822. Chapter 822

After Knockout

Episode 3.24

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: I'm not the third owner of Castle. Rating: K Time: See above.

He gently pulled her away from Montgomery's body. "We have to go. Now."

She nodded slowly. "I know."

"We need to call Ryan and Esposito. Tell them it was Montgomery."

"They know. They texted me just as I was going into the hangar."

"We still need to call them. Tell them what happened. We need to get our stories straight. The killing of a police captain by an escaped con and a bunch of thugs is going to have the whole NYPD out in force. One thing, Beckett. We were together tonight. Neither one of us were ever near this place. I grabbed Montgomery's phone, so I'll need your phone and Ryan and….Shit! Your car can be tracked by GPS, can't it?"

"Yes. Do you think anyone will check it?" She shook her head to clear it. "Sorry. They'll check everyone and everything. What do we do?"

Castle took out his own phone. "Luckily, I know a guy. He can erase any record of calls to or from you and reset your GPS to show you were at your place. Is your place okay? Do you want to go someplace else?"

"What are we going to say we were doing?" Kate asked.

"Watching a movie. Do you have a DVD of Forbidden Planet? We've both seen that one so many times we can talk plot points with any IA officer in the world."

"Forbidden Planet? Kate giggled. "That won't do anything for your playboy reputation, Castle." The giggles turned almost immediately to sobs. "Oh, god! What did I do? Why? Roy is dead!" She Leaned against Castle as they got to her car and sobbed.

He held her as her body was racked with sobs. "You didn't do anything wrong, Kate. You're still remarkable and the best cop I know. One way or another, it was going to be bad for Roy." He managed to get her into her car and drove away. As he drove he called his friend, told him what he needed and that he could name his price if he could fix everything by tomorrow.

When Castle pulled up in front of Beckett's apartment, he saw his friend's car. "He's here. I need to go over and talk to him. He's understandably allergic to the police."

He started to get out of the car, but she put her hand on his arm. "Can you trust him? Can we be sure it's him in that car and not someone else?"

"Who else would it be?" He saw the skeptical look on her face. "I'll be very careful. Okay?"

She pulled out her Glock. "Take this, just in case."

Castle took the gun and walked over to the car. He talked to someone inside and handed him something. Then he came back. "Okay, as soon as he's done with the phones, he'll do your car."

Kate began to remove her car key from her key ring. "He'll need my keys."

Castle put his hand over hers. "Please, he'd be insulted if I gave him your car keys."

Once inside Kate got out a bottle of wine and they both had a drink. They hadn't finished it when Ryan and Esposito arrived. Castle took their phones and told them that he was going to have a friend fix their phones so that there would be no evidence they had ever texted Kate from Mike Yanavich's bar.

"What do we do if Yanavich says something? He knows we were asking about Montgomery."

Kate nodded. "You were asking about Raglan and McCallister. They're two dirty cops who were both killed by Lockwood. If anyone asks about Montgomery, tell them we don't know anything. They may figure out that Montgomery knew Raglan and McCallister back in the day but that'll be all they'll know. I hope they'll conclude that Montgomery was doing some investigating on his own and got ambushed by Lockwood. But whatever happens, we know nothing about Montgomery."

There was a knock on the door. The three cops' hands went to their weapons.

"That's probably my guy." Castle said, getting up. "Like I said, he's allergic to any authorities."

Kate got up with him. "I'll stand behind the door. Once you identify him, I'll sit back down."

When he opened the door, Rick nodded to Kate, then stepped out in the hallway. He came back a few minutes later. He handed the three their phones back. "He put new memory cards in the phones after transferring all your other data onto them. There's no way anyone can recover your calls about Montgomery because they were never there. Montgomery's phone is going to be destroyed in an acid bath. And the GPS on Kate's car now shows it was here all night. "Castle smiled. "As a bonus, he's hacked into the traffic cams all over the city and erased video from thousands of cameras. No one will find any traffic cam footage showing Beckett's car at the heliport or any place else. There'll be private security cams, but we'll just have to hope no one looks at them."

"Just how much did that cost you, bro?" Espo reached for his wallet.

"Not nearly as much as it cost Roy Montgomery. Just forget it, okay?"

All three detectives nodded.

"I think that's it. Someone may call us tonight or early tomorrow." Beckett said. "So, remember, we don't know anything about Montgomery."

Ryan and Esposito said goodnight, but when Castle rose to leave, Kate took his hand. "We need to talk."

She began to walk back and forth. "This started when I was nineteen. My mom was murdered and my dad disappeared into the bottom of a bottle. It took me five years to get my dad sober. It only took three to figure I'd go crazy if I kept working on her case. So, I stopped and decided I'd honor her memory by bringing justice to everyone else." She took a deep breath. "You're right. I don't know who I am and what I am if I'm not investigating her murder. I don't know if I'd even exist if I gave up. I can't imagine what that would be like. I can't imagine it. I can't stop and I won't stop. If you had any sense at all, you'd walk out the door and never look back."

He laughed. "Have you ever known me to be sensible?"

She smiled back at him. "I called you the funniest kid in the fourth grade and said it wasn't enough. That was a horrible thing to say after all you've done for me, after all we've been to each other. You're more than I deserve. I'm sorry. I never should have said that. I apologize."

"There's no need for you…"

"Yes, there is. Do you accept my apology?"

"Of course."

"You like irony, don't you Castle How's this for irony. There is one man who has been honest with me since the day we met and I kicked him to the curb. And there's one man who's lied to me from the day I met him and I went to him to get rid of you. That's irony, isn't it?"

Castle just nodded.

"We've kissed and we've almost died in each other's arms, but I don't know what we are, Castle. I don't know and I just can't get past my mom's murder to find out. But I really hope we're not over. I really need my partner right now. Are we partners?"

"Always."