Title: The Manhattan Three

By: grygoose70

Summary: Who or what are the Manhattan Three.
Disclaimer: The only thing I own are the words used to write this story.

Chapter 1

Day 1, The George Farmer Residence

George Farmer looked out over the area where he was going to build his new twenty-four foot by twenty-foot garage. He has already stringed off where the outer wall footings would be poured. George had discovered the place two years ago in the Roosevelt Park area along West 80th Street, the For Sale sign read "Cheap", so he stopped and called the realtor. Following an inspection of the place he asked the realtor to give him the "best" price. He liked what she told him, so he purchased it. He spent the next two years fixing the place up, up-grading it where needed.

The garage is to be the finale and he was anxious to get started, so he climbed aboard the John Deere G-50 mini excavator he rented, lined up along the back wall and began digging. He was midway through the back wall, he took a scoop, rotated the shovel ninety degrees and dumped it. That's when he saw something sitting atop the pile of dirt. Taking a closer look, he saw it was a skull.

George shut down the excavator, climbed off and went to take a closer look where he just finished digging. What he saw was a second skull laying up against the shoulder of another body. He wasn't sure as what to do, or who to call, so he dialed 911.

The Precinct

Detective Inez Analdo picked up her phone's receiver, answered it with her usual greeting, "Detective Analdo." She listened to what the caller had to say while writing down notes in her folder. Upon hanging up she said to her four team members, "let's go guys. Looks like we have some dead bodies," then rising from her chair she headed for the elevator with detectives Esposito, Ryan, Rhymer and Fuller following behind her.

The Farmer Place

Detective Analdo stood looking down into the excavation. Turning to George she said, "Mr. Farmer, can you use that machine of yours and dig down an area to the left and right of those bodies, but not quite as deep. I don't want to disturb the bodies; we'll do the rest of it with shovels."

"No problem," he answered, then climbed back on the excavator.

Thirty minutes later George had a four foot by six-foot area excavated along each side of the bodies. Esposito and Fuller, both wearing knee high rubber boots and rain pants, lowered themselves into the excavation. With shovels they began carefully removing the dirt. "Here," George said, "put the dirt in the bucket," as he lowered it into the hole.

"Looks like there's a third body on this side," declared Espo.

"Try not to disturb the bodies," Analdo said, just as she saw two more vehicles pull into the driveway. She recognized them right away, one belonging to Captain Beckett, the other to Lanie Parish. What she didn't expect was seeing Perlmutter exit the passenger seat of Lanie's car.

"Hey, Inez, what you got," Beckett said as she approaches.

"So far three skeletons, that appear to be laying side by side," Analdo replied.

"You're not moving the bodies in any way are you," Lanie asked while peering down at what had been uncovered so far.

"No, ma'am. We're being extra careful," Fuller answered.

"Don't call me ma'am, Fuller. My name's Lanie." She snarled back.

An hour later with the bodies completely exposed Lanie and Perlmutter got in the hole. Perlmutter immediately started taking pictures. Afterwards the two medical examiners began carefully examining the skeletons.

"Looks to be three women," Lanie said, "one older, the other two younger."

"How can you tell/" Rhymer asked.

"The shape of the pelvis. Female skeletons have a different pelvis shape than male skeletons to facilitate childbirth."

"I have to say that whoever buried them laid them out like this. They weren't just thrown in this hole haphazardly," Perlmutter added.

"Well, let's get them out of there and see if we can get them identified," Alando softly ordered.

Lanie and Perlmutter set about separating the skeletons, putting the bones from each into separate bags so they could be constructed back at the morgue, and where bone marrow would be extracted in order to be tested for DNA.

The Precinct

"What have we been able to learn," Analdo enquired? She and her team have been running database and internet searches for the past two hours, ever since returning from the crime scene.

"I ran a search on the address," Ryan replied. "George Farmer purchased the place two years ago. Before then it was owned by Terrence and Teresa Miller, they purchased the lot in 2006 and had the house built that same year, lived there for eleven years. They were involved in a car crash in 2016, Terrence was killed, Teresa ended up with a severe back injury, she is confined to a wheelchair, and has been residing in the Saint Francis of Assisi Nursing Home ever since."

"Lanie and Perlmutter are still trying to determine how long they have been buried," said Rhymer. "CSU told me it will be two or three days before they have the results from the DNA tests."

"Okay guys, that will do for today. It's quitting time and I could use a drink," Analdo said.

"The Old Haunt," Fuller immediately spouted.

"Of course," she replied, "come on, I'm buying the first round.

Computers were shut down, tablets, pens and pencils stored in drawers, and everyone headed for the elevator. Just as they got there the doors opened and Rick Castle stepped off. "Hey guys, done for the day," he enquired.

"Yeah, going for drinks," Espo replied.

"We'll meet you there," Castle said, then headed for Kate's office. He didn't need to ask where they were going. Upon entering her office, he saw her typing away on her laptop. She didn't look up, just spoke telling him she'd be finished shortly, she then tapped "send" and closed the laptop. Rick instantly pulled his beautiful wife from her chair and placed his lips against hers kissing her lavishly. "God, how I've missed you today," he said when parting.

"I've missed you also," she said leaning in and kissing him with a passion. "Too bad you weren't here, you missed a good one," leaning back.

"Oh yeah."

"Yeah, three dead bodies, well skeletons actually."

"Well come on. You can tell me all about it on the way to the Old Haunt."

The Old Haunt

Sliding in to their private booth with Analdo and her team, Castle and Beckett were brought up to date on what the team had learned so far. Even Lanie, who had arrived, told them that based on her and Perlmutter's findings, their best estimate, the bodies had been buried for about twenty years.

Castle just sat there quiet, staring at his drink, Beckett was watching him, knew it was one of his tells. He was deep in thought, and something was brewing in that ever-knowledgeable brain of his. Suddenly seeing him look up, she heard him say, "The Manhattan Three."

End of Chapter 1