291. Chapter 291

After A Chill Goes Through Her Veins

Episode 1.05

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: It'll be a cold day in Hell…No. That's too easy. Let's just say I don't own Castle and leave it at that. Rating: K Time: See above.

"So what happens to Ben Davidson?" Castle asked softly, so that no one else in the bullpen would hear.

Beckett shrugged. "That's not up to me. It's up to the DA."

Castle just sat there and smiled at her.

Finally Beckett had had enough. "What?" She said sharply.

"It may ultimately be up to the DA, but he'll have some help. This is not a high profile murder case. Neither you nor Captain Montgomery is going to rush to the DA and discuss this. Instead, you'll write a report, which will work its way through channels and eventually get to the DA's office."

"So?" She was starting to wonder where this was going, if anywhere.

"I'm a writer."

She rolled her eyes. "You keep telling us that. I, for one, am convinced. I repeat, so?"

"You're also a writer. The way you write the report will go a long way to deciding what happens to Ben. Now the first part of the report is easy. Melanie is dead. Murdered. We have a husband having an affair, a witness, his best friend, Charles Wyler who will be overjoyed to testify about Melanie's murder. After all, he's looking at hard time for his part on this. He'll be begging to cooperate. Not that it'll do him much good as Sam is dead and that makes him pretty much immune to prosecution."

Kate nodded. "Getting dead people to acknowledge that you read them their Miranda rights is really difficult." Kate said sarcastically.

"So true. I wonder if anyone has ever had to do that? It probably wouldn't fit into Nikki Heat's world, but an undead murder suspect would be…"

"Nothing I'll ever have to deal with." Kate said, shaking her head. "Is there some purpose to all of this?"

"We have to say something about Sam's death." Castle leaned in to Beckett and lowered his voice. "We know that Ben Davidson killed his son-in-law. We sat there and saw him and heard him, Beckett. And even though he said he was speaking hypothetically, we know he did it. So, what do we do about it?"

Kate glared at him for a second. "We don't do anything. I am the cop here, Castle. Remember?"

"And if you're going to write the report like I think you will, I'm going to have be on record as agreeing with you that there is no evidence that Ben Davidson really is the killer."

Kate looked away from Castle. Damn him! Castle's right. I do want to write the report so that Ben Davidson isn't arrested or tried for murder. It may not be the law, but it is a form of justice. But I don't do that sort of thing. And if I do this one time, do I do it again, and then what do I become?

"So, you want me to help Davidson get away with murder, Castle? Trying to find a perfect murder?"

"It's been done." Castle said quietly.

"What? There's no such thing as the perfect murder, Castle."

He shook his head. "February 14th, 1929, Chicago, Illinois. Seven members of the Bugs Moran gang are murdered by four men believed to be Al Capone's enforcers. No one was ever convicted of those murders. Witnesses seemed to have developed amnesia. Actually, there are a lot of Prohibition era Chicago killings that went unsolved: Frankie Yale, Patsy Lolordo, Antonio Lombardo, Joseph "Hop Toad" Giunta…" Castle stopped and frowned. "Beckett, why don't criminals today have names like Hop Toad? Why do we have to have murderers named Sam and Ben? Those names are so…ordinary."

"You could ask your friend, the mayor, to assign you to a special task force on improving criminal's names?" Beckett said hopefully.

"No. This is more fun. So what do we do about Ben?"

Kate knew she had to do something. "We do what cops do. We look at the evidence." She tapped the police report of Sam Cavanaugh's murder."

Castle shrugged. "There's really nothing there. No witnesses. No one even heard the shot. He was dead for a while before someone stumbled across him. No traffic cams or security cameras in the area. If we start looking now…"

"Traffic cam footage is gone. The city can't afford to keep it indefinitely. Pretty much the same with private security cams. And there was nothing in the immediate area. Even if by some miracle we could find something that put Ben Davidson in the area, it's not proof of murder."

"No gun was ever found. Ballistics didn't match the slugs to anything in the system."

"And Davidson wouldn't keep the gun. He's not stupid. It's in a lake somewhere or in a landfill in New Jersey. We'd never find it."

"And if we did, he said it's a gun he brought back from the war. Which one, I wonder? Korea? Early Vietnam? Anyway, there's no record of him owning firearm, which means we can't tie some random Chinese or Russian made pistol to him even if we did find it."

"The original police report provides no evidence at all that Ben Davidson shot Cavanaugh. None at all." Kate concluded.

"He did ask about the freezer. Called himself a cop."

Kate shrugged. "He's a father, concerned about his daughter's disappearance. Sure, the timing is suspicious, but it's a long way from proof of murder."

"So, what do we do?"

Kate sighed and looked away from Castle, hoping that would help her make the right decision. "We could write up what we know and let the DA decide."

"With that weak a case? All the DA's office would do is kick it back here for a more thorough investigation. That means we'd bring Davidson in again, with his attorney. And everyone would know that the police think he killed his son-in-law foe murdering Melanie. The two daughters would know, Beckett. And the chances of finding anything are zero."

Kate turned back to face Castle. "So, Melanie was murdered by her husband, who was shot by a person or persons unknown."

Castle smiled. "I'll help you write it up."

Kate smiled back. "You'll help with paperwork? Who are you and what have you done with Richard Castle?"

"I am not doing paperwork. I am advising you on the use of the written word. There's a fine but definite difference."

"Advise away."

…

Much later Castle sat in the records room, reading the dry, colorless words of the police report. Now I know the source of Beckett's pain. I really don't see how I can help her. She's a homicide cop. If she didn't find anything why would I think I could? Even if by some miracle, I found the killer, her mother would still be dead. Nothing will ever take that pain away. But if I can just make her smile a little bit more, and take just some of her pain away, I need to try. Kate Beckett is truly remarkable and I need to help her.

And maybe I'm not so far out of line looking into her mom's case. Esposito showed me where the case is. If he really thought this was a complete dead end, would be have done that? I know he feels protective of Beckett, does he think I really can help? Or is he just trying to get me out of his hair?

He continued reading.