New York, November 2009
"Do we have a name for our vic yet?" Richard Castle asked once they were back in the precinct.
"No. The uniforms haven't found any form of ID nearby and his prints are not in the system," Kate said without looking up from the file she was reading.
"There can't be that many people in close contact with wolves." Rick sat down on his chair. Which was not quite as comfortable as it could be, he thought. Maybe he could replace it with a more comfortable one.
"And how can we explain that connection? 'Our human bloodhound smelled wolf' will not go over well with the DA." Kate shook her head.
"Hey!" Vi glared at them from two desks away, where she was trying to flirt with Esposito and Ryan.
Castle frowned at Kate. Both because she was reminding him of the problems of mixing Slayer powers with proper police procedure, and because she was riling Vi up with her bloodhound remark. Even though his Slayer did have a better nose than most breeds. He rubbed his nose. "Well… hopefully Lanie will find some hair or such on the body."
"Which you'll make more werewolf comments about."
"Of course!" It was the best cover, after all.
"Don't you think Lanie should know the truth? Since she's working with bodies all day."
Now Kate was looking at him. He sighed. "Perlmutter said he'd do it 'when she's ready'."
"Don't tell me that the Medical Examiners have their own secret organisation!" Kate was making that cute surprised face again.
"Alright, I won't," Rick answered. When he saw her expression change into a glare, he quickly added: "It's not exactly an organisation. Just some… network, you might call it. Or maybe mentors is a better expression. Just some more experienced guys teaching the younger ones the ropes. I think."
"I might have to talk to Perlmutter then."
Castle hoped that talk would be more successful than his own with Esposito. Apart from assurances that it was him, not her, nothing had come of it. And Vi was still trying to 'crack him', as she called it. Apparently, it was now a matter of pride. Slayers!
"Anyway… what do we do if there is no wolf-trace on the good or bad man?" Rick played around with a pen taken from Kate's desk until she grabbed it out of his hands.
"We'll use the standard methods," she answered.
"Which work oh so well," he said, sighing.
"Not everyone has their personal supernatural…"
"Hey!"
"...organisation to help them in their investigations," Kate finished, rolling her eyes at Vi.
"It's not actually my personal organisation," Castle said. "I work for them, not the other way around. Just saying."
"You know what I mean," Kate said, frowning some more.
"Yes." It would be very nice to have an organisation of his own, of course. With special equipment and handshakes. Maybe not the handshakes.
Lanie calling Beckett interrupted his planning of an underground base.
*****
"So… what did you find?" Rick asked when he and Kate entered Lanie's office.
"Cause of Death was a silver bullet that entered his heart. Shot from far enough that there are no powder burns on the chest." Lanie smiled. "DNA tests do not show anything out of the ordinary, and I have found no sign of anything inhuman in his anatomy. He's not even particularly hairy. Nor has he eaten human flesh - his stomach contained the remains of a quite normal burger with fries. Sorry, Castle, but he's not a werewolf."
"The transformation is magical in nature, so he could still be a werewolf," Rick said. Lanie rolled her eyes, and Beckett frowned at him. He coughed.
"But I have something for you, Castle: The man had contact to wolves. I found several wolf hairs on him." She grinned at him.
"Oh! Maybe he's a werewolf sitter?" Rick rubbed his chin. "It was the night of the full moon, after all. Such skills would have been in demand."
"Wolves, Castle. Not werewolves," Lanie said, glancing at Kate.
"A man can dream."
"We'll be looking into any zoo or wildlife preserve employees," the detective said. "Coming, Castle?"
*****
"You know, Lanie's probably wondering why you didn't shoot my 'theories' down as usual," Rick remarked when Kate and he were back in the lift taking them back to her office.
She sighed. "I know that they are not absurd, which makes it hard to tear into them - unless I examine them with the knowledge that magic real in mind."
He blinked. "You're testing my theories?"
"Yes, Castle."
"I am one of the foremost experts on demons, you know." He grinned - he should have expected that.
"No one is perfect, Castle. And neither are theories." She grinned back at him.
"Some come close though." He smiled at her, until she understood, and blushed slightly.
*****
"People always say that today's youth is growing up far apart from nature. You'd not be able to guess that, seeing as we must have gone through a dozen zoos and preserves so far," Castle complained - commented - when Vi stopped their car in front of the gate to the Adirondack Wildlife Refuge.
"You don't sound much like a nature lover yourself, Castle." Kate Beckett stretched - the drive up here had taken some time, even with Vi breaking traffic laws left and right.
"I do love nature!" he protested. "I've visited this area several times in the past, to be exact!"
"You mean you've been to Lake Placid," Kate deadpanned, already walking towards the entrance.
"That counts!" Rick said, hurrying after her while Vi chuckled.
Kate rang the bell, and after a minute or two, a middle-aged woman in sturdy clothes appeared. "The refuge is closed on Tuesdays," she said, not quite looking at the sign that displayed opening times next to the gate.
Kate flashed her badge, or her 'universal door opener', as Castle had once called it. "NYPD. We need to ask you a few questions."
*****
"Yes, I recognise this man. Martin Miller. He visited the refuge a few months ago. Half a year, actually. He wanted to buy some of our great plains wolves. Pups. We refused, of course - he was just one more of those enthusiastic 'animal lovers' who wanted to have wild animals as pets, usually keeping them in pens in horrible conditions." The woman, who had introduced herself as Anne Smith, pointed at the fenced-in area behind her. "Wolves need more space than most people can provide for them."
"We have evidence that he was in close contact with wolves, shortly before his death," Kate said. "Do you think other preserves might have sold animals to him?"
"Not preserves, no." Anne shook her head. "We all know better than that. What kind of subspecies was he in contact with? "
"We actually haven't determined that yet. Could we have some hair samples to compare?"
"We have samples of our own wolves, but you'll have to ask other preserves and zoos for theirs." Anne looked over her shoulder. "Do you want to see our wolves?"
"Yes, please," Kate and Vi said, at the same time Castle said: "No!"
"Afraid of the big bad wolf, Castle?" the detective asked, with a grin.
"I'm not afraid of wolves." He had dealt with werewolves, after all. "But I think we don't have the time to visit them, and it's their day off, right? We shouldn't disturb them." He glanced at Vi, but his Slayer was studying the fenced-off area in front of them, smiling wildly. Her nostrils were flaring a bit, even.
Unfortunately, Kate and Anne mistook that as enthusiasm. "You can stay here," Anne said. "Or wait in the car," Kate added.
They were off before Rick could object any more. He sighed. Why weren't people listening to him?
*****
"That was a disaster," Kate said once they were driving away from the preserve. "Anne couldn't understand why the wolves reacted that way. Fortunately, we could persuade her that we'd been contact with bears at another preserve, and that Vi had been hugging one."
Rick glared at his Slayer, who grinned.
"I just wanted to check if our vic smelled like those wolves," she said, with that innocent tone that hadn't fooled him, ever. "He didn't, actually."
"And you wanted to show them who's boss," Rick said. Slayers!
Her grin widened.
"Like a dog," Kate added from the back seat, and Vi's grin disappeared.
*****
"That's probably the closest 'out in the woods' area to New York you can find," Rick commented a few hours later when they drew up in front of Miller's address.
Vi sniffed the air. "Wolves. Same scent as Miller."
"That was to be expected," Kate commented, then approached the door. She rang the bell. No one answered it.
"That was to be expected as well," Castle said, grinning.
"Someone's running inside," Vi cut in. "Towards the back." And she took off, at Slayer speed, and disappeared around the corner.
Castle and Beckett exchanged a glance, and then followed. Rick wanted to comment that there was no need to run as well, but that would have made him look lazy.
As expected - again! - it was over before either of them arrived. Vi was kneeling on a young man, a teenager, Castle thought, holding him in a painful arm lock.
"Let me go! I haven't done anything wrong!"
"Why did you run then when you heard the doorbell?" Kate asked, crouching down next to him and pulling his wallet out from the back pocket of his jeans. "Mister… Jeremiah Bancroft?"
"Jim. It's Jim Bancroft," the boy said. "And I just wanted to save the puppies!"
"The puppies?" Rick asked.
"He keeps them in the basement! A dozen of them!"
Which was, as they quickly found out, not quite correct. Miller had kept puppies in his basement. Emphasis on 'had'. It was empty, but it was clear that the dead man had kept several wolves down there. There were pens - or cells. Food bags, mostly empty, and poop bags. Not empty. Castle gagged at the stench.
"Blood," Vi suddenly said, and moved towards a door in the back. It wasn't locked.
"I didn't think people took 'puppy mill' that literally," Castle said a moment later, staring at the blood-covered tools and tables.
*****