castle fanfiction, castle/beckett - ring out, wild bells [1/3].
Ring Out, Wild Bells (1/3)
Author's Notes: Another yuletide venture. Case-file fic set during the holidays. Summary from AO3: when a body is found dressed as Santa in the days before Christmas, Beckett tries to solve the murder while Castle makes unhelpful jokes about the Grinch upping his ante. (Roughly set in the current timeline, and, for a case-file, contains an embarassing amount of holiday fluff. Split into three due to a) my laziness and b) AO3 and LJ's refusal to co-operate when I try to copy over the text and/or html version of the post. Grrr.)
She got the phone call around dawn on the twenty second of December, just before the first real light from the sun warmed the city. Josh was already up and dressed, half an hour away from being out the door and on his way to rounds. He handed her a coffee cup while she buttoned her shirt. She managed a sip, and murmured her thanks, but set it aside.
"I've got a case," she said, eyeing the bitter beverage with regret.
He shrugged as if to say suit yourself and started in on his second cup of the day which enthusiasm. She rummaged around his bedroom floor for her other shoe.
"You'll call when it's done?" he asked as she fastened the zipper of her boot.
She nodded, then, realising she hadn't asked, said, "What are your plans for the holidays?"
"Well," he paused, "I drew one of the short straws, gotta be back in the city by 6pm on the 25th, I'm on call. Heading upstate to the family day after tomorrow, but I'll be around before that."
She nodded again, "Hopefully this will be an easy one. I'll call you."
"I'm pulling doubles at the hospital trying to clear my schedule before my break, but I might be able to squeeze you in."
There was innuendo behind the words but she didn't smile. She was distracted with the task of clipping her badge to her belt.
"Ok," she took a step towards the door, thoughts already on the case, then turned back, looking apologetic. "Happy holidays," she offered, just in case, and he gave her a quick kiss, the half-full coffee cup hanging awkwardly in his hand between them.
"You too," he replied and watched her leave over the brim of the mug.
His thoughts lingered on her for a few minutes, but then he recalled a particularly troubling patient, and ran over the case notes in his head, searching for an answer that was not yet apparent. Work was work - that was something they definitely had in common - and their mutual love of their respective jobs meant the long hours and unpredictable phone calls at all hours weren't a source of resentment on either side.
But while he did spare her a second thought after she left, her thoughts were entirely elsewhere - a rear access alley next to a storage facility in the Garment district to be precise, where a man dressed as Santa Clause had been found dead. With a purpose in her stride she reached in her pocket for her cell phone and dialled her partner's number.
"Detective Beckett," he greeted her, "To what do I owe the pleasure?"
"Dead body on west 34th street," she skipped the pleasantries and rattled off the address the officer on the phone had given her, "It seems the Grinch killed Santa Clause."
"Seriously?" he asked her.
"Yes?" she was confused.
"Looks like Santa didn't get his miracle on 34th street then," he quipped.
She groaned.
"Well, my day is looking up," he said, cheerfully.
He always sounded far too pleased at the prospect of murder.
"Mine isn't," she muttered, mostly to no one because he had already hung up.
---
Lanie was crouched over the portly victim when she approached.
"What have we got?" she asked her friend, snapping on gloves.
"Don't you want to wait for your boy?"
"Present," Castle called from behind her, "And the bearer of gifts. Well, of coffee. There might be donuts too, but I left those with the unies so it could be slim pickings."
"One of these days, writer boy over here is going to remember my order," Lanie narrowed her eyes.
"Doctor Parish, I'm affronted," he held up a tray bearing four cups in one hand, "Your skim chai latte, extra foam, is right here. But you might want to finish up with St Nick here first."
Castle wrinkled his nose at the thought of mixing beverages and bodies.
"Yes, can we get to the dead guy?" Kate huffed, impatient, but plucked her coffee from the tray with a small, appreciative smile.
"He's cold," Lanie said, "But that's no surprise because so am I. Liver temp will tell us more once I get him to the lab, but unfortunately because the temperature was so low last night, rigor is pretty useless. What I can tell you is probably what you can see - the victim was stabbed, several times in the abdomen but that may not be what killed him. The swelling in the face and the giant boot mark on his neck suggest otherwise. You'll have to wait until I do my full autopsy to know for sure, but it doesn't change the fact that someone really had it out for this guy."
"So bottom line, he was stabbed then someone stood on his neck to finish the job," Beckett summarised, clearing the facts in her mind. "Did he have ID on him?"
Lanie shook her head, "The boys have got people looking for it now."
Kate sighed, "What are the odds we'll get lucky?"
Castle looked at her sideways, but wisely chose to remain silent. The medical examiner caught his train of thought though, because she rewarded him with a conspiring glance and a small laugh before standing and peeling of her gloves, "I'll be taking that tea now," she demanded her pay off with an open palm, "Too bad it's probably cold."
Castle shrugged his apology and trotted off in pursuit of his muse, who was bringing Ryan and Esposito up to speed.
"So, what've you found?" she asked.
"Nothing you're going to like," Ryan reported.
"No ID, no murder weapon. We did find Santa's sack though," Esposito told her, "Full of presents too. As far as we can tell, they're real, so it's not a prop."
"It's a public place, so CSU didn't turn up anything particular useful at the scene," Ryan continued, "A few cigarette butts, and this." He held up a bloodstained white beard, carefully preserved in a large plastic bag, "But they're still looking."
"Ok," she processed the new information, "We should head back to the precinct. Ryan, ask Lanie if she's run the fingerprints when you get back, maybe this guy has priors. Esposito, check with missing persons."
Esposito groaned at the thought of manually sifting through the thousands of unsolved disappearances on file with the NYPD.
Beckett made a chiding noise and waved them on their way.
"Come on," she gestured for the writer to follow her and made her way back to her car.
---
"You're awfully quiet this morning," she commented as she threw the car into reverse, eyes in the rear view mirror.
He shrugged. "I was treated to a rather unpleasant Christmas gift last night."
His cryptic answer piqued her interest. She turned to face him for a second in the gridlocked traffic, "Oh?"
"Gina decided it would be best if we called it quits before the holiday season."
"Ah," her eyes snapped back to the road at the sound of a cabbie's horn blaring. The traffic had started moving. Castle made a particularly rude gesture between the seats in response to the other driver's road rage. Beckett pulled his hand down and hissed his name. "That's no excuse to do that."
"The jerk was overreacting."
She rolled her eyes, "I meant Gina, but either way. I'm a cop Castle. At least preserve my integrity if you won't preserve your own dignity."
"Sorry," he said, genuinely contrite.
Her hand still rested on his, "So am I. About Gina, I mean."
He shrugged and pulled his hand away, "It wasn't the first time."
That particular admission gave her mind something to chew on as they waited at the next stoplight. It hadn't really occurred to her before that Castle might not be entirely responsible for the breakdown of his marriages. Well, she knew that Meredith had left him, but he didn't often talk about his marriage to Gina. "Hmm," she offered him.
He mistook her thoughtful expression for preoccupation with the case. Really she was thinking that it had escaped his notice that she hadn't had time to go home to change, and that was nothing short of a Christmas miracle. Lanie had given her a knowing eye from head to toe, and the last thing she needed was the two of them ganging up on her to tease her about 'walks of shame'.
"So, why kill Santa?" Castle put it to her as she parked at the precinct.
She shrugged, "Maybe our killer was given a lump of coal last year?"
It did elicit a grin from the writer, but she was fascinated to note that it lacked something of its usual wattage.
"We won't know more until we get an ID on our victim," she sighed, his mood was draining her energy, "Lanie's running fingerprints and the boys are checking with missing persons now."
Esposito was waiting for them as they entered the bullpen, "Vic's name was Jake Littleton. The cop on the night shift down at missing persons remembered a woman calling late last night, worried that her husband hadn't come home. She was pretty hysterical, so even though he couldn't file the report, he took her details. Her husband matched the description of our vic, so we pulled his DMV photo," Esposito held a head shot of the victim from the crime scene and the somehow less flattering photo that had graced his driver's license, "It was a match."
"Ok," she said, grabbing the driver's license photo and sticking it to the clean whiteboard with a small magnet, "What do we know?"
"Not a whole lot," Ryan joined the conversation, "Mrs Littleton's on her way in now. But other than a single speeding ticket five years ago, he's clean."
"Well, we know he was dressed as Santa Clause," Castle pointed out. She spared him a glance, but relented, writing that fact beside the victim's head shot. "I doubt that will be relevant in a murder like this, but OK Castle."
"It's just odd, is all," he was building a wild theory behind his eyes, she could tell. "I mean, yes there's probably hundreds of Santas in the city at this time of year, but it can't pay very well and did you see the vehicle registration under his name?" he leaned over and tapped at it in the file Ryan had given her. The victim had driven a five-year old BMW. "That's not a cheap car. So maybe Santa was running a little something on the side. Spreading a little Christmas cheer, as it were. Drugs? Guns? Ooh, state secrets?"
"Let's wait until we talk to the wife," she feigned a sigh and cut him off before he could mention his favourite three letter acronym, but was pleased to see his spirits rally. She should have expected that though, she couldn't imagine Castle staying down for long. "Ryan," she ordered, "Keep going with that background check, as far back as you can. Esposito, can you get me a copy of the paperwork at missing persons? I know it was never filed, but see if someone down there kept it."
Her team busied themselves leaving her and her partner staring at the face of the deceased, as though the photograph might reveal some clue.
---
The victim's wife arrived at the precinct mid-morning, just as Beckett's caffeine high was beginning to wane. The armchairs they were sitting in were a lot more sleep-conducive than her usual chair and part of her longed to stretch out and close her eyes. Instead, she introduced herself and Castle, who the woman had already recognised. She was making gaga eyes at him. Castle, to his credit, looked a little taken aback but then, smoothly as ever, reached over and shook her hand, telling her he'd happily sign a book for her sometime.
Two things became clear to Beckett from this display - Mrs Littleton had not been informed of her husband's murder and the wife was a flirt. She made a note to check the spouse for extramarital relationships. "Mrs Littleton," she interjected when appropriate, "I understand you called missing persons yesterday evening about your husband."
"Please, call me Emily." The blonde woman nodded, "When Jake didn't come home I started to worry. He's never ... done this before. He always came home when he said he would, and if he was going to be late, he'd always call. We've been working very hard on open, honest communication with our therapist."
That set off alarm bells. Castle noticed it too, she could see him gauging her reaction in her peripheral vision.
"Emily," Beckett said, gently, "I'm with the NYPD's homicide division. Unfortunately, we've asked you down here today because we believe we found your husband's body this morning."
Her reaction to the news seemed genuine. Her face went completely white and she let out a single, silent cry before hiding her face in her hands. Her shoulders were shaking. Beckett reached over and touched her on the shoulder briefly before pushing a box of tissues towards her. A few moments of controlled breathing later and the woman had regained her composure. Her eyes were red, but her face was still deathly white. Her hands were clenched into fists in her lap.
"I knew," she managed to say, barely above a whisper, "I knew when he didn't come home that something was wrong. Oh God."
"Take your time Emily," Castle gave her a small encouraging smile.
"Is this your husband?" Beckett pushed over a photo Lanie had taken before beginning her superficial examination in the morgue.
The other woman nodded, wiping at her eyes when a fresh wave of tears spilled over her cheeks, "He's ... he's pretty beat up but yes, that's Jake."
"Do you have any idea what he was doing yesterday evening?" Beckett continued her questions, methodically and slowly giving Emily time to answers and herself time to study her facial expressions.
"Yes, he was ... he was volunteering at an annual holiday party for a local children's charity," her voice nearly broke on the last word of her sentence. "He was bringing the gifts our local drive had collected for disadvantaged and sick kids."
It seemed their Santa was a good Samaritan. Since he was found without a wallet, perhaps it had been a simple case of a robbery gone wrong?
"He was meant to go straight from work," his wife continued, "He took the car, but I don't know where he would have parked it. He works uptown, so he probably drove down there. We live on Long Island."
Beckett nodded, making another note to find the car, "What business is your husband in?"
They continued in this fashion for nearly an hour. Castle retreated to the break room and returned with three coffees. The women thanked him.
"I'm sorry Emily, I hope you understand, I have to ask you some hard questions now."
Emily nodded, "Anything I can do to help detective."
"You mentioned that you and your husband were in therapy?"
"Yes," she wrung her hands together, "We have been seeing a grief counsellor for nearly a year now. You see, last year, just before Christmas we lost our son, Jeremy. Jeremy was a premmie, his lungs weren't properly developed. One moment he was healthy, the next a common cold had killed him. It was difficult Detective, but I love ... I loved my husband, and my baby, so we went to counselling because the statistics aren't good. After losing a child nine out of ten couples divorce. We didn't want that, but we knew it would take work."
Beckett got the distinct feeling she was an asshole for asking her next question, "I have to ask you for an alibi Emily," she fingered the handle of her mug but maintained eye contact, "Last night, between seven and eleven, could you run through your evening for me?"
"I left work around six," she told them, "I arrived at the train station and drove home, but the traffic was terrible. I think I got home around seven thirty, the alarm company should be able to check because I had to turn off the security. I talked to my mother on the phone for a few hours after I ate dinner then I fixed a plate for Jake and went to bed. I woke up around 2 am and was surprised when he wasn't home. That's when I called the police."
"You rang the police in Manhattan from your home in Long Island?" Castle smelled rat.
"Perhaps I should be more clear, Mr Castle, I rang everyone. I rang Jake's cell about a million times. I tried the venue the party was meant to be at - I thought maybe he had stayed later than he intended. And I tried several of our friends in the city, in case he'd had a few too many and couldn't drive. After a friend who had attended the event told me Jake never showed, I rang all the major hospitals between the charity event and home. And I called police all over the state. I overreacted," she admitted, "But I was so worried. That kind of behaviour is incredibly out of character for my husband."
"Ok," Beckett wrapped up the interview by giving Emily her card, "Thanks for your help Emily. If you think of anything else, please, let us know."
After the woman left and she had returned to her less comfortable office chair, Beckett focussed her attention on her partner.
"So, what do you think?" she asked.
"Didn't do it," Castle declared authoritatively, "Although she did give an alibi rather quickly."
"She described a rather quiet evening at home," she countered. "And the times she gave match up with our record of her call to missing persons. But we'll check it out."
"Still," he drummed his fingers against her desk, "Something tells me she didn't do it, and this time it's not just because it would make a terribly boring story."
"Statistically, one of these days, it's going to have to be the spouse," Beckett complained, "But I'm inclined to agree with you."
"It's a Christmas miracle," he deadpanned.
She threw a paper clip at him.
---
By lunchtime, Ryan's background check was nearly complete and Esposito had put in requests for the victims financials and phone records, and checked with the security company to confirm the wife's alibi. The boys had disappeared across the road for burgers just seconds after Lanie called her with preliminary findings from the morgue. An invitation had been extended to Castle and Beckett, but Castle had made a face, "A cheeseburger and fries before a trip to the morgue? No thanks."
The detectives had laughed at his squeamish stomach.
"I hope you know, this means you're buying lunch after we're done with Lanie," she informed him as they stepped into the elevator.
"You'll thank me later," he assured her, "I don't care how used to it you are, morgue smell is not pleasant on a full stomach."
"Lanie might be mid autopsy by now," she teased, "Are you sure you want to eat after you watch her cut a heart out of an open chest cavity?"
"I'm oddly curious and at the same time repulsed," he cocked his head to one side. "A common affliction."
"Didn't you hear about curiosity and cats Castle?"
"Dog person myself," he told her. "Though I don't mind the odd feline."
The banter continued good-naturedly until their voices were echoing in the corridor outside Lanie's examination room. The medical examiner caught the end of their spirited debate of the virtues of both pets as she was sucking down the last of her lunchtime beverage. She shot Kate a knowing look as they entered the room, "Picking out a pet together? How domestic."
She was rewarded with a glare from the detective.
Castle shrugged, "Not if she wants a yappy little handbag dog. I want an animal companion, not an accessory."
"Anyway," Beckett tapped her foot, "I heard you had something for us."
Castle continued as though she hadn't spoken which earned him a solid elbow to the ribs, "Though I suppose all the ladies do love the adorable small dogs."
"If you two are done with the foreplay," Lanie said, which shut them up immediately - Castle because he was mulling over a flirtatious reply and Beckett because she couldn't decide where to be annoyed or embarrassed which naturally only added to her embarrassment.
"Esposito told me you got an ID," the medical examiner began, pulling back her sheet to reveal the victim's face, "Which is lucky, because I ran his prints and turned up nothing. He's never been arrested and he wasn't in any government personnel databases either."
"He's squeaky clean," Beckett confirmed, "I was hoping for cause of death?"
"Well, I'm still waiting on the biochemical tests and I ran toxicology to be safe, but I don't expect anything there. I haven't finished a full autopsy but I can tell you that the stab wounds didn't kill him. Petechial haemorrhaging is evident on closer examination and his trachea is crushed. An injury like that would have been fatal fast, so he didn't have a chance to bleed out. I'm just preserving the brain in formalin now," she gestured to her workspace. Castle investigated but quickly made a face at the smell.
"In a week or so we'll have more results, there should be histological evidence in the brain tissue. But for now, I'm confident that your victim here was killed by inadequate supply of oxygen to the brain because someone was shoving their boot against his throat. I took some photos of the shoe imprint on his neck and sent them up to CSU, one of the computer guys is trying to put together a print for you, but from the width of the imprint, I'd say you're looking for an average sized guy."
Kate nodded and Castle's fingers extended towards Lanie's instrument tray. The doctor slapped his hand away, "Trust me, you don't wanna touch those. He struggled," she continued, lifting the victim's hand to show her audience the extensive bruising on his knuckles, "And I lifted some skin from under his fingernails. I'm waiting to hear back from the lab techs about DNA. Same goes for the blood samples at the scene and on the wig. They're short-staffed because of the holiday, so it could take a while," she warned.
"I'm sure it's the same in all the labs," the detective observed.
Lanie nodded, "And I'm out from Friday, but I'm sure you two are planning on cracking this thing wide open by then. I'll finish up here today and tomorrow, should have report on your desk before I head out to Jersey to see my folks."
"Thanks Lanie," Kate smiled across the gurney at her friend. "Stop by before you leave ok?"
"Mmhmm," the doctor nodded.
"Merry Christmas Doctor Parish," Castle gave her a kiss on the cheek on their way out.
Beckett eyed him strangely, but he didn't have a chance to mull over it because once again he was several steps behind her. He quickened his pace to catch up.
---
Things moved slowly from there, with departments running short on personnel and the world at large winding down for the holiday season longer than usual waits were to be expected. Kate knew this, but it was still frustrating. She'd called her father on their way in from lunch to tentatively cancel their Christmas plans.
Castle shook his head at her, "You shouldn't be working on Christmas Day."
She shrugged, "It's better than going to Chicago and back just for dinner, and I can't take leave now, not with an active case. I'd be preoccupied anyway."
"So let's solve this thing," he was enthused, "Can't have Christmas with the unsolved murder of Santa."
"Right," she stood and began updating the murder board.
Ryan and Esposito had taken an unusually long lunch. Beckett suspected they were playing hooky to shop for Jenny's Christmas present, but since the phones weren't ringing and they were at an impasse for the time being, she didn't reprimand them when they slunk back into the office after two thirty.
It didn't take long to collate the sum total of what they knew, because it wasn't much. Beckett was inclined to believe the wife's story, so they had to interview the people involved in the charity event Jake was meant to attend, but they were still trying to get a hold of the event manager. Uniforms had canvassed the area around the crime scene, but no witnesses had come forward. She'd released a small notice to the press, but it wouldn't run until the morning at the earliest and this time of year, it was likely to be missed.
They were still waiting for financial records and the phone company had told Ryan to ring back in the late afternoon.
Castle was fidgetty and it was starting to grate on her nerves.
"So, what we know so far is that Santa had a wife and they'd lost a child, he was on his way to a charity toy drive and he was found dead early this morning by garbage collectors collecting waste from a dumpster in the alley."
The timeline was scarcely worth sketching, but she did anyway.
"We need to find that car," she mused. "And we should talk to his colleagues at the law firm he worked for."
Castle nodded.
The law firm blew them off until the morning, despite her insistence that it was an urgent matter. She tasked Castle and his wonder phone with the task of locating parking garages in the area. "The charity event was at an office building on 8th and 35th," she told him, "And he was coming from the west along 35th street. So anything within a two block radius from there."
He gave the list of possible garages to Ryan and Esposito, who arranged for uniforms to search for them for the car.
Beckett tapped her pen against the whiteboard. "There's nothing here."
"Not yet," Castle's voice echoed her frustration.
"Gotta wild theory to cheer a girl up Castle?"
"Why Detective Beckett, if I didn't know better I'd say you just admitted to enjoying my theories."
"And if I didn't know better that was your way of saying you don't have one yet," she retorted.
"I admit, this one has me puzzled. Maybe it's a case of a disgruntled employee at the North Pole? I've heard working conditions for the elves are terrible. They're unionising. Tensions are running high, there's whispers of a strike."
She rolled her eyes. "Give up on the Santa thing, that's already been explained."
Castle sat around the precinct for a few hours watching her do paperwork, but he wasn't doing much for her three-thirty restlessness. She sent him home to his family and started reviewing her case notes for several court appearances she had in the New Year.
---
(read part two here)