174. Chapter 174

Chapter 174

"Bentley," Castle said after answering his phone. Are you on the vacation half of your trip now?"

"Yes, I am. Business is done and I'm down to free time now. Can I get together with your family this week? It would be lovely to see all of them again, and meet the newest Castle."

"We'd love to see you, too. Kate is in the kitchen. I'm going to put you on speaker."

"Hi, Bentley," she answered, sitting next to her husband on one of the bar stools. "What Castle said. We'd love to see you."

"Hallo, Kate. I thought I'd see if you might be available on Thursday night. I'd like to take the entire family out for dinner, including your father and Meagan. I'll ring him if you'll give me his number."

"If you're going to meet the entire family, including our baby girl, it might be better to have the family here," Castle answered. "Jo's a little young for a restaurant late in the day. She gets a little fussy when it gets late. We can either cook or have someone else do it and deliver it for us." Castle added. "How does that sound?"

"Wonderful. What time?"

"About six-thirty if we don't want cranky children."

"It's going to be casual, Bentley," Kate chimed in. "We're looking forward to seeing you, but we're not dressing up for you."

He laughed. "Fine with me. I'll be there."

"Good. We'll gather whoever of the clan is available and look for you for dinner on Thursday. See you then," Castle promised, standing to walk toward the kitchen.

"So it sounds like it's going to be just Bentley?" Kate said after the call was ended. Her words sounded hopeful.

"That's how it sounded to me." He was facing her and smiling before he caught something in her expression that concerned him. "Talk to me, Kate. Should I not have invited him here?"

"Some of it is petty of me," she answered with her eyes down.

"This is your home, and you have as much say in it as I do." He leaned his crossed forearms on the countertop across from her, looked into her eyes, and asked, "What's bothering you? Does this have anything to do with Gina?"

She looked down again and nodded. "I don't doubt you for a minute, but it feels uncomfortable to see one of your ex-wives here for a family gathering. Meredith always tried to stake a claim, and I know Gina lived here for most of two years. It's…" After huffing a little breath of frustration, Kate just let it out. "She feels too comfortable about being here. And our room once belonged to the two of you. I told you it's petty, but I don't handle it well as I wish I could."

"You seemed fine with having Gina and Paula here for a party or two."

"That was different. We had everything set up for a party, and some spaces were subtly off limits. It feels rude to do that for a family dinner with a friend."

"And you don't consider Gina a friend." It was a statement of understanding, not a question.

She was quiet, seeming to choose her words carefully before she spoke. "I doubt she considers me a friend, either. We're polite, but I've laid down the law a couple of times on your behalf, so we've been at odds a time or few. We usually manage to get along; but this has been my home with you for over six years, and I want to feel that it's only ours. I can't do that completely when either ex-wife is wandering through it at times…and looking like she hasn't figured out the boundaries she should be aware of. I told you most of it is petty."

He walked around the counter and wrapped his arms around her from behind, dropping a kiss on her head. "It isn't petty. I wouldn't feel happy about inviting one of your exes here either, even if he were walking in for the first time, let alone if I had moved into your place and he had lived there before. I expect you to tell me these things. Fortunately, it looks like it's just Bentley this time. If it comes up again and includes Gina, we'll get a babysitter for Jo and go to a restaurant. Jamie handles himself pretty well in restaurants so far. We can decide on whether he goes or not as the situation demands." He kissed her head again, and she turned and nuzzled her face against his chest.

"Thanks for understanding."

"For me, I redecorated everything downstairs after Gina left, and everything in our bedroom and bath after the last mistake with Meredith. When I realized I wanted more than fun with you, I knew I didn't want to offer you anything that reminded me of being with another woman. It's the same room; there's no way around that, but nothing else is the same. Different furniture, different paint, different decorative pieces, some of your things from your apartment. It's ours, Kate. And if you want to change anything else, all you have to do is ask. We'll work it out together." Resting his cheek on her head, he said, "Always tell me these things, Sweetheart. I want to know. If it's too uncomfortable here, we can look for another place."

"No. I love living here. It's our home, our children's home; and neither ex-wife is going to change that. I just want them to respect that it's now entirely ours and understand that their rights disappeared with the divorce."

"Then we'll have to make it crystal clear next time a breach of boundaries shows its face."

She nodded and held on for a long moment before letting go. "Talking about it makes me sound like an insecure teenager again, and I'm not insecure about us. It just pushes all the wrong buttons…and I hate feeling that way."

"But you do, so I'm glad you told me."

"We definitely need to talk to Gina about her chapter collection visits."

"Yes, we do. Are you still coming with me to the meeting next week?"

"I'm still planning on it." After a pause, she switched gears. "We should get the kids ready for bed," she told him.

"Which one do you want to tackle tonight?"

"I'll take the girl child this time," she answered with a smile as they went to get their offspring.

xxxxx

Captain Dohrman called Beckett at the precinct the next day and said he was feeling guilty. He offered to be on call for her for a couple of weekends before school started again in the fall.

"You covered two entire weeks for me," he explained. "You had a two day Memorial Day weekend and a week at your beach house. Why don't you plan a couple of weekends there before that little boy of yours has to be back in school? I feel like you drew the short straw in this. And we both know the chance of anything happening that's big enough to need a backup captain is on the low end of the spectrum. Go and enjoy your family."

After protesting at first, Beckett gave in to the draw of family at the beach and the peaceful feeling of being there with them. She accepted his offer, thanked Dohrman, and got back to work.

At lunchtime, she called home and talked to Castle, checking on the arrangements for their dinner with Bentley Keane. They had called all the family members the night before and all of them were glad to have the chance to see him again. With that many guests during a busy week, Castle decided against trying to cook; and once again he called Arturo first thing. So when Kate called, he was able to tell her dinner would be picked up and at the loft around six on Thursday and ready to eat when by six-thirty. She told him about Captain Dohrman's offer, and said that, after things settled down that night, they could decide which weekends she would take.

When her paperwork was finished, she made her rounds among her detectives. One of the homicide teams she had followed up with after lunch had a suspect being brought in for a second interrogation about an hour before closing. The case had dragged on slowly, and they were hoping to learn something new. On the surface, the husband was their best suspect for the murder, but the evidence wasn't conclusive. So Beckett observed the interrogation. The evidence they had led to the husband as the most likely suspect, but something niggled at the back of Beckett's mind. She just couldn't decide what it was. In talking to Lieutenant Lorins after the suspect had been released with a warning not to leave town, Beckett found that the team leader had the same misgivings she did.

"You've had your team at this off and on for weeks now, Lorins, and you have another case, too," she told the other woman. "We don't want to ignore evidence, but we don't want to convict the wrong man, either. Send everybody home for a good night's sleep and come back tomorrow with fresh minds. Maybe something will stand out when you're more rested."

"You're probably right. We're all running on fumes right now," the lieutenant answered. "I just always hate giving up before it's done."

Beckett chuckled. "I remember that feeling well. But I don't want to see any of the four of you here before eight tomorrow morning. Consider that an order."

"Yes, Ma'am," Lorins answered with a weary smile. "I'll tell them now."

Beckett went to her office to close up for the day. There were two of her lieutenants, Lorins being one, who had struck her as good captain material, the other was Malicot from the fraud division. Their evaluations indicated it might be time to point them in the direction of taking the captain's exam. Two excellent captains had seen her own abilities at critical points in her career and mentored her. Doing the same for someone else was part of her job now. She found a time in her schedule the following day to speak with the two of them and composed a quick email asking them to see her then. That being done, she gathered her things to go home.

When she got home, she enthusiastically accepted hugs and kisses from her children and kissed all over Jo's little face before kissing all over her growing son's head.

"Mommy, you're silly," Jamie halfheartedly protested.

"And you love it. You know you do," she answered, ruffling his hair. Then Castle moved in behind her and kissed the side of her neck until she turned her head so she could kiss his lips.

"Mmmmmm…" he said, going back for more.

"Later," she responded with a promising look. "And we got sidetracked last night before we decided which weekends we're going to be at the beach house. There could be more of this there, you know."

"Then we should definitely start planning weekends."

"After dinner."

"We're ordering in. What would you like?"

"Something healthy," she answered. "Gotta take care of the munchkins. Right, Jo?" she asked her daughter, nuzzling the baby's nose and making her smile and babble back. They "talked" to each other as Kate went to get the healthy takeout menus to choose from. "What sounds good for dinner, Jamie? I'll read it out, and…"

"Pizza!" he answered with a big grin.

"We've had pizza too much lately. I'll read your choices and you and Daddy can decide."

Castle picked him up and sat him on his knees on one of the bar stools at the breakfast bar, both of them with elbows propped on the counter and chins propped on their hands, Castle's like parentheses around Jamie's. Kate sat down with Jo in her lap and, using the dramatic presentation she had picked up from the eldest Rodgers/Castles, read their choices from their favorite healthy restaurant's menu. Jo was watching her mother and paying rapt attention. In her presentation, Kate seemed to delight in making the things she knew they didn't like at all sound like the best dessert on the planet. They made a game of it, Castle and Jamie looking at each other now and then to confer…or making faces that obviously nixed that option and making Jo laugh. By the time the decision was made, they'd all had fun with it. Kate read back the confirmed menu, ordered, and they sat down to read a book for the children while they waited.

Once the meal was delivered, Kate gave Jamie one of Jo's board books. This one was a book with animal pictures. He had already learned to encourage his sister to point at the animals when he said their names, and she did well with that. He said names, she babbled and pointed, and by the time they reached the last page, dinner was on the table waiting for them.

They bathed the children in the big bathtub in their bathroom that night, got them into their pajamas, and let them watch half an hour of a Muppet show DVD before bed. Castle picked up both children around their middles and carried them up the stairs dangling from his arms and laughing. Kate followed, laughing along with them, and they all rocked and snuggled until the children settled down and started leaning heavily against them. Then they tucked their sleepy children into their beds and went downstairs to have some adult time to themselves.

Castle poured them each a glass of Kate's favorite wine and asked, "So when do we get you to spend a weekend or two with us at the beach?"

"Is next weekend too soon?"

"Not for me. A week from now, not four days from now, right?"

"Right. If I go then, I'll be back for the Captain's meeting and have all the end of the month falderal done in plenty of time. Then we could go the last weekend of August. I'd need to be back on Monday, but you could keep the kids there if you want to…invite Alexis and JD for the week to spend the end of their summer at the beach with you. Their classes don't start until the day after Labor Day. They love it there, and you'd have all your children to yourself to keep you company. It's a shame to have that beautiful place sitting unused so much of the time."

"It's been used. The boys have both had their families there for a weekend, and Lanie and Frank spent the weekend there a couple of weeks ago. I even told Alicia to take her family and enjoy some beach time. She's done a good job for us here since Alexis was a little girl. If we're not using it as often as we did, somebody else might as well."

"I know you and Alexis have always gone there for the summer holidays, and I don't want to mess with your traditions. Talk to her and see what she wants to do."

"Okay. So we have a plan. Now can we get back to the kissing?"

"My favorite part of planning with you," she answered, throwing herself into the project.

xxxxx

As she made her rounds among the detectives the next afternoon, Beckett stopped for updates from several different teams in Vice. Her approach to her rounds was low key and non-threatening, indicating interest rather than intimidation. Having had two excellent captains before Beckett, the twelfth had been a highly effective precinct before Beckett took charge, and there was rarely the need to push her detectives to do their jobs well.

As she was speaking to the last team, the team leader, Detective Ebsen, pointed out a small group of salons called Sterling Spas. The one in the twelfth's jurisdiction had recently seen a substantial enough uptick in male customers to raise eyebrows, and they were planning to send a detective undercover to find out why.

"Yeah, that does look a little fishy," Beckett answered. "Let me know what happens. Thanks, Ebsen." As she walked past the homicide teams on her way back to her office, she stopped at one of the desks and asked, "Hey, Lorins. Did a good night's sleep help out today?'

"We're still hitting dead ends, but we all feel rested enough to handle the frustration better," the lieutenant answered.

Beckett smiled at them, showing understanding. "Been there. Let me know if you need anything."

"Thanks, Captain."

"Meeting at four."

"I'll be there."

Beckett worked on schedules for a while, updating her calendar with vacation requests and juggling the schedule to be sure all necessities were covered when the requests were granted. At four, Lorins and Malicot knocked on the doorframe to her office.

"Come on in…and close the door. She indicated chairs in front of her desk for them to sit. I wanted to talk to you about your future plans…how far you'd like to advance."

"I hadn't thought too much about it yet," Malicot answered.

"Neither have I," Lorins agreed.

"Well, I think you're both qualified to be good captains. Does that interest you for the future?"

The two lieutenants looked at each other, appearing surprised, and Beckett asked, "Lorins?"

"I… I don't know. I really like detective work, but it's crossed my mind a couple of times."

Malicot?"

"About the same, I guess. I like what I'm doing, but I've thought about it now and then, too. Nothing serious, though."

"I was in the same place when Captain Gates brought it up to me; so I'll give it to you straight, the way she approached me. I'm sure both of you would do well on the exam. You both have law enforcement related college work in your background, which is a plus. You work well with your teams as well as others when circumstances demand. The times I've asked you to handle problems when I was away, you've done it well. Both of you have enough time on record as lieutenants, your solve rates are high, and your records are clean. You're in a good place to think about moving to the next level."

"What happens if we make the list and decide it isn't what we want? Does it hurt what you're already doing if you turn it down?" Malicot asked.

"My next question as well," Lorins said. "I really haven't looked into it too deeply. You make it look easy, but I doubt it is,"

"Gates told me this. It would give you options. Even if you have your paperwork in place and you've passed the exam, you won't be placed in a command position the next day; but you'll be in line for openings when something is available. However, if all the paperwork isn't in place, there are no options. There are pros and cons about being a captain, and I'll be glad to discuss any of that with you if you're interested." She opened a desk drawer and took out two envelopes, handing one to each lieutenant. "Those envelopes hold all the information you'll need about the exam and the requirements for promotion. I wouldn't be handing it to you if I didn't think you were ready."

"Thank you," Lorins answered, taking the envelope and looking stunned.

That was echoed by Malicot before he added, "This was the last thing I would have expected of this meeting."

"I don't intend to pressure either of you to do something you aren't interested in," Beckett told them. "But if you decide you'd like to pursue it, I'll do everything I can to help." Standing to indicate the meeting was over, she told them, "That was the entire agenda." She smiled and added, "Just planting seeds of change. Look it over, give it some thought, talk to your families or whoever you trust for good advice."

Both nodded and left, eyes on the packets in their hands.

Beckett smiled to herself as they left and then sat down and proofread her weekly report before she sent it off to her superiors.

xxxxx

The next afternoon, Beckett swung through homicide on her daily trips out into the precinct. "Captain, while you're here, you're welcome to take a look at what we have and see if you can find anything we've missed. Ryan and Lupinski looked at it with us this morning: and they had the same feeling something is off, but they couldn't place it, either," Lorins told her when she stopped in their area. "We've had the case for a while, and it's close to going to a cold case: but we still feel like we're beating our heads against the wall."

"Refresh my memory," Beckett answered, quickly scanning the murder board. "Our victim is Willa Harper, age forty-two. Chief suspect is her husband, Kent. Talk to me about why he's at the top of your list."

"A hundred thousand dollar insurance policy on Willa. He's the beneficiary."

"And their business was floundering…the spas."

"Their business is spas?" Beckett asked.

"Yeah," another detective on the team answered, checking his notes. "Here it is. Kent and Willa Harper. They have three of them…Sterling Spas. There used to be four. The business has been around for six years, and it was doing well until last year when there was a major fire in the one that turned the biggest profit. Insurance would have paid a good percentage, but it wasn't enough to gut it and start all over. The place was a complete loss. With the income from their top moneymaker gone and insurance not covering enough to restore it or pay for another place in the same area, they were barely turning a profit. They used the insurance money to expand the one here in Manhattan and were barely scraping by; but for the last two months, the income was looking better. Kent ran the businesses, and our victim, Willa, kept the books and ran the office from home. He really seemed devastated about her death, and none of us feel certain he killed her, but insurance and a shaky business is good motive, and we're pretty sure there's something he isn't telling us."

Leaning against the desk in front of the murder board the way she did as a detective, she asked, "If they couldn't replace the business in Long Island, how could they afford to expand in Manhattan? Manhattan isn't exactly known for cheap real estate. Was there a loan to help out?"

"Nothing Harper mentioned and nothing in the financials."

"Let's get him back here tomorrow morning and talk to him again…pin down the recovery finances for the businesses."

"Sterling Spas," Beckett said as if recalling something. "Vice was getting ready to send somebody undercover to look into Sterling Spas a couple of days ago. Ebsen said they had a report from a business nearby that there was a sudden, substantial increase in the number of male customers recently. It looked suspicious. See what he has. Maybe you can help each other out."

"Thanks. I'll call him now."

"Let me know if you find anything interesting."

"Will do," Lorins promised as she picked up her phone.

As soon as she could, Beckett went home to her family and absorbed the love and family craziness that greeted her as she walked in the door.