The next week was spent tracking
down alibis and possible motives. Background checks were run on everybody who
worked on the show, but nothing stood out. They talked to Rachel and Drake
dozens of times but couldn’t come up with any solid answers.
“Alright, we’re going to have to go
for a bit of a long shot,” Beckett decided, staring at Elizabeth’s phone
records for the umpteenth time. “I don’t have any conclusive reasoning, but
we’re running out of options. It seems like Elizabeth and Stevens talked a lot
on the phone for people who saw each other so often. Most of the calls on her
phone from the past few months are to and from him and last quite a while.
We’ll start checking his financials and phone records for signs of an affair. I
want to know if he talked to the other actors as often as he did Elizabeth.”
“You know, this case seemed so much
more promising in the beginning,” Castle said. “Now it’s just fizzling out, no
drama, no story, nothing.”
“Sorry real life seems to continue
to disappoint,” Beckett told him, then turned to Ryan and Esposito. “Stevens’
phone and financial records.” The two left and Beckett started looking threw
her notes. “It says his alibi was that he went home, changed, went back out for
drinks at Bernie’s at about eight and returned shortly before ten. I’m going to
start double checking it, see how air-tight it is.”
***
A few hours later, Beckett hung up
the phone. “Steven’s wife confirms her husband’s story, but says he’s been
going out more often in the past couple of months,” she told Ryan and Esposito.
“Castle and I also went to Bernie’s, the bar tender did see Steven’s there but
it was packed that night, he could have easily slipped in and out without being
noticed.”
“We’re still looking at his records,
but he did buy a bracelet recently and it doesn’t look like he made that many
calls to the rest of the cast,” Esposito said. “I’ll start trying to find a
picture of the bracelet, see if we can find out what happened to it.”
“You really think Ken did this?”
The four turned around to see Rachel
standing there, staring at the murder board.
“Rachel, sorry, we didn’t see you
there,” Beckett apologized. “Is there something we can do for you?”
“I just realized something, and I
thought I should tell you,” Rachel explained. “I told detectives Ryan and Esposito
that Elizabeth often went out all night and I didn’t know where she went. I
just realized this started only a few months ago, since we started working on RENT, while she was having a down period
in her relationship with Drake. I didn’t even consider that she’d be having an
affair, but…”
“Is it possible she was having one
with Ken Stevens?” Castle asked.
“Yeah, I guess,” Rachel sounded
distracted. She was staring at autopsy photos of Elizabeth on the board. “How
could anybody do that to her?”
Beckett
thought Rachel didn’t need to see her friend that way. “Ryan, why don’t you
escort her home, we’re probably going to be here a while anyways. Esposito and
I will get started on Stevens’ records in the meantime.”
“Sure thing, Beckett,” Ryan said.
“Come on, Rachel.”
“You don’t have to take me home, you
know,” she said.
“Looks like you could use a bit of
company,” Ryan said simply.
As they left the precinct, Castle
asked Beckett “Why does Ryan get to take the grieving, good-looking girl back
to her apartment?”
“Because I don’t trust you and she
seems to like Ryan,” Beckett said. “Go home Castle, you hate this kind of case.
We’ll still be sifting through papers for a while.”
“Ah yes, the boring paper trails.
Normally you make me stick around for at least part of that.”
“Maybe I’m just not in the mood for
you to start humming show tunes again. The last thing I need while sifting
through files is you distracting me by going “we’re not gonna pay rent!’ right
in my ear a million more times.”
“Point taken,” Castle said. “Call me
if you find anything then.”
After he left it was Esposito’s turn
to ask a question. “Was he really humming show tunes?”
Beckett nodded. “He got bored.”
Esposito shook his head. “This is
what happens when a boy gets raised by a Broadway diva.”
***
The next morning, Castle, Beckett
and Esposito were in the bullpen. They’d just picked up Stevens, who was
waiting in interrogation. They all looked up as Ryan came in.
“Good morning,” he said casually.
“What happened to you last night?”
Beckett asked teasingly.
“Rachel looked like she could use
some company so I stayed with her for a little while after we got to her
apartment,” Ryan answered, still trying to sound nonchalant.
“Really?” Castle asked. “Because she
seemed to be doing alright.”
“Well, you know, she’s one of those
people where it takes a while before the full weight of the situation hits
them, and she seemed pretty upset.”
“You didn’t feel the need to come
help us with the records after you left?” Esposito asked innocently.
“I figured there wasn’t that much
left that we needed to find to prove the two had an affair and it got kind of
late…”
“This is the NYPD, we’ve pulled late
nights before.”
“I…might have stayed the night at
her place.” The others shared an amused look. Esposito had cornered him. “I
fell asleep,” Ryan added defensively.
“I’m sure you did,” Castle said.
“Relax, Ryan, Esposito and I found
what we needed,” Beckett told him. “We’ve got Steven’s in interrogation. Glad
you enjoyed a night off.”
“If you’re ready to nail this guy,
Ryan and I will watch from observation, Beckett,” Esposito said.
“Alright, I’m just about ready for
him. Uniforms are still searching his house; let me know if they find
anything.”
“You got it; come on,” Esposito told
his partner. Ryan, still blushing and looking awkward, turned to follow.
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