A Murder in the Mosque
By
UCSBdad
Disclaimer: No, I don't own Castle. Wish I did, though. Rating: K+ for some soldier's language. Time: After Season Eight.
"No, "Kate said. "The parents of Amalia and Malika Azawi filed a missing person's report on their two daughters. They disappeared on their way to work."
"Their parents reported that?" Holden said. "I find that hard to believe."
"You don't think their parents would be concerned about their children?' Kate said coldly.
"I find it hard to believe that the State of New York would let the girls' parents out of prison to make such a report."
"Mr. and Mrs. Azawi are in prison? Why? And who did we just talk to?"
"The girls' parents and their two older brothers were convicted of murdering the oldest sister, Jasmin. It was what they call an honor killing, if you can believe that. Jasmin was apparently getting too American. You probably talked to their aunt and uncle. They were the girls' guardians, but now they're both legally adults."
"We'll get back with the Azawis on that, but we still have a missing person's report. And the mullah of the local mosque was murdered the day before the girls disappeared. There could be a connection."
"What can you tell us about the Azawi sisters."
"Nothing." Holden said, "I teach boys PE and coach the baseball team. I sort of know we have some female Muslims here, but I wouldn't recognize either of them."
"How about their records?"
"I'm not sure, but I think I'd either need the girls' permission to show them to you, or a court order. And if you got a court order, I'm not sure it'd help you. It'd have their grades, any extracurricular activities and that'd be about it." Holden thought for a second. "You'd be better off trying to find some friends of theirs." He turned to the young girl. "Melissa, what's the name of that student hangout down the street?"
"You mean Bobo's?"
"That's it. I have no idea who their friends might be. We have about twelve hundred students here, so it isn't easy to keep track of who's friends with who. Even if we wanted to try. Melissa, do you know either of them?"
Melissa shook her head.
"They're before my time. I'll be a junior in the fall."
Kate nodded.
"Okay, we'll check out this Bobo's first, then circle back to the Azawis."
Bobo's looked like a high school hangout and was full of high school students, eating buffalo wings and listening to hip hop music. The man behind the counter recognized the police when he saw them and made himself scarce.
"Better let me handle this." Peake said. "They're more my type."
He walked over to a table full of girls and sat down.
"Afternoon, ladies, I wonder if I could…"
"Get lost creep." Said a top-heavy blonde.
"Get very lost." Added another girl.
"Okay." Peake said with a smile and showing his State Department ID very quickly, so the girls didn't get a good look at it. "My name is Peake and I need some information. We can do this the easy way or the hard way."
"Oh, yeah?" Sneered the blonde. "My dad is a lawyer, so you and your…" She waved at the others standing in the doorway and then stopped short. "Oh my God! That's Richard Castle!" She shrieked.
She pushed her way past Peake and ran to Rick.
"Mr. Castle I am your biggest fan. I just love your books. In fact, I have to latest one…Oh my God! I have it with me. Can you please, please, please, please sign it for me."
"I'd love to." Rick said, smiling.
The girl went back to the booth and grabbed her book. She was followed back to Rick by several other girls.
"You're really Rick Castle?" Asked one, a slender brunette.
"Look at the photo on the back of the book." Rick said.
The girl looked at Kate.
"Then you must be the muse, Detective Beckett? The real-life Nikki Heat?"
"Captain Kate Beckett. And I'm Castle's muse and his wife." She said the last part a bit louder as the blonde was trying to push her boobs against Castle's chest.
"That is so romantic. I don't have a copy of your husband's book with me, but could you sign something for me? Would a notebook be okay?"
"I don't usually…" Kate began.
"But she'll be happy to." Rick quickly added.
The brunette turned to Ryan and Esposito.
"And you must be Ochoa and Raley. Your real names are…" The girl stopped.
"Javier Esposito and this is my partner, Kevin Ryan."
She turned to Randolph, McCarty and Peake.
"I don't recognize any of you from the books."
"Oh, we're not in the books." Randolph said.
"Oh." The brunette turned away from them and got in line for autographs from Rick, Kate, Ryan and Esposito.
Eventually, they managed to sign something for every girl in Bobo's. None of the boys were interested, although Kate attracted a lot of attention.
"I wonder if you'd be able to help me on a case were working on?' Rick said.
"Really?" Squealed the blonde. "We'd love to."
"We're looking into the disappearance of Amalia and Malika Azawi."
"We're not supposed to say anything." A short girl with long, black hair said.
"You just did say something, Monica." The blonde said. "Besides, we can talk now that they're gone. It won't hurt."
"What do you know about them?" Rick asked, turning on his smile.
"Well," the blonde began, "do you know that their parents and two older brothers murdered their older sister?"
"Yes. We know all about that."
"Both Amalia and Malika were right there in their apartment when Jasmin was murdered. Their dad said that if they ever said anything about the killing, they'd be next. Then they all carried Jasmin's body out to their car. Or rather truck. Well, there were a dozen people standing there and they all called 911. All of them were sent to prison and I hope they never get out."
"Okay, but why did they leave their aunt and uncle's?"
"Their aunt and uncle seemed to be very nice and not at all as strictly Muslim as their parents, but their parents didn't seem like the kind of people who'd murder their daughter because she liked nice clothes and to party."
"And Malika had nightmares about the killing. It was awful for her." Monica said.
"So, they decided to leave." The blonde added.
"Do you have any idea where they went?"' Rick asked.
"No idea at all." The blonde said.
"They never, ever talked about where they might go?" Kate said, suspiciously.
"Oh, that's all they talked about. They talked to everyone who'd ever been out of New York. My dad takes us to Florida every summer and Kyle Jordan has relatives in Seattle, Beth Parks used to live in LA and…"
"And they were on computers a lot." Monica said. "They were going to go to a big city so they wouldn't stand out, but they checked out everything from Maine to Miami and across the country to San Diego and up to Seattle and everywhere in between. They didn't like Alaska because of the cold and Hawaii because to get on a plane you need to give your name and show an ID."
"How did they get money to finance this?" Rick asked, wondering if this could be a part of a Nikki Heat book.
"We held parties for them." The blonde said. "Kerry Richardson's dad owns an old industrial loft and there are a couple of bands in school who'll play for free. We'd charge ten dollars for single guys, twenty for couples and single girls got in free."
"When did you last see them?" Rick asked.
"Last Wednesday at about ten o'clock in the morning. They went on the IRT subway and then were going to take a bus. They had a ride arranged with a girl who was going to college somewhere out of state."
"That's two days after the mullah's murder." Randolph said. "You're sure they went with some college girl?"
"Yes. They both met with her. I don't know where they are, but I'll bet they're sitting by a pool, wearing bikinis, drinking beer and eating a ham sandwich."
"Looks like there's no missing persons case and no connection to Mullah al Amriki's murder." Kate said. "We'll have to go break the news to the Azawis. They won't be happy."
They were not a bit happy. Both cried and yelled and threatened to sue someone, but Kate managed to calm them down a little bit and they left.
Once back at the precinct, Kate told missing persons that the Azawi disappearance was solved. That just left a murder to solve.
"Mr. Castle, do you know of any place here where we can eat on the amount the Army gives us for per diem? The dining room in our hotel is both expensive and not very good." McCarty asked.
"How would you like a nice filet mignon, wrapped in bacon, covered in Béarnaise sauce, green peas, a baked potato and ice cream for dessert, and at a price you can afford."
"Sound great. Where is it?"
"My loft."
"Um, is Alexis there? She got pretty intense the last time I was here about me getting out of the Army and into med school, something I'm not interested in." Peake said.
"You don't have to worry. She's at a conference in DC. She'll be there for a week." Rick turned to Randloph. "Would you like to come for dinner, too?"
"You're sure Martha won't be there?"
"Like I said, she's in LA."
"Sounds good."
They were just finishing dessert when Castle's phone rang.
"Mother? What is it? Is there a problem?"
"No, darling. I have some good news. I have a part in a film that'll start shooting just after my role in the TV series is over. I'll be playing an older and somewhat unorthodox woman."
"That'll be a stretch for you, Mother, but I'm sure you'll be amazing."
"Richard, sarcasm is not one of your best traits. Is everything all right there?"
Rick hesitated for a moment as Randolph waved his hands and shook his head.
"Fine. Everything's fine."
There was a brief pause before Martha spoke again.
"Richard, you know I can tell when you're trying to hide something from me. What's happening?"
Before Rick could do anything, Kate grabbed the phone.
"You're right, Martha. But it's not really a problem. Do you remember Vince Peake, Alexis' friend from high school? The one who went into the Army?"
"Of course. Does he have a problem."
"No, but he's in town with one of his friends and we invited them over for dinner. If you remember, Alexis tried very hard to get him to leave the Army and go to medical school. Alexis is still at her conference in DC, but we're a bit worried that if she finds out Vince is here, she'll come back and try to talk him into med school."
"Well, Katherine, I won't say a word to Alexis. I suppose Mr. Peake knows what's best for him." Martha said that but her tone of voice said that if Peake was disagreeing with her granddaughter, he had no idea what was best for him.
"Thank you, Ms. Rodgers." Peake said. "And I'll be looking forward to seeing you on TV and in the movies."
"Thank you, dear. I hope you enjoy my performances." Martha always did have a soft spot in her heart for fans.
"Goodbye all. I'll call when I'm headed home."
"How do they do that?" Castle asked. "My mother and my wife can tell when I'm not being completely honest with them. How do you do that?"
Kate raised an eyebrow.
"Do you honestly expect me to answer that?"
"I think it's genetic." Randolph said. "Women are just born with something that picks up on our prevarications."
"A fancy word for lies." Kate said.
TBC