1053. Chapter 1053

After A Deadly Game

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: Would anyone believe it if I said I did own Castle? Rating: K Time: Episode 2.24 but a little AU. Okay, a lot AU.

Detective Kate Beckett found herself staring at the still empty chair by her desk. It had been empty for a month, and it probably would be empty for longer than that.

How could I have ever thought that I could fit into Castle's life? She asked herself. Look at the women who do fit into his life. Meredith, for instance. Castle called her a deep- fried Twinkie. Not that he isn't one himself. She stopped. That's unfair to Castle. He's a wonderful father and son, and really a lot different than what I thought he was when I first met him. Oh, okay. He can drive me up the wall sometimes. Meredith is a flake and from the reaction I saw from Alexis when they came to the precinct, not a good mother. But, she's from LA and an actress. Aren't people from LA supposed to be flakes? And she recognized right off that the handbag was a knockoff. I would never have figured that out. Hell, I don't even have a nice enough dress to wear to that charity event Castle took me to. He had to buy one for me. I tried to give it back but he joked it wasn't his color. The whole time I was at the event I had to keep reminding myself I was undercover. A little voice in the back of my head kept telling me that someone would point at me and say, "Look. It's just Kate Beckett. She isn't one of us. She doesn't belong here."

Then there was Ellie Monroe. There was no reason that Castle shouldn't have gone to bed with her. I never gave him a reason not to. She does fit into his world like I never would. She was on Bobby Mann's show, she's an actress, and, okay, she sleeps her way to the top. I've never seen any of her movies and from what I know about them I never will. But a glamorous actress fits better into Castle's word better than some cop.

The blonde. Kate couldn't quite force herself to think of Castle's second ex-wife as anything but the blonde. Beautiful, accomplished and a successful businesswoman. How could I ever compete with that? I can't.

I'll just have to content myself with the Tom Demmings of the world. But…The Tom Demmings of the world are not Richard Castle.

Captain Roy Montgomery stuck his head out of his office. "Beckett, Ryan, Esposito. Have any of you had any contact with Castle? I've got the mayor on the phone."

"We haven't seen him since he walked out with…Oof!" Ryan glared at Esposito for kicking him, then realized what he'd almost said.

"We haven't seen him since you did, Captain." Esposito said.

"Beckett?"

"No, sir." And why the hell would he call me? She thought.

As she had done so many times in the past, Kate pushed her emptions to one side and got on with her work.

Minutes later, Captain Montgomery called out. "Beckett, Ryan, Esposito. My office. Now."

The three dropped what they were doing and went to see their captain.

"There been a multiple homicide at Castle's home in the Hamptons. Four dead."

Kate had an immediate mental picture of Castle, Martha, Alexis and Gina, all dead.

"Sir, we're not very busy right now and I have a lot of vacation I haven't used. I'd like..."

Montgomery cut her off. "No. There are four dead men, none of whom are Rick Castle, and they're not known to the Hamptons PD. However, Castle is missing. You three, Doctor Parish and a team from CSU are going to investigate."

"Sir," Esposito said, "we don't have any jurisdiction in the Hamptons."

"You do now. I talked to Chief…" Montgomery checked his notes, "Chief Brady. No one in his department has any experience with homicides. He said the most violent crime he's had to deal with were two overweight Wall Street lawyers who started throwing punches over whose dog crapped on whose lawn. They have a part time ME who also has never handled a murder and virtually no crime scene unit. The mayor out there knows Castle has worked with us and he also knows Mayor Weldon is a friend of Castle's. He called our mayor and asked for help. A lot of rich New Yorkers also have homes here in the city and almost all of them work here. Mayor Weldon would like all of those wealthy, potential donors reassured that everything is being done to solve the crime and find Castle. Now, get moving."

It took several hours for Lanie to turn her work over to Dr. Perlmutter, and for Perlmutter to complain to Kate about the extra work. She also had to get a team from CSU ready for a trip to the Hamptons and told them that they'd probably have to take everything they might need with them. When Kate saw how packed their van was, she wondered if they had left anything behind.

It was just past noon by the time they arrived at Castle's Hampton home. Kate stopped her Crown Victoria at the yellow police tape which blocked the driveway. There was an unfamiliar car parked in front of her.

She looked at Castle's home. I knew he was rich and I've seen his loft, but I had no idea his place was anything like this. This is more than a home, it's a mansion. I wouldn't fit in here in the Hamptons any more than I would in his loft and with his friends in Manhattan.

She saw a man in a blue police uniform coming out of the house and heading towards her. She exited her car.

"Detective Beckett? I'm Chief Brady, Hamptons PD. I am so glad to see you. We've never, ever had anything like this happen."

She heard Ryan, Espo, Lanie and the rest coming up behind her. "Chief Brady, these are Detectives Kevin Ryan, Javier Esposito, our ME, Dr. Lanie Parish and Detective Jim Braddock and his Crime Scene Unit team. Shall we get started?"

"We'll have to go through the garage to avoid the crime scene, which is just inside the front door. And there's this car."

Now that they were close to the car, Kate could see three bullet holes in the windshield. The passenger side door was open and the driver was inside, dead. "Looks like he got hit in the throat and the head."

"Twice in the head, I think." Brady said.

"Lanie, you want to start on this one?"

The ME shook her head. "I'd rather see everything and then decide where to start."

"I'm betting the shooter was over by the garage." Espo said.

"Braddock?" Kate said.

"I agree with Dr. Parish. We'll see everything, then decide."

"We didn't do anything but put up the crime scene tape. Oh, and turn off the shower."

"The shower?" Kate asked. Had Castle been in the shower?

"The shower was full of guns and other stuff." Brady said.

Brady led them through the garage and into the house. Kate saw a Mercedes parked in the garage. "Is this Castle's car?"

"Yes. We checked the registration."

"Were there any other cars here?"

"I don't know, Detective Beckett. Not that we know of."

"Do we have a timeline?" Kate asked.

"Mr. Thomas Behrend was walking his dog when he saw Castle's front door was open. He went to tell Castle and saw the dead man in the car in the driveway. We got the 911 call at 7:02 AM. The first officer was here at 7:07AM."

"Any idea where Castle was earlier than that?"

"One of my officers saw his car in front of Alfredo's. It's an Italian restaurant in town. I called Alfredo himself this morning. He said Mr. Castle came in at about 8:45 and his credit card was activated at 10:02 PM. Alfredo said he left very soon after that."

"Who was he with?" Kate really didn't want to know, but had to ask.

"He was alone. Alfredo and the staff who were on duty then will be on duty again tonight. You can talk to them then."

Kate nodded. "Espo, once we get a handle on the crime scene, call them up and arrange an interview. We should probably interview them at work and see if anyone saw anything out of the ordinary."

By this time, they were at the shower in the bathroom.

"Look." Braddock said, pointing to four plastic bottles on the floor by the shower. "Half gallon bottles of bleach. There's no way we'll get anything with the bleach plus all that water." He pointed to the shower. "We're all of those on when you arrived?"

Brady nodded. "The three nozzles on the ceiling and the ones on each side. They were going full blast."

Espo leaned over. "Four H&K UMP 9mm submachine guns with sound suppressors, and reflex sights. Four ballistic vests, with small arms protection inserts. Four sets of night vision goggles and one Colt Woodsman, .22 caliber, also with a sound suppressor. And some spare magazines. These people had some serious shit."

"Okay, where's the crime scene?" Beckett asked.

"The front door hallway." Brady replied. "It's pretty grim."

"We'll manage." Espo said.

They found three men dead on the floor, just inside the front door. Two were on their backs and one had fallen on his face.

Esposito and Braddock stood back and examined the scene. Finally, Braddock spoke. "There are three 9mm shell casings here. So, one shooter, call him shooter A stood here. I'd bet he shot the last one through the door."

Espo took over. "Three 9mm shell casings by the stairway. Shot the middle guy, I bet. Shooter B."

Braddock finished. "Four 9mm shell casings here. That' s shooter C." Braddock called over his shoulder. "Mitch, did you find anything by the garage?"

"Three more 9mm casings in some rose bushes."

Espo nodded. "These guys were very economical. No pray and spray, just a nice quick burst to the center of mass."

"Lanie, do you want to look at the corpses?" Kate asked.

Lanie set out about examining the corpses as the weapons and other items from the shower were brought out and placed on a tarp for further examination.

Lanie completed her initial evaluation. "They're post rigor mortis and from liver temp, I'd ballpark time of death as between ten PM and four AM. I'll have to get them back to the morgue to give you a better idea of TOD. They each also had one round to the head, from close range. Small caliber, so I think it would be from the .22."

"Coup de grace." Braddock muttered. No one disagreed.

"And, if you'll notice, they're carrying silenced automatic pistols that…"

"Lanie, "Espo broke in, "there are no silenced pistols. There are pistols with suppressors that suppress the sound of firing, but can't silence it completely."

"I stand corrected, Espo." Kate had a feeling that Espo would regret publicly correcting Lanie like that. Lanie went on. "In addition to the suppressed weapons, the man farthest from the door has a lockpick in his hand."

"The dead driver had a suppressed Walther PPK on the seat beside him. "Braddock added.

"Beckett?" Espo said. "We took a quick look at the stuff from the shower. The submachine guns and their suppressors and sights look brand new. The vests are German made and military grade. They'll stop a high velocity rifle slug, or at least the SAPI plates will. The night vision goggles are Israeli and top of the line. The Colt .22 is an old model, but in excellent shape. We have serial numbers on everything, but dollars to donuts, we'll never trace anything back to a buyer."

Kate nodded. "Turn them over to Braddock for ballistic tests. Braddock, how is your team doing?"

"Lots of fingerprints and DNA, but I'm sure it'll all turn to be from the people who lived here. These guys were not sloppy."

Chief Brady came into the hallway. "Detective Beckett? We may have some witnesses. At least witnesses after the shootings. They're out on the back lawn."

"Lead the way."