beat and you need to get on the job immediately. Try finding a public bathroom then, with all the restrictions we have to consider, especially with carrying our pieces."

"Kate's got the public toilets scoped out all the way across town." He smirked. "But it's never on TV."

"A writer stalking a cop isn't exactly any TV show either," the captain said.

Rick shook his head, holding a big smile. "Would work, Roy, main character, handsome devil like me, smoking hot detective like Beckett, and two side-kicks like these two and some comedy thrown in between the dark parts." He shrugged. "Simple maths. Would be a smash." He waved the Captain off as he went to find Ryan and Esposito. He could still hear Roy laughing from his office when he found the boys in the breakout room and rounded them up.

When Beckett came from the restrooms she caught up with Castle who had updated the boys.

"What was so funny with the Captain?"

Castle waved it off, as he replied, "Roy reckons a TV show, say based on us wouldn't work."

"Your books work." Beckett shrugged. "I can vision it, but they would need to make the leading man good looking." She smiled innocently.

"Hey, I'm handsome." He called as she walked towards the elevators, laughing.

* * * *. *

"We got it wrong." Beckett said as she walked back from the copy machine with her printed paperwork.

"Slightly wrong but we ended up finding the killer."

Beckett sat on her office chair and said, "That we did. Nicole Graham was killed in Mexico and mummified in order to cover it up. We thought she was killed by Rachel who has the skillset to do it."

"But Rachel and Nicole were friends," Castle replied.

"Mm. Rachel also said that Nicole wasn't sleeping with Will Medina even though she had a crush on him. Nicole backed off when she realized that Will was more interested in Rachel."

"It reads like a soapie, Beckett."

"True. Stanford..." Kate picked up the transcript of her talk with Rachel. "Stanford was the one who was jealous. He'd had a thing for Nicole ever since she joined the program. Rachel stated that they would always see him standing around watching Nicole."

"Creepy." Castle stated.

"It is creepy. Like when …" She lowered her voice to a whisper, "You watch me sleep."

"Yep, but that's not creepy." Castle quipped thinking about how much time he did spend watching Kate sleep instead of writing or catching his own shut eye. He leaned towards Beckett, a keenness in his expression, "But you calling out Rachel for being the expert of mummification, Kate, was the catalyst that opened this case wide open."

"Boom." Beckett excitedly expressed with arms shooting up and out, a response that startled Rick.

"Wow," he exclaimed his eyes very bright. "So, unlike you."

"I startled you," she observed with a twinkle in her eyes.

"A little yes. My heart might have skipped a beat."

"I think so." She commented, as she turned back to the desktop computer.

Silence fell between them. Beckett read and email. Castle wrapped his head around something. He rubbed his chin. "Rachel was taught everything about mummification by Stanford Raynes, you know."

"Mm," she agreed.

"And she gave us a 101 class on mummifying. Like, who would have thought they don't wear gloves, huh?" He carried a look of disgust and Beckett's nose screwed up, like a childs.

"Yeah that is gross, but it did give us the DNA of Stanford Raynes."

"Who is now recovering from hip replacement surgery and is recuperating under Police security." Rick smirked, "What a dumb ass trying to escape us."

"Yeah, running and then falling down those stairs at the museum was silly and unfortunate." Kate said. "The flight or fight instinct always kicks in."

"And he was cursed," he stated and turned his head when he saw Beckett's eyes lift towards someone.

"He might be." Montgomery said as he approached the pair. "How is the runner?"

"I'd say in a great deal of pain." Castle grimaced giving his hip a pat that caused the Captain to smile.

"Did he confess?"

"Why, Roy, he confessed to everything just before they put him under to get the hip replacement. The drugs got him yapping," Castle answered and followed it up with a chuckle as though he was telling a story. Even Beckett became caught up.

"He eventually told us how he lured Nicole into the burial chamber and how they fought when she refused to celebrate with him." She continued. "And now he's had a hip replacement."

"Painful." Captain cringed. "So, what happened to the mummy that he swapped for Nicole's body?"

"That was super interesting." Castle shot back with excitement glancing to Beckett in case she wanted to tell her Captain, but she gave him the nod to continue. He signaled his appreciation, then got on with it. "The body was so fragile that all Stanford had to do was strip off the bloody wrapping and stomp it into dust. And then he rewrapped Nicole's body, stuffed it in the sarcophagus and sealed it up tight. By the time it got shipped here, to the US months later, the mummification process was complete." Again, he glanced to Beckett, pleased with himself they had jointly solved the case.

Beckett continued just a pleased and keen to share their story with her superior. "And when Stanford decided to kill Medina, he just used one of the pry bars from the museum to tip the gargoyle and hoped that Medina's death would be blamed on the curse."

"Let me know I'm right, here. Three members of the expedition are now deceased, and one on the way to jail with an injured hip."

"You got it." Castle replied and Kate nodded her agreement.

"Well, it sounds like the curse is real to me," Roy commented, his gaze falling on Castle.

Beckett immediately looked at Castle who appeared worried.

Castle pointed behind him, looked at Beckett. "Speaking of which... could you please help me persuade Chacaw Te to share with me how to reverse the curse?"

She smiled, glanced to the Captain who had a laugh. "I have just the leverage to get it out of him." She rose from the chair. "Shall we go talk to the man, Mr Castle?"

"I think we should, Ms Beckett."

"What's your leverage, Beckett?" Roy asked.

"We might get cooperation from Chacaw Te because thanks to us, Mr Bentley agreed to send the entire collection back to the Mexican Museum after the exhibit ends."

"That'll work."

* *. *. *

Castle's apartment.

A couple of hours later, Castle entered his loft cheerfully whistling with his jacket clung over his right shoulder. He was happy and even happier when he saw Alexis was in the kitchen alone. He flung his jacket over the back of the sofa. She seemed to be brighter and was busy with meal preparation.

"You're in a good mood," she commented as he approached the counter.

Castle smiled, held his arms out in an open gesture. "The curse has officially been lifted." He laughed.

"How'd you manage that?"

"You don't want to know." He inspected what she was preparing and pinched a cherry tomato. "But I tempted fate all the way home just to make sure."

"Jaywalking?"

"Too right I jaywalked." Castle said, "Even walked under a ladder." He continued his inspection of the kitchen bench to see his daughter had an array of vegetables out. "What murderous experiments are you performing on tomatoes now? Stabbing, filleting?"

"Dicing for a salad. Want to help?"

"I would love to. I would also like to finish off our talk."

Alexis sighed. "I thought you might. I've been thinking about things, Dad."

"And?"

"I'm sorry about my behavior, with pushing Beckett away. You always accept my friends with open arms."

"Thank you." Castle chipped in.

"And, you usually keep girlfriends away from home, out of my sight, which means you must be really serious about, Kate." Alexis said.

"I am very serious about, Kate, Alexis. I love her. She's the love of my life." He tapped his fingers impatiently on the kitchen counter. Decided to bite the bullet. "She's different to the others, and you've done things I never imagined you would, that I've never seen you do prior to her. Maybe that's why. She will never be a stepmother figure to you because you're too close in age and you're too old to accept it. She knows that, and I know that. But she could be a good friend, a mentor, a go to person because one can never have too many of those. She has so much to offer you, Al, yet lately you've done nothing but push her away."

She blinked, a little shocked by his words and set the knife down to the counter. "I'm sorry, Dad."

"Hear me out because I'm not done," he said with a deeper than usual voice. "When you hurt Kate, you hurt me. I feel ashamed of you which is something quite foreign for me. Now." He took a breath. "Did you really ambush her the other night?"

Alexis remained still. Confronted with his question, she appeared fearful. But then her defiant stance disappeared, and her shoulders dropped. "I did. Ambush? Is that what she said?"

"No. I did. My phrase. She didn't say it at all."

She thought then said, "I guess I was a bitch."

"She didn't say that either. She stuck up for you. Gave you some bloody lame excuse."

"Really? She did that? I was a bitch, Dad. Granma even implied I was."

Castle eyes widened momentarily, "Your Granma called you a bitch?"

"Implied." Alexis corrected. "This morning. After I left home. She said my behavior was bitchy."

"Wow. I've never really heard her say that about you. I have others but not you." He scratched his head, somewhat surprised. "She referred to me as a little bastard at times when I was growing up, which I deserved."

"Maybe there is a bit of you in me after all." Alexis cautiously smiled, trying to make light of the situation.

"Maybe," he agreed but kept it real. "So, like I would, you're going to apologize to Kate, and you're grounded for a week. And, if she ever asks to catch up with you for a shake or to go shopping, whatever, don't blow her off like you did. I didn't raise you to be like that."

"I'm really sorry, Dad."

"You left her waiting for you. You hurt her."

"Sorry."

"It's accepted, but…"

"Kate. I have to say it to her."

He pointed a finger at her in a 'you got it' gesture then picked up the vegetable knife to help out with dinner preparation. "So, is my Mother home, or coming home for dinner?"

"She's out, waiting somewhere to learn whether we have a major fight."

"Really? Well, why don't you text her, tell her it's over and ask if she's coming home for dinner?"

"Sure." She wiped her hands clean on a dish towel then reached for her phone. "I was thinking, Dad, maybe this weekend we could go to the museum. It's been a while." Alexis said as she texted, and she glanced to him with a coy smile.

Castle gave her a disgruntled look. "Yeah. No. How about the zoo?"

Alexis keenly nodded and put down her phone. "That sounds great."

"Done enough with the museum," he mumbled as he sliced a tomato and when he was almost through it, he cut his middle finger. "Damn," he dropped the knife to the board and removed his hand from the food.

"Cured of the curse you say?" Alexis passed him a couple of paper towels he immediately pressed against the wound.

"What's the difference between cursed and clumsy?"

"Not much," Alexis said. "I'll get a bandage." She fetched napkins she deposited beside him.

Using a strained voice Castle said, "Get two." Castle checked the cut.

While Alexis was gone, his burner phone chimed with an incoming text from Beckett. He read the message.

The apartment is ours. Closure on Monday.

It caused him to frown. He was most definitely cursed. He was really going to lose her.

However, he checked the time then tapped back, reminding himself of her father's words that he had to be patient.

Congratulations. Awesome news. Are you coming home for dinner tonight?

On my way. Need anything?

He smiled. He needed a magic formula to make her want to be with him. He was back at tapping it out.

Just you. I will open a bottle to celebrate.

He hit send then put down the phone, extremely disappointed the apartment had been sold to Kate.