77. Chapter 77

After Wrapped Up in Death

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: May the Curse of the Mummy strike me if…Wait! Forget that. I'll just say I don't own Castle. Rating: K+ Time: See above.

"Crap!" Kate Beckett swore.

"What is it?" Castle asked.

"Crap, that's what it is. Look. Pigeon poop." She turned around to show a streak of white down the front of her suede jacket. "It's brand new and now I'll have to have it cleaned." She looked up at the sky. "Pigeons! Nothing but feathered rats!" She yelled.

"Come on, Beckett." Espo said, hiding his smile.

"Maybe we can…" Castle reached for Beckett's jacket, only to have his hand slapped away.

"Don't touch!" Seeing the look on Castle's face, she added. "It'll just spread it around. I'll have to have it cleaned professionally."

"Beckett?" Ryan said, standing with Espo by their car. "Are we going, or what?'

"We're going! We're going." Beckett and Castle got in their car and all four drove off. Later, they pulled up in front of an old brownstone apartment building in Manhattan. Kate called her team together. "This suspect is probably not our killer, but he deals in phony documents and is probably involved. Everything we have says he's non-violent, but we won't take any chances, okay. Castle and I go in the front door, you two stand by the back in case he rabbits. Okay?"

Five minutes later, Castle and Beckett were at the front door. Kate pounded on it. "Jeffrey Davis! NYPD! We have a warrant! Open up!" He could hear someone scurrying around in the apartment. She stood back and kicked the door open. As they entered, she saw their suspect heading to the back of the apartment. They chased him. As Davis ran into his kitchen, he saw Espo standing there, covering him with his Glock.

"Don't move." As Esposito said that, the magazine fell from the butt of his weapon to the floor. "What the hell?"

As he bent over to grab his magazine, Ryan came in behind him, trying to cover Davis, unsure of what had happened to his partner. He accidentally knocked Espo into an ironing board, causing the hot iron to fall on Espo's hand as he reached for the magazine. Espo, not sure of what had happened behind him, shoved Ryan, causing him to slam his head into the door's frame, opening a slight gash on his forehead.

All the time, Davis stood there with his hands in the air. "I was just going to make sure the iron was off before I opened the door." He said.

"Are you two okay?" Kate asked.

Espo nodded. "It's just a little burn, but I don't know what happened to my weapon." He turned to look at Ryan who was dabbing at his forehead with a handkerchief. "Sorry, bro."

Kate shook her head. "Okay, let's see what we can find."

Back at the station, Davis was very cooperative since they had found reams of phony documents in his apartment. Kate was happy as she met with her team.

"What happened to your Glock, Espo?" She asked.

"The sergeant in the weapons room says the spring on the magazine catch broke. Says it a one in a million thing. He put a new one in for me. It's fine. And my hand is fine as well."

She looked at Ryan. "My head is fine. They put a butterfly bandage on it. I won't even have a scar, probably."

Kate reached over to grab her coffee cup, accidentally knocking a bottle of stamp pad ink over and onto her feet. "Dammit!" She swore. "These are new shoes! First my jacket and now my shoes. I'll probably have to have them re-dyed."

Castle nodded. "It'll be a good time for us all to go home." He smiled at Kate. "Tomorrow, Beckett." He said and left. The others followed him.

When tomorrow arrived, Kate went outside to find a crowd, including a uniform, surrounding her car, which she had left parked on the street. "What happened?" She asked the uniform, showing him her badge.

When the uniform turned to her, she saw the whole front of her car was smashed in. "These guys were installing a new air conditioning unit on the roof of the building. Apparently, it fell. I'm afraid your car is totaled, Detective. I'll have it towed to the police lot."

Kate arrived late as she had had trouble finding a cab. When she got in, she was happy to see that Castle had brought her coffee. It was cold. Then she noticed Ryan. "Ryan, are you limping?"

He nodded. "I was over at my sister Mary Elizabeth's last night. They got a new puppy. Cute little thing, but he was trying to go down the stairs at the same time I was. I tripped on him." He raised his pant leg to show an Ace bandage. "It's just a mild strain."

"Where's Espo?" Castle asked.

Just then Esposito arrived, sporting a black eye. "Don't ask." He said grumpily.

"I have to ask, Espo. It's my job."

Espo looked around, then sat down next to Kate. "I was coming out of my place and I see this guy trying to grab a purse from an old lady. They're both screaming at each other in some language I don't know. So I go over and grab the guy, and knock him down. I'm about ready to cuff the guy and the old lady clocks me with her purse and about a dozen people come out to explain. It seems they're mother and son and the old lady is a drunk. The son was just making sure she didn't have a bottle in her purse."

"It doesn't pay to mess with things you don't understand." Ryan said.

"What?" Espo said. "What do you mean by that?"

"Nothing, Javi. What would I mean?"

Esposito turned to Castle. "Are you doing this to us?" He asked sharply.

"What? I set and old lady and her son on you? I caused the pigeon to poop on Beckett? I trained the dog to trip Ryan?" Castle snapped. "Are you nuts?"

"No, but how did you get rid of the curse?"

"Wait, Espo." Beckett broke in. "There are no curses. It's just bad luck."

"What did the Mayan say to you?" Espo insisted.

"He told me how to disperse the curse. First you…"

"Wait!" Espo said. "Disperse the curse. Like spread it around?"

"Maybe." Castle said cautiously.

"Okay," Ryan said warily, "what do you have to do?"

"You just walk backwards around some plant or tree three times while reciting something in Mayan."

"Something in Mayan? What in Mayan?"

"I wrote it down." Castle took a piece of paper from his wallet.

"Karpowski has a plant on her desk." Beckett said softly. "Let's do this before someone comes in and sees us."

All three walked backwards around Karpowski's plant while chanting the Mayan words. When they were done, they all looked at each other.

"I don't feel any different." Beckett said. "Did you feel any different when you did this, Castle?"

Before Castle could answer there was a crash and a sound of breaking glass from Montgomery's office. "Damn it!" The Captain screamed. "How could that happen?"

"We shouldn't mention this." Castle said. The others nodded their heads.