Shared Obsession Chapter 77

Despite the morning light battering against his eyelids, Castle tries to pretend the night goes on and Kate will remain in his arms. Still, he can feel her stir as her internal clock gives off its alarm. "Good morning," he whispers huskily, his lips brushing her love-mussed hair.

Stretching like a feline after a satisfying snooze, Kate turns in Rick's arms. "What time is it?'

He reaches for his watch, which in a flight of unwanted clothing barely made it to the bedside table. "A little past 7:30."

When is Alexis due to come home?"

"Not for at least a couple of hours. The girls will have a sugar-shock brunch to get their teenage motors running for the day. So, we have time to run our motors as well."

Kate presses her bare-skinned body against her partner's growing interest. "And what gear did you have in mind?"

His hands trace her curves. "I thought we could work our way through all of them. I've noticed you have a penchant for driving stick. Just be gentle with the clutch."

Kate nibbles lightly at his ear. "I have a natural feel for when to shift."

Midafternoon on Monday, Ryan points at a vehicle in the impound lot. "Car was towed in a few hours ago – parking violations. When the attendant went to look for a VIN, he found a body slumped over the wheel with a bag on its head. Lanie just arrived."

"Six parking tickets and a tow sticker," Castle observes, "and no one bothered to look inside?"

"Tinted windows, sunshade on the windshield," Esposito replies.

Castle shakes his head. "You'd think someone would at least try to look inside."

"Yeah, welcome to New York. You got an ID?" Beckett asks.

"Dr. Joshua Leeds, 37," Esposito responds. "According to the business cards in his wallet, he's a plastic surgeon. The car's registered in his name."

"Any money in the wallet?" Kate queries.

"Coupla hundred bucks," Esposito says.

"We can rule out robbery," Kate figures.

Castle stares at the body. "A plastic bag and duct tape. Not a very efficient way to kill someone."

"But quiet," Kate points out. "Shooting someone will attract attention, even on the streets of New York. A car with tickets on the windshield is business as usual. And it's very personal. Someone was leaving a signature. All right. Let's find and notify next of kin. Let's see how long he's been missing."

"From the state of decay, I'd say about a week," Lanie offers.

"That matches the date on the first parking ticket," Ryan notes.

"Preliminary cause of death is asphyxiation," Lanie adds. "But I'll run tox to be sure."

"The bag's pretty thin. Why wouldn't he just rip it off?" Esposito wonders.

Kate surveys Leeds' position. "He must have been restrained."

Lanie points to Leeds' loosely hanging hands. "That's only half the story. His fingernails were removed and each finger presents signs of being broken premortem."

"If you wanted to torture a surgeon, that would be the way to do it," Castle asserts. He checks his watch. "Is there any more to do here?"

"You have somewhere to go, Castle?" Ryan inquires.

"Alexis texted me from school saying she had something life-changing she had to tell me when she gets home."

Ryan and Esposito exchange meaningful gazes. "You'd better get home, Castle," Esposito advises.

Rick catches Kate's eye and raises an eyebrow. "Go, Castle," she responds. "I'll call you if anything new pops up."

Alexis bounds through the loft's front door. "Dad! Dad! Dad!"

Castle rushes to his daughter. "What's wrong, Sweetheart?"

"Nothing's wrong unless you say no. He asked me, Dad. He asked me!"

"Who asked you and what?" Castle presses.

"Owen. I said I had to ask you but I told him that you'd say yes. You'll say, yes, right? You have to say yes!"

"Yes?" Castle questions.

"Yes!" Alexis echoes gleefully.

Castle throws up a hand. "Wait! What am I supposed to be saying yes to?"

"The Junior-Senior prom."

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! You're neither a junior nor a senior."

"True, but Owen's a junior."

"I thought you two are the same age."

"We are. But he skipped a grade. He's so cute. Please! Please! Please!"

"If I do, will you promise to stay up past your bedtime and have a good time?"

"Yes!"

"Not too good a time."

"Dad, all we've done is hold hands. So can I go?"

Castle ignores the tightening in his throat. "You can go."

Alexis squeals. "I love you, Dad! Oh! I'm gonna need a dress!"

"Of course," Martha agrees from the kitchen.

Alexis bounces toward the staircase. "A dress! A dress! A beautiful dress!" She takes the stairs two at a time toward her room.

"So do you like this Owen?" Martha asks.

"I don't know. I've never met him," Castle admits. "Alexis has only been going out in groups and I've interrogated most of her friends and their parents. He's a relatively new addition. But I'll check him out. And I have friends in the NYPD, lots of friends in the NYPD."

"Richard, don't you embarrass your daughter," Martha warns. "Show some finesse."

"Mother, Finesse is my middle name."

Martha rolls her eyes and sighs.

"Castle, I can't use police resources to run background on Alexis's date," Kate protests as they walk down the hall to Lanie's lab. "You and I are treading on the edge enough with our Bracken investigation. And after your gambit to get Montgomery to call in the forensic accountants, I can't do anything that would attract the wrong kind of attention."

"Point taken," Castle acknowledges. "I can do my own deep dive. And I fully intend to make sure this Owen is worthy of Alexis."

"Does a father think any boy is worthy of his daughter?" Kate asks.

Castle grabs the door to the lab after Kate opens it. "Also, point taken."

Kate and Castle hang back with Esposito as Lanie shows the body to a sobbing woman. "His fiancée," the gruff detective informs them. "Her name's Courtney Morantz. She reported him missing a week ago."

"CSU have any luck with the car?" Kate asks.

"They're running prints, testing fibers. We should have results by tomorrow," Esposito reports.

Kate nods. "All right, thanks." As Courtney leaves the lab, Kate approaches her. "Ms. Morantz, I'm Kate Beckett. I'm the Detective working on your fiancée's case. I'm very sorry for your loss, and I was wondering if I could take a moment of your time. We can go somewhere more comfortable than this."

Kate guides Courtney to a seat in the 12th's interview lounge and takes the chair opposite her, with Castle sitting nearby. Courtney takes a shaky breath. "I knew it. When he didn't come home, I felt it."

"How long were you engaged?" Castle asks.

"Almost a year. We were going to be married next month, at the Gardens. Whoever killed Joshua, what did they want? Money?"

"We don't know," Kate admits. "It doesn't appear to have been a robbery. We were hoping you could help us figure it out. Was Joshua involved in anything that would have brought him in contact with criminal elements?"

"No, no! That wasn't my Josh," Courtney insists. "That's just not who he was."

"On the day that he disappeared, did you notice anything different about him?" Castle asks.

"Different?" Courtney questions.

"Did he seem worried or scared or distracted?" Kate clarifies.

"He was fine. I mean we were going to meet because we had a cake tasting. When he didn't show, I called his office. They said he'd left. So I called his cell phone. But he didn't pick up."

"I understand that his office was in midtown. Do you have any idea why he'd be found on 133rd Street?" Kate asks.

"Was the bakery up there?" Castle queries.

"No, we were tasting cakes on Long Island. There's a bakery there he loved. He said they make the best German chocolate cake anywhere around. And Josh would never go that far north in Manhattan. He always took the Midtown Tunnel to the L.I.E. And if he was going to be late, he'd always let me know. I can't understand what happened."

"Ms. Morantz, we'll do our best to find out," Kate assures her.

"I know that bakery, Beckett," Castle says as the elevator doors close on Courtney. "They made the cake for my wedding to Gina. That may have been the best thing about my wedding to Gina. And appointments there are hard to get. If Joshua Leeds missed one, it wasn't because he wanted to."

"Yeah," Kate responds. "We just have to find out who stopped him."