390. Chapter 390

After Reality Star Struck

Episode 5.14

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: It strikes me that I do not own Castle. Rating: K Time: See above.

"To quote the great Yogi Berra, it's déjà vu all over again."

Kate smiled and rolled her eyes. "It happens, Castle. Murders happen in the same places all the time."

"And once again Penelope Foster is right in the middle of it? Didn't you tell me that there are no coincidence in murder?"

"She discovered the body, Castle. Do you want to wait until we gave some actual evidence before I arrest her, or perhaps you'd just like to tell us your theory?"

Castle smiled. Beckett was actually asking him for his theory. "Isn't it obvious?" Castle waited for a reply.

Kate glanced at him and then shook her head. "No."

"With the murder of Hannah Green by Ashley and the discovery that Bob's so called romance with Hannah was a put up job, the show fell apart. No Stone and Ashley spin off, no wedding, for sure, and no fights between Penelope and Hannah. The ratings must have tanked. So, how do you focus the public's attention on the show again? Kill off another attractive young woman. I'm sure Penelope did it. She has crazy eyes."

"I hate to break it to you, Castle, but in the year since Hannah's death, according to Captain Gates, the ratings have gone through the roof. Ashley's trial, the heartbreak of a scorned lover whose ex-fiance is now the tragic hero of a love triangle, poor Stone who has lost both his fiancé and the love of his life? Stone, who's gone from clean cut entrepreneur to Manhattan's favorite bad boy? Bob and Penelope bonding over their part in the death of Hannah? It has all of the elements of a Greek tragedy."

"And I missed all of that?" Castle said.

"Please don't put this in the next Nikki Heat." Kate said, seriously. Before Castle could answer, she pulled to the curb. "We're here."

Once inside, the uniforms directed them to the scene of the murder. Lanie was already checking the body.

"Who's our vic?" Kate asked.

"Her name is Kay Lee Frye, single, age 28. Worked for Penelope Foster as her accountant. Both personal and business."

"Cause of death?" Castle asked.

"I've been surprised before, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say the knife in her back."

"A knife in the back." Castle smiled. "Not a two hundred and forty millimeter Takahara, by any chance?"

"It is a kitchen knife, but not a high end one like the Takahara. Just an ordinary kitchen knife, but someone worked hard putting an edge on it. It wouldn't have taken a lot of strength to stab her."

"Time of death?" Kate asked.

Ryan spoke up. "She was seen on camera talking to Penelope until exactly 9:37 AM. A gofer found her in Penelope's dressing room at 9:50."

Kate turned to Penelope. "Ms. Foster, where were you at that time?"

"I was discussing fabrics with Mr. Washburne, my chief buyer."

She pointed to a shorter, blond haired man who gave Kate a friendly smile. "Call me Wash, everyone does. And we were in my office, discussing fabrics."

"Oh, bullshit!" Bob Foster said. "You were screwing him. Everyone knows about you two."

Penelope glared at Bob. "This is neither the time, nor the place to…"

Kate broke in. "Actually, this is the time and the place. What were you two doing?"

Wash stared at the floor, leaving Penelope to reply. "Okay, we were making love."

"Really?" Rick asked. "Or was this just another ploy to get more air time. That has been done before, you know."

Peter Monroe, the producer, spoke up. "We were aware that there was…something going on, but nothing was ever put on the air. Well, not yet anyway. However…"

"Besides," Penelope snapped, "Bob has been sleeping with that so-called model for longer than Wash and I have been together."

"I barely know Ms. Serra!" Bob screeched. "And I've never so much as kissed her."

"And why is her perfume all over your dressing room?" Penelope yelled back. "And her underwear?"

"That's easy." Another male voice said. "I've been banging her for months. Ever since I lost Hannah."

"Stone?" Penelope screamed. "It was you?"

Stone looked very different from different from the last time Rick and Kate had seen him. He now sported motorcycle boots, ripped and dirty jeans, a muscle tee shirt under a leather jacket, a couple of days' growth of beard, and a hangover. "My mom is always walking into my dressing room unannounced. I got Cobb, the stage manager to give me a key to Bob's dressing room. We needed some privacy. Mom has been on my case about one damned thing or another for a year now."

"Where were you between 9:37 and 9:50?" Kate asked Stone.

Stone frowned. "Passed out in Bob's dressing room, as far as I can remember. I got in from partying at about seven AM and had to crash. I didn't want my mom to see me, so I crashed in Bob's dressing room."

Monroe cleared his throat. "Wash's office is on one side of Penelope's dressing room and Bob's is on the other side. There are connecting doors between all three."

"You were alone in the dressing room, Stone? And you heard nothing?"

Stone shrugged. "I was alone and totally zonked. She could have been shot with a cannon and I'd never have noticed."

"Penelope, did you and Wash hear anything?"

"No." Penelope said. "Um, Wash gets a bit…"

"I scream a lot during sex." He said, smiling. "A whole lot."

"We've learned to ignore it." Monroe said.

"But you've never been with…her?" Penelope asked Bob.

"Of course not. You know you're the only one for me, sweetie."

"Oh, Bob!" Penelope put her arms around Bob and kissed him. "And you're the only one for me, darling."

"Hey! What about me?" Wash yelled, but Penelope was too busy kissing Bob to reply.

Wash turned red in the face. "Bitch! I know what you did." He turned to Kate. "She killed Kay. I helped her hide her own bloody clothes. We gave them to her spiritual adviser, Mr. Book. Told him one of the cast members cut herself. You should be able to find him, with the clothes, at the mission he runs."

Penelope found her passionate kiss with Bob broken by a pair of handcuffs.

Once back at the loft, Castle poured Kate a glass of wine. "So there was no Kay Lee Frye?"

"No, there is a Kay Lee Frye who is a legitimate CPA in Florida. Our vic stole her identity. We have about ten aliases for her, but we haven't been able to find out her real identity, and we may never find it. Once she had the real Ms. Frye's identity, she got a job with Penelope and started robbing her blind. Unluckily for her, Penelope is a pretty sharp businesswoman. She figured out something was wrong with the books and confronted her cheating accountant. According to Penelope and her lawyers, it was self-defense. But when Penelope killed her, she panicked, afraid of what this would do to the ratings. She tried to cover up her part in it and talked Wash into giving her an alibi. He actually was in love with Penelope, I guess."

"Love makes you do funny things." Castle said.

"Speaking from personal experience?" Kate asked, looking at Castle through her eyelashes.

"Not recent experience. Love has made me do the smartest thing I have ever done."

Kate laughed. "And that was?"

"Asking you to marry me, of course."

"Happy Valentine's Day, Rick."

"Happy Valentine's Day, Kate. I have a present for you this time."

"Is it as good as mine?"

Castle shook his head. "I don't even know what you got me, and already I know it's a thousand times better than what I got you."