Chapter 54: Abigail

Racing down the road, Castle drove Abraham's car with Henry and his son to the outskirts of a forest in New Jersey.

"Henry, this is it. Let's get out. I'll take you to retrieve Abigail…"

After stopping the car, Castle turned to Henry in the backseat, his expression grave.

Henry sat in the back, his eyes red and unfocused, staring out the window while his body involuntarily trembled slightly. Abraham, seated next to him, was also struggling to control his emotions. Hearing Castle's words, the father and son regained their focus.

Henry feared he was dreaming; the noble calm and elegance that had always characterized him had vanished, replaced by panic and anticipation. Castle, however, felt it wasn't the time to let them succumb to their emotions and somberly interjected, "Come on, she has been waiting here for over twenty years. Do you want her to wait any longer?"

Snapping back to reality, Henry rubbed his face hard with both hands, took the lead in getting out of the car, and Abraham quickly followed.

The place where Castle parked was on a slope leading to the forest, with a drainage ditch at the bottom, beyond which lay a sparse woodland.

As they walked down the slope, Castle internally complained about America's vast, uninhabited spaces and its people's indifference. It was bewildering to him how Abigail's car could crash down this slope twenty years ago and remain undiscovered all this time, along with her remains nearby. It seemed odd that no one had stumbled upon the scene given the American penchant for poking into everything. Was this the will of the scriptwriter, or simply a plot necessity? But isn't this supposed to be the real world?

Absorbed in his chaotic thoughts, Castle led an increasingly agitated Henry and his son down the slope, soon coming upon the car that Abigail had driven off the road all those years ago.

Decades had robbed the car of its former glory, now completely overtaken by wild growth. Standing next to the car, Castle pointed to a small mound nearby, saying, "Henry, your wife should be over there!"

Henry, examining the wrecked car, turned towards where Castle was pointing and could no longer hold back his tears, quickly walking in that direction.

Abraham hurried after Henry, feeling an even deeper sorrow. It was Abigail, lying in that spot, who had adopted him as a baby from a Nazi concentration camp. Without her, there would be no Abraham today. His longing for her over the years matched Henry's; to Henry, she was a wife, but to Abraham, she was a mother, the person who gave him life.

The father and son stumbled over to the small mound. Henry, a seasoned forensic pathologist, recognized immediately that the bones were consistent with a woman of Abigail's height. Convinced of Castle's information, Henry believed these remains were indeed those of his long-sought wife—Abigail!

From a distance, Castle watched Henry and his son weeping beside Abigail's remains for a while, thinking it was time for them to move past their initial grief. He approached and comforted them, "Alright, Henry, it's not the time to continue grieving. Let's collect Abigail's remains and discuss the rest later."

Prompted by Castle, Henry, nodding appreciatively at him, quickly went with Abraham to fetch a blanket from the car to wrap Abigail's remains, planning to take care of her burial later.

The two moved swiftly back up the slope to retrieve a blanket from the car, then hurried back down, carefully picking up Abigail's bones, tears dropping continuously as they did.

Castle stood aside in silence, moved by Henry's sincere love, when his phone rang.

Pulling out his phone, he saw it was Beckett calling, probably worried about Castle's tendency to go off on his own with any leads he found.

"Hey, Beckett, what's up? Miss your handsome and charming writer?"

Castle moved away from the grieving father and son to answer the call, teasing Beckett to divert her attention.

Beckett, already beyond getting angry at his antics, simply inquired if Castle and Dr. Morgan had made any progress and reminded him that there was still a case pending.

Henry noticed Beckett's call and felt profoundly grateful to Castle, so he approached and told Castle to go ahead and deal with the case, assuring him that he and Abraham could manage the final arrangements for Abigail.

Then, Henry would have ample time to work with Castle to crack the case and catch Adam, the man responsible for Abigail's death.

Though Henry hadn't asked why Adam would kill Abigail, Castle's account was compelling enough to gain his full trust.

Castle agreed, noting that Abraham had wrapped all of Abigail's remains in the blanket; they probably needed to discuss where to bury their wife and mother. So, for now, he had to

 think of a good reason to placate Beckett and Detective Martinez, since he couldn't very well tell them the truth.

Castle drove back, this time with Henry sitting up front, needing to synchronize their story in case Detective Martinez asked Henry any probing questions.

"So you're saying, we just tell them this was a copycat killer? Then what?"

Henry was not adept at lying, as evidenced by his poor disguise skills, leaving Castle to do most of the storytelling. He wasn't expecting an award-winning performance from Henry, just enough to get by with Martinez.

"Then, once you've taken care of Abigail's final arrangements, we'll head straight to New York's Seventh Psychiatric Hospital to try to capture Adam. I bet Adam doesn't know you've found Abigail's body, nor that we've seen through his pretense. Of course, we'll need to be cautious in case he's watching you, as any funeral arrangements for Abigail might alert him.

My plan is to first appease Beckett back at the station and then start monitoring Adam to prevent him from fleeing.

And one more thing, since he's not afraid of dying and will disappear on the spot if killed, to prevent him from committing suicide in a desperate attempt to escape, what do you think about us injecting air into his carotid artery with a syringe to cause an air embolism and turn him into a vegetable?"

Henry, appreciative of Castle's vengeful scheme, pondered briefly before agreeing, but he requested that Castle just monitor Adam for now; Henry wanted to take personal revenge.

After setting their plan, Castle drove back to Abraham's antique shop, bidding farewell to Henry and his son before sauntering back into the 12th precinct.

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