Now What? Chapter 2
A shiver runs through Castle at Esposito's description of the murder victim. "She was a writer?"
"Yeah, Man," Esposito confirms.
"Why would anyone want to kill a writer?" Castle wonders.
"Sarah Cutler wasn't just a writer," Kate points out. "She was the head writer on a soap opera. Sometimes people become so invested in the imaginary world in their living rooms every day that when things don't go the way they want them to, they take it out on the writers," Kate explains.
"Wow! Intense fans, big time!" Castle exclaims. "I got a barrage of angry letters and roasted on social media for killing off Derrick Storm, but no one tried to kill me. So, how do you know so much about soaps, Beckett?"
Kate's teeth worry her lower lip. "I wrote a paper about soap fan obsessions for my criminal psychology class in college."
"And what do you know about Temptation Lane?" Rick presses.
"I caught a few episodes for reference while I was writing my paper. It's pretty much like any other soap, a lot of bed-hopping, insidious plots, and the villain always keeping the hero from the woman he truly loves. But the story moves slowly. Most writers assume that viewers will only catch three episodes a week, so they write them so that they can keep up anyway."
"I would think that with the ability of fans to record the show, a writer could speed things up a bit since you wrote your paper," Castle offers. "I recall my mother saying she was in at least four death-defying situations on the show and her arc was only three weeks long."
"You may have a point, Castle," Kate considers. "That would allow an aggrieved fan's anger to build more quickly."
"Quickly enough to stick an axe in Sarah Cutler's back?" Rick wonders.
Kate shrugs. "Anything's possible, Castle, and we have to take this case step by step, just the way we would any other murder. We build a timeline, find out who had the opportunity to kill Sarah and we can go through that list for motives. Lanie puts the time of death between seven and eleven last night. Could someone have brought an axe in then?"
"They wouldn't have had to," Esposito says. "The murder weapon was the fire axe from the stage."
"The cast members think it might have been symbolic," Ryan adds.
"Symbolic?" Castle questions.
"Yeah. When Ms. Cutler took over writing the show, the first thing she did was kill off Ashley Conrad, the 30-year matriarch of the show, with an axe," Ryan explains. "The fake killing took place on the same stage, and she was shoved in the same closet. Supposedly, it helped save the show, but some of the fans were unhappy. Jenny's grandmother watches every day. Jenny said she put out a tweet with ten axe emojis."
Rick quirks a brow. "Jenny's grandmother tweets?"
Ryan's head bobs. "Oh yeah! She gets right in there. You should have seen what she said about that goofus who ran against your pal, the mayor. Skewered him good without using a single swear word." The slim detective winces. "Reminded me of the nuns at Catholic school."
"Guys," Kate interrupts, "we don't even know if a fan could have gotten close to the murder scene. We need to talk to everyone in the cast and crew and find out if someone a little closer than the fandom had a serious hate on for Sarah Cutler. Then we can widen the suspect pool to disgruntled viewers."
"Hey, Castle, isn't that your mother?" Ryan asks, pointing at a brightly-clad Martha hurrying into the studio.
Rick sighs. "Damn! I asked her not to…."
"Cool your jets, Castle," Kate advises. "The cast may be willing to drop gossip on her that they wouldn't tell a cop. Take her to lunch later. See what she's heard."
"All right," Rick agrees. "That will be a lot safer than having her try to cook."
"And right now, let's talk to the other writers," Kate adds. "They might be more forthcoming with someone else who makes a living making up stories."
As he trails after Kate, Rick isn't sure whether to feel complimented or insulted.
To Rick, the writers' room seems slightly claustrophobic, with writers elbow to elbow around a table. A whiteboard, slightly reminiscent of a murder board takes up much of one wall. Marker lines divide it into acts with listings of characters and outlines of their dialogue. A woman who identifies herself as Ainsley Hensworth sits opposite the board. "Yes, it was definitely Sarah's idea to take Ashley Conrad out with an axe."
"Some of us thought she should have a more dignified sendoff, surrounded by loved ones and all that – or maybe even be in a coma for a while until we saw the ratings of the show without her," another older writer explains.
Rick smiles at her. "And what's your name?"
The older woman preens slightly. "Meredith Easley, Mr. Castle. I've been writing Temptation Lane for 20 years. I pitched an arc with a character based on Derrick Storm, but the network thought there would be too many legal entanglements."
"My publisher's lawyers can get prickly," Rick offers. "But you would have been a charming collaborator. Sarah Cutler must have had much less experience than you and some of the other writers here."
"Damn right, she did!" a writer from the other end of the table blurts out.
"And you are?" Kate queries.
"Loretta Jason, and I've been here as long as Meredith. Sarah only started at Temptation Lane two years ago, and she was at Port Naismith for only two years before that. She hadn't put in nearly the time it takes to become a head writer, but the network said the show was getting stale and skewing too old. They wanted to attract younger viewers. So they promoted Sarah, and she axed the oldest character on the show."
"But a lot of fans weren't happy," a third writer adds. "I'm Mort Lenley. I've only been here for five years, but I've met a lot of fans at soaps conventions. Many of them are young but grew up watching Ashley Conrad. She was like a grandmother or favorite aunt to them. They were furious. Reese Harmon told me they sent a ton of protest letters."
"And who's Reese Harmon?" Kate asks.
"She's – she was – Sarah's assistant," Mort replies. "Keeping track of fan reactions to the storylines is part of her job. And Sarah was mentoring her, so if anyone knew what was going on with the reactions to Sarah's work, Reese would."
"Thank you, Mr. Lenley," Kate says. "Where would we find Reese Harmon?"
"She has a desk in Sarah's office," Loretta inserts. "It's right at the door. If anyone came in to discuss script problems, Reese played guardian at the gate."
"But she might not be there," Mort adds. "When she's upset she likes to sit on the king-sized bed on the set that's dressed for love scenes. That's probably where you'll find her."
"I'll check that out," Kate says. "Thanks again, Mr. Lenley."
"And thanks to all of you for your time," Castle adds. "Civilians just don't realize how much of it good writing takes."
"You're so right, Mr. Castle," Meredith Easley agrees. "I look forward to your next book."
"As does my publisher." Rick winks at Meredith and follows Kate out of the room.