Title: Garrote
Fandom: Castle
Rating: PG13
Length: 300
Content notes: Canonish dead body.
Author notes: For fan_flashworks Challenge #21, "Wire".
Summary: Kate gets a case; Lanie gets a bear claw.



"Morning, Lanie. What do we have?" Kate dangled a small white bag over Lanie's clipboard as she squinted at the body on the ground by a dumpster. The woman's face and throat had a series of jagged wounds that cut through to the bone in places.

Lanie made a note and glanced up. "What's this?" she asked as she took the bag. She peeked inside, then looked at Kate with a smile. "Bear claw?"

"Looks like knife wounds, but you're the expert." Kate hid a grin behind her coffee cup when Lanie rolled her eyes. "Hey, you said last month that it would be nice to get a bear claw once in a while. So there you go. Happy ... Happy Monday."

Lanie shook her head with an amused snort. "Well, thank you. I'll try to enjoy this in the thirty free seconds I'll have today." She set the bag aside and gestured at the body. "Multiple stab wounds to the face, throat, and shoulders. No blood spatter or trace. Victim wasn't killed here, and the stabbing didn't kill her. Looks like they were an attempt to disguise the actual cause of death."

She tipped the dead woman's head back and pointed to the throat. Kate crouched and took a close look. In the poor light of the alley, it was difficult to see what Lanie was indicating until she used the tip of her pen as a guide. After a moment, Kate realized that beneath the cuts was a thin line of bruising. She wrinkled her nose. "Strangled?"

"Mm-hmm. Not by hand, though. Something thin and stiff. Going to have to wait until I finish the exam to be sure, but I think you're looking for some sort of wire." Lanie looked up and sighed. "Good luck with that."