Reborn in Castle (TV show)

[Weyland Hotel] [Room 814]

The elevator doors opened onto the eighth floor, and the first thing Travis noticed was how quiet the hallway had become.

Uniformed officers stood near both ends of the corridor while hotel security kept guests and employees away from Room 814. Yellow crime-scene tape stretched across the doorway, though the door itself remained completely open.

A forensic photographer crouched near the entrance while another technician worked around the electronic lock with a collection kit.

Lanie stood farther inside beside the bed. She had just finished bagging the bloody towel.

Kate ducked beneath the tape first, with Travis, Esposito, and Castle following carefully behind her.

The moment Travis stepped through the doorway, he stopped.

So did Castle.

Neither of them looked toward the bed.

Their eyes went directly toward the opposite wall.

The smiley face stared directly at them from the opposite wall.

Two uneven eyes sat above a wide curved mouth, all painted in dark red against the pale wallpaper. Thin lines had started running downward from portions of the face, creating the disturbing illusion that the cheerful expression was crying.

Only after seeing the smile did Travis's gaze move farther into the room.

Then he saw the victim.

Castle's usual excitement vanished completely.

"That's exactly how the stories describe it," Castle said quietly while staring at the wall. "You see the smile before you see what happened."

Esposito glanced between Castle and the symbol. "You seriously think this is Red John?"

Castle didn't answer immediately. He took another step inside and looked around the room with unusual caution. "Every serial killer has copycats, especially famous ones. Red John probably has more than most because half the country treats him like some kind of criminal boogeyman."

Travis pulled on a pair of gloves while studying the smile from several feet away. "Which means we don't assume anything until the evidence tells us differently."

Castle sneakily took out his phone and took a quick snap of the smiley.

Kate looked toward Lanie. "What have you got so far?"

Lanie stepped away from the bed and removed one glove before checking the notes on her tablet. "Victim's name is Allison Reed, forty-three years old. She checked into the hotel yesterday afternoon using her own identification and credit card. Hotel records list her as staying alone."

Kate glanced toward the bed. "Cause of death looks obvious."

"It does, but I'm still reserving the official answer until I get her to the morgue," Lanie replied while looking toward the victim. "The neck injury caused catastrophic blood loss, and there are signs she was restrained before death. Her wrists and ankles show pressure marks consistent with the bindings."

Esposito moved toward the side of the room without crossing any evidence markers. "Any sign she fought back?"

"Very little," Lanie answered. "There's some bruising around one wrist and her left shoulder, but nothing matching the kind of struggle I'd expect from someone fighting for her life."

Travis looked toward the half-finished wine glass beside the bed. "Drugged?"

Lanie pointed toward him with her tablet. "That's currently my favorite possibility. I drew blood for toxicology, and I'll know more after the lab runs it. Also, we've found a towel with blood on it; it looks like someone wiped their hands on it. We'll know more after the lab reports."

Kate studied the room again. The purse remained beside the armchair, jewelry still covered the victim's wrist and neck, and a wallet sat partly visible inside the open handbag. "So robbery probably wasn't the motive."

"Definitely doesn't look like one," Esposito replied.

Castle remained unusually quiet as he moved several steps toward the wall, stopping behind one of the evidence markers. "Is that actually her blood?"

One of the forensic technicians looked toward Lanie before answering. "Preliminary field testing says human blood, and the type is consistent with the victim. We'll confirm DNA at the lab."

Travis crouched without touching the wall and studied the smile more closely. The streaks were broad in several places and narrow in others, almost like whoever made it had dragged multiple fingertips through the blood rather than using a brush.

'Hmm... As far as I remember, Red John draws the smiley on the wall above the dead body or, usually, facing the entrance to shock anyone walking in.' He looked back at the wall behind the bed. If the killer was really RJ, then the smiley should've been on that side of the wall so that as soon as someone enters the room, the first thing they'll see is that smiley. He turned his attention back to the smiley. 'And counter-clockwise... Left hand... Looks like a copycat. Well, since his name came up, might as well take that fucker down for good.'

"You see something?" Kate asked as she stepped beside him.

Travis tilted his head slightly. "Three fingers were used."

The technician nodded. "Yes. Three contact trails appear repeatedly through the mouth and outer circle. Whoever drew it probably wore gloves because we haven't found usable ridge impressions."

Castle stared at the smile again, and something uncomfortable passed across his expression. "That's another detail I've heard attached to the Red John cases."

Esposito gave him a sharper look. "From where exactly?"

"Books, articles, leaked reports, retired cops who talk too much after three drinks," Castle replied as he slipped his hands into his coat pockets. "There's enough Red John material floating around to fill an entire library, and half of it contradicts the other half."

Travis stood again. "Which makes separating mythology from actual evidence almost impossible."

"That's always been part of what makes him frightening," Castle said. "Nobody knows which stories are true anymore."

Kate looked toward him. "You suddenly sound less excited about meeting one of your famous criminal legends. Getting cold feet, Castle?"

Castle stared at the victim for a moment before answering. "There's a difference between reading about Hannibal Lecter and finding out somebody like him actually booked a room three blocks from your favorite restaurant."

Esposito looked toward the open bathroom door. "Let's hope we've got a copycat with an ego problem."

Travis slowly walked around the room, keeping his eyes on the evidence markers. "Maybe we do, but something bothers me already."

Kate followed his gaze. "What are you thinking?"

Travis pointed toward the smiley without moving any closer. "It's facing the wrong direction."

Esposito looked from Travis to the wall. "Wrong direction how?"

"If the information we have on Red John is accurate, the smile is part of the discovery," Travis explained as he turned toward the hotel entrance. "The person who opens the door is supposed to see the symbol before properly seeing the victim. It controls where your attention goes first."

Castle's expression sharpened as he glanced from the doorway toward the opposite wall. "The smile announces him."

"Exactly," Travis replied. "It's psychological. You walk inside, see that face waiting for you, and then your eyes travel toward what he did. Whoever staged this room screwed up the sequence."

Kate stepped back toward the doorway and looked inside from the perspective of the hotel employee who had discovered the body. From there, the bed dominated the room immediately. The victim would have been impossible to miss before anyone properly noticed the blood-painted face across the wall.

"So whoever walked in saw Allison first," Kate said as she slowly returned toward Travis. "Then they saw the smile."

Travis nodded. "Which defeats the entire effect."

Castle studied the wall with growing interest. "So, our killer knows what the symbol looks like, but doesn't understand why Red John uses it."

"That's the first problem," Travis replied.

Kate's eyes narrowed.

Travis raised one gloved hand toward the smiley. "Look at the direction of the stroke."

Esposito stepped closer while remaining behind the evidence marker. "I'm looking."

"The outer curve starts around here," Travis said as he pointed toward the lower right section without touching anything. "Then the pressure gets heavier as it moves upward and around toward the left. Same thing happens around the mouth."

Kate followed the direction with her eyes. "Counterclockwise."

"Yeah," Travis replied. "And whoever drew it favored their left hand."

The forensic technician looked toward him with renewed attention. "What makes you say left-handed?"

Travis pointed toward several thicker portions of the blood trail. "Pressure distribution. The heavier drag starts on the right and pulls inward more naturally toward the body. There are also small hesitation marks where the hand changes direction. If whoever made this was using their right hand, those transitions would probably look different."

The technician looked back at the wall and slowly nodded. "I'll photograph the stroke pattern and have document analysis take a look. We might be able to support that."

Castle stared at Travis. "And Red John uses a clockwise pattern."

Travis slipped his hands into his coat pockets after removing the gloves. "Yep. According to the more credible descriptions floating around, Red John paints his symbol clockwise and favors his right hand."

Esposito's eyebrows lifted. "You've been reading serial killer homework?"

Travis gave him a faint shrug. "I was stuck at home for months. Daytime television eventually makes murder research look healthy."

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