514. Chapter 514

After Undead Again

Episode 4.22

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: My walls are coming down. Soon I'll be able to admit that I don't own Castle. Rating: K+ Time: See above.

"This is so cool." Castle said happily. Then, seeing the looks of the detectives around the desk, he added. "In a horrible sort of a way, of course."

Kate Beckett rolled her eyes and gave Castle a small glare. We love each other, but there are times when Castle can really piss me off. She thought. "We're dealing with a half a dozen deaths, remember?"

Castle at least looked embarrassed by his outburst. "But how often do we get zombies?"

"They're not zombies, bro." Espo quickly said. "It's a side-effect of this new drug, the Z drug they call it. The skin starts to die and fall away in strips, leaving huge scabs, coordination suffers so they shuffle along and they become hyper violent. Users have killed five people so far and one addict died when he stumbled into traffic."

"Sorry." Castle mumbled.

Espo was about to say something else, but was interrupted by a knock on the door frame.

"Detective Beckett?" The speaker was a tall, lithe, rather exotic looking woman with long, coal black hair, a slightly epicanthic eye fold and grey eyes. She was dressed in a very short, tight skirt and had on a tube top that exposed her generous cleavage and hard abs. "I'm Detective Sam Hayes, from Vice. Sorry, for showing up in my working clothes, but I was told to hurry."

Kate smiled at the other detective. "Please, come in and sit down." When Hays sat, her skirt rode up, showing that she was wearing bright red panties.

"Working clothes?" Espo asked, obviously enjoying the view.

"I work undercover. I'm supposed to be the girlfriend of an outlaw biker in Pennsylvania. Our story is that the local police are all over him, so he sends me to New York to buy crank. I'm trying to work my way up through the street dealers through the mid-level dealers to the manufacturers." Hays smiled at the others. "And because I know from long experience that you're curious, my dad is half Irish and half Korean, while my mom is Navajo, Mexican and German."

"We're glad to have you here, Detective." Kate snuck a peek at Castle and was gratified to see that he was resolutely staring at her and not at Hays. "Can Vice help us at all?"

Hays shook her head. "Not much. There have been only thirty four known cases of the Z drug in New York City and none outside of the city. You can find thirty four crack users, or crank users, or any other kind of drug you want to mention, in a lot of city blocks in the city."

"Maybe a one man operation?" Castle said. "Some street pharmacist is fooling around with chemicals and comes up with something new? Maybe he gives it away just to see what happens, or sells it cheaply to see if maybe there's a market."

Hays nodded. "Could be. People are always trying to come up with a drug that gives you a high that isn't restricted as a controlled substance. Plus all of the people who've been using it have long histories of substance abuse."

"Could, or would, any of them identify their dealer?" Castle asked.

"One of the side effects is retrograde amnesia." Hays said. "Several of the people we've arrested would be happy to testify to get their murder or assault charges reduced, but they all say that they remember nothing for several days before they apparently got the drug. A lot of them probably have short term memory problems from their years of abuse anyway."

Castle smiled. "So, if you gave your new drug away to people who were already a total mess, you wouldn't be jeopardizing a potential valuable, repeat customer?"

"Could be."

"We know of several small time street pharmacists here in the 12th's area. Can Vice get us some names from the rest of the city?" Beckett asked.

"I can." Hayes replied. "I'll go back and get you a list ASAP." She rose and walked out. Beckett sent Ryan and Esposito off to get as much evidence on the users as they could and try to find connections. Then she smiled at Castle. "You could have looked at Hays, you know."

"Who?" Castle asked, as innocently as he could.

"Detective Sam Hays? Long legs, big boobs, no bra? Ring any bells?"

Castle shook his head. "You know I never look at any other women when you're around."

Kate laughed. "You know I can tell when you're lying, Castle, don't you?"

"Then you know I was telling you the absolute truth. Are you saying that the Vice detective was female? I hadn't noticed."

"That's adorable, Rick. I'll accept that you were telling the complete truth."

Castle smiled happily.

Later, Ryan and Esposito came back with what they had on the thirty four users.

"Which is hardly anything at all." Ryan said. "These people exist almost entirely off the grid. Exactly two of them had cell phones when they were picked up, and they were stolen. There were no calls made on them that couldn't be accounted for by their owners."

"Same with financials." Javi said. "No bank accounts, no credit cards, except for stolen ones. Whatever they steal or bum off of people is strictly cash. I got nothing."

"Friends or associates?" Beckett asked.

"These were mostly loners. One has a girlfriend who's coming down from heroin. It'll be a couple of days before she's in any shape to talk to anyone."

"Anyone have any other ideas?" Beckett asked.

No one did. Castle got ready to go home to cook dinner and left Beckett to do paperwork. "Now that we're together you could help me with the paperwork, you know." She said quietly, with one eye on Gates' office.

He shook his head. "It wouldn't work. My job is to help you with the heavy theory building and other thinking, and then go home to make sure you get a nutritious diet. Who knows what you'd eat if it wasn't for me? You can't subsist on energy bars and the alleged sandwiches in the breakroom machine. Spaghetti and meat balls with a salad, and Italian bread okay for tonight?"

Kate's mouth started to water. "Gelato for dessert?"

Castle looked shocked. "Of course. Do you think I'm a barbarian?"

The next morning, Castle kissed her goodbye at the door to his loft. "I have something to do. I'll see you later at the precinct. Okay?"

"What is it?" She asked.

"You'll see."

When Beckett got to the precinct, she found Sam Hays already there, but now dressed in a conservative pair of slacks and a blouse. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail. "I have a whole list of one-man street pharmacists for you, Detective."

"Please, call me Kate."

"Okay. I'm Sam."

The list was long and the four detectives sat and went over their records, trying to cut the number of suspects down to a reasonable number.

Just at lunch time, Castle arrived with pizza for everyone. "And I have some information that might interest you."

The four detectives looked at him. "And..?" Kate said.

"While making dinner I used my computer to try to find a pattern with the people who used Z. What I found was that they seemed to cluster around two subway stops that were just one stop north of and just one stop south of Columbia University. Luckily, I have my own agent at Columbia."

"His daughter, Alexis, attends Columbia." Kate explained to Sam. She turned to Castle. "And what did Alexis tell you?"

"There's a guy who hangs around Columbia, even lives in the area, who, reliable sources say can get you drugs. Apparently he's made up new drugs in the past and given them away to see what they did."

"And does he have a name?" Kate asked,

"Roger Dawson."

"He's on the list I have." Ryan said, hauling out Dawson's records.

In spite of being found with Z in his apartment as well as the ingredients, Dawson said he had no idea how it got there. He was arrested anyway.

Once back at the precinct, they said goodbye to Sam Hays. "I imagine you'll be happy to go home and get some rest." Kate said.

Sam shook her head. "I'm off to the gym to work out."

"A gym rat?" Espo said hopefully.

"Yeah. You try looking like I do in a miniskirt and a tube top after three kids and see how much you have to work out."

Kate saw the disappointment in Espo's eyes as Sam Hays left. "Better luck next time." She teased.

"Three kids? I can't believe I was interested in her."

Castle checked Gates' office before resting his hand on Kate's back. "You'd be surprised at how attractive a maternal woman can be."

"Or a man who's a father." Kate added.