83. Chapter 83

After Under the Gun

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: No. 'Nuff said. Rating: K+ Time: See above and below.

Author's note: Once again, part of this doesn't take place after the episode.

"Beckett, could you hold the light steady, please?" Castle asked.

"Could you try to use your shovel in the same spot, please?" Beckett replied.

"Hold on. I think I hit something."

"Another rock. This is the third gravesite we've dug up and all we've found is rocks. Maybe the loot isn't here."

Castle moaned dramatically. "No-o-o! I refuse to believe that there's a treasure map that doesn't lead to a treasure. The Universe could not be that cruel."

Kate Beckett thought back to her day. The Universe could be that cruel and worse. She thought. "We'll keep looking until we've gone through all of the possibilities."

There was a metallic clunk when Castle dug his shovel into the earth of the cemetery. "This could be it." Castle got down on his knees and started clearing away the dirt with his hands. "There's something rectangular here, Beckett. This is it, I know it. Give me more light."

Beckett leaned over and shined her flashlight into the hole. She could see metal.

Castle got a grip under the metal box and hauled it up. "We got it. We got it!" He yelled. He put the box on the grass and began trying to open it.

"What are you doing, Castle?"

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm opening the box to see what's inside."

"Castle! These gems go back to their owners. You know that."

Castle looked up at her. "If these are gems. How do we know that this isn't some high school kid's stash? Do you want to get back to the station, tell everyone we've found the missing gems and then find out all we have is some pot that isn't even enough for a felony arrest? Really, Beckett?"

Kate rolled her eyes, but then smiled at Castle. "Okay, Long John Castle, open it up. But you can look, but not touch."

Castle opened the box. There in the light of Kate's flashlight were the rubies and emeralds. "Wow!" Castle breathed. He immediately took a handful of rubies out and held them in the light.

Kate jumped down into the hole with him. "Castle! I said you can look, but not touch."

Castle put them down. "But we found them, Beckett. We found them."

Kate smiled at Rick and then put her arms around him, pulling him to her. "Yes, we did." She said into his ear. Castle felt her boobs against his chest. He held her and inhaled the scent of her hair. He very gently stroked her neck. He had never held Kate like that before.

Kate released him and took a step backwards. She looked at him for just a second, but with her flashlight pointed down, he couldn't clearly read her expression.

"We need to get back to the precinct. "She said briskly.

"Wait." Castle picked up an emerald in each hand and held them behind Kate's ears.

"What are you doing?"

"Just seeing what you'd look like."

"Castle, cops do not buy emerald earrings. Forget it."

You'd have them if I had any say in it.

Early the next morning Kate went to holding to see Mike Royce. He stood and smiled at her as she approached. "How ya doin, kid?"

"Skip the bullshit, Royce." She snapped.

"I deserved that."

"Mr. Royce, I want to advise you that we recovered the stolen jewels last night." Kate stopped and stared at the floor. "I thought you'd like to know."

Royce nodded. "I knew you'd figure it out, kid. You always were the smart one."

Kate was about to walk away, but somehow couldn't let Royce give her credit for something she didn't deserve credit for. "I didn't figure it out. It was Castle."

Royce nodded. "Castle? He's a smart one, too. How'd he figure it out?"

Kate did not want to stay any longer, but felt since she had brought it up, she had to tell Royce. "He said he would have left the last step out of the treasure map so that the map would be useless to anyone else. There was a tattoo on his old mug shot, a Roman numeral six and a two. Castle figured you'd want to keep the secret with you at all times. So we looked two rows up and six graves over at first. We had to dig up three graves, but we found it."

Royce nodded and smiled. "You two make a good team. I'm glad you've found someone."

"Royce, we're not together. He works with me, that's all." Why the hell does everyone think we're together? She asked herself. Kate turned to walk away.

"Could you tell me more about your mom and the guy who killed her?" Royce called out to her. "I'd really like to know."

Kate didn't want to stay, but since Mike had been the only one to understand how she felt about her mother's death, she came back. "Castle got ahold of my mother's old file. After three years, I'd given up. I'd found nothing. He gave the coroner's report to as Doctor Murray, some kind of high powered forensic pathologist. He found evidence that the stab wounds were not random. One was a perfectly delivered killing blow, the rest were just to make it look random. Murray concluded it was a professional hit and he found records of three similar killings. Then we found a fourth."

"Dr. Clark Murray?" Royce asked. "Dark hair, bald, soft spoken?"

"Do you know him?"

"I worked with him once. He's not "some kind of high powered forensic pathologist", kid. He's the best there is. And Castle went to him?" Royce whistled. "Wow."

Kate shook her head angrily. "Castle's worked with Dr. Murray before while researching his books. Castle does this sort of things all the time for his books."

"If you say so. What happened next?"

"We found out that the guy who paid for the hit was a big time drug smuggler, named Coonan. Dick Coonan. Coonan said the man who killed my mom was named Rathborne. Coonan said that he'd set up a fake hit with Rathborne in exchange for complete immunity. We agreed."

"How did he set up the hit? Guys like that are usually very cagey and want their money up front."

Kate cursed to herself. "Castle wired a hundred thousand dollars to an off shore account. And before you say anything, remember Castle's a millionaire. That kind of money is small change to him. But the hit never happened. Rathborne never showed."

"How come?"

"Because Rathborne was Coonan. He slipped up, though. I remembered he'd said he'd help me find "her" killer and I'd never told him that it was my mom."

"And you just shot him? Good for you."

Kate shook her head. "We confronted him. He grabbed another cop's gun and grabbed Castle. He said he'd kill Castle if I didn't let him walk out of the precinct."

"You didn't let him walk, did you?"

"Castle butted Coonan in the head. Then I shot him."

Royce nodded. "The doc, the money, the head butt. Castle really, really likes you."

"Royce, it's not like that at all."

Royce slowly shook his head. "It is, kid. I talked to Castle for a long time. I saw the way he looked when he talked about you. How he looked when I told him about you. You can argue about the doctor, the money and maybe even the head butt, but not about that look. I've seen it before. It's the look I used to get from you."

"You're not getting that look anymore, are you?" Kate said simply and walked off.