Shared Obsession Chapter 152
Kate stares down at the smashed-in skull of the victim. Her eyes flick to the grotesque building adornment lying nearby. "I guess I don't have to ask about the cause of death."
Lanie looks up from her position beside the body. "He's not even my first death by fallen object this month. Two weeks ago an investment banker took a frozen sausage to the head from a tenth-floor window ledge."
"And people worry about sausages raising their cholesterol," Castle quips. "But this is a pretty old building. No one puts gargoyles on buildings anymore – a loss to fans of the creepy. Maybe it just fell off."
Kate crouches by the fatal object. "Or maybe it got a little help from someone. There are markings here on the stone."
"From what? A chisel?" Castle wonders.
"Or a crowbar," Kate suggests.
"Yo!" Esposito calls as he comes out of the building. "I found marks up on the parapet too. I've got CSU dusting it for prints."
"That's a long way to go for a murder," Kate observes. "Who'd want to drop a gargoyle on someone?"
"Almost any villain in the Spiderman 'verse," Castle responds. "But in the Beckett 'verse, an ordinary human who wanted to make it look like an accident. He'd have to make sure the victim stood there long enough." He turns to Ryan and Esposito. "Had someone tampered with the front door lock when you arrived?"
Esposito gives Castle a thumbs up. "Give that man a prize. Yeah, we had to pop the lock to get in the building."
"Super says our victim's name is Will Medina," Ryan adds. "He's got an apartment up on four. And guess who's got the keys?" Metal jingles as a grinning Ryan holds up a key ring.
Beckett snatches it away. "I do."
Castle regards the furnishings in Will Medina's apartment. "This place looks like a museum."
Kate points to some paperwork on a desk. "That's because Mr. Medina was assistant curator at the New York History Museum."
Esposito holds up a small stone figure of a male, obviously eager for the sex act. "Well, that would explain this."
Castle's eyebrows ripple. "And I thought a 100-inch flat screen would be the ultimate bachelor accessory."
"He wasn't a total bachelor," Kate says.
Castle looks around the room again. "What makes you say that?"
"The second toothbrush in the bathroom," Kate replies.
"The scented candle on the tub," Esposito puts in.
"The pair of high heels under his bed suggesting a casual but steady relationship," Kate adds.
Castle nods. "Hmm, nicely played. However, I do believe the relationship may be deeper than you perceive." He pulls a book from a shelf. "'Eat, Pray, Love.' Judging from the condition I'd say she's read it more than once. She's a woman on the other side of a search for identity – a romantic – someone who wouldn't be satisfied with just a casual relationship."
"The book could be his," Kate suggests.
Castle quirks a skeptical eyebrow.
"Oh, I love that book!" an arriving Ryan exclaims, scoring a disgusted look from Esposito. He glances at his partner in confusion but continues reporting to Kate. "Neighbor on two says the front door worked just fine when she came in around seven."
"Which means that the killer must have tampered with it after that," Kate realizes.
Esposito holds up Medina's phone. "Beckett, calendar. Check out yesterday's date."
"C.T. 5:30 1127 Avenue of the Americas," Kate reads.
"Sounds like the last place he went before he was murdered," Castle says.
"That would put it right near Times Square," Ryan gathers from the address. "Let's check it out after we finish our sweep."
"All right," Beckett agrees.
"You know," Castle says, "we might want to swing by the museum, see if any of Medina's colleagues can shed some light on who might want to drop a gargoyle on his head."
"Castle, are you actually starting to think like a cop?" Kate inquires.
"Actually, I'd love to go to the museum," he confesses. "When Alexis was little I used to take her practically every week. I could see her eyes grow big as she looked at the dinosaurs. And when I looked at the relics and artifacts, I could hear the music from Raiders of the Lost Ark playing in my head."
Kate chuckles. "I bet you could."
Kate strides up to a self-important appearing man whose ID badge reads, "Stanford Raynes, Ph.D. Curator." "I need to speak with someone about the death of Will Medina."
"I just can't believe Will is dead," Raynes replies.
"How long did you and Mr. Medina know each other?" Kate inquires.
"Two years. The first thing I did when I got the job as museum curator was hire him away from the U.S. Geographic Institute to lead the Kan-Xul expedition."
"Kan -Xul?" Kate questions.
"The legendary Mayan king." Raynes gestures toward an exhibit. "What you see here represents the single most important archaeological find in Mayan History – his burial chamber. He was entombed with a dozen of his mummified slaves."
"So kind of like a Mayan King Tut?" Kate asks.
Raynes nods vigorously. "Exactly! The exhibit opens in less than a month." His gaze shifts. "Richard Castle, right? You're a member of our Platinum Circle. You should be receiving an invitation for a special preview. But I can't imagine having to unveil all the new finds without Will. He's the one that discovered the site."
"Dr. Raynes, when was the last time you saw Mr. Medina?" Kate inquires.
"Four-thirty yesterday afternoon."
"And how well did the two of you know each other?" Kate probes.
Raynes stiffens. "Why?"
Kate's tone softens. "I'm going to have to contact his next of kin."
"His parents are both dead and I believe he was an only child."
"How about his girlfriend?" Castle inquires.
"Last I heard, he was single," Raynes claims.
As Castle starts to open his mouth, Kate throws him a warning look. Convinced that Raynes is either lying or clueless, he wanders toward the unfinished Kan-Xul exhibit. When a fedora hanging on the wall retriggers his Raiders' mind music, he can't resist placing the hat on his head. He inches toward a sarcophagus and strokes the edges with his fingertips. Looking up he sees a cable hanging from overhead. "What would Indiana Jones do?" He mutters to himself. "There just better not be snakes in there." He pushes a button on a control attached to the cable and the lid of the sarcophagus begins to rise. Ancient dust tickles his nose and makes him cough as a mummy comes into view. The shock of a woman's scream knocks him back. "What are you doing?"
The source of the scream rushes over. "This mummy is over 2,000 years old." She grabs the control and lowers the sarcophagus lid. "Exposure to air in an unfiltered environment could be catastrophic."
His internal soundtrack scratching to a halt, Castle backs away. "I'm sorry, I didn't know this…."
Raynes rushes over. "Mr. Castle, this is Rachel Walters, our mummification expert. She worked with Will. Rachel, Mr. Castle is working with the police." He lowers his voice to a whisper. "And Platinum Circle, so behave."
"Did something happen to Will?" Rachel asks.
Kate joins the group. "Detective Beckett. Will Medina was killed sometime last night."
Rachel gasps. "That's - that's not possible."
"Were the two of you close?" Beckett asks.
"Only professionally," Rachel insists. She looks questioningly at Raynes, "Stanford?"
"It doesn't mean anything," Raynes asserts. "Just a terrible accident."
"Actually, we believe he was murdered," Castle says.
A swarthy bald-headed man in a $5,000 suit and $2,000 Italian shoes barges into the conversation. "It wasn't murder," he proclaims, "it was the curse."