Title: Guilty or Not Guilty
By: greygoose70
Summary: Castle is arrested and charged with the murder of Maya Santori. Disclaimer: Own nothing associated with the network or the show.
Chapter 3
The Precinct, 1:00pm
Detective Beckett was setting at her desk putting everything together she would need before going in to interrogate Thomas Demming, a detective with the robbery division here at the twelfth precinct. Her team of detectives of Ryan and Esposito had brought Demming in an hour ago and immediately but him in an interrogation room. Thoughts were running through her head, why did Demming kill Maya Santori, how did he know that's where Castle was going when he left the shooting range. Did Demming actually know Santori, did this have anything to do with her ending her brief relationship with Demming in May of 2010, would Demming be that jealous of Castle? How long has Demming been planning this. How was she going to get the truth out of him? She closed her folder, rose from her chair and headed for interrogation room one.
Beckett stood outside the interrogation room and took a deep breath, resolving herself for what she was about to face, she then pressed down on the door handle and went in.
"What the hell is going on here Kate," were the first words out of his mouth when he saw her.
"First of all Mr. Demming, it's not Kate. In this room you address me as Detective Beckett, or just detective. Is that clear?" Demming just gave a nod of his head indicating he understood. "And secondly you are in this room because evidence was discovered at one of my crime scenes placing you there.
"What crime would that be detective," Demming asked.
"Her's. Maya Santori," Beckett answered placing a photo of Maya Santori down in front of him.
"Sorry detective but I don't who that is."
"Very well, let's try this. Do you recognize this weapon," placing down a photo of the gun recovered at the crime scene.
"It looks like a thirty-eight, but no I don't believe I have ever seen that particular one."
"That's odd because your fingerprints were recovered from it."
"Well I don't know what to tell you then detective except I have handled many weapons since becoming a cop."
"Then how did it show up at my crime scene?"
"That I don't know detective."
"Do you recognize these then," laying yet another pix down, this one of a white shirt and tan corduroy sport coat.
"Am I supposed to," he said.
"You should they came from your closet."
"You searched my apartment," he blurted out.
"Of course, you're here under a suspicion of murder charge in my investigation." So far, Beckett has received exactly the type of answers she was expecting. Now it was time to get rough, but just then the interrogation door opened. Standing there was Ryan waving her over. "Excuse me," she said then walked over. "What is it Ryan?"
"Castles here, says he may have some information that could help you with your interrogation.
Beckett shut the interrogation room door and followed Ryan to her desk where she saw Castle sitting in his chair. "What do you have for me Agent Rodgers," she asked sitting down a sly grin on her face.
She watched him pick up a file and he began to speak. "A little history first, Detective Beckett," he replied grinning back. "I first met Maya in 2001, she was a Navy intelligence officer and we developed a friendship. Not that kind of friendship Beckett, get your mind out of the gutter. Maya was able to supply the intel I needed for many my missions. Anyway, in 2003 I was given a mission to rescue a captured agent from a Taliban stronghold near Mashhad Iran. The agents name was Joseph Demming, he was the younger brother of Thomas Demming. The rescue op went well, we had got Joe out without any Taliban interference, but on our trek back to rendezvous with our helicopter we ran into an Irani patrol. We were able to fight our way past it but Joe was wounded in the process. I patched him up as best I could and we made it to the extraction point, we flew into Turkmenbasy, Turkmenistan where a C130 was waiting to take us the rest of the way to Sather Air Base, Bagdad. When we landed, we immediately rushed Joe to the hospital. Doctors worked on him for two hours, but Joe didn't make it.
"How…" Beckett started to say but Castle held up his hand to stop her.
"Two days after we got back Tom Demming arrived to escort Joe's body back to the U.S. During Tom's three day stay he met with several people, one of them was Maya. Castle then produced a photo of Tom Demming and Maya Santori together. Another person he met with was Todd McCutchan, Todd was a part of my extraction team that rescued Joe. Todd was found dead in his apartment three days prior to Maya being killed. Castle then handed Beckett a photo of Todd and Tom together. Because Todd was an asset of mine the Company (another name accredited to the CIA) I was asked to investigate, so when Maya called me that day I thought she might has some information for me in regards to Todd. That's why you found me in her apartment."
"But how could Demming have known you were heading to the Santori apartment when you left the shooting range?" Beckett asked.
"My phone had been hacked. Someone was able to listen in in my calls."
"Santori was killed around 9am according to the M.E. report," Beckett said.
"And I left the shooting range at 8:25am, got to Maya's at 9:30am."
"Tell me Castle, did Maya sound stressed when she called?"
"I wouldn't say stressed but maybe a little nervous. Why, what you thinking Beckett?"
"That whoever killed Maya was already there and coerced her into making that call."
"Maya only had a landline phone, was it dusted for prints?"
"Ryan, go pull the Santori file," Beckett ordered.
A few minutes passed before Ryan returned saying, "there's nothing in the CSU report saying it was."
"Okay, her apartment is still cordoned off. You two, Go get a CSU tech and take him to her apartment, have him dust it, then see if any prints match up with Demmings."
"That' going to take a while, what do you want to do with Demming in the meantime," Castle asked.
"Leave him in interrogation, watch him sweat. He knows we're on to something," Beckett replied.
"How about some coffee while we wait, Beckett," Castle said.
"Only if you still know how to make the vanilla latte I like," she answered.
"Of course, Kate. How could forget.
"What in the hell is he doing here!" Demming shouted when seeing Castle walk into the interrogation room behind Beckett.
"Oh, haven't you heard. Mr. Castle has been exonerated, all charges against him have been dropped. He's a free man and back to assisting the twelfth precinct in their investigations."
"How the hell…" Demming started but then was interrupted.
"Simple Demming. I told the truth and had the evidence to back it up," Castle replied.
"What do you say we get back to our little chat, Demming," Beckett said. "You claimed not to know Maya Santori but here you are with her," (placing a photo down in front of him). "Care to explain."
"Okay so I met her briefly, but hell that was seven years ago, and she didn't leave that big of an impression, and at the time I had other things on my mind."
"Like a dead brother," Castle stated which earned him a disgruntled look from Demming.
"Let's move on," Beckett ordered. "Do you know this man?" she asked shoving a picture at Demming.
"Nope," was all he answered.
"Strange isn't it how you seem to forget the people you meet," commented Beckett.
"Like Todd McCutchan," added Castle, "a member of the team that rescued your brother."
Beckett shoved another photo at Demming that showed the two of them together.
"You mean a member of your team that got him killed," snarled Demming glaring at Castle.
"An unfortunate event, yes, running into that Irani patrol."
"Something you should have been on the lookout for if the intel had been accurate."
"Intel doesn't aways have all the facts."
"Okay gentlemen, let's move on," Beckett commanded, then showing Demming one more photograph, asked him, "Does this look familiar?"
"It looks like a cordless telephone," he replied with a snicker.
"Oh, it's more than that," stated Castle.
"It's the smoking gun," Beckett added. "It's the phone from Maya Santori's apartment, and you know what we found on it?"
"Your fingerprints from when you forced Maya to make that call to me asking me to come over," Castle responded.
"Not only that, it places you in her apartment," Beckett told him.
Demming just stared at the two of them for a few moments before saying, "I want a lawyer."
"You're going to need one," Beckett replied as she and Castle rose from their chairs and exited.
He last thing Demming heard before the door closed completely was Beckett saying, "book him LT, murder one."
"That was fun," Castle said as he sat down in his chair next to Beckett's desk. "Yes it was," she returned giving him a smile.
"Nice to have you back, bro," Espo said from his desk. "It sure is partner," Ryan added, "now maybe we'll solve more cases," which forced him to duck when Beckett threw a pencil at him.
End of Story
