Finding The Fit Chapter 86

"Castle, what have you been doing all day while I've been double-checking reports?" Kate inquires as she plops her tote on a chair near the loft's door.

"Vigilently searching the city's antique emporiums."

"Other than vintage Star Wars memorabilia, when did you develop an interest in antiques?"

"Star Wars memorabilia isn't antique, just incredibly awesome. I was looking for finds a lot older than George Lucas' genius. Remember, we talked about a brass bell?"

"Castle, were you actually serious about that?"

"Not that serious, but then I did some research."

"Of course you did."

"Bells and cops go back to Colonial times, Beckett, except that then there weren't just cops. There were watchmen, a conglomeration of constables, sheriffs, justices of the peace, and jailkeepers, who patrolled what were then many fewer streets of New York. There was no police academy. Many of them had no or almost no training, and they sure as hell had no Sig Sauers. They used sticks and staves and sometimes muskets – not your quick-draw weapon. So they had to count on help from the local citizenry to subdue evildoers. To attract attention, they rapped their sticks on the ground, carried wooden whistles – and bells."

"Do you think cops should go around carrying bells and whistles, Castle?"

"They already do if you count cell phones and other technology. But none of that, except maybe putting out Amber alerts, is a call for everyone to pitch in. It wouldn't hurt to have some community support. A bell would symbolize that the NYPD is part of a greater whole, as well as being a pretty impressive call to arms. And think about it, Beckett, bells and whistles are immune to jammers and EMPS and keep working even when cell towers go down. Some nice loud bells could be emergency long-range communication even in a blackout."

Kate rubs her fingertip against her lower lip. "You may have a point there, Castle. But I don't see 1PP issuing any orders for cops to carry them."

"Neither do I," Castle admits, "but I'm going to add a bell and a whistle to the emergency supplies in the loft. It wouldn't hurt to stow a few away in the precinct either, just in case."

"Did you find some while you were antiquing?"

"I think modern whistles are better and less likely to – ew – leave splinters in your lips. But I did find some sturdy – and loud – bells. You could fit a couple of them in the bottom drawer of your desk."

"As long as I still have room for my purse."

"I won't interfere with the accommodation of your leather behemoth. And speaking of behemoths, how did you make out with that huge stack of paperwork Montgomery laid on you?"

"I got through most of it, but there are things in some of those cases I would have checked out that the other detectives didn't."

"Like what?"

"One of the reports was from Detective Rivens."

"That cop who had that heart attack out of the blue and died?"

"Uh-huh. He was investigating a murder at Creepoid Enterprises."

"Creepoid Enterprises, that sounds like a crime scene in a Halloween-themed case."

"You're not that far off the mark, Castle. Creepoid makes the props for haunted mansions and Halloween displays. They sell some stuff for horror movies, too."

"Was Rivens' heart attack the result of being scared to death by crime scene props?"

"No, he wasn't at the crime scene when it happened. He was shopping on Canal Street, and his heart just stopped. The exact cause was never determined."

"Canal Street has some excellent finds, but not enough to stop anyone's but the most dedicated bargain hunter's heart. Who was the ME, Lanie or Perlmutter?"

"Neither one of them. I believe it happened when Perlmutter was on one of those vacations he takes with his brother. The ME was a retired pathologist who fills in sometimes."

Rick strokes his jaw. " Hmmm. And how about the murder investigation? What startling clue jumped out at you that Rivens appeared to ignore."

"I don't know how startling it was, but the victim, Walter Martindale, was into researching old gory murders. He told his friends that he used them as inspiration for designing some of the props. The thing is, Martindale was killed the same way as one of the victims he was researching was, but unless Rivens left it out of his report, he never checked for a connection."

"And you think there was one?"

"I don't know. The case was already on the verge of going cold when Rivens died, and he never had a solid suspect. So, department policy had the case back-burnered unless some new avenue of investigation would pop up."

But of course, one never did," Rick figures, "at least until the case met the keen eyes of the indomitable Detective Beckett. So are you going to look into the unlikely circumstances surrounding Martindale's death?"

"Unless a fresh body drops."

Rick rubs his hands together. "Bloody props as a backdrop for a real murder. That's a mystery writer's dream."

When Kate clips a cluster of crime scene photos to the murder board, Rick's eyes fly over the images. "Wow, they could have sold a movie gallons of fake blood to set up a scene like this. It looks like poor Walter was stabbed in a pattern that missed the vital organs so he wouldn't die too quickly, just eventually bleed out."

Kate pulls the ME's report out of the banker's box holding the case files and evidence. "Yes, that's what it says here. No major organs were pierced, but Walter lost too much blood to survive." Kate clips the report to the board. "Walter was looking into a similar murder so he could make a chest appliance that would bleed from a bunch of wounds. He wanted to make sure the pattern would be exactly right."

"You can't fault a man for being dedicated to his craft, however gruesome," Rick says. "So what's the next step?"

"We pay a visit to the pathologist, Dr. Jeckel, who performed Walter's post-mortem and ask him to compare the details to the previous case. If they really match, that's where we start looking for a motive – and the killer."

"Wow, with a name like that, he must have taken some ribbing," Rick guesses.

"It's not spelled the same as Hyde's alter ego, but he probably did," Kate agrees.

"Maybe that's why he became a pathologist," Rick muses. "he could hide in the morgue where no one would bother him. Oh! Did I say hide? Ugh! But you have to admit, most people avoid the good doctor's stomping grounds as long as they can, although personally, I find autopsies fascinating."

"I just find them enlightening," Kate says. "And let's see if Dr. Jeckel has any further insights to share. He lives in Broad Channel."

"That fits. It's the most remote neighborhood in the city, almost as good a hidey hole as a morgue. But I'm betting it smells better."

Kate giggles. "It probably does. So let's get going, Castle. It's a long drive."

"As soon as I pee. I know from long drives to weird places on tour that you should always go when you can because you never know when your next chance will be."

Kate nods and bumps her hip against his. "You have a point."

A/N The information about the use of whistles and bells in colonial NY comes from NYPDhistory dot com.