American Crime Stories

A/N: Welcome to my first published Castle fic. The story will contain three major story arcs and will play in the city that never sleeps. Later on, characters from other TV shows placed in New York and possible from other locations will appear. Some of them will be the same as in canon, some of them won't.

Because of this, I want to get the disclaimer out of the way: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. of any TV show used in this fic are the property of their respective owners, producers or creators. I am in no way associated with the owners, creators or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

However, at this point I want to thank TheBlackHand724 who has graciously allowed me to use some of his characters and parts of his stories. I'm looking forward to introduce some of his/her OC's and hope to do them justice!

I don't want to give out too much information about the main pairing, so I'm only going to state that it won't be 'Caskett'.

What else? Oh, yeah. Updates will be slow. Although I know where I want to go with my story, I have to write it down first. As real life is a b***, I don't know how much time I get to write.

Furthermore, as a non-native speaker, I am sorry to say that I will be making mistakes. Though I'm going to try to minimize them, I promise.

And last but not least, feedback and constructive criticism is always welcome. Please, feel free to tell me what you like or dislike! I am also open for any ideas and suggestions ;-)

So, without further ado…

Arc One, Chapter one

TWELFTH PRECINCT INTERROGATION ROOM

Detective Kate Beckett walked into the interrogation room. "Robert Lopez – that's your name. Right, Bobby?" She greeted the only other person in the room. She crossed the interrogation room to sit at the table, facing her suspect in the Boylan Plaza bombing.

"Actually, I know quite a bit about you", she continued to tell him. "I know where you live. I know you have no record. I know that you're not a member of any political party. And as soon as my team finishes searching your place, I'm gonna know even more about you. Eventually, we're gonna find out but why don't you just tell me," the detective leaned forward and stared her suspect in the eyes, "why did you plant that bomb?" Bobby couldn't look her in the eyes. Instead he looked down without giving an answer.

"No answer?" Beckett stood up and walked around the table. "Would you like me to refresh your memory?" She put a map in front of him and pointed to a specific point. "You were standing hear, by the lamppost. You dropped the backpack and started running as it exploded, killing five people."

"I didn't do what you're saying," Bobby told her nervously.

Beckett snorted disbelieving. "Witnesses saw you dropping your backpack, Bobby." She told him with a raised voice.

"It wasn't mine."

"So, you admit at having it?"

"No, that's – that's not what I meant."

"You just said that it wasn't yours." Beckett sat down on the table just a few inches away from Bobby.

"Yeah, because you got me all confused with –"

"Did you or didn't you have it?" Beckett pressed on. "It's a simple question."

"I don't – I don't know. I don't remember."

"Who put you up to this, Bobby? Who gave you that backpack?"

"I don…, I don't remember," Bobby stammered.

"You don't remember? How do you not remember?"

"I was in shock. The bomb went off. Everyone was running and screaming." Bobby words came out fast now. He was visibly agitated.

"So, you remember what happened after the bomb went off but not before." Beckett wanted to clarify.

"It must have been one of these dramatic amnesia things."

"Bobby – don't lie to me", Beckett told Bobby.

"I'm telling you it was all a big blank. It was the trauma."

Beckett's response was immediate. She was done playing his game. "It was not the trauma." She paused before pointing a finger at him. "You don't get to use that excuse."

"I swear I don't remember," Bobby countered.

"The hell you don't remember," Beckett exploded. "Do you wanna know trauma? I was shot in the chest, and I remember every second of it. And so do you!" Beckett forced the words out of her mouth and glared at him. Then she pushed herself from the table, trying desperately to put distance between them.

TWELFTH PRECINCT BULLPEN

Richard Castle, famous writer and all around ruggedly handsome man, walked into the bullpen, carrying his customary two coffees. He headed to Beckett's desk, nodding at an officer as he passed him. He stopped and looked around for his partner. Not seeing her, he set her coffee on her desk. Then he saw one of his other partners walking through the bullpen.

"Hey, Esposito. No luck with those witness statements. You guys catch a break?"

"Better yet, we caught the suspect," Detective Javier Esposito replied with a small smile.

Castle looked incredulously. "And I missed it? Where is he?"

"In the box. With Beckett."

Castle nodded and rushed to the observation room.

"You don't remember. How do you not remember?"

From behind the glass, Castle was enjoying watching Beckett in her element, interrogating and in this instance, railing a suspect.

"I was in shock. The bomb went off. Everyone was running and screaming."

"So, you remember what happened after the bomb went off but not before."

"It must have been one of these dramatic amnesia things."

"Bobby – don't lie to me."

"I'm telling you it was all a big blank. It was the trauma."

"It was not the trauma. You don't get to use that excuse."

"I swear I don't remember."

"The hell you don't remember. Do you wanna know trauma?" Castles nodded his head, letting her words rush through him without looking into the interrogation room. "I was shot in the chest, and I remember every second of it. And so do you!"

In the observation room, Castle slowly processed what he'd just heard. Her words hit him hart. "All this time. You remembered?" He asked low and slowly into an empty room, hurt in his words.

Castle stared at Beckett through the glass. The detective was standing behind her suspect, looking angry at no specific point. She didn't know that he was watching her from the adjacent interrogation room. His heart ached. She lied to him. She has been deliberately lying to him for months. She had lied to him when they sat on the swings and since then on. The more he thought about it, the faster his hurt faded away. It was replaced by anger. No, not anger, pure and unchecked fury. He wanted to rush into the interrogation room and confront her. Take her at the shoulders and shake her. He wanted to demand answers, but he knew that he couldn't do that. These were neither the time nor the place for such a confrontation. He decided to follow the other emotion waging in his mind - the notion of flight. Decision made, Castle left the observation and got the hell out of the precinct. He walked completely on auto-pilot and didn't register anything around him on his way towards the elevator.

TWELFTH PRECINCT BULLPEN

A few minutes later, Beckett walked back to her desk with Esposito.

"Guy's still not talking?" The male detective asked.

"Not yet. I'm gonna let him sweat for a bit." When she got to her desk, she saw the coffee on her desk.

"Was Castle here?"

"Yeah. Earlier. But I saw him leaving again a few minutes ago." He replied and walked away. Beckett paused at those words, picked up the coffee and looked down at it. She didn't know – and wouldn't for a while – that her unintentionally confession had been overheard. Overheard by the one person who shouldn't have heared her words. And that her words had started a process, that would change not only her life but that of many other people.

BOYLAN PLAZA

On his way home, Rick had called his mother. He shortly told her what had happened and asked her to meet him.

Rick and Martha walked up to the plaza, where a makeshift memorial site had been created.

"Oh Richard, really? A bomb memorial? C'mon, honey. Isn't this kind of morbid?"

"Well it's how I'm feeling."

"She isn't dead."

"She might as well be." His voice was a mix of anger and sadness that caused Martha to look at him in shock.

"I really thought we could have a future together. You know, I was – I was willing to wait." They talked while approaching a fence filled with flowers, flags and photos. "Turns out it's all just a big joke." Castle turned to his mother. "She knew. This whole time, she remembered. And she didn't say anything." Rick paused, trying to find a reason for Beckett's behavior. "She was embarrassed because she doesn't feel the same way. I'm such a fool."

Martha looked at the memorial. She wasn't sure what to do or say. So, she fell back to the one way she knows that would dull the pain - at least for a while. "Well c'mon. Let's go home. Break out some of the good stuff, okay?" She proposed and grabbed his arm.

"Well I'd love to. I've got to be getting back to the precinct." Those words shocked Martha.

"Back? Why on Earth would you go back, knowing how she feels, knowing that she lied to you –"

"No, no, no. This isn't about her. This is – this is about them." Castle gestured to the fence. "You know? It's about doing something real. Something that matters. I'm not willing to let that go."

The look on Martha's face clearly showed that she didn't like her sons plan. However, as always she tried to be understanding. She smiled at him sadly and said, "Richard, love is not a switch. You can't just turn it off. You can't work side by side with her and not feel anything."

Rick thought about her words for a moment and mentally steeled himself. "Watch me."

TWELFTH PRECINCT BULLPEN

Castle exited the elevator and walked towards his desk. His partner was working on paperwork at her desk. He paused for a moment. If anyone had seen him, they would have seen the anger on his face. He tried to rein his emotions in before he reached his destination.

"Hey." He greeted her, hoping that Beckett wouldn't hear the anger in his voice. She didn't. Instead she brightened at his greetings. "Hey. Where were you?"

"Just clearing my head. Where are we on Bobby?"

"Uniforms are searching his place. We're hoping to find something that'll break him." He held her gaze. His eyes were steely. Beckett could see that something was going on but couldn't read his expression. Before she could ask him, Esposito walked up to them. "FBI called with an update. The device used in Boylan Plaza was a pipe bomb. But here's the weird part. It wasn't packed with nails, ball bearings, or anything else."

"That is weird. Bombers usually add projectiles to maximize damage," Beckett replied.

"That's not the only way to maximize damage." Castle stated. His glare directed at her, threw Beckett off.

"Uh, so what was it triggered by? Cell phone? Trip wire?" She asked Esposito.

"A remote. Probably rigged from a garage door opener. But the range on those is only about 100 feet."

"So, whoever detonated it was in Boylan Plaza," Castle surmised.

"And I bet you we'll find that garage remote in Bobby's apartment." Beckett said just as the fourth member of their team comes to their desk.

"Ah … no such luck. But we did find credit cards with lots of different names on them." Kevin Ryan said and handed the bag to Castle.

"And we found some wallets." Ryan threw the bag to Esposito and held up another bag. "And some cell phones, too. In fact, one of those cell phones belonged to Andrew Haynes."

Beckett worked through it first. "Bobby's a pickpocket."

TWELFTH PRECINCT INTERROGATION ROOM

"Yeah, I pretty much am." Bobby said and visibly relaxed.

"That's why you attended the takeover protests." Beckett said.

"All those people were hanging out, full of peace and brotherhood."

"It's like an all you can steal buffet," Castle said.

"You got that right." Bobby replied with a small smile on his face.

"Why didn't you just tell me the truth from the start?" Beckett asked irritated.

"And what? Admit to a cop who likes me for murder that I'm a thief? Amnesia seemed like the better plan."

At those words, Castle chanced a look at his partner. "Yeah." At his tone Beckett looked at him, but Castle had already turned away. "So you lifted Andrew Haynes's phone, which is why it looked as if he planted the bomb." He said more to himself.

"Who's Andrew Haynes?" Bobby asked.

"Don't worry about that. Talk to me about the backpack. How did you get it?" Beckett asked.

"I lifted it." He said as if it was obvious. "It was just lying there between two dumpsters." He shook his head.

"I swear, I didn't know a bomb was in it." He paused, "I would never hurt anyone. Look, you gotta believe me." He pleaded with them.

Castle wasn't looking at him, instead he was deep in his own thoughts. Beckett took a second and pressed on.

"The man that you took the backpack from, is that him?" She put a picture of Jesse Friedman on the table.

Bobby recognized him instantly. "Yeah. That's – that's the guy."

"Are you sure?" Castle asked in a soft tone, already knowing the answer.

"Yeah, that's him."

"That's Jesse Friedman. That's one of the victims." Castle said.

Beckett paused, rearranging the facts in her mind. "And he's a member of the movement."

"That doesn't make any sense. Why would he attack his own people?" Castle asked to no one specific.

TWELFTH PRECINCT BULLPEN

A few minutes later, Castle studied the murder board, trying to make sense of the bombing. He tried to remember all of the statements from their witnesses. He tried to connect their stories and the facts and to tie them all together.

Beckett was talking on the phone, "Okay. Thank you." She hang up her phone and walked over to him.

"So, unis searched Jesse Friedman's place and they found research on how to build the same device that was used in Boylan Plaza." She walked over to him and leaned next to him at the table. He looked at her, trying to hold in his emotions. He willed himself to concentrate on the case.

"So Jesse blew up his own protest? Why would he do that?" He asked.

"Maybe to … get sympathy for his movement? Publicity?"

"And because he placed the bomb between two dumpsters he didn't –"

"- he didn't think that anyone would get hurt." She ended his sentence. "Then Bobby stole the backpack."

"If Jesse was worried about someone getting hurt, why would he set off the bomb?"

It's Esposito who answered his question. "I don't think he did. There was no remote on or near the body, which means someone else detonated it."

Ryan followed on. "Probably someone he knew. 30 seconds before the blast Jesse got a call on his cell from a burner cell. Then 2 seconds before the bomb went off he tried to call that same phone back."

"So then maybe Jesse had a partner and that's who triggered the bomb."

At this moment, Castle had a thought. He looked at the map on the murder board. "Espo, you said that remote had a range of about 100 feet, right?"

"Mmhmm."

"Whoever the partner was, he must have been here somewhere," Castle said and pointed to an area on the map, "close to the bomb blast, hidden amongst the crowd. We need to take another look at the sequence of events. Piece together the witness statements. The answer is in the story. So let's start at the beginning."

For the next minutes, they walked through the timeline again. Castle span the story. "Leann and her cameraman are setting up for their live broadcast. At the same time, Bobby's prowling the plaza. He sees Andrew Haynes haranguing the protesters. He's easy pickin's. So Bobby relieves him of his phone. Then, Bobby goes looking for his next business opportunity. He spots the blue backpack unattended, calling out to him. So he grabs it, blissfully unaware of what's inside. But Jesse sees him and he flips out. Bobby ducks out of sight. Jesse panics. The bomb is on the move. What's he gonna do? People are in danger. He grabs a man in the black hoodie, thinking it's the thief. But it's Andrew Haynes. Well by now, Bobby's decided taking the backpack wasn't such a good idea. So he ditches it and keeps moving. Bam. He knocks into Nadia, drawing the attention of the street drummer who's now by the coffee truck. Meanwhile, Jesse runs around the corner and sees the dumped backpack. He fumbles with his phone, dialing. He looks behind him while it rings. The bomb blows."

"Well, that's a nice story bro, but it still doesn't tell us who Jesse's partner is." Esposito interjected.

"Well it's gotta be whoever Jesse was on the phone with in the minutes before the bomb went off." Beckett said.

"How long was that first incoming call?" Castle asked and Ryan checked his folder. "Uh … 8 seconds."

"So that was probably the 'all systems go' call." Castle spoke on.

"Then after the backpack was stolen Jesse tried to make an 'all systems not go' call but he didn't get through in time." Ryan span on.

"Do any of the witnesses remember who Jesse was hanging out with?" Beckett asked.

Esposito flips through a folder. "Not yet but we're still reconstructing his movements based on statements on his friends –"

"Oh!" Castle had an epiphany. He pointed to a picture in Esposito's folder. "A Beethoven T-shirt." Castle turned to looked at the map on the board. "Call and response. I know who Jesse's partner is." The other looked at him silently willing him to go on.

"Bobby remembered hearing a Beethoven ringtone coming from nearby just before he stole the backpack. And Westside Wally said Beethoven showed up conducting his 5th Symphony. That was actually Jesse Friedman with his Beethoven T-Shirt and ringtone making his 'all systems go' call." The others nodded, that made sense to them. Castle continued to speak. "We know he was talking to someone within 100 feet and that call lasted 8 seconds, long enough for a call and response. A call and response to the one person who could broadcast the explosion live on television and bring the publicity that the movement needed." He paused again. "Leann West was on the other end of that phone."

TWELFTH PRECINCT INTERROGATION ROOM

News footage of the broadcast was playing on a small screen.

"No I wasn't. I wasn't on the phone with anyone. I was talking to my cameraman. I already told the FBI the whole story." Leann denied the allegations.

"Yeah, except you left out a few details," Castle stated. Beckett's explained further, "Like the fact that you knew Jesse Friedman. The two of you went to Hudson University."

"Yeah, so did a lot of people."

"We're guessing the two of you reunited at the protest. You went out for drinks and you hatched a plan."

"He wanted media attention, you wanted to get promoted to the anchor desk."

"So you set up your cameras at the perfect vantage point."

"You waited until you went live and you detonated that bomb."

Leann looked at them incredulously. "What? That is insane. This is ridiculous and I will not listen to another word of it. We're done here." Leann moved to leave but Beckett slamed a bag with a cell phone in it on the table.

"Do you recognize that? That's the burner cell that you used to call Jesse."

"Found it in a storm drain about two block from Boylan Plaza. You know what else we found in there?" Castle held up another bag and set in on the table. "The remote you used to detonate the bomb." Leann began to panic.

"Small enough to hide in the palm of your hand. It's got your fingerprints all over it, Leann."

"How did you find that?"

"By tracking your movements after the explosion using your phone's GPS." Castle explained.

Leann paused. She realized that it was over, that the other two had her dead tor rights. "No one was supposed to get hurt. It was just going to make a lot of noise and people would start respecting me as a reporter but everything just went wrong."

"Why didn't you just come forward when you realized what you had done?" Beckett asked.

"I thought about it, but what good would that do? I kept quiet for Jesse." Leann continued in a low tone. "I wanted to protect his memory".

Castle got mad as she tried to explain herself. "Well, that's what your friend Jesse would call 'sinning by silence.'" He gave his partner a pointed look that Kate didn't notice. "It's not smart, it's not brave. It's just cowardly." His tone was harsh.

TWELFTH PRECINCT BULLPEN

Later that evening Captain Gates had assembled the members of her precinct. "The FBI has taken Leann West into custody. This woman, whose blind ambition lead to the death of five people, will get what she deserves. I um, I want to thank each of you for what you did to make this happen. You all put into 110% and made me proud. So let's get out of here, head on home, and catch up on some much needed rest."

The group of people scattered, eager to get home. Castle said goodnight to some people as they passed him and walked to his three partners.

"You know what? I'm still kind of wired. Do you guys want to go out for a drink?" Beckett asked her male partners.

"Ah… sorry. I feels like a month since I've seen Jenny. I should really get home." Ryan apologized first, followed by Esposito. "Me too. I'm tanked. I'll holler at you."

They backed away and moved to leave the precinct. Castle gave them a goodnight nod and smile.

"So, I guess it's just us." She turned to Castle and smiled at him with that beguiling, open smile she used more and more in the past months. But it didn't have the usual effect on Castle. In fact, it had the opposite effect on the writer. Her immediate assumption that they were going out to get those drinks together without even so much as waiting on a response from him, clawed at something deep inside him. Richard Castle of this morning would have gladly taken the chance to go out drinking with Beckett. However, Richard Castle of this evening was hurt immensely.

"Yeah." He said coldly and grabbed his jacket. However, Kate didn't catch his mood. "You know, now that the case is done, what did you want to talk about?" She looked at him hopefully, trying to get them back to that place where they were before all the chaos had started. There was a pause. Castle was stuck, trying to figure out how to get out this moment without causing a scene. Despite his anger, he didn't want to have that confront, eh, conversation right now. She urged him with her eyes. He swallowed and forced a smile. "Nothing. Nothing important anyway." He said softly. Beckett smiled, but it was a tight smile. She was disappointed.

"I'm gonna head home. Night." Castle backed away and left without any other explanations. Beckett thought that his reaction was unlike him. "Good night." She replied.

Meanwhile, Castle headed to the elevator and waited for it to come. When it did, he entered the car and turned around. He watched as she put on her jacket. He shook his head and looked away. The elevator doors shut. He was alone, finally able to let the anger and hurt manifest on his face.

Beckett was confused. Something was off with her partner but she couldn't place it. She watched his dark expression until the elevator doors closed. He never once looked her way, and that just wasn't like him. However, there was nothing she could do right now. She tried to shrug it off and moved to leave as well.