Warnings: I don't own anything. Just debt. Hasbro owns the game of Clue and the excerpts from the instruction manual.

Mystery, Murder, and Clue?

By Karalaine (Ausiewanab)

It had first started out as one of Richard Castle's infamous offhand comments while standing over New York's latest murder victim. "Looks like it was Mrs. White, with the wrench in the library."

Detective Kate Beckett rolled her eyes at the author while she continued to hover over the battered male body, which coincidentally was found in New York's public library with a bloody large wrench laying nearby, and a white handkerchief covering the victims face.

"How do you know it wasn't Professor Plum?" Detective Kevin Ryan asked, as he walked up behind Beckett, having been interviewing the librarian who found the body. He used his pen to point towards the nearby Janet Evanovich's Plum Spooky book laying on the ground.

"Because if you had ever read Mrs. Evanovich's books, you would know that Stephaine Plum would never be able to kill someone..." He paused and added in, "on purpose that is." He smiled a smug grin as he walked over to the book and carefully picked it up. Beckett, who was still in a crouched position next to the body, looked up at Castle in disbelief. "You surprise me Castle. I never took you as a Stephanie Plum fan." She said in reference to the murder mystery book about Stephanie Plum, a bounty hunter who has funny and embarrassing adventures trying to catch the bad guy.

"Of course I am," he said as he flipped through the pages of the well read book, "I even like to think that one of the characters is based on me." He grinned at Beckett and Ryan who both gave him two different looks, confusion from Ryan, and annoyance from Beckett.

"You know, now that you mention it, you do remind me of Bob." She said while never looking up from the body.

"Who is Bob?" Ryan asked, still puzzled and unsure what he started.

"A huge golden retriever the main character Stephanie gets stuck with." Beckett said as she lifted the white handkerchief from the victims face.

"You hurt me, Detective." Castle replied, acting hurt and holding his hand to his heart as if he had been stabbed. Beckett smiled as she watched him act like he was being stabbed. Their sidetracking debate was realigned when Javier Esposito walked up, notebook in hand.

"The name of the victim is Steve Boddy, one of the library's top benefactors."

"Did you say his name was Boddy?" Castle inquisitively asked with his eyebrows raised. He could feel the giddiness that built inside of him, anticipating Esposito's answer.

"Yeah, Steve Boddy. Why, did you know him Castle?" Esposito asked. He had a feeling that he missed out on something while he was questioning the President of the library.

"Oh my God, it's the movie!" He eagerly said, earning three dumbfounded looks gawking at him. "You know Clue? The movie? Circa 1985 with Tim Curry?"

"Yeah I think remember that movie, wasn't it the one that had different endings for each showing of the movie?" Ryan asked, slowing catching on to the wild ramblings of the bestselling author.

"Exactly, and the main person who was killed was Mr. Boddy." He looked at Beckett, who was still a bit on the puzzled side. He looked shocked. "Didn't you ever see Clue?" She shook her head as she lowered the handkerchief back to the bloody face.

"I think was six when it came out."

"What? You've never seen Clue? It's a classic! And by classic I mean cult classic."

"Anyways, we lucked out, that camera over there," Esposito said once again bringing the conversation back on track. He pointed with his pen to the camera hovering in the corner about five feet away, "caught the whole thing on film, I'm having the surveillance video sent to the precinct."

"Good, should be an easy open and close case." Beckett answered back as the Medical Examiner Dr. Lanie Parish walked up and joined her by kneeling next to the body. She took a visual inventory of the bloody wrench and the battered body. "Why do I feel like I am stuck in a game of Clue?" Dr. Parish asked as she removed the handkerchief from the victims face.

"I know, awesome right?" Castle excitedly replied. At that point, Kate Beckett, detective extraordinaire, rolled her eyes and began cursing the classic sleuthing board game.

Esposito was correct, with the security camera footage, the case was a quick open and close. A clear view of one of the library maintenance workers, who had been working on making sure one of the bookshelf's were sturdy, had walked away for what he had described as a "union break" and had left his wrench on the bookshelf, where it sat undisturbed for five minutes. A few people walked back and forth out of the frame until a couple walked onto the screen, the victim and his wife, both bickering back and forth. No words could be heard on the video but from what witnesses described, it was a loud whisper of vulgarities that could be heard throughout the floor, to which everyone pulled a common New York trait, ignoring them instead of stopping them. The victim, Mr. Boddy placed a finger to his lips in what was assumed his way of quieting her down. He started walking away and the video showed the woman grabbing the abandoned wrench and smacked him in the back of the head. She dropped the weapon upon seeing what she had done and in panic, took out her handkerchief to try and stop the bleeding, only stopping her efforts a few moments later when her head snapped in the other direction and she took off. Thirty seconds later a librarian entered the footage, shocked at what he found, followed by the maintenance man who had came back to find his missing wrench.

"I think we need to celebrate this case." Castle announced as they were about the leave the precinct, earlier than normal. "The night is far too early to end."

"What did you have in mind, Bro?" Esposito asked as he put his jacket on.

"My place, eight o'clock." Castle replied sounding like an eager boy setting up a play date.

"Poker?" Esposito questioned.

"Not this time. Tonight we will be solving the original murder of Mr. Boddy."

"Clue? You want us to play Clue?" Beckett asked in disbelief.

"Of course. After a case with a murder victim named Boddy, you have to play the game."

"I think I'll pass," Beckett said turning him down. It was often she could go home and decompress from the day with a book and not have to worry about a case she's working on. She wasn't going to waste this occasion by going to Castle's house and do what she did every day at work. It wasn't that she hated game nights at Castle's loft, in fact they were some of the best times she's had while on the force. But just as much fun as they were, sometimes it was fun just to relax and do nothing.

"Oh come on, Beckett." Ryan said. "Whatcha afraid of?" Esposito added with a challenge to his voice, "not solving the murder first?" They were against her. Her whole team had turned against her and was now looking at her expectantly. She sighed. "Fine."

"My fellow Detectives, be at my place at eight and prepare to see how a true master solves a crime."

"My friends, welcome to the game of Clue." Castle said to the Detectives who were sitting around what was normally his poker table. He opened the well played game set. "The name of the game is to figure out who killed Mr. Boddy before you yourself get killed."

As he unfolded the board on the table, Beckett reached into the box and grabbed the large color instructional book and flipped through the pages. Just as she started to read the instructions, they were quickly ripped out of her hands by the games leader. "Castle!" She glared at him as he returned to unboxing all the game pieces.

He began to shuffle a small deck of cards and explained, "The game is simple. Pick one card from each of these three stacks, the murderer, the weapon, and the location." Castle said as he fanned one of the stacks of cards for Ryan to pick. "Don't peak!" he threateningly said as Ryan pulled the card out of Castle's hand and slid it into the small manila envelope. Castle followed letting the two other detectives follow suit with the other decks. He then shuffled the three decks together and dealt the rest of the cards out to each of them with the one extra card in the pool face down.

He then handed out pens and the Detectives Sheet out to each of the detectives. Beckett struggled to mark her cards off, trying to make sure their sneaky host, who was trying to nonchalantly peak at their papers. After failing to find a good way to do so, she resorted to marking them off under the table.

"Good idea Beckett!" Ryan said following suit with the under the table detectiving.

"They don't pay me the big bucks for nothing."

When the team finished marking their papers, they went back to setting up the game. Castle then picked up the bigger set of cards and explained: "These are the Intrigue Cards. Draw one when you get a question mark on the dice, or hit one on the board." He explained. "You also draw one when someone moves your piece into a room during an accusation."

"You know, I don't remember these cards." Esposito remarked.

"They are new." Castle said as he shuffled through the cards. He then pulled a card out of the stack that had an old looking clock on it. "The person who draws the eighth clock card is killed by the murderer and is out of the game." Ryan took one of the clock cards and examined it he then showed it to Esposito, who simply shrugged.

"The rest of the cards help you solve the mystery quicker." Castle then made his way to the colored pieces. Beckett reached into the box and removed the instruction book again and began to read about each of the characters of the game. When she reached one of the characters descriptions, she laughed. She read the first card and laughed. "Let me guess Castle, your Mustard?"

"Of course! Why do you ask?"

Beckett read aloud: "Jack Mustard. Once the most sought after celebrity football player, age has finally caught up to him; now a sports announcer relying on his failing good looks and popularity. His stories are larger than life but how much longer will his fame last? He will not resign himself to becoming an unknown."

"Why Beckett, it so nice of you to acknowledge my good looks," Castle retorted back as she gave him a dry sarcastic and snarky look. Ryan grabbed the instructions from Beckett in search of his character. Instead he found the perfect one for Beckett. "I like this one for you Beckett." He said and began to read, "Eleanor Peacock. Coming from a wealthy family of politicians, she's known to raise money for any cause as long as she is in the spotlight. She appears calm, cool and collected at all times - ordering her assistants to do her dirty work."

"Remember that the next time I have you two go dumpster diving." She said picking the Scarlet red piece instead of the aforementioned blue piece. Castle picked the Yellow Mustard piecing leaving Esposito with Green and Ryan with Purple. They each rolled the dice to determine who was going first, with Beckett rolling the highest number. Castle finished shuffling the Intrigue cards and stuck them in the middle of the board in the Pool room.

"Now once you get into the room, you can make an accusation by naming the suspect, the weapon and end with the room you are in." He explained as they placed their pieces on the board. "The person on the left will show you one of their cards if they happen to have one of your accusations. And it moves so on unless no one has the cards. If you know who it is, you go to the pool room to name the suspect, weapon and room, or you can just look at the extra card. If you are right you win, wrong you lose." He passed the dice to his left and handed it to Beckett "Are we ready?"

She rolled the dice and came up with a two and a question mark. She moved the red piece two spots and drew an intrigue card. Her face scowled, "What!" she exclaimed as she got one of the aforementioned clock cards. She moved her piece the two spaces.

"Looks like Beckett is on her way to being murdered." Castle said as he took his turn and rolled the dice. They each took their turns, moving to various rooms and starting their accusations. It didn't take long to find the common theme of Mrs. White being the narrowed down suspect, and the knife and revolver the two choices for the weapon. The room, however, was still a mystery. The clock card, which seemed to keep popping up every time someone drew an intrigue card, was down to one remaining card, the doomed eighth card.

Castle's turn came around, he rolled the dice and got six spaces, just enough to get into the theater. He held his detectives sheet up to cover his face, leaving his eyes scanning the group. "I think it was Scarlett, with the knife, in the theater." Esposito grabbed the red piece and moved it away from the kitchen and into the theater.

"Castle why are you accusing me when you know it's not Scarlett." Beckett said as she prepared to draw an intrigue card. She scowled when she saw what was on the card and showed it to the group revealing the eighth and final clock card. Scarlett was now dead. And she was out of the game.

"Now that's luck." Esposito said as he prepared to show Castle one of the cards, presumably the Scarlett card, while everyone else laughed. She smacked Castle on the side of his arm with the back of her hand. "You did this on purpose." She accused him.

"Hey ouch!" Castle exclaimed as he rubbed the sore spot on his arm. "How was I supposed to know the eighth card would be next?"

"So much for my great Detective skills." She said as she sat back and relaxed having been tossed out of the game. She then reached for the secret manila envelope.

"Hey you can't cheat!" Ryan said as she was pulling the cards out.

"Who says I can't? I'm out of the game."

"Fine but no helping." Ryan replied as he rolled the dice and moved his purple piece 9 spaces. The game jumped around as the guys continued to play while Beckett laughed at their attempt to solve the murder. She of course knew that some of their deductions were correct and what the mystery room and murder weapon. She laughed at their failed attempts. It didn't help that Castle used the strategy of going into rooms he had, which was helping to throw the two detectives off. She enjoyed watching their faces as they tried figuring out which person had which card. Ryan's eyebrows furrowed when he marked items off the list, Esposito held his pen up to his chin, while Castle always looked around with shifty eyes while others marked items off their list in attempts to figure out who had what. Of course, from that point it didn't take long for them to figure out who it was, but it was Esposito who had made it into the Pool room first and was able to correctly guess Mrs. White, with the knife, in the Hall.

"Why did they take the wrench out and replace it with poison." Ryan pondered as he was shuffling the cards. "As we all learned today, the wrench is way more effective than poison."

"Bro, you won't find a wrench at a dinner party."

"Yeah but who takes a bat with them."

"It's a game you two." Beckett said sitting back up from her slouching position, readying herself for the next game.

They continued to play another game, once again narrowing down the suspects to Mrs. White. This time it was Ryan who made it to the pool room first to make the final accusation of Mrs. White, the rope, in the hall.

"One last game." Esposito said as he started dealing the cards out while everyone else reset the game pieces. This game went by quicker, with all the clock cards seeming to have been shuffled towards the top. They only had it narrowed down to three people by the time Ryan drew the eighth card.

"Well, I'm out!" He said laying his cards out for everyone to see. They reshuffled the eighth clock card back into the deck and continued on with the game. Four rolls later it was Esposito's turn to draw the eighth clock card. He cursed softly under his breath.

"You saw me shuffle." Castle said. It was Beckett's turn to shuffle the cards and she made sure to shuffle them more than once, ensuring that the clock card was moved around away from the top. It was just her and Castle. She leaned back and smirked. It was going to be fun to take him down. They continued playing, both avoiding the question marks on the board in fear of the dreaded eighth clock card, which was threatening to take them down. With it narrowed down to two suspects, the team grumbled.

"Its Mrs. White again, isn't it?" Ryan said as the Castle and Beckett obliviously played the game, both intent on winning and ignoring the two sidelined players.

"There's a good chance it could be Scarlet." Esposito replied back to him.

"Nah, Beckett's got Scarlett in her hands." Ryan said showing his detective card for Esposito to see. "She's just not showing it to Castle."

Beckett rolled the dice, seven. Just enough spaces to get her into the observatory from the living room. She moved her red piece into the room and slyly looked at Castle. She knew she had it figured out. She had notice the trend that when Castle was narrowing down the weapons, he tended to go to rooms he had, in hopes of getting the other person to show him a weapon. He had been avoiding this room for the last six rolls, and she knew the other detectives didn't have it. She had been pulling that trick herself, using Scarlet, a card she had, to throw off Castle from the prospects of the real killer. "I think it was Scarlett, the trophy, in the living room."

Castle looked up at her, raising his right eyebrow in the process. He knew her bluff, had caught onto it probably the same time she caught onto his. He knew his Muse, he could read her like a well read book. "I don't have any." He said with the boys making an "ooh" sound. Castle grabbed the two dice, held them up to his mouth and blew on them. He needed to roll a t least a six to get to the pool to win. He threw the dice onto the board and when they landed, he was rewarded with a three and a question mark. He picked up his card and his face turned pale.

"What's wrong Castle? Did you get the clock card?" she said half jokingly. When he didn't answer, she reached over and took the card out of his hands. She threw her head back and laughed when she saw the clock on the front and then showed the boys his card.

"I was so close to winning." Castle said as he pouted. "I even knew who it was."

Ryan patted Castle on the shoulder. "You did your best Bro."

Beckett reached over to the envelope and opened it up. "Let me guess, Mrs. White." Esposito asked. She flipped the card around to show everyone. "Third time's the charm," Ryan said as he began putting the game back into the box.

"More like three strikes and its life in prison." Beckett replied. They all laughed.

"So Beckett, we didn't get to see those detective skills of yours." Castle said as he folded the board to put back in the box.

"I won the this game."

"By default."

"You're just bitter you didn't win a game."

"Oh puh-lease." Castle said rolling his eyes. "I would've had this one if it hadn't been for that clock card. Besides, you don't have clock cards in the real world."

"No of course not, no one ever gets murdered while investigating a crime." Beckett replied getting angry. She leaned forward placing her weight on her hands which were resting on the table. They continued bickering back and forth regarding the real world versus Clue world.

"You think we should tell them that its only a game?" Ryan asked Esposito as they both got up and headed towards the door.

"Nah, let them be, she'll eventually shoot him when she gets to the boiling point." Esposito said opening the door.

"Or they'll have sex." Ryan finished while closing the door.