The Castle Season 1 - Episode 1

The night watchman's hand shook as he used his flashlight to illuminate the walls of the damp warehouse the muted sounds of New York City barely reached his ears. He knew he was treading on dangerous ground and he knew in his gut they'd found out what he'd done. At this point, he could only hope that by facing this head on, they'd leave his family alive.

Hearing the slow, steady footsteps coming up behind him he closed his eyes and waited for the hot burn of the bullet as it ripped through his body. When it didn't come, he swallowed and turned around, pointing shaking light at the chest of the person in front of him.

"Hello Andy, how have you been?"

"Fine, fine, Jay Six, have... haven't seen you in a while." He rubbed his hand on the side of his uniform pants.

He leaned forward and whispered. "Just because you haven't seen me, doesn't mean I'm not around."

A nervous laugh bubbled up from Andy's chest. "Right, of course. What can I do for you?"

"We seem to be missing a package. Do you know anything about it?" Jay Six said in an even tone.

"No, no sir. I wasn't aware anything was missing. Those day shift guys, they don't tell me anything." Sweat ran down his face, and he blinked rapidly as it fell into his eye.

"Ahhh yes, communication. It's what makes the world go round. Perhaps I should communicate something to you." Jay Six paused. "I know what you did. I know Andy. Why don't you make this easy on yourself and tell me where it is."

"I... I... I didn't know what it was. I thought it was just a book."

"That's the difference between the two of us; I can appreciate an excellent piece of literature, you on the other hand, well, I don't suppose you read much do you? Which makes me wonder, why exactly did you take it?"

"See my girl; she likes to read. I thought she'd like it."

"So, she has it." Jay Six's voice became menacing.

"No, no, I have it here." Andy shrugged. "She isn't a fan of Shakespeare. I thought everyone who read liked him. She didn't want it. I was going to return it."

Jay Six clicked his tongue. "Not a fan of Shakespeare? Somehow I think the irony would be lost on both of you. While I appreciate having the book back in my hands, the fact it ever left to begin with is troubling. You can understand that Andy, can't you?"

"Yes, yes sir. I'm sorry, it won't happen again."

"Of that I am sure." Jay Six turned and started to walk away. "Boys, finish him."

*****

Jay Six smiled as Andy's screams filled the warehouse. While typically, he loved to stay and watch, someone of Andy's social standing wasn't worth his time. Let his men enjoy themselves; he had something more important to do. Casually he climbed into the vehicle waiting for him. Turning to page one thousand six hundred sixteen he began to transcribe the coded message.

*****

Ted Rogers walked into another crime scene. Thirty-five years with the Bureau he'd come across a lot of dead bodies. He guessed the fact he was still surprised by what one human could do to another was a good thing. When it stopped was the time he would think about retiring.

"Trent," he bellowed. "What have we got."

A lean, tall woman stood up from where she was examining the body. "White male, Andrew Filman, a twenty-seven years old night watchman. He'd been working here for four months. His boss said he was a model employee. Never late and always did his job."

"Do we have a time and cause of death yet?"

"He did his routine check-ins every half an hour until three-thirty this morning. As for the cause..." She pointed to the body. "Between what he looks like and the half dozen baseball bats on the ground I'm pretty sure they'll say he was beaten to death."

Ted looked at Amelia, she was the best he had, young, bright and had almost a sixth sense at crime scenes. He knew the reason he had such a high success rate on his cases was because of her. "What else?"

She tapped a finger to her lips. "There's something about this..." She left him and walked around the body, looking at it from every angle. He followed along with her and watched as she almost looked like she was trying to recreate the choreography of the beating.

"There's something that bothers me. There are six baseball bats, and one victim. I can't believe they'd wait their turn to swing. They'd be feeding off each other, almost like sharks when there is blood in the water. That's a lot of hitting going on in a small space. I'd be interested to see if all of this blood is from only one person. I'm willing to bet at least one of the batters was hit by one of their buddies."

"That's a good call. Sampson," He bellowed for the forensic tech. "Get over here. I want all of this blood ran."

"All?" The tech's mouth dropped open. "There's a lot of it."

"I'm aware of that. You'd better get collecting."

"Yes, sir."

"What's this?" Amelia said. Carefully she crouched down and leaned into a pool of blood near one of the victim's hands. "Is it me, or does it look like he tried to write something?" Pulling her phone out of her back pocket she took some pictures from different angles trying to figure out what was bothering her. Standing back up, she pulled them up and worked on the exposure. "There! See, it looks like... the number six and the letter 'J'. I wonder what that could be." She focused her attention on the photos.

Ted surveyed the crime scene to see if there was anything else they might have missed. When his phone began to ring, he answered it without looking to see who it was. "Rodgers."

"Hello, Ted. Long time no talk."

Ted closed his eyes, and his heart sank. "Shit."

"Now is that the way to greet an old friend?"

"It's the way I greet you." Ted ran his hand through his thinning hair and walked away from his team. "What do you want?"

The man on the other end of the phone chuckled. "Oh, I think you know, otherwise why would you be so angry?"

"You can't have her." Almost like he knew the other man was watching he shook his head.

"You know her talents are wasted with the Bureau. We'll make sure she fulfills her potential."

Ted lowered his voice. "Come on Bill, don't do this to me, we used to be friends."

"I like to think we still are."

"She's valuable to my team; we're doing a lot of good here in New York City."

"She'll do more with us. This isn't a request Ted; it's an order."

"Dammit."

"We'll expect her by the end of the week. Same procedure as the last one you sent us."

"Why does it always seem you're after my people." Already his mind was racing on who he could bring to the team to offset the loss of Amelia.

"Because you train the very best. It's your own fault."

Even though he knew he wouldn't answer, he still had to ask. "Does this have to do with Jay Six?"

"The less you know, the better. Make sure her photos don't make it into the case file."

"Yes, sir."

"Sarcasm doesn't suit you."

"I would say spying on people doesn't suit you, but we'd both know I was lying."

*****

What's Amelia's first impression of The Castle?

Tune in next Friday at 9 PM EST for the next episode of The Castle