The Illustrated Man

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: I checked again. I do not own Castle. Rating: K+ I suppose, but we'll get into M eventually, but not this chapter. Time: Season Seven?

The 12th Precinct's homicide team stood in a grim, dark alley just after dawn looking at the body between them. Lanie and Kate were kneeling beside the corpse, Ryan and Esposito stood together and Castle stood just behind Kate. Uniformed officers searched the area.

"Cause of death looks obvious." Kate muttered.

Lanie nodded. "I'd agree, but I've been surprised in the past. But, three large caliber gunshot wounds in the back would be a good guess." She pointed to the corpse, lying face down in the alley. "These two shots appear to have been fired from a distance, probably from the far end of the alley. This one, as you can see from the muzzle flash burns and the stippling, was fired from close range. Less than a foot, I'd guess."

"Time of death?"

"Based on liver temp, I'd say two to four hours ago, provisionally. I'll know better when I get him back to the morgue.

"So, between two and four AM?" Kate asked. Lanie nodded.

"I blame GPS." Castle said.

"GPS, Bro?" Both Ryan and Esposito smiled.

"You bet. All of the GPS directions are made up by a bunch of geeks in Silicon Valley. They just tell you the shortest way to get from point A to point B, not what the trip will be like." Castle imitated the mechanical voice of a GPS unit. "To get to John F. Kennedy International Airport, walk five hundred meters to the north and then cross the tiger enclosure at the Bronx Zoo."

Kate rolled her eyes. "Then we should be looking for a heavily armed tiger?"

Castle shrugged. "Not so far-fetched. People do genetic modifications on plants, soon it'll be with animals and then people."

"Gangs of urban coyotes holding up convenience stores for junk food?" Espo asked.

"Raccoons already have masks, they'll be burglars." Ryan added.

"Wait until you have to bring in a drunk and disorderly grizzly bear." Castle teased.

"Could we try to concentrate on this present day murder? Have the uniforms found anything?"

"Here comes one now, Beckett. What'd you find, LT?"

LT handed Esposito a clear plastic evidence bag. Espo examined it. "Forty five caliber shell casings. Three of them."

"We found the weapon." Another uniform handed Esposito another bag, this one containing a pistol. "And the forty five they were fired from, I'll bet."

"Can we roll him over and get a look at his face?" Kate asked Lanie, who nodded, and Esposito and Ryan rolled the corpse over.

"Nice suit." Castle commented. "Looks hand made. Let me check the label." Castle pulled back the coat. "Hacer de medida?" Castle read from the label.

"Made for, bro." Espo translated. "It's a tailor made suit."

Castle examined the shirt. "Silk shirt and a silk tie. Nice shoes, too." Castle stood. "So, our vic was walking in a dark alley, minding his own business and someone shot him. Not a very interesting murder."

"We do our poor best, Castle." Ryan said with a smile.

"We have his wallet, I think." LT said, handing the evidence bag to Kate. She took the wallet out and looked inside. "Money and credit cards are gone. His watch and cell are gone, too. So I'd guess a robbery." She pulled out the driver's license. "Our vic is one Hernan Guererro from New Mexico. It gives an address in Santa Fe." She pulled out a business card. "New Mexico Sporting Goods." She read. "Hernan Guererro, owner. New Mexico's best stop for all your hunting, fishing and outdoor needs."

"So the hunter became the hunted? "Castle joked. "Maybe we should be looking for some angry New Mexican animal. Maybe a javelina?"

"With an empty shoulder holster?" Beckett said sarcastically, holding up the bag holding the gun.

Kate looked own the alley. "There are a couple of late night clubs a block or two down the street. Have the uniforms canvas them, see if they know anything." She turned to Castle, "I think we can head back to the precinct."

Kate began the paperwork on the case as soon as she got back to the precinct. Castle was busy on his phone. "And you're helping the investigation how?" She asked.

"I've Googled our vic's business. He had quite an operation, three stores in the greater Santa Fe area. From the ads, the stores look large. So, a prosperous businessman on a trip to the big apple goes to the wrong place at the wrong time, attracts the wrong person and gets shot. Not much of a murder. I think I'll go back to the loft. See you later?"

Before she could reply, her phone rang. She picked it up and listened. "That was Lanie. She has something for us."

Castle looked at his watch. "So soon? That must set a new world's record for an autopsy. Shall we go?"

They walked to the elevator and went down to the morgue.

"What do you have?" Kate asked.

"Did you use a chain saw rather than a scalpel this time?"

"I haven't opened him up yet, Castle, so no chain saw. But I was very surprised when I got his clothes off."

"Funny, Beckett said the same thing."

Kate glared at Castle. "What's the surprise?"

"Look." Lanie pulled the sheet off of the vic.

"Wow!" Castle said.

"Tattoos, lots of them." Kate added.

"Look at these two." Lanie pointed to the man's left chest and right shoulder. "The bloody knife in the heart and the crying eye are crudely done. Not professional at all."

"Prison tattoos?" Kate guessed.

"Probably. I'll run them through the tattoo data base and see if we get anything. The other tattoos are professionally done. He has four with the same theme." Lanie pointed them out. "A skeletal woman, I think it's a woman anyway, wearing a cape, a crown and holding a scythe and a globe. I'm not sure what it means…"

"Santa Muerte." Castle said. "Saint Death. It's a Mexican folk religion, and it's popular with some Mexican gangsters. Mostly low level ones, but a couple of the leaders of the Gulf Cartel were believers. Our vic is a Mexican gangster."

"Who owns a store that sells guns. Lots of guns, I'll bet. Lanie, get his fingerprints and see if he's in the system. If he has prison tats, I'm sure he is.

Lanie nodded. "I'll let you know what I find on the autopsy. I'll get it to you as soon as I can."

Castle went back with Kate to the bullpen. "I thought you were bored?" She said with a smile.

"With a dead worshipper of Santa Muerte downstairs? You're kidding. Drug gangs and religion? This is a dream case."

"Not for our vic. But tell me, Castle, how did you learn about Saint Death?"

He shrugged. "I thought I'd have Derreck Storm tangle with the Mexican mob once, but the story went nowhere. But I actually met a follower of the religion. He was a nice guy, not one of your tatted up gangster types. He had a wife, three kids and ran a small grocery in the Bronx. He told me that contrary to beliefs by the gangsters, that Santa Muerte isn't an evil saint, but is a fallen angel in purgatory, trying to win back God's graces. He said that's why she grants so many miracles. He worked a lot at night in his store and told me that she's sometimes called La Senora del la Noche, the lady of the night, she'd protect those who work at night, like policeman, taxi drivers, soldiers and prostitutes. He said that she'd protect them from violence. "

"Didn't help our vic." Kate muttered. "Can we talk to your friend? Maybe find out more about the religion?"

"I don't know. It's been years since I talked to him, but I should have his address. I'll see if I can locate him."

While Kate did her paperwork, Castle used his phone to try to find out more about their vic, his business and Santa Muerte.

"Any luck?" Kate asked when Rick put down his phone.

"No much. There's really nothing about our vic online. I read some of the reviews on his stores. Apparently he sells a lot of first class food for campers and other outdoorsmen. Freeze dried stuff that's apparently tasty as well as convenient. He did sell all kinds of weapons, though. I didn't find any more about Santa Muerte, though. Nothing we don't already know."

Kate's phone rang with a text. "That's Lanie. She has something for us."

"Let's go then." Rick was already headed for the elevator.

"What do you have, Lanie?" Rick and Kate asked together.

"That is just too cute, you two."

"We don't do it to be cute, it just happens." Kate said.

"So you say."

"And you called us for…?" Rick suggested.

"Ballistics are back. Bad news. The killer used some kind of explosive slugs, from what I took out of the vic, the killer may have hollowed out the original slugs and filled them with mercury. Ballistics wasn't able to get enough striations off the slugs to match it to the barrel of the gun we found at the crime scene."

"No fingerprints on the weapon, I'll bet."

"Completely clean, Castle. And there's more. The serial number shows it was manufactured in the early fifties, but the barrel, the springs and the sights are brand new. I'm betting we won't find the slugs from the gun in any database."

"Someone put in a new barrel in an old pistol, added new hardware as needed and used it just once, I'll bet. Sounds like a professional job." Kate said under her breath.

"Beckett, are there any Mexican gangs in New York?"

She shook her head. "Not many Mexicans at all. We have Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Central Americans and even South American gangs here, but not many Mexicans."

"So we have a New Mexican hit in New York. I'll bet someone back home hired a local to do the job on our vic."

"Which will make this even harder to solve. All of his enemies back in New Mexico will have iron clad alibis. They were all thousands of miles away. And our local hit man will have no connection with the vic at all, except for a contract on him."

"There's a little more." Lanie added. "Cause of death was as we thought. GSW. The killer only needed the two. The vic was dead by the time the third shot was fired. And I found something interesting on his clothes. He had some slight oil stains on the inside of the back of his trousers."

"Oil stains?" Kate frowned.

"I'm betting it's gun oil, but I sent a sample to the lab for analysis. I'll let you know when I know."

"So he probably had a gun tucked into his pants. Thanks, Lanie. Castle, time to go home?"

"With you, always."

Once at home, Kate started dinner and Castle went into his office. After a bit, Kate came in and sat on his lap. "Working on a book?"

"Not directly. I'm going over my research on Santa Muerte. One interesting thing, apparently she has about as many worshippers in the Mexican police and military as in the gangs. Probably because they recruit from the same poor working class base."

"Could our killer be a cop?" Kate asked, frowning.

"If he's a local shooter, probably not. But, you can never tell. Santa Muerte has a lot of nicknames: The Skinny Lady, the Bony Lady, the White Girl, the White Sister, the Pretty Girl, and interestingly enough, the Godmother."

"Dona Corleone?"

"Probably not. But the worship or at least adoration of saints is popular in Mexico. According to my notes, practicing Catholics will pray to Santa Muerte and build little shrines to her, right alongside shrines to the Virgin Mary or the Virgin of Guadalupe."

"Does any of this help our case?"

"Not now, but you can never tell. Always remember, Detective Beckett, it's always about the story. Once you know the story, everything is clear."

"I'm Detective Beckett now?" She said, leaning close to him.

"I was thinking of calling you Grasshopper."

"You'd better not, Kitten."

"Why don't we…"

"Let me get up. I think dinner needs my attention."

"I need your attention." Rick said to Kate's retreating form.

The next day, the two arrived at the precinct early. Rick was carrying the usual two coffees, even though Kate had had her morning cup at the loft.

"What did we get on our vic, Guerrero?"

"Absolutely nothing, Beckett." Espo replied. "A great big nada."

"Nothing? He's not in the system? That's hard to believe."

"No, I mean we've heard nothing back. Not a word from the FBI. What we did get is a visit from the Feds." Espo pointed to Gates's office. "Your old friend Special Agent Sorenson arrived with half a dozen other feds in tow about fifteen minutes ago. He's been with Gates ever since."

Late and Rick peered into Gates's office. They could see Sorenson leaning over the Captain's desk, saying something very forcefully.

"That's not the best way to get on her good side." Castle said.

"There's a way to get on her good side?" Ryan asked. "How would you know?"

"Captain Gates is warming to me. Just the other day she smiled at me."

"She was probably imagining throwing you out her window." Kate smirked.

"Whoa!" Espo cautioned. "Looks like the meeting's breaking up."

The Feds trooped out of Gates's office and headed for the conference room. Gates was the last one out. She motioned to Kate and her team. "You too. Come along. The Feds have news for us."

Kate caught up to the Captain. "What happened in there? Sorenson looked a little…brusque."

"Brusque? Why no, Detective." Gates said sarcastically. "He was just as polite as any of those self-centered, obnoxious Federal…" She stopped. "There's no problem, Beckett."

Everyone moved into the conference room. Sorenson stood in front. "I'm Special Agent Sorenson, FBI. I'll be handling the investigation into Hernan Guererro's murder. With me is Special Agent Hawkins, DEA, and Special Agent Woodson, ATF, and their teams." The two agents nodded to the detectives, but neither indicated which was which.

Castle heard the door open behind them. Sorenson looked up and glared at the newcomers.

"What the hell are you three doing here? No, I don't care. Get out. This investigation has nothing to do with the likes of you."