Beckett
entered the interrogation room confidently. Stevens would be easy to crack. She
strolled up to the table and sat down, pulling out her copy of Stevens’ phone
records with several calls highlighted.
“It looks to me like you had much
more than a professional relationship with Elizabeth Nunez,” she told him
bluntly. “You were in constant contact with her by phone, way more than with
the other actors in the show. We almost didn’t catch it just by looking at her
phone records, for all we know that could be a regular, work-related
conversation with her boss.”
“That’s what it was,” Steven’s
insisted. “I called Elizabeth with important information regarding rehearsal
schedules and other such information.”
“Then why didn’t you call other
members of the cast this often?”
“Because Elizabeth passed on the
information to the others in most cases.”
“That doesn’t fit the pattern.”
Beckett pulled out some of Elizabeth’s records. “If that was the case she would
have started calling multiple people who worked on the show after each call or
text from you, but she didn’t. We also have a record of you purchasing a silver
bracelet with your credit card a couple of weeks ago. I found a photo of that bracelet
and it exactly matches the one Elizabeth was wearing when you found her dead.”
“Alright, I was having an affair
with her,” Stevens admitted. “That doesn’t mean that I killed her. If I was
calling her and giving her jewelry why would I kill her? Wouldn’t it make more
sense if I killed Drake in that case?”
“Perhaps,” Beckett admitted. She
knew it was just a matter of time. Stevens was hiding something, otherwise he
wouldn’t have been so quick to admit to an affair. “But I think you killed
Elizabeth because she was going to end it. She and Drake were going to get back
together; they’d worked things out that night.”
“No, she didn’t mention anything
about that.”
“I think she probably even
threatened to tell your wife about the affair,” Castle interjected. “She
realized what she did was wrong, that both of you had been doing the exact same
thing that Drake had been doing to her. And she knew it had to stop.”
“You can’t prove anything,” Stevens
said.
Just then Esposito opened the door.
“Beckett.”
While Beckett went to talk to him
Castle studied Stevens.
“She must have threatened to tell
your wife,” he said. “I don’t think you kill out of jealousy like that.”
”You’re right, I wouldn’t.”
Beckett came back in. “Mr. Stevens
they’ve finished searching your house. You also left a bloody shirt buried at
the bottom of the hamper. They’re sending it to the lab to compare the blood
with Elizabeth’s.” Stevens looked stunned.
“Ooh, not smart,” Castle said.
“Let me tell you what I think
happened,” Beckett said. “At about 8:30 or so you left Bernie’s unnoticed. You
went back to the theater where you met up with Elizabeth. It was a safe place
to meet, no records of hotel rooms being booked or suspicious restaurant tabs.
But she told you that she wanted to end it. She said that she felt bad about
cheating on Drake and that she was going to try and make things work with him.
She thought you should be honest with your wife, too. She gave you the
ultimatum of telling your wife or having her do it for you. But you couldn’t
have her telling anybody about this. You wanted to keep seeing Elizabeth, and
now not only was she leaving you for Drake but she threatened to tell everybody
about the two of you if you didn’t at least tell your wife. Your whole life
would be ruined. So you two argue and eventually it turns violent, she runs and
the two of you end up on the catwalk where you fight some more until Elizabeth
gets knocked unconscious and you, realizing she could identify you as her
attacker, finish her off by hanging her over the side. You didn’t want to kill
her, but if you wanted to stay out of trouble you really didn’t have much of a
choice. You washed up, put your jacket back on to cover the shirt and then went
back to the bar for a while to calm down. You didn’t even have to worry about
fingerprints; there are dozens of legitimate reasons why your prints would be
on the rope or anywhere else in the theater. When you got home, you panicked
and hid the shirt but forgot to find a more permanent solution for it later.”
“She couldn’t see what kind of
damage I’d suffer if this got out,” Stevens said. “I’d lose everything; my wife
would never let me see my little boy again. I didn’t mean to kill her, she just
didn’t understand.”
Beckett closed all her files.
“You’re not going to make that opening next month.”
***
A few hours later Ryan was knocking
on Rachel’s door.
“Ryan, what are you doing here?” she
asked.
“I just thought you’d like to know
we made an arrest,” he said. “Stevens killed Elizabeth when she threatened to
expose the affair. We’ve got a confession.”
Rachel just stood there for a few
seconds. “Thank you,” she told him eventually. “Thank you for everything. I
hope he’ll be in prison for a long time.”
“I’m sorry it was Ken,” Ryan told
her. “I mean, I know you didn’t really pin him as a murderer…or thought that
your roommate would be having an affair…which lead to her being killed…I should
probably stop talking now.”
Rachel just leaned forward and
kissed him. “Yeah, you probably should.”
“Are you guys going to be able to go
on with the show now?”
“Yeah, we’ll manage. Will I still
see you guys around now that you caught Elizabeth’s killer?”
“I think so,” Ryan told her. “The
others seem to like you. Especially Castle, he seems to think if he’d met you
under more normal circumstances you’d be pretty fun to hang out with. Certainly
don’t be afraid to give them a call if you want.”
Rachel smiled. “You want to come in?
Or are you busy tonight?”
“No, I’m not busy,” Ryan said,
stepping into the apartment and closing the door behind him. “I thought you
might want some company.”
“So is this how you comfort all of
your victims’ female relations?” Rachel asked, leading Ryan to the bedroom.
“No,” Ryan told her. “I don’t think
NYPD offers this as part of victim services.”
***
“Where’d Ryan go?” Beckett asked.
“Probably with Rachel,” Esposito
said. “She seems more of the love ‘em and leave ‘em type than Ryan would
typically go for, but they seemed to hit it off.”
“Think we should let him think we’ve
forgotten about this morning and have no idea where he is now?” Castle asked.
“Yeah, we’ll let him tell us later,”
Beckett said. “See you later, Esposito.”
“Night Beckett.”
“Castle, you going home?” Beckett
asked.
“I was thinking of going by the Old
Haunt; want to join me for a drink?”
“Sure,” Beckett told him. She was
always glad of nights like this. The killer had been arrested and she was going
to take some time to relax with a friend. These were the nights she wasn’t a
cop but just a regular person without the weight of a homicide. Pushing the
call button for the elevator, she turned to her partner.
“Alright, Castle, tell me about RENT,” she said.
“I thought you were a big theater
person.”
“Well somehow I never got around to
seeing this one.”
“I’ll take you when it opens next
month,” Castle promised. “You’d love it, Kate; it’s not like classic Broadway.”
Beckett let him go on for a while
about the show. While she would never admit it, she enjoyed the thought of
going to the play with Castle. It meant another night like this, where she was
just Kate Beckett.
“It’s really just this fun, wild
show. It has an incredible energy.”
“Sounds great,” Beckett told him.
“You’re gonna love it Kate,” Castle
told her again. “I just know it. I even promise not to sing any of the songs
anymore.”
The two entered the elevator,
enjoying one of the few moments where they could be with each other without
stepping on each other’s toes. Beckett was glad she didn’t have to spend the
night home alone. Tomorrow she’d be right back at work but for now she was
happy.
:3
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