[Castle] Ch: 76 [The Drowning Trick] (Patreon)

[AN: OG case from Castle. S3 EP12] [The intro will be more or less same with small changes. But main core will be changed.]

[A Few Days Later] [Lanie’s Apartment] [Morning]

The sharp ring of a cell phone broke through the quiet bedroom.

Lanie groaned softly and reached blindly toward the nightstand until her fingers finally found the phone. She squinted at the bright screen for several seconds before reading the message waiting there.

Whatever sleep remained in her expression disappeared immediately.

“I’ve gotta go.”

Beside her, Travis’s phone beeped almost on cue.

He opened one eye, reached toward the floor where his pants had ended up sometime during the previous night, and found the phone half buried beneath his shirt. After checking the message, he let out a tired sigh.

“Looks like I’m going too.”

They looked at each other for a second before Travis leaned over and kissed her. Lanie returned it lazily, keeping one hand against the side of his face before finally letting him pull away.

“I’ll see you there,” Travis murmured with a grin. “Try not to miss me too much.”

Lanie narrowed her eyes at him. “You’re incredibly confident for somebody asleep thirty seconds ago.”

“Natural talent.”

Travis threw back the blanket and climbed out of bed completely naked.

Lanie remained sitting against the headboard while watching him walk across the room. A satisfied smile slowly appeared on her face as her eyes moved over his body.

Last night had been incredible.

They’d ended up having sex three times before finally falling asleep, and judging from how relaxed she still felt this morning, she had absolutely no complaints about how their night had gone.

Travis started gathering his clothes from around the bedroom.

He caught her staring while pulling on his pants. So, he flexed his muscles, giving her a sexy pose. 

"Sexy enough?"

"Don't tempt me, mister."

Travis chuckled as he put on his shirt.

Lanie pointed one finger toward him with sudden seriousness. “And when we get to this crime scene, you’re going to behave.”

Travis paused while buttoning his shirt. “Define behave.”

“No winking at me. No stupid little smiles. And absolutely none of those innocent puppy-dog eyes.”

Travis slowly picked up his phone and pointed it at her. "Gimme a sexy pose."

Lanie smirked as she lowered the blanket, showing her big tits. She squeezed her arms together.

He clicked a picture. "Okay. This should get me by lunchtime."

--

[Crime Scene]

Castle walked down the side street with his phone pressed against his ear, his expression growing increasingly irritated as the conversation continued.

“Come on, Gina. I’m not having this conversation with you again.” He listened for a moment before sighing. “I’ve gotta go because I’m at work.”

Another response came through the phone.

“It absolutely counts as work.”

Castle ended the call and lowered the phone just as Travis approached him.

“What’s up, Castle? How’s it going?”

Castle looked toward him with the exhausted expression of someone who had already had enough relationship trouble for one morning. “You want my advice? Never sleep with someone you work with. But... you and... Ah, forget it.”

Travis stared at him. “Out with it.”

Castle gave him a knowing look. “Trust me, it doesn’t end well.”

Travis shrugged slightly. “Truth be told, we're doing great.”

“90% of such cases don't end well. Everyone knows that.”

Kate approached them before Travis could respond.

“Everyone knows what?”

Castle and Travis answered at exactly the same time.

“Nothing.”

Kate looked between them suspiciously before focusing on Castle. “You okay? You seem upset.”

Castle straightened slightly. “No, I’m fine. Why?”

Kate studied him for another moment before deciding to leave it alone.

“Okay.”

Castle finally looked toward the storefront surrounded by police tape.

“The murder happened here? At Drake’s Magic Shop?”

“Yep,” Kate replied.

Castle’s expression immediately changed as he looked toward the familiar shop. “I’ve been coming here since I was thirteen years old. This place was paradise for boys. Whoopee cushions, magic tricks, fake vomit.”

Travis smiled as he looked toward the window display. “Don’t forget those exploding sticky eyeballs.”

Castle pointed toward him immediately. “Exactly. A refined man of culture.”

Kate glanced toward both men. “It wasn’t just for boys. My grandfather was an amateur magician, and I used to come here almost every Sunday afternoon when I was around that age.”

Castle raised an eyebrow. “Never would've guessed you were a magic fan.”

Travis looked toward Kate with genuine surprise. “You never told me that. Hiding your fun hobbies from me, Beckett? You know any good tricks?”

Kate gave him a small, knowing smile. “I know this one thing with ice cubes...”

With that, she walked inside the shop, leaving Travis and Castle behind with their imaginations.

--

[Inside> DRAKE'S MAGIC SHOP]

The inside of Drake’s Magic Shop looked exactly like the kind of place where a thirteen-year-old could lose an entire afternoon. Shelves were packed with trick decks, disappearing coins, fake insects, brightly colored boxes, wands, crystal balls, and enough strange props to fill several amateur magic shows.

Near the center of the shop, however, the atmosphere had lost every trace of childhood fun.

Zalman Drake hung upside down inside a large glass water tank, his body motionless beneath the surface while crime-scene technicians worked around the area. They had drained the water to examine the body properly.

Kate and Castle stopped near the tank while Lanie stood on the opposite side examining the body.

Travis began to look around. 

Ryan looked down at the information recovered from the victim’s soaked wallet. “According to what we could still read, our victim is Zalman Drake, the owner of the shop. His assistant, Eliza Winter, found him inside the tank when she opened the store this morning.”

Kate glanced toward the entrance and then around the shop. “Any signs somebody forced their way inside?”

Ryan shook his head. “Nothing so far. Doors and windows all look clean.”

Lanie straightened slightly and looked at the tank with open disapproval. “You know, it is beyond me why people think this is entertaining. I see a guy hanging upside down in a water tank, I think, 'You are a fool.'"

Castle had already picked up a magician’s wand from a nearby shelf and began turning it between his fingers. “The water escapes were actually a major turning point in stage magic. Milk cans, water torture tanks, all of those acts introduced real danger into the performance. The magician held his breath, and the audience basically held theirs with him because there were actual life-and-death consequences.”

As Castle finished speaking, the wand suddenly slipped from his hand and shot across the room.

It struck a crystal ball near the window.

The glass shattered.

Castle flinched and slowly lowered his hand while Kate turned toward him with an expression that required absolutely no explanation.

Lanie glanced briefly toward the broken crystal before returning her attention to the body. “Well, this magician would’ve needed to hold his breath somewhere between eight and ten hours if he wanted to take a bow afterward.”

Kate stepped closer to the tank. “So we’re looking at a time of death somewhere between midnight and two in the morning?”

“That’s my current estimate,” Lanie replied as she carefully opened Zalman’s right eye with one gloved hand. “There’s petechial hemorrhaging, which is consistent with drowning.”

Castle moved around the side of the tank, though he wisely kept his hands away from everything now. “Could this have been a failed escape attempt?”

Kate walked toward Zalman’s suspended legs while Lanie examined the ankles.

Lanie shook her head. “There’s no redness around the ankles where he was hanging, and I’m not seeing the kind of marks I’d expect if he struggled against the restraints. I have a feeling Zalman was already dead before somebody put him into this tank. I won’t know for certain until I get him back to the lab.”

While the others focused on the body, Travis continued looking around the shop.

He already recognized the case from memories of his previous life, which meant he knew there was something important nearby. His eyes eventually settled on a folded piece of paper positioned among the surrounding items.

Travis walked over and carefully picked it up with a gloved hand.

“Kate, take a look at this.”

Kate left the tank and joined him while Castle turned toward them with immediate interest.

Travis unfolded the paper and read through it. “Looks like a suicide note. Zalman says he was in financial trouble and couldn’t handle the idea of losing his family’s shop, so he decided to kill himself.”

A woman standing near the wall reacted immediately.

Eliza Winter had been watching the detectives work since they arrived, her face pale from discovering her employer’s body earlier that morning.

“Mr. Drake didn’t kill himself.”

Kate turned toward her. “How can you be so sure?”

Eliza hesitated only briefly. “I just know he wouldn’t have done something like that.”

Castle looked toward the note in Travis’s hand before addressing her. “Was the financial trouble real? Was Zalman actually in danger of losing the shop?”

Eliza looked uncomfortable as she answered. “Yes, things had been bad for a while. But about two weeks ago, he told me everything was going to be okay. He said he’d worked it all out.”

Kate stepped closer. “Did he tell you what changed? Maybe an investor came in, or he suddenly got some money?”

Eliza shook her head. “He never explained it.”

Kate glanced back toward the water tank. “Would Zalman have been capable of putting himself into that tank and setting up the escape?”

“Absolutely,” Eliza replied. “He knew every trick in this shop, especially the water escapes. But he wouldn’t have done this to himself. Zalman loved magic, and he respected it too much to turn one of those acts into a suicide.”

Kate returned to Travis and took the note carefully from him.

Her eyes moved over the page once before narrowing.

“There’s no signature.”

Travis nodded. “I’ll have CSU run the whole thing for prints.”

Kate handed the note back to him. “Have them process the tank too. I want every usable surface checked, along with the entrances and exits.”

Travis carefully slipped the note into an evidence sleeve. “I’ll take care of it.”

...

[A few minutes later...] [Outside the shop]

Outside Drake’s Magic Shop, Kate continued questioning Eliza while Castle stood nearby listening.

“When was the last time you saw Zalman?” Kate asked.

Eliza thought for a moment before answering. “Yesterday morning. He left right after lunch, and he was gone for the rest of the day.”

“Did he tell you where he was going?” Kate asked.

Eliza shook her head without saying anything.

Castle looked toward her. “Was it normal for him to leave the shop in the middle of the day like that?”

“Yeah, he’d do that sometimes,” Eliza replied.

Kate watched her carefully. “Did you notice any changes in his behavior recently, or anything unusual going on in his life?”

Eliza hesitated before answering, her voice catching slightly. “This past month, he was gone more often. Whenever I asked, all he’d say was that he was working on something. He looked tired too, like he hadn’t been sleeping properly.”

Kate’s expression sharpened with interest. “Can you think of anything that might explain why his behavior suddenly changed?”

“Yes,” Eliza replied as the memory came back to her. “Last month, right before all of this started, this guy came into the shop and attacked Mr. Drake. He pushed him right through one of the display cases.”

Castle’s expression became more serious while Eliza continued.

“The guy told Mr. Drake he’d better watch his back,” she said. “Then he threatened to sue him for everything he was worth.”