61. Chapter 61

After The Double Down

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: This belongs to Mr. Marlowe. No, I am not Mr. Marlowe. Rating: K Time: See above.

The four stood outside of the precinct arguing good naturedly about who won the bet.

"Who got Eric Marx to confess?" Castle asked dramatically. "Who but Detective Kate Beckett. But for my charming associate, you'd be sitting there with him until someone was asking for their honey milk."

"Oh, low blow." Ryan said. "But our guy confessed. Our guy."

Espo nodded. "Tell it like it is, bro."

"But we solved the case." Castle replied. "We. Me, Beckett and…"He looked around. "And no one else. Why, we solved both murders." He turned to Kate and bowed to her. "Well done, Detective."

She smiled and returned the bow. "Well done indeed. But I have the feeling we're never going to agree on this. So why don't we just call it even and give everyone their money back. Or would you like the argument to go on, with the rest of the precinct joining in, until someone like, oh, someone like Captain Montgomery hears about this?"

"Good point." Espo conceded.

"Yeah." Ryan added.

"We're even?" Castle held out his hand. "Shake?"

They all shook hands.

"Look, I don't want you two to feel bad, so what if we bought you a drink before we all go home?" Castle said.

"I'd love to, but Jenny wants me home ASAP."

Esposito shook his head. "Bro…"

"Yes?" Ryan said sharply.

"Nothing." Espo said. "But I have things to see and people to do. Maybe some other time."

Castle looked at Beckett. "Buy you a beer at Remy's?" He said hopefully.

"Sure." She said, smiling at him.

Five minutes later Castle was putting a cold beer in front of Kate in a booth in Remy's. He sat down beside her. "Here's to you, Detective Beckett."

She raised her glass and sipped her beer.

"We're a good team, Beckett. Just like I said."

Kate nodded. "And that's why you're with me tonight instead of being back in your loft."

"What?"

"I accepted your apology. I accept that you did…What you did because you wanted to help me. But you hurt me, Castle. You hurt me a lot. And I'm still angry about that. Not as angry as I was, but it still hurts and I'm still angry."

"Beckett, if I can do anything, anything at all…"

"Yes, you can." She said sharply. "Could you just be quiet and let me drink my beer? Just be quiet."

Castle mimed zipping his mouth closed, then took a sip of his beer.

Kate took a sip of hers. He is good. I'll give him that. For all of his bizarre theories, he came up with the solution to our two murders. He's been a help in every case he's worked. He's done things that I couldn't have done. He got a date with a hooker, which no police office could have done without endless justification and paperwork and we solved the murder of a city councilman. He infiltrated a gangster's poker game which we couldn't have done. Not like he did. Kate smiled to herself. And I had to go in and save his ass. But I did enjoy the look on his face when he saw me in a short skirt and showing a lot of cleavage. Hey, Castle! Beckett is pretty hot, isn't she?

Solving murders is what I'm all about and I do a lot better with Castle than without him. But it's more than that. I enjoy working with Castle. In spite of everything, he's fun. I'd have never bet on a murder investigation before Castle, but I did this time. He's a good partner, maybe the best I've ever had. I'd like to be his…friend. Kate looked over at Castle, who was busily not talking. More than a friend? No. I'm not a one night stand, and he's not looking for anything that would tie him down. Like a wife. We can be friends, that's it.

She noticed that Castle was gesturingto her. "Yes, Castle? You can speak."

"We've drunk our beers. Would you like another?"

"Yes, I would." Then she shook her head. "No, come to think of it, I wouldn't."

"Okay." He said simply.

"Do you know what I'd really like to do?"

He grew interested. "Tell me." He wiggled his eyebrows.

"Not that." She growled. "I'd like to go back to the precinct. I pulled the old files from the other murders and my mom's file. I didn't find a thing, but maybe a fresh set of eyes?"

"Detective Beckett, I thought you'd never ask."

Ten minutes later they were sitting at Kate's desk, she handed Rick a slim file. "Look, Captain Montgomery doesn't mind me doing this, but if word gets out that I'm working a cold case that's not assigned to me, it could cause trouble."

"I won't say a word." Castle said seriously.

Kate rolled her eyes, but smiled. "Or so you say. You read the first one, while I read the second file, then you read the second while I read the third and so on until we've both read them all. Okay?"

"Okay."

Both Rick and Kate read the files very carefully. When they were done, Kate asked, "Well?"

"There's something missing in these investigative reports."

"What?" Kate asked, very interested.

"An investigation. None of these detectives did any detecting. They hardly did anything. I'm afraid they didn't live up to the high standards I've become accustomed to from your reports."

"Wait. You've read my reports, Castle? I thought you avoided dull, boring police work, like reports, at all costs."

"Well, not yours, Beckett. You do have a certain way with words, and I need to make sure that you give me proper credit for my invaluable assistance. By the way, is there any reason you can't refer to me as the ruggedly handsome, best-selling novelist and crack detective, Richard Castle, rather than just as Castle?"

"Don't push your luck, or I'll start referring to you as an unidentified concerned citizen."

"That's cold, Beckett."

"Cold or not, you're right. The detectives did the bare minimum on these cases. No, I take that back, they did less than the bare minimum. They were no different from that detective Raglan who investigated my mom's murder, or Sloan, who failed to investigate Melanie Cavanaugh's murder."

"Could you go talk to them?"

Kate laughed bitterly. "Go talk to some retired cops and tell them they did a lousy job of investigating and ask for help? They'd get their backs up just like Sloan did. I'd hear all the excuses about how they did their best and they'd be insulted some "chick" was hassling them."

"Maybe I could ask them?"

"Richard Castle? The ruggedly handsome, best-selling novelist? If you gave them the idea that their incompetence might end up in best-selling novel, they'd clam up for sure."

"You've checked you mom's records for anything that might link the other three?"

"Her old law student. Another lawyer she probably knew and a document clerk. Lawyers ask for copies of thousands of documents. They could have met dozens of times, but I've found nothing to connect them to anything that would get them killed."

Castle looked down at the file in front of him and thought. "We just had a case where our two vics were connected and it turned out to be a coincidence. Maybe two of our vics are connected to one thing and two to something else? Maybe they didn't know they were connected. Maybe they saw something, or heard something that they thought was innocuous, but wasn't. Maybe…"

"We can "maybe" forever, Castle. It won't do us any good."

"Are there any other murders with a similar MO?" Castle asked suddenly.

Kate shook her head. "No, but this guy's a pro. There could be dead bodies from here to Hawaii with the same MO and we'd never know."

Castle nodded. "And our four vics were unarmed civilians taken by surprise. If our killer had to kill some mob capo with a bodyguard, he might have used a gun. Or a bomb. Or a trained attack bear." Castle smiled. "That's good. Yogi, the Attack Bear. I'll have to…" He looked over at Kate, who was not smiling. "I'll have to forget all about that."

"So we have nothing?" Kate asked.

Rick thought for a while. "I'm afraid that's it."

Kate nodded. "Okay. I guess we're done here." She and Castle stood up. "Castle, in one sense I'm happy nothing came of this. In another sense, I'm disappointed. That said, I need to apologize to you."

"No, you don't." Castle said quickly.

"This may be your only apology, Castle. And I'm going to apologize to you. You did the right thing. I'm a cop. I should never ignore evidence because of my personal feelings. That was wrong of me. I was very angry with you and I shouldn't have been. I apologize."

"You have nothing to apologize for, Beckett."

"As long as I'm at it, I need to tell you that you've been a big help to me. Not just on my mom's case, but on all of them. Thanks."

Castle smiled broadly. "I'm always glad to help."

"Always?" She said with a smile.

"Always."