Game, Set and Match

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: I'm not playing here. I don't own Castle. Rating: K Time: Season seven.

"Do we have to get out of the car?" Castle whined.

Kate looked over at her husband. "Of course we do. This is where the crime scene is."

"But it's below freezing and the wind is howling like a pack of rabid wolves. We'll freeze solid."

Kate smiled, but rolled her eyes. "It doesn't seem to bother Lanie, Ryan and Espo, or all the uniforms."

"It bothers me." He shot back.

Kate opened her door, letting in a blast of Arctic air. "Just think about how much fun we'll have warming each other up later." She got out and headed for Espo. As she expected, Castle quickly followed her.

"What do we have?" She asked her detective.

"The sewer department had raw sewage pouring into the Hudson, so they sent a diver, Mickey Polanco, to take a look. He found a car down there. When they pulled the car up, there was a skeleton inside."

"Have you talked to Polanco?" She asked.

Espo shook his head. "I wanted to wait until they hosed all the sewage off of his wetsuit. The man could gag a maggot from fifty yards."

"Getting soft?" Castle asked as Beckett headed for the diver.

"Why don't you join Beckett and see how soft he makes you?"

Polanco was still in his wetsuit, but had a blanket wrapped around him. He briefly told what happened. "We got a call about sewage in the river. There's like three separate sewer lines that go past here. One of them is old and no longer in service. Back in the day, they'd just close old sewer lines off, figuring that by the time any raw sewage leaked out, they'd be long retired."

Castle remembered the case involving the Old Haunt. "We know."

"Anyway, I get down there and I kick something. Something hard. I got out my light and looked at it and I see a car hood with an Alfa Romeo logo on it. I figure it's probably stolen. Kids maybe. So I call for a crane and have it pulled up. I was about to call auto theft, we get a lot of cars in the river, when I look inside and see this skull. I called you people right away."

"Did you touch anything? Move anything?"

Polanco shook his head. "I done a couple of these before. I know not to touch." Polanco sighed. "It's a shame. The car is a classic. A 1975 Alfa Romeo Alfetta GT." Polanco smiled. "The wife insists we have a nice family sedan, but I can dream right?"

Kate thanked Polanco and went to where Lanie was looking through the car.

"Any ID on the vic or cause of death?"

"Nothing official. The skull was fractured, but it might not have been enough to kill the vic. She might have drowned."

"She?" Kate asked.

Lanie pointed to a small evidence bag on the end of the gurney containing the body and body bag. "There was just one body in the car, but we found a charm bracelet in the car. Probably the vic's. Good quality, too. By the weight, the bracelet and charms are solid gold."

Kate looked over to see Castle doing something with his phone. "Looking for cheap flights to the Caribbean or Hawaii? Remember, I don't have any vacation days left."

He shook his head. "This is the magnification app on my phone. I want to get a better look at the bracelet."

Kate watched as Lanie continued to remove bones from the car.

"Kate, I think I know who the vic is."

"Is her name on the bracelet?"

He shook his head. "No. But all the charms are little gold tennis racquets and they're all engraved. This one says Wimbledon 1975, this one is French Open, 1974, this one is US Open 1975, Australian Open 1976….Beckett, we've found Marti Nimes."

"Who's Marti Nimes?" Espo asked.

"About the best female tennis player in the world in the seventies, until she disappeared before a match that was supposed to take place on July 4, 1976." Castle told him.

"I'm surprised a sports buff like you has never heard of Marti Nimes." Kate teased.

"Tennis? A sport?" Espo shook his head. "A sport is when you can knock someone on his ass. Sacking a quarterback, sliding into second base to break up a double play, or dunking over some guy and knocking him on his butt. But tennis?" He shook his head.

"I've read about the July Fourth match she was supposed to play in." Ryan spoke up. "She was supposed to play some mysterious guy. It was billed as the battle of the sexes, but then nothing happened."

Kate looked at the skeleton being laid out on the gurney. "Oh, something happened all right."

Once back at the precinct, Kate went to Captain Gates. Finding a long lost superstar's remains would be front page news. Captain Gates did not like to be blindsided on things like that.

"Our vic is who?" Gates said. "Are you positive?"

Kate shook her head. "No. Lanie hasn't made a positive ID yet. But we checked with the DMV and the car was registered to her. We checked on line and Marti Nimes was known to wear a solid gold charm bracelet with little tennis racquets engraved with her tennis victories. I think we should be proactive on this and assume it's her until we find out otherwise."

Gates nodded. "You're right, of course." She sighed. "Lordy! Why do we have to get a forty year old murder case with a famous athlete? Do we know anything about this?"

"I've asked for the files to be sent up from storage and I've asked if their might be any old retired guys who'd know about it, but after nearly forty years….."

"Not much hope." Gates finished for her.

Castle stuck his head into Gates' office. "Do you have a minute?"

"What do you have, Mr. Castle?"

"I have something on that last match she missed." Castle held up his laptop.

"Very well, but bring Detectives Ryan and Esposito in as well."

When everyone was in Gates' office, Castle spoke. "The match was suggested by a guy named Jimmy Barnes. Barnes was a good tennis player in the 1950s, but was over the hill as a tennis player by 1976. But, he knew everyone in sports, was a great storyteller and a scam artist, in a lot of sports. He once bet a guy ten thousand dollars he could tee off from a champagne bottle instead of a golf tee and still beat him. Of course, Barnes had been practicing teeing off from a champagne bottle for years. He was also generous. He gave an unknown minor league pitcher named Francisco Mateo money to fly home to the Dominican Republic to see his sick daughter. When Mateo made it to the bigs, he never forgot Barnes."

"Does this have anything to do with Ms. Nimes' murder, Mr. Castle?" Gates said testily.

"Barnes was also very sexist. I got this on line." Castle turned on the laptop. It was a clip from some sort of sports talk show. An older man, doubtlessly Barnes was sitting next to a younger, very fit looking woman. The man was obviously enjoying himself, but the woman, Nimes, looked mad enough to chew nails. The man spoke.

"Oh, don't get me wrong, Marti. You're a good tennis player." He paused for a second and added. "For a woman. But let's face it, women tennis players just aren't as good as men and never will be. You're all just too….female."

Nimes glared at him." Care to go out on the court and test that theory?" She snapped.

Barnes laughed. "I'm sure even you could beat an old man with bad knees and failing eyesight."

Nimes smiled coldly. "I thought you'd back out."

Barnes laughed again, very much enjoying himself. "But, I do know a male tennis player that you've never even heard of that can beat your cute little panties off."

"A male player I've never even heard of that can beat me? Never. You're just blowing smoke, old man."

Castle turned the laptop off. "The match was to be played at Forest Hills, in Queens, on July Fourth, 1976, and broadcast nationally. The prize money was one hundred thousand dollars. Winner take all."

Kate whistled. "A hundred thousand is a lot now, but in 1976, it would have been a lot more."

"And consider that at Wimbledon in 1975 the men's champion made ten thousand pounds and the women's prize was seven thousand. The pound was worth about two fifty then, this was big money."

Ryan had his calculator on his phone out. "Seven thousand pounds would only be $17,500."

"Maybe it was a conspiracy?" Castle said, smiling.

"Why didn't I think of that?" Kate said.

"No, really. Just like Nancy Kerrigan in the Olympics. You remember, one of her rival's people whacked her knee to try to take her out of the competition. Maybe Barnes and his unknown male got worried and sent someone to beat Nimes up, but they went too far. She's dead, so they dump the body in the river. Did the guy win by default, I wonder?"

"Mr. Castle may have a point." Gates said sadly.

LT stuck his head in the door. "Captain, the news on Nimes' death just broke on TV."

"Damn!" Gates said. "The media will be all over this."

Karpowski also stuck her head in. "Sir, they interviewed the next of kin, a Mary Henderson at Henderson and Rice, an architectural firm in midtown. I managed to get the address."

"Detective Beckett, call this Henderson woman and make an appointment to see her today. And take Mr. Castle with you."

"One other thing." Karpowski said. "The TV reporter said Barnes died in 2005. Liver cancer."

"There goes one suspect." Castle muttered.

Castle decided that Henderson and Rice was a very successful architecture firm. The offices were in a very nice building, and were not just large, but light and airy with Swedish modern furniture scattered about. An attractive secretary led them to Mrs. Henderson's office. Mrs. Marie Henderson herself was tall, long legged, dressed in an expensive business suit and had that odd color of blonde hair that one got when trying to cover grey.

"Mrs. Henderson, we're so very sorry for your loss. Although it's been a very long time, the NYPD will do everything to solve your sister's murder."

"So, it's a murder?"

Kate nodded. "She suffered a blow to the head which might have killed or, she could have drowned. She was alone in the car and there was no damage to the car as you'd get in an accident, so we're assuming foul play."

Marie Henderson sighed. "Okay. Can we at least make this quick? I have a business to run." Seeing Kate's look, she added. "Look, Detective, it's been almost forty years. I've accepted the idea that Marti was dead a long time ago. And, I may as well tell you, my sister and I were not that close."

"Why was that?" Kate asked.

"Marti was a tennis prodigy from age eight. From that day on, my parents' life, and by extension my life, was all about her. I'd have to get up at 4 AM, because Marti had a match at another school. I couldn't use the car because Marti had to go to her tennis lessons. We couldn't go to Disneyworld when I was a kid because it interfered with Marti's schedule. I got straight A's in high school, got my bachelors and masters from Cornell and have one of the best architecture firms in the US, and when she disappeared, my parents made the house a shrine to Marti. Every trophy she ever won was there, the house was full of her photos, you'd never know I existed. When my parents passed away a got a lot of pleasure from selling everything to a sports memorabilia dealer. I don't know if you've ever had to deal with anyone who's famous, but it sucks."

Castle cleared his throat.

Kate smiled. "I do meet the occasional famous person."

Henderson nodded. "I imagine a police woman would. I don't imagine you enjoyed the experience."

Castle cleared his throat loudly.

"To get back to the case, where were you at the time of your sister's disappearance?"

"In Chicago at a conference. I arrived the day before she disappeared and didn't get back to New York until the fifth of July. I told this to the police at the time. I imagine their report has the details of exactly when I arrived, who I saw and whatever. It's been a longtime, you know."

"Can you think of anyone who'd want to hurt your sister?"

Marie Henderson laughed. "Everyone who ever played tennis against her."