[Castle] "Hoof Marks" (PG)
Author's Note: Written for 
fic_promptly's author's choice, any, centaurs. Featuring Rick+Kate in a strange crime scene.
The body lay prone on the grass, face ground into the dirt, head bashed open, hoof-shaped marks on the back and the legs, with more hoof marks on the grass around it.
"I'm guessing the killer ran down the victim on horseback, then drove the horse to trample the victim," Ryan said, kneeling over the body. "Bridle path isn't too far away."
"But it's still a quite a distance," Beckett said, incredulous, glancing over her shoulder through the trees.
"Why would anyone use a *horse* to kill someone? Unless this is a riding accident gone really wrong," Ryan
said.
"Maybe he was *trying* to make it look like a riding accident," Esposito said. "Unless their bow and arrow was in the shop."
"Maybe... it was a centaur," Castle cut in.
"And when did this get to be Narnia?" Beckett asked, raising an eyebrow. "I didn't see a wardrobe or a doorway made with three sticks anywhere near here."
"And I don't remember Dionysos having any wild parties nearby," Ryan asked. He met the surprised looks from the others with, "I liked Disney's Fantasia when I was a kid."
"Not enough tracks for an orgy nearby, and there'd be lots of little goat hoof tracks, too," Castle added. "I still say a centaur did it."
"What makes you think that?" Beckett asked. "Besides your fondness for C.S. Lewis."
Castle strode up to a nearby tree, with a branch hanging high enough for it to have brushed someone's head, but not so high that a rider would have brushed against it. He pointed to something dangling from the branches. "Look and see: that look like hair to you? Too fine to be horse's hair."
"It could have come from someone's head if they brushed against it while they rode under the tree," Beckett argued.
"Before the centaur galloped off and knocked down the sides of the three-stick doorway on his way back to Narnia," Castle replied, confidently.
fic_promptly's author's choice, any, centaurs. Featuring Rick+Kate in a strange crime scene.
The body lay prone on the grass, face ground into the dirt, head bashed open, hoof-shaped marks on the back and the legs, with more hoof marks on the grass around it.
"I'm guessing the killer ran down the victim on horseback, then drove the horse to trample the victim," Ryan said, kneeling over the body. "Bridle path isn't too far away."
"But it's still a quite a distance," Beckett said, incredulous, glancing over her shoulder through the trees.
"Why would anyone use a *horse* to kill someone? Unless this is a riding accident gone really wrong," Ryan
said.
"Maybe he was *trying* to make it look like a riding accident," Esposito said. "Unless their bow and arrow was in the shop."
"Maybe... it was a centaur," Castle cut in.
"And when did this get to be Narnia?" Beckett asked, raising an eyebrow. "I didn't see a wardrobe or a doorway made with three sticks anywhere near here."
"And I don't remember Dionysos having any wild parties nearby," Ryan asked. He met the surprised looks from the others with, "I liked Disney's Fantasia when I was a kid."
"Not enough tracks for an orgy nearby, and there'd be lots of little goat hoof tracks, too," Castle added. "I still say a centaur did it."
"What makes you think that?" Beckett asked. "Besides your fondness for C.S. Lewis."
Castle strode up to a nearby tree, with a branch hanging high enough for it to have brushed someone's head, but not so high that a rider would have brushed against it. He pointed to something dangling from the branches. "Look and see: that look like hair to you? Too fine to be horse's hair."
"It could have come from someone's head if they brushed against it while they rode under the tree," Beckett argued.
"Before the centaur galloped off and knocked down the sides of the three-stick doorway on his way back to Narnia," Castle replied, confidently.