532. Chapter 532

After Scared to Death

Episode 5.17

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: Blimey, gov'nor, I don't own Castle. Rating: K Time: See above.

Author's note: I had so much fun with Chapter 518, that I decided to bring back Beckett of the Yard and Sir Richard Castle.

Detective Inspector Katherine Beckett of Scotland Yard was uncomfortable being driven by someone else, but Sir Richard Castle had offered to drive her to the nearby village of Tweedledum-Upon Tweedledee. After finishing the murder case involving Sir Richard's butler, the despicable Demming, Kate had fully expected to go back to London and never see Sir Richard again. After all, she was only a London copper and he was a wealthy writer of mystery novels under his pen name of Richard Rodgers. However, fate had intervened. A telephone call from Sir Algernon Barking-Madly, the somewhat eccentric Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, had sent her off on another murder in the area.

"You really don't have to drive me to the murder scene, Sir Richard." She said.

"Nonsense. These country lanes are difficult to navigate in the best of times and with the storm now brewing, I wouldn't dream of sending you out alone." Sir Richard was quite happy to be with Kate Beckett as he found he was quite smitten with the attractive detective. Certainly he was happy to drive her in his Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost to the next murder. And, as a murder mystery writer, he already had plans for a book featuring a lovely, but brilliant lady Scotland Yard detective. Heat of the Yard was already forming in his mind.

He pulled his car up in front of the police station in Tweedledum-Upon-Tweedledee and gallantly opened the door for his lovely companion. Kate blushed as her Lovat tweed skirt accidentally rode up over her knee as she exited the car.

They entered the police station to find the constable on duty waiting for them. "Detective Inspector Beckett, Oi presumes?" He said addressing Sir Richard.

"I'm Detective Inspector Katherine Beckett." Kate snapped. "And you are?"

The constable snapped to attention. "Constable Kevin Ryan, ma'am. At yer service."

Kate nodded. "The gentleman is Sir Richard Castle." Kate suddenly realized she had no explanation for Sir Richard's presence at a murder investigation. She added. "He's assisting with my investigations."

"What can you tell us about the murder, Ryan?" Sir Richard asked.

"T'was horrible, it was, Sor an' Ma'am. Old Miss Maple died wi' a horrible hexpression on her face. At first we thought it was this Johnny Foreigner, a Belgian he were. But he used 'is little grey cells ta prove he were at the Hog and Spit. T'was darts championship night, it were."

"Where did she die?" Beckett asked.

"Why in the front garden of the doctor's surgery, just doon the lane."

"Which doctors?"

"Oh, no, Ma'am. Regular doctors like. Not like the local Medical Examiner. She's fra soom place in Africa."

Kate glared at the constable. "No, not a…Oh, never mind. Where can I find the ME?"

"At yon hospital. The Edward VII Hospital for Fallen Women. Ye can see it fra the door, just to the left."

The two found the medical examiner, a bright young African doctor named Lanie, but she was of little help. "I can't find a cause of death, Detective Inspector Beckett. I'd say the old girl died of a terrible fright, but I have no evidence of that other than her face." She lifted the white sheet from poor Miss Maple's remains. Her face was twisted in a rictus of horror.

"Ghastly." Sir Richard commented.

Kate nodded. "Even in London we rarely see anything like that."

"Tell me, Dr. Lanie, what can you tell me of the two other doctors in this town?" Sir Richard asked.

"The older one, Dr. Perlmutter, does some sort of research aided by the younger doctor, Dr. Davidson. I really don't know what kind of research they do, however. They're very secretive."

Once outside of the hospital, Sir Richard stopped Kate. "Don't you see it, Kate? The two doctors are in this up to their stethoscopes. Probably some sort of poison gas research or something. I know. I got a bit of the old chlorine gas when the Huns attacked us in the spring of '18. Backs to the wall and all that."

Detective Inspector Beckett glared at Sir Richard. "Don't you think that we should have some evidence before we arrest the doctors?"

Sir Richard shrugged. "But it's such a good story. Do you have to ruin it with facts?"

"Facts are my job, Sir Richard. Not fantasy."

"I told you to call me Rick, and you said I could call you Kate."

She glared at him. "Perhaps we should remain on a more formal lever, Sir Richard." She walked off towards the two doctor's surgery with Sir Richard following closely behind.

When they knocked, the door was answered by a red headed woman in a maid's uniform.

"Oui?" She said. "You want?"

Kate held out her warrant card. "Detective Inspector Kate Beckett, Scotland Yard. I'm here about the murder. Who are you?"

The maid curtseyed, "Meredith le Slutte. I am the maid." She said in a definite French accent.

"And that talk of murder is balderdash." That was an older man, dressed in a lounge suit with a white lab coat over it. "I am Herr Doktor Sidney Perlmutter." He said with a slight Teutonic accent. "Miss Maple was an old woman and died of natural causes. Even that young African woman should be able to tell that."

Kate smiled at the doctor. "However, we at the Yard consider odd deaths as murder until proven otherwise. And Doctor Lanie has not been able to find a cause of death."

"Doesn't surprise me." Another man entered the room. Tall and dark haired, he was dressed much as his partner. "Doctor Joshua Davidson, Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons. And I'll stake my reputation that the death was due to natural causes."

"Oh, Joshy, baby…" A blonde woman walked into the room with a glass of wine in her hand, even though it was well before noon.

"This is my secretary." Dr. Davidson said. "Miss Gina Round-Heels." He turned to the blonde. "What is it?" He asked through clenched teeth.

"So none of you saw anything out of the ordinary, even though the deceased died in your front garden?" Sir Richard asked.

"No. We know nothing. Absolutely nothing about anything." They all said in unison.

"I guess that's settled then." Sir Richard said as the two left.

Once outside, Sir Richard turned to Beckett. "I say, Beckett. Don't you find it a trifle odd that they all gave the same answer to my question?"

"It's not odd. They lied."

"I thought so too."

They settled in for the night in separate rooms at the Hog and Spit. As she lay in her bed, Kate wondered about Sir Richard. He seemed interested in her. She wondered if he was just looking for a fling or for what she wanted: Always.

She was awakened the next morning by a pounding on her door. "Detective Inspector Beckett! T'is Oi, Constable Ryan. There's been another murder. Across the lane from them doctors."

The victim was the maid, Meredith. As with Miss Maple, she had a look of absolute horror on her face.

"You still think this is due to natural causes, Doctors?" Kate asked.

Drs. Perlmutter and Davidson nodded in unison." Then they said, "Absolutely. Coincidences happen all the time."

Kate looked at Miss Round-Heels, who was looking quite disturbed. "What about you, Miss Round-Heels? Do you think there's a reasonable explanation for all this? Just a coincidence? Or is it murder?"

Miss Round-Heels took the opportunity to faint.

"We should loosen her clothing." Dr. Perlmutter said.

"I'll loosen her clothing." Dr. Davidson said, rushing to her side.

Dr. Perlmutter pulled Davidson away. "You did that the last time. It's my turn."

As the two men argued, Sir Richard knelt by the unconscious woman and in a very gentlemanly fashion, loosened her clothing. "Hello! This is odd. She has a black windmill tattooed between her breasts. That was popular among the dancers at the Moulin Noir, the infamous nightclub in Paris, famous for being a hangout for German spies during the World War."

As Kate's and Sir Richard's eyes turned to Dr. Perlmutter, the man lost his nerve and began to run to the surgery. He was halfway to the door when the door flew open and a monstrous creature strode out. He was huge, misshapen and covered with scars and sores. With one mighty blow with his fist, he killed Herr Doktor Perlmutter.

As he passed Sir Richard, he realized something. "My God, Beckett! It's Demming, or what's left of him. They must have broken him out of jail and done some sort of experimenting on him. The fiends. Seeing him in the state he's in must have killed Miss Maple and Miss le Slutte from the sheer horror of it." Luckily, Sir Richard and Detective Inspector Beckett were made of sterner stuff.

But, Demming paid no attention to Sir Richard but went straight to Dr. Davidson and drove him into the ground, head first with fatal results. Then, he scooped up Miss Round-Heels and disappeared into the trackless moors.

That night, Sir Richard and Kate Beckett ate dinner at the Hog and Spit. Over an after dinner brandy, Kate asked Sir Richard something that she'd wondered about all day. "How did you know about the tattoo between the breasts of the dancers at the Moulin Noir?"

He shrugged and smiled at her. "Oh, just gossip picked up in the officer's mess. I've never been there myself.'

"Liar!" She pounced. "You were there." At once, Kate realized she'd made a bad mistake.

"And how would you know that, Beckett?"

Kate blushed. "I worked undercover with the Surete Nationale in Paris as a dancer at the Moulin Noir a few years back. I saw you there."

"My God! You're Katie! I fell in love with you the first time I laid eyes on you."

"You did?" She said, shocked.

"Of course! I've been searching for you for years. And I've found you at last." He smiled. "But you don't have a black windmill tattooed between your breasts, do you?"

"There's only one way to find out." She stood up and walked to the bedrooms, her hips swaying. She turned and smiled at him. "Coming, Castle?"