934. Chapter 934

After Dead Again

Episode 8.19

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: I don't own Castle, again. Rating: K Time: See above.

"This is so cool, Beckett."

Captain Kate Beckett glared at her husband. "Try not to be so giddy, Castle. This is a crime scene, remember?"

"Sure, sure. But it's a murder in the Oceanic Gardens. They have everything here: Seals that play the bugle; dancing dolphins; Kaga the killer whale. Everything."

"Beckett?" Ryan called out to her. "We found a janitor who might have seen something last night."

She turned to Castle. "You coming, Castle?"

He looked around. "Can I just look around a little?"

She smiled at him. He was so cute at times like this. She could hardly remember when it bothered her. "Sure, but if I find a seal in the bathtub tonight, he goes back here."

The janitor, George Winton, remembered seeing a car he didn't recognize in the parking lot when he was doing his rounds after the park closed. He was able to give the detectives the approximate time which would help them to scrub the security video.

"What's that damned fool doing up there?" He asked, pointing behind the detectives and above them.

"That's my husband. How did he get up there?"

"He'd better get down. That's Kaga's feeding platform. He expects to find food there not some fool…."

Before he could finish the sentence, Kaga shot out of the water, grabbed Castle in its gigantic maw and fell back into his pool with a gigantic splash.

"Castle!" Beckett screamed, running towards the pool with her two detectives behind her and the janitor. Kate stopped at the edge of the huge pool, looking into the roiling water for any sign of her husband. There was none.

"Oh, my God! He's gone. He's gone! What am I going to do?" She wailed.

As tears poured down her cheeks, a gigantic air bubble came to the surface, unleashing an unbelievably foul, fishy odor, and Richard Castle.

"Castle!" She screamed. "Over here!" She jumped in the water and swam to her husband, pulling him to the edge of the tank where Ryan and Esposito pulled them both out.

The janitor shook his head. "I've seen Kaga fart before, but nothing like that. Kaga must be violently allergic to him."

Kate's eyes began to water, but they weren't tears of joy. "Castle." She gasped. "You need to go home and take a shower. And change clothes. I love you, but, God, do you stink."

Both Ryan and Espo were starting to look ill. The janitor was more used to the stench.

"Beckett, I was going down this long dark tunnel, and then there was this flash of light….I had a near death experience, just like on TV."

"Son, you've just seen the alimentary canal of a killer whale from the inside." Said the janitor. "But it was a near death experience."

"Castle. Shower. Now. Two showers. Change clothes." Beckett gasped, pushing him away.

After taking an hour long shower and changing his clothes, Castle returned to the 12th Precinct. "How's the case going?"

Kate sniffed at him and decided he smelled no worse than when he had the all you can eat buffet at Sam's Fish Grotto in Brooklyn. "The vic is Peter Petrovich, a whale trainer. The car in the parking lot is registered to a David Landers. Landers is an animal rights activist. He's been harassing Oceanic Gardens for months, complaining that holding sea creatures there is unethical. We're going to bring him in for questioning. Want to come along?"

Having gotten a search warrant, the officers and Castle entered Landers' apartment. It was filled with posters attacking all manner of people and organizations that Lander's felt harmed animals, from animal parks, to zoos to medical research companies.

Castle found an aquarium in the living room. "Hey, there's one of those little ceramic divers and a castle at the bottom of the tank. And it looks like there's something inside the castle. It's a perfect place to hide something. He reached into the tank.

"Don't!' Screamed Landers from the front door, just as Castle felt something jab his hand. Then he fell over.

"What did you do?" Beckett screamed, grabbing Landers.

"It wasn't me. It was Harvey, the reef stonefish. It's the most lethal fish in the ocean. Its spines are full of neurotoxins."

Ryan and Espo were working on Castle. "I can't find a pulse." Ryan yelled, as Espo called for an ambulance and described the toxin with the help of Landers.

Castle woke up to find himself staring at the ceiling with Lanie and Kate looking down at him. "See?" He heard Espo say. "First it was that zombie guy and now Castle. Ryan couldn't find a pulse in a million years."

"What happened?" Castle asked and Kate told him about the reef stonefish. "We interviewed Mr. Landers. He said he got a call last night from Ocean Gardens asking him to come over. We traced the number on his cell phone. Guess who it belongs to?"

"Jacques Cousteau?" Castle guessed.

"No. The janitor, George Winton. It seems he only took the job as a janitor in hopes of getting promoted to being a trainer. When Petrovich got promoted instead of him, he went a little haywire. Everyone thought he'd gotten over it, but he looks like our best suspect now."

Castle got off of the gurney Lanie had put him on. "Okay, let's go."

Kate put her hand on his arm. "Babe, are you sure about this. Maybe you should go home and rest. The paramedics shot you full of the anti-toxin, but you don't look good."

"I feel fine. And I really want this guy."

The park was closed to the public by the time the police got there, but there was no sign of Winton, who had reported in and then disappeared.

"Castle, you stay with me. And stay close."

But not five minutes into the search, Kate looked around and Castle was gone. She cursed under her breath and called the other police to tell them she'd lost Castle. Then she rounded a corner to find Winton.

"Put your hands behind your head." She yelled.

Winton smiled. "Take a look at your husband." He gestured to his left. There was Castle, hanging from his wrists over a very large tank.

"If anything happens…."

Winton laughed. "The tank is filled with electric eels. Now one eel won't kill you, but hundreds…." he laughed again. "I really don't want to go to prison, so…." he dropped a small device and as soon as it left his hand, Castle fell into the tank. Beckett shot Winton in both knees, dropping him to the floor. She rushed to the tank, but before she got there a seal waddled out of nowhere, jumped into the tank and lifted Castle out, balanced him on its nose then dropping him to the floor. Then the seal jumped out of the tank and looked to Beckett for a fish.

"Castle!" Kate screamed.

He opened his eyes. "What was that?"

"He should have died!" Screamed Winton from the floor. "He should have died."

Castle staggered to his feet. "I feel okay. Did he say I should have died?"

"Castle, go home, take another shower and go to bed. I'll be home as soon as I finish the paperwork on Winton."

Castle went.

When he got back to the loft, he found a familiar face there. "Dad! What are you doing here?"

"I had to see if it worked, didn't I?" Jackson Hunt said with a smile.

"If what worked?"

"The Agency's newest body armor. It's in the soap you and Beckett are using. It leaves a microscopic layer on your skin. Lasts all day. Great stuff and a lot better than the body armor they use now. You're okay?"

"I little bruised and upset, but I could be worse. I could be dead." Castle explained what had happened that day.

"See? Great stuff. I'll try to keep you and Beckett supplied with the soap." He checked his watch. "Gotta go."

"Things to see and people to do?" Castle asked sarcastically.

"Exactly." And he was gone.

When Kate got back to the loft, she found Castle waiting in the bedroom, wearing only a towel. "You know, I thought we could take a shower together and I could lather you all over."

"Lead on, Mr. Castle."