5 CH - 4 - Flowers For Your Grave Part - Three

[Next Morning Castle Residence]

Noah opens the door and walks into his house, feeling hungry and in need of caffeine, he walks into the kitchen where he finds his dad making breakfast so he says "Sorry dad I forgot to call you.."

"It's fine Blair called Alexis and told her that you will be staying over," Castle says to Noah's surprise.

"She did.."

"Yes, she did. Do you want some bacon and eggs? " pointing to the stove.

"Yes, please. You want some coffee dad?"

"No already had one"

"Ohh cool. "says Noah but as he was making coffee he remembers about the case and asks" Dad I almost forgot, did you succeed in making the NYPD ask for your help?"

"Believe it or not I actually did. We even caught the killer but..."

"But?" asks Noah as he brings his freshly prepared coffee to the kitchen table.

"It doesn't fit"

"What do you mean?"

"Well we found a kid named Kyle Cabot who has PDD, Pervasive "

"Pervasive Developmental Disorder. That explains his fixation with you and the staging of the crime scenes." says Noah then asks" How did you catch him?."

"Through the fingerprints on the fan mail he sent me," says Castle but not fully convinced by the idea.

"Now that's weird. You told me that the cops didn't find a single trace of DNA in the other two crimes. "

"My thoughts exactly... you find it odd as well don't you?"

"Yes, it is weird but there is nothing we can do since the cops closed the case."

"Ohh I don't know about that," says Castle with mischief in his eyes.

Noah seeing this says "You are gonna do something dumb aren't you?"

To which Castle says "Yeah I am gonna..."

"Nope don't tell me plausible deniability "

"Ahh yes, very smart son. Very smart indeed."

"Call me if you need me to get you out of trouble"

"Yeah, I will do that... wait a minute that's supposed to be my line."

Hearing this Noah smiles and says "Someone has to be the responsible one in this relationship."

Castle nods at that and asks "How is that book you told me about coming along?"

"I am in the last few pages. It will be done by this week then you can read it. Also, dad, I am going to need about a million dollars more for that little side hustle of ours. (implying at the investments)"

"Sure. I have been meaning to ask how are we doing there?"

"We are doing pretty good actually. Wait a minute I will go get my lap and show you" says Noah and leaves to his room, a minute later he is back with his lap and shows Castle his portfolio.

"700,000 dollars " Castle yelled in amazement.

"Did you think I was joking when two years ago I asked your permission and money for this?"

"Well kiddo to tell you the truth I thought you were in a gambling phase and I was prepared to lose that money, especially when right now the whole market is falling. If I had known you were this good then I would have invested a lot more money with you than with mutual funds."

Noah laughs and says "No dad you made a pretty wise decision if you ask me we are only in this big a profit because when I bought these stocks they were really undervalued."

"Well, I guess that is the perk of having a genius in the house."

'Yes I have a high IQ but I also have the fact that in my previous life I was a fund manager going for me' Noah thinks internally and smiles and says "Guess you are right, Dad"

"Dig in, "Castle says and places a plate with Bacon, eggs, and a slice of bread on the side in front of Noah and takes a seat himself, then the father and son duo start eating while talking about random day to day events with a smile on their faces.

After breakfast Castle prepares to leave for the station seeing this Noah says "May the force be with you young padawan" and smiles.

"I am at the least a Jedi master, kiddo" and leaves the house.

[An hour later]

Alexis and Martha come home from their outing. Alexis sees Noah typing something on his laptop and asks him "What are you typing brother?"

"Yeah kiddo what is it?" Martha chimes in.

"It's a surprise," says Noah and smiles at them, and then returns to typing.

Seeing this both Martha and Alexis decided to wait for the unveiling and went about their business.

[Another 2 hours later]

Noah who was applying the final touches to his novel gets a call so he picks it up and answers,

"Hello, This is Noah"

"That is not really surprising Mrs. Beckett. Thank You for informing us."

"Yes, we will be there as soon as possible."

'Dad really did it' thinks Noah internally and laughs.

Alexis seeing her brother laugh for no apparent reason asks him"Brother have finally gone mad?"

"Ohh no sister it's our dad who gone and done something really crazy," he says trying to control his laughter.

"What happened?"

"He got himself arrested for stealing evidence," he says regaining his composure.

"Seriously?? stealing evidence. Now that I think about it that explains the call Gram got when we were shopping" she says

"Yeah. We need to go and get him out on bail. So you go tell Gram and I will drive us there."

[Car pic]

After a short drive, we reach the precinct, Noah then tells Alexis and Martha "You guys go on in. I will park the car and come"

"Okay Kiddo," says Martha, and Alexis nods in agreement. then they both exit the car and enter the station.

After parking the Car Noah also enters the station and sees that Alexis and Martha are already in the Captain's office with Det. Beckett and so he starts wandering around when he stumbles upon the infamous Murder Board.

=====================================================

[A few hours earlier, 19th Precinct]

Beckett enters the police bullpen sipping her coffee and finds Castle sitting at her desk, reading through her papers. Seeing this she brisk walks up to Castle and asks "What are you doing here Castle?" and snatches the papers from his hand and slips them back into their file.

"It's a novelist's habit reading other people's mail, checking their medicine cabinets" he answers with a proud smile.

"Why are you here?"

"I just came down here to give you this. A little something to memorialize our brief partnership," says Castle and presents Beckett with a gift-wrapped box.

Seeing the gift-wrapped box Beckett looks at Castle with a suspicious gaze to which Castle says "Don't look so suspicious. Go on. Open it."

Beckett sighs and opens it. It's a copy of Storm's End (Castle's newest book).

Castle seeing this says "Look. I even signed it for you. Not that you're a fan."

"Thank you. That's actually kind of.... sweet."

They both lock eyes and to remove the awkward air Castle says "Well..."

Beckett replies "Well."

"It's nice to have met you, Detective Beckett". and then leans in, kisses her on the cheek, and walks away.

As Beckett watches him go her face betrays her and shows a little emotion. She's a little bit smitten. She sinks down in her chair, takes a moment..., and then continues her daily work. She shuffles through her files but then she at a stack of files to her left, the one Castle was looking through earlier, and thinks to herself ' Wait, something is not right here' and says "He didn't " then quickly goes through the files in a hurry, checking if something is wrong then stops and says "Oh! He did!!".

Then runs after Castle but when runs outside the precinct she sees him get in a Taxi and drive away.

[New York Public Library]

Castle is sitting in the corner of the Library's Reading Hall with the case files spread out in front of him. He reads through the arrest reports, jots some notes, and examines crime scene photographs as he was doing this Beckett enters with two uniforms from the far end of the Reading Hall and says "Richard Castle you are under arrest for felony theft and obstruction of justice" as she walks up to Castle.

"You forgot, Making you look bad," says Castle with a smirk on his face.

"You know for a minute there you actually made me believe that you were human" then she takes a step back and says to the uniforms with her to "Cuff him"

"Uff bondage my safe word is apples," Castle says in a jovial tone

"Ohh there is no need to be gentle"

"How did you find me anyway?"

"I am a Detective. That's what I do"

"My mother told you didn't she," says, Castle with certainty to which Beckett smiles and turns to the table to collect her files as the uniforms were taking Castle away he says to her "By the way, the rose petals in the Tisdale murder? They're Grandiflora, not Hybrid Teas."

"I will make a note of that " Beckett says in a dismissive tone.

"Yeah, you probably should. Because it means that Kyle Cabott is innocent."

=========================================================

[Present]

Noah is studying the murder board and after a while, he looks around for a post-it note and a pen, and on the note, he writes "Intended target, Motive - Money maybe jealousy??" and sticks it on Alison Tisdale's photo and walks to the break room to get himself some coffee to drink while he waits for his dad's bail to be set.

Inside the break room, Noah makes a coffee for himself and takes a sip "Yuckk... why the hell does this taste like mud " he says commenting on the coffee he just tried he looks at the cup once more then at the coffee blend and takes another sip from the cup and says "Yup it's mud alright. How the hell are these people drinking this abomination." he says in disbelief and throws away the coffee. He then walks out of the break room and sees Alexis and Martha come out of the Captain's office followed by an older Black gentleman and Det. Beckett, so he walks towards them.

Seeing her brother Alexis asks "What took you so long?" following that all 4 of them look to Noah as he walks toward them and answers

"When I came in you and Gram were already in the Captain's office so I decided to not disturb you guys." hearing this Kate smiles in disbelief that both Noah and Alexis and Castle's children.

Noah continues "So I decided to check out the precinct?"

"How was it?" Cap. Montgomery asks

"It's interesting, especially that murder board. Yours I presume " he says looking at Beckett to which she says "Yes it is " with a smile.

"But the coffee here sucks ack.." he makes a disgusted face remembering the taste.

To which both Montgomery and Beckett laugh.

A few minutes later Castle is released from holding and as he walks out he sees his family, Beckett, and Montgomery standing in wait. As he walks up to them Alexis says " Hello father"

"Hello daughter "

But then Martha interrupts by saying "Well, I wish I could say I was surprised. It's my fault really. He never had a father figure."

"That's not true, Mother. I had lots of father figures. I see you've met Detective Beckett and Captain Montgomery." says Castle with a smile looking at Martha.

"They've agreed to drop the charges if you agree to behave," Alexis says

"No more interference, in this case, Mr. Castle. Do we understand each other?" says the captain.

"Yes but you still got the wrong guy." the last part he says looking at Beckett. and then walks out of the precinct with his family.

(Guys I am going to try and write scenes happening simultaneously as they do with movies and I don't know if it will have the desired effect so please comment your feedback at the end of the chapter on whether the desired effect was there or was it confusing)

[Inside the car]

Noah was driving the car with Castle sitting beside him and both Alexis and Martha sitting in the back seat.

Castle dials his cell phone and says "Mr. Tisdale's office. Yes, I would like to book an appointment for tomorrow. Richard Castle. Yes, 11 is fine. "

"What are you doing?" Alexis asks

"He is pursuing the story, sis," Noah says and Castle nods at that

"The case is solved right?"

"No," says Castle and explains his reasoning.

[CUT TO - Back at the precinct]

Beckett is looking at the murder board while leaning on her desk more specifically she is looking at Allison Tisdale that's when Det. Javier Esposito seeing this says "Nah, no no no, don't tell me he got to you" while holding an evidence box.

"Please he didn't get to me, she did " pointing to Allison's picture.

"Who? Allison??"

"Marvin Fisk, the first victim, Kyle knew him from the dinner (Kyle worked at the dinner). Then he kills Allison his social worker some he has a close relationship with and then he kills Kendra Pitney also from the dinner."

"So..?"

So, he starts with a murder of convenience and then escalates to murder someone he knows very well and then goes back to a murder of convenience... It doesn't make any sense".

[CUT TO - Inside the car]

"Somebody set up Kyle to take the fall, somebody... who knew enough about his fixation with me to use it to get away with murder. That means we are not looking for a serial killer we are looking for a good old-fashioned murderer someone with a motive," says Castle.

"You think the victims are somehow related?" Alexis asks.

Noah answers "No. If they were the cops would have found it by now. From what I saw reading the murder board the killer's intended target was Allison Tisdale and the rest I think was just a smokescreen"

"Yes, that's exactly how I would have done it too if I was writing the story," Castle says.

" Still why kill the others then?" Alexis asks.

"At one death you look for motive, at two you look for a connection and at three you look for someone like Kyle because at three you don't need motive because mentally unstable serial killers don't usually have one."

Hearing all this Martha finally interjects and says "That makes about as much sense as Mousetrap. I did that play 8 times a week for a year and I still have no idea what it's about" and turns away looking out the window leaving a confused Castle and Alexis behind while Noah was laughing.

[CUT TO - Precinct ]

"Castle was right. If he was trying to follow his books then the roses on Allison's body were wrong and Fisk should have been suffocated by a plastic bag not strangled with a necktie and Kendra's dress should have been blue, not yellow. For an obsessive like Kyle, it would have been impossible not to get the details right." Beckett says to Esposito who asks

"Well if it wasn't him then who was it?"

[CUT TO - Inside the car]

"The killer must have known both his intended victim, Allison, and Kyle fairly well. Most likely the killer knew about Kyle through Allison" Castle explains to Alexis

[CUT TO - Precinct]

"Allison is the key she is the one the killer is trying to hide," Beckett says.

"As far as we know she was not seeing anyone and none of her other case files fit the profile," Esposito says.

"Well somebody had to know something about her and me and Castle are not the only one who thinks so," Beckett says and shows Esposito the post-it note.

"Who wrote this??"

"I think I know "

[CUT TO - Inside the car]

"Somebody wanted Allison dead I just have to figure out why?" says Castle

"Dad you wanna make a bet on who the killer is?" Noah asks.

"No son never again. But do tell me who you think it is"

"It's most likely her brother I am like 80% sure"

"Why do you think that and what's his motive?"

"Well I can't quite put my finger on it but I think it's a mixture of money and... envy not sure"

"If it's money then he should have killed his father too??"

"No, he wouldn't "

"Why is that??"

"If you want I can tell you but I think it will spoil the ending of your story dad besides I am sure you will figure it out when you meet him tomorrow, so do you still want me to tell you the ending?"

"No don't"

"Dad, if I have to keep bailing you out, I'm gonna need you to raise my allowance... by a lot." says Alexis, and Martha adds "Mine too."

[Next day, Tisdale NYC.]

Castle arrives at the RECEPTION desk where he meets a young pretty woman and says "Hi. Rick Castle. I have an appointment with Mr. Tisdale."

The receptionist checks her list. Finds Castle's name and says "Go on up, sir. He's expecting you."

"Is he now ?" says Backett as she walks by the reception while waving her Badge at the receptionist.

"This isn't what it looks like...Okay, It's exactly what it looks like. But I can explain." says Castle when he sees Beckett walk by him to the elevator

Beckett sighs. She heads toward an open elevator and gets in looks at Castle and says "Well, are you coming?"

Hearing this Castle looks around, confused, and then follows her into the elevator. The doors close behind them.

Inside the elevator Castle looks at Beckett who stares straight ahead.

" You aren't going to arrest me?"

"I haven't decided yet."

"Great. What are you doing here anyway? I thought the case was closed?."

"It is," says Beckett right then the elevator door opens and Beckett steps out followed by Castle

Then Castle says "Oh I get it. You think I'm right, don't you?"

"You know the difference between playing a cop and being a cop, Castle? It's important for you to be right. Whereas we can't afford to be wrong." Beckett says and walks into Mr. Jonathan Tisdale's office (the victim's father).

Both Castle and Beckett offer their condolences. then Mr. Tisdale says "It's against the natural order of the world for a Father to outlive his own child."

"Did Alison ever mention having enemies or being threatened?" as Beckett asks this Castle takes a walk around the office where he sees a desk arranged with photos both old and new of Mr. Tisdals in different events, with his family and many more. After looking through them he sees a miniature model of a tower and diverts his attention to that.

Tisdale shakes his head and says to answer Beckett "People loved her. All she wanted was to make the world a better place and this is how she's repaid. I told all this to the other detective." while he touches his hair in a self-conscious manner

"We're just following up," says Beckett when Castle suddenly asks "Do you know of anybody who would've profited from Alison's death?" for which Beckett sends him a questioning look saying 'What the hell Castle !!'

"Profited? Mr. Castle, I'm rich. My daughter was not. She abhorred money. What little she had she gave to charity. What's this all about? I thought the killer was in custody?"

"He is, Mr. Tisdale. Thank you for your time. We're sorry to have bothered you." says Beckett and prepares to leave when Castle asks

"Mr. Tisdale, Fortune Magazine estimates your net worth at nearly a quarter of a billion dollars. Is that true?"

"I don't keep track day-to-day." Mr. Tisdale says as he touches his hair again

"But it's in the ballpark."

"I've been lucky, yes."

"Out of curiosity, what happens to all that money if something happened to you?"

"Castle..." Beckett says cautioning Castle to tread lightly.

Castle shoots her a look saying - Just go with this.

"Half my estate goes to my charitable foundation. The rest goes to my children...I mean my son. Why?"

"Just curious. Thank you for your time."

[Outside the building]

Beckett and Castle walk out of the Tisdale building then Beckett turns to Castle and asks "What was that all about?"

"He's dying. Noah was right"

"Who's dying? Tisdale? and right about what?"

Down the street Castle sees a Hot Dog vendor and asks "You want a hot dog? I want a hot dog."

Castle ignoring Beckett's question walks toward the vendor but stops and turns to Beckett and asks "What do you take on your..."

Castle doesn't get to finish his sentence as Beckett grabs his nose between her thumb and forefinger with unbelievable speed. Forcing Castle to yell out "Ahh ow ow ow... Apples apples apples.."

Having caught Castle's attention Beckett repeats her question "What makes you think he is dying?"

"Okay... you see those pictures in his office?"

"Yeah"

"He is much thinner now, like sick thin not work out thin."

"His daughter was just murdered"

"And the way he kept touching his hair like he is self-conscious"

"You think it was a piece?"

"And it's a good one but it's new to him, the chemo is relatively recent and he is wearing makeup"

"He is trying to look healthier than he is"

"Doesn't want the shareholders to know"

"So he's got cancer. That doesn't mean it's terminal"

"But it's a better story if he is. You interview the brother??"

"There was never a reason to," says Beckett as she smiles at Castle to which he smiles and says "Now there is." and turns back to the vendor and says "Two hotdogs please."

[A while later.]

We see cranes lifting a container and a man giving out orders and signing an invoice. This is HARRISON TISDALE.

We then see Beckett and Castle get out of their car and Beckett says "Harrison Tisdale?" as she shows him her badge.

"Yeah. Hey Mitch! Why aren't these pallets on the truck?"

"Detective Beckett. Richard Castle. We'd like to ask you some questions about your sister."

"Yeah, anything I can do. Let's head inside" says Harrison and leads them to his office

Beckett asks "When was the last time you saw Allison?"

"Last time I saw her? About a month ago at Dad's. You know I still can't believe she is gone"

"Were you two close?"

"Ahh everybody loved her. My sister... she just wanted to see the best in people. Even that kid who killed her. You know she did everything she could to help that guy... even brought him around here to see if I can get him a job."

"But you didn't? did you??" asks Castle.

"I can't afford to. If my employees mess up then I lose my bond... I don't maybe I should have hired him maybe then... all this wouldn't have happened"

"How did your sister react when your Dad informed you he was dying?"

We see Harrison a bit surprised that they know but quickly recovers and says "She was upset. We both were."

Beckett and Castle share a look. Confirmation.

"What does that have to do with her murder. I thought you already caught the killer?" Harrison asks.

"Yeah, and the first thing his lawyers will do is shift suspicion to someone else, someone with a motive. And then they'll put me on the stand and ask me why I didn't investigate. Then the jury's gonna have doubts. You want justice for your sister, right?"

"Of course"

"Then you won't mind telling us where you were the night of her murder."

"I was traveling on business," says Harrison as he opens his desk drawer and pulls out a passport hands it to Beckett, and says " Check the stamps and you'll find I was out of the country for all three murders."

[10 mins later]

Beckett and Castle walk down the street to their car. Castle in disbelief asks Beckett "A U.S. Passport?"

"Yeah absolutely unassailable"

"But I was so sure it was him."

"Ohh don't take it so hard, after all, you are just a...writer," says Beckett smiling.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing"

"What is it...?"

"Oh come on... he is lying."

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Sorry, this turned out too long a chapter. Hope it didn't bore you guys and also sorry for the abrupt ending it's because I started typing this chapter with the intention of closing this case by the end but I realized at around 3500 words that closing this case with this chapter is not gonna be possible hence the abrupt ending.

Thank you for all the support guys. Don't forget to rate this fanfic.

The power stones, comments, ideas, and reviews are much appreciated.