175. Chapter 175

Chapter 175

As Beckett walked toward her office with her morning coffee, Lorins called her.

"Captain, Ebsen and I are actually helping each other. Both teams are following up leads we didn't know we had until we compared notes yesterday. We're still not sure that Kent Harper killed his wife, but we're absolutely sure he's hiding something. I'm glad you suggested bringing him in this morning. We're already expecting him."

"Well, the whole team looks hopeful. Was there a breakthrough? What happened?" The team took turns passing the developments from person to person.

"We got together with Ebsen's team yesterday afternoon before we went home," Lorins began. "They had sent Sanderson to pose as a client and act like he had no idea what was going on. He asked a couple of men who came in together which massage they would recommend. He told them he'd never had a massage before, came in to make an appointment, and then had to decide which one to ask for."

"They asked if he wanted to go outside for a smoke and talk about it and whispered it would be worth it, even if he didn't smoke. When they were outside, they told him the Spa Plus wasn't on the advertised list and told him what the plus would be. He played the naïve, but excited young guy and asked a lot of questions, including where they found out this place offered sex with their massages."

"They told him one of them went to get his car repaired and was joking around with one of the owners about needing a massage with the extras. The guy said he was a silent partner in a spa and some of the girls would provide some extra service for extra pay…and wiggled his eyebrows. So the guy made an appointment, was happy with it, and brought his friend along this time…Sanderson was told to ask for Jewel when he made his appointment."

"So the owners of the car repair shop are two brothers. Turns out they're freelance enforcers for hire. Quite a rap sheet for both of them. We need to know if they had anything to do with Kent Harper's expansion of the Manhattan spa."

"You want to join me for this interrogation, Captain?" Lorins asked. "I hear you've got skills. I might learn something."

"I wouldn't miss it. It feels good to get back in there now and then. Let me take a look at your notes first…better yet, make me a copy. I don't like going in feeling unprepared."

About forty-five minutes later, an officer came to let them know that Kent Harper was in Interrogation One. The two women, along with the rest of Lorins' team made their way toward the interrogation room. The women entered the room with the suspect and the other three went into observation and turned on the speaker.

Striding in confidently at full height, Beckett announced herself. "Mr. Harper, I'm Captain Kate Beckett. I believe you've already met Lieutenant Sonia Lorins." They sat down across the table from him. "First let me say that I'm sorry for your loss."

The man's eyes teared up as he said, "Thank you."

"We have a few more questions, and we need honest, complete answers because we would like to get justice for your wife."

"I'll tell you everything I can."

"First, I understand that you've abandoned the idea of reopening your Long Island spa after the fire, and have expanded, done some remodeling, and hired additional staff for the Manhattan spa."

"That's right."

"And how did you fund the expansion?"

"The insurance money."

"Was the insurance money really enough to make that kind of expansion in Manhattan? Real estate is pretty pricey here."

"We had the entire side of the hall in the building we were in, and the other entire side of the hall had been vacant for a long time. The landlord was glad to rent it…gave us a good deal. We just remodeled to make an open door into the new section and redecorated and set up the rooms for luxury massages. That accounts for a lot of our business income."

"I also understand that you had a large insurance policy on your wife."

"That's right. Each of us had a policy for a hundred thousand. We were trying to take care of each other."

"What will happen with that money?"

"I don't have it yet, and won't until the…murder is solved. But I've already talked to the finance people at my kids' college about paying in advance for the rest of their tuition to graduate. We got married and had kids pretty young, so they're both in college. One graduates next year, and the other just started this year. The policy should take care of that."

"Your business finances have been stressed since the fire. Is that correct?" Lorins asked.

"Yes, but it's been improving a little bit for the past couple of months."

"Was that after you added the enhanced massages? And there was no loan from anywhere to help with the expansion of the spa?" Beckett came back again. They were tag teaming him now, taking turns.

Those questions broke his calm demeanor, and he looked wary. "What does that mean? What are these questions for? Do you think I killed Willa? I've loved her since I was fifteen years old; and in all our years together, I never raised a hand to her."

"You know we're going to check with the landlord and the college finance office, right?" Beckett asked. "And we need to ask you how you got into business with Gene and Andre Nash."

Kent Harper now looked panicked. "Gene and Andre Nash?"

"I believe they own a car repair shop," Lorins prompted.

"Yeah. That's where I have work done on my car."

"Gene recently told someone he was a silent partner in a spa that offered special services," Beckett challenged. "Your spa was recommended, and a man who took advantage of the extra service was excited to tell our undercover cop how to ask for the Spa Plus massage. That's prostitution, Mr. Harper. It's likely to close down all your spas and cost you some prison time. Cooperating with us could be to your benefit. Are you ready to talk to us yet? You don't seem like someone who would be running that kind of business. Vice has only been aware of an unusual new influx of male clients for the last couple of months. Other than that, your business looks clean."

At that point, Kent Harper broke down and tears started falling. "I didn't kill her, but I might as well have," he said. "The college office will back me up, but the landlord drove a hard bargain to let me lease the new space and then remodel it. Willa and I were struggling after the fire. I took my truck in for repair, and while I was waiting, Andre started talking to me, and I spilled all my troubles. The banks didn't feel we were a good risk right then, and I was getting desperate. We worked so hard to develop that business, and we were proud of it. Andre said he and his brother were always looking for investments and maybe they could help. He said they'd want to see the three spas we still had. I took them to all three and showed them around, and they arranged an under the table loan. I should have realized what I was getting into then, but I was too desperate to think clearly. I didn't tell Willa until right before she was…she died. The business wasn't paying enough to do much more than take care of payroll and expenses, so I was taking money from our savings to pay the loan. When I had used it up, I missed a payment."

"And that's when they showed their true colors?" The women were tag teaming again.

"Yeah. That's when I knew for certain it was that kind of loan."

"Were you threatened?"

He just nodded.

"What were the threats?" Lorins asked.

"My family. Gene said he knew a way to make money fast enough to pay the loan and make a better profit, and they wanted to add the Spa Plus package to the board. When he told me what that would be, I told him I didn't want any part of prostitution. That's when he told me that's the way they were going to get their money back; and if I didn't cooperate, they'd start with my wife, then my kids, and I'd be the last to go. I refused…told them I'd find another way to pay them, and two days later, I came home and found Willa dead…knife wounds…blood all around her. I couldn't let that happen to my kids, so I set up the extra "massage therapists" in the new expansion where they'd be separate from the legitimate business. Gene and Andre knew they had me then. They told me I was going to arrange expansions the same way for the other two spas and they'd finance it. They said if I didn't want to run it for them, I could sign it over to them and they'd bring in somebody else to run it. "How do I protect my kids now?"

"Where were you when they threatened you?"

"My office, the Manhattan office."

"Do you have security cameras there?"

"Yeah. In each business there's a camera hidden in a metal sculpture on the left behind my desk. It covers everything but the wall behind my desk in each spa. The sculpture is mostly small metal sheets, screws, and washers. You can't even tell it's there."

"Why that rather than a regular security camera?"

"My staff is almost entirely women. I know a guy whose life was ruined by a false accusation of sexual assault. I thought I'd be covered if it happened to me when there was nobody else to corroborate the story."

"So there should be a video of the threats?"

"Yeah. I had already lost my wife. I was afraid for my son and daughter. I haven't touched it."

"Do you have friends or relatives out of town, somewhere they could stay until we can take care of this?"

"I don't have that much family. Willa's parents are in Massachusetts. I'll need to talk to the kids and then talk to her parents and explain. None of them are ever going to forgive me."

"Okay, here's what's going to happen," Beckett told him. "We're going to release you until we can pick up the Nash brothers. We'll talk to the District Attorney about whether you can deal for a lighter sentence if you cooperate. We'll need to get a warrant for your financial and phone records and we'll need the video and the company books. I'll call you about that tonight or tomorrow morning. Go home, talk to your children, have them pack for an indefinite stay with your in-laws, then call your in-laws and tell them what you need to so your children will be away from all this while we get the Nash boys locked up."

"So you're letting me go?"

"Temporarily. But don't try to leave. You run, and we'll find you…and all deals will be off the table. I'll put a call in to the DA as soon as I leave the room. Someone will call you when we have the Nash boys here for questioning; and while we know they're not watching, your children should leave for Massachusetts. If you don't have an attorney, you might want to find one before you talk to the DA."

"Thank you, Captain."

"Lieutenant Lorins will finish here." Turning to her lieutenant, she said, "See me when you're done, Lorins. We'll need to coordinate with Vice so we don't miss anything. We'll need warrants for their financial and phone records and to search their business, homes, and vehicles. They're hired enforcers, so the murder weapon is likely to be somewhere in all that. Bring the forms for the warrants, and I'll take care of them."

Beckett immediately called the District Attorney's office and arranged for a meeting the next day with Kent Harper and hopefully his attorney.

xxxxx

She went home in an excellent mood and told Castle all about what had happened. Jamie picked up just enough of the conversation to ask "Did you catch the bad guy?"

Kate picked him up and told him, "We caught two bad guys this time."

"Mommy is awesome, isn't she?" Castle asked.

"Yeah!"

"Mommy's awesome detectives did most of the work. Mommy just helped them." She put Jamie down and sat down in the floor next to Jo, picking her up for some attention, too. The family had a quiet evening, interrupted a couple of times with phone calls…progress reports Kate had asked for…all good ones.

xxxxx

Beckett and Vice were involved in the Nash interrogations the following morning, and Lorins' team was in observation again. When the interrogation was over, the Vice and Homicide teams were talking, and one member of Lorin's team shook his head and said, "None of us were here when the captain was a detective, but we'd heard she was good at getting confessions. I gotta tell you, if I'd done anything like what those Nash boys have I'd probably have had to change my pants before she even sat down. Yesterday she did the same thing with Kent Harper, and she still managed to look like she sincerely meant she was sorry for his loss. But seeing her walk in with Gene Nash this morning was scary impressive. She didn't give either one of those guys a millimeter of wiggle room. Can you learn that, or do you just have to be born with it? If you can learn it, where do I sign up?"

"You can probably learn some of it, but the part you can't? That's why Ebsen asked her to be there. We were here when the captain was a detective, and we'd seen her in action on a couple of shared cases like this one."

Warrants, thorough searches, and bookings consumed most of the night, and interrogations and negotiations with the DA filled most of the next morning; but by lunch time on Thursday, the Nash brothers were facing charges from both vice and homicide with solid evidence for all of it.

Kent Harper had already lost his wife, been forced to damage his business reputation, and would have to sell his business, probably at a loss, after the taint of prostitution was involved. In the end, the DA, satisfied with his cooperation and that any illegal activity on his part had happened under duress after his wife's murder, worked out a very lenient deal for Harper and was going for maximum sentences for the Nash brothers.

xxxxx

After a very productive morning and early afternoon, Kate left the precinct a little before five to try to help Castle prepare for their guests. The children got some of her attention first, and she and Castle found a few minutes for each other before it became necessary to zero in on the task at hand. Castle had given both children quick baths that afternoon so bedtime would be easier, and they were playing with Jamie's blocks in the study. Jamie was stacking them and letting Jo enthusiastically knock them down. The food had just been delivered, the table was set, and Kate and Castle were deciding on serving pieces when Bentley called. Castle put the phone on speaker, and Kate moved closer to listen in.

"Rick, I'll still be there, but… Well, Gina was supposed to be with Walter tonight. They were meeting with a new writer this afternoon and were scheduled to wine and dine the woman and her husband afterward, but dinner was cancelled. Is it a problem if I bring her along? I'm picking her up at her office in about twenty minutes, so I haven't invited her yet. I wanted to check first."

Rick looked at his wife in question and apology, and she dropped her head to his shoulder, reluctantly nodding. "That's fine," he lied. "We'll be looking for both of you." When the call ended and he heard Kate sigh deeply, he said, "I'm sorry. If you really don't want to do this, I can call him back before he invites her."

"No. I remember nights I when had to be somewhere other than with you when we first got together, and we were just two hour's drive from each other that summer. They're separated by the Atlantic Ocean most of the time, and I'm sure he doesn't want to miss a chance to spend time with her. I'm surprised he wants to bring her here, though, where she lived with you. Maybe he's better adjusted than I am.

"Or maybe he hasn't thought about it yet," Rick suggested. "Time will tell."

"Tonight has possibilities for some awkward happening."

"Maybe there will be enough other people here to ward off most of the awkward."

"I hope so," she answered. "Let's get these serving pieces out. We're likely to have family at the door any time now.

"Good. Lots of Gina distractors," he said as he moved to help.

Martha and John were the first ones there, followed closely by Jim and Meagan, and Alexis and JD arrived at the same time as Bentley and Gina. When told that the only thing left to do was to put the food in the serving dishes, Martha and John chose to see what all the childhood laughter in the study was about.

"What's going on in here," John asked mischievously. "Watch, Grandpa John. I'm building towers and Jo is knocking them down. Jo and Jamie had changed games a couple of times but were back to building and destroying. The children went through their pattern again, giggling and not seeming tired of it yet. Both grandparents applauded, "Do it again!" John said enthusiastically. Jamie grinned and started stacking blocks again, and Jo was watching with an air of anticipation.

When Jim and Meagan arrived, Castle told Jamie that Granddaddy was there, and he ran out to meet Jim. John scooped Jo up from where she sat on the floor and he and Martha went to greet the other grandparents. The hosts talked to their guests as they opened the warmed containers and put the food on the table while all the grandparents talked to the children as well as the other adults. It was already developing into a typical Castle family evening.

Alexis and JD were still outside the door stealing some soft kisses before joining the rest of the family when they heard the elevator ding on its return trip. "Hmmmm. Must have been doing this longer than I thought," JD remarked with a little grin. "Bentley! Good to see you, man," JD called as he saw the older man rounding the corner from the elevator. As he met him and shook his hand and Alexis gave Bentley a quick hug, she realized Gina was with him.

"Gina, I didn't know you'd be here," she said.

"It was a last minute thing," Bentley explained. "The dinner she was obligated to was cancelled, so I get the pleasure of her company after all." He wrapped his arm around her waist saying. "Well, I guess we should get in there."

JD opened the door wide enough for all of them to be seen and said, "Look who we found."

The new arrivals were greeted with hugs and handshakes, and when Castle told Jamie to say hello to Mr. Bentley and Miss Gina, he spoke to Bentley, who dropped to one knee, meeting him at eye level to smile, shake his hand, and joke with him. When reminded to say hello to Gina, too, Jamie retreated behind Castle's leg and spoke to her quietly from there. Kate picked him up, kissed him and gave him a little cuddle, and then she invited everyone to the table, the ensuing activity covering the awkward moment. Jo was contentedly seated between Alexis and JD, and Kate made sure that Jamie sat between his parents. Conversation wandered from Black Pawn business to memories of the European book signing trip, to everyone catching up on recent events in their lives.

While everyone talked, Bentley had included Jamie in his conversations, and the boy enjoyed him the way he did when they met in Europe. "Jamie, do you remember when your daddy was signing books and you and your mommy went with him?" Bentley asked.

"There's pictures. We flew in planes and saw clouds."

"Do you remember making chocolate mush-mush?"

The little boy giggled and answered, "I like chocolate mush-mush. Billy and I make it when he's here."

"I was silly and made it with you at a restaurant once."

"You did?"

"I did." Leaning toward Jamie and looking conspiratorial, he said in a stage whisper, "If you have ice cream, we could do it again."

Being the son of Richard Castle, Jamie knew that conspiratorial looks usually meant fun; so he grinned and looked up at his mother, tugging on her sleeve. "Mommy, do we have ice cream?"

"I'm sure we have ice cream, but I'm not sure what kind."

"We're on," Bentley exclaimed enthusiastically and reached across the table to give Jamie a high five. The meal was almost finished, and Gina excused herself from the table to "powder her nose". She headed for the study, and Kate quickly called her name.

"Gina, it's still over there," she said, pointing to the guest bathroom. It was done politely and with a smile, but it was done.

Gina looked surprised and said, "I was going to…right." She smiled a small smile, pointed in the other direction, and moved that way. Everyone conscientiously kept talking; but the exchange had been noticed.

Castle reached for his wife's hand under the table and squeezed it in solidarity as he kept up his end of the conversation.

When Gina returned, it was time for dessert, and everyone was deciding on their choices of several delicious looking options, so she slipped back into her place at the table without much notice. By the time it was all served, Jo was tired and sitting in Kate's lap enjoying small pieces of her mother's dessert. Kate was playing with her, trying to keep her content for a little while longer, and Bentley was making silly faces and playing peek-a-boo to help, now and then getting a belly laugh for his efforts. Gina was being patient and even smiling at times and making an effort at conversation with those around her. The others at the table thought nothing of Bentley's silliness, having all turned into grown-up children themselves more than once. When the evening was wearing down, Alexis asked if she and JD could put Jo and Jamie to bed, so most of the adults gathered in the living room for a little while.

Since Kate had told her husband to go ahead and enjoy having some time with Bentley while he was stateside, Meagan was helping Kate clear the table and put the food away. As they were nearly finished, both sets of grandparents came to say goodnight, Jim stealing Meagan away.

As the men talked, Gina stood and walked into the kitchen with Kate. She quietly but somewhat acidly asked, "Did you have to embarrass me in front of everybody?"

Kate pointed to the study and walked easily in that direction, leaving Gina to either make a scene or follow her. She closed the door gently behind them and asked, "Did you have to give me a reason?"

"Give you a reason? What reason? I was just going to use the bathroom."

"Think about it, Gina. Reverse the situation. If you were the wife he's been married to longer than the other two marriages combined and the ex-wife was headed for the most personal space the two of you have in this apartment, what would you have done?" Gina's lips moved as if she were looking for words and couldn't find them. "What would you have done if it had been Meredith and your marriage?"

Gina lowered her head and pinched the bridge of her nose as she took a deep breath, grudgingly admitting, "If it were reversed, you wouldn't be here at all, let alone allowed in our room. If he had asked me to invite Meredith, the answer would have been a resounding no…and it wouldn't have been pleasant. But I used to live here, and…"

"That was almost ten years ago, and this has been our home for over six; and you need to respect that. If you're trying to get work you need out of Rick, you've always knocked on the door and barged in demanding to see him. No request, no polite greeting, just walk in, demand, and waltz yourself into the study like you have some kind of ownership here. Would you tolerate that from an ex-wife in your home? I had intended to take the afternoon off and go to your meeting with Rick next week so he and I could have this talk with you then, but sit. We might as well do it now. Out of curiosity, do you usually use our bathroom when you're here and I'm not?"

The other woman sat down on the sofa, crossing her arms, and Kate sat in the armchair across from her. "I haven't been here long enough to need to think about it before tonight. What else is there?" Gina asked.

"I've tolerated the behavior I described because that seems to be the way you and Rick communicate, and the work gets done. Until a couple of weeks ago, the children had only been exposed to the milder confrontations, and they were just wary of what was happening. But when you were here a couple of weeks ago to confront Rick about the next chapters that were due, you fully frightened my children. That crosses our limits, and we won't tolerate it. Children need to feel safe in their own home."

"I didn't notice that they were frightened," Gina answered skeptically.

"Because you paid no attention to anything except what you wanted. What brought that on, by the way? Rick has been getting what you've demanded in on time for the past year or so, and the chapters weren't due until that Monday. Why was that outburst necessary?"

"I'd had a horrible morning. I had tried to call him several times the night before and several times that morning, and he was ignoring me again. That usually means he's behind, and I was angry."

"This time it only means that we went out for a nice dinner that Friday night, just the two of us. We screened our calls to give ourselves an uninterrupted evening. And I didn't have to work over the weekend, so we took the kids to the park for a family morning on Saturday. They were both with us, so we turned our phones off while we were there. We hadn't had that kind of unencumbered family time for a few weeks, and we'd had a wonderful morning. We came home happy…all of us relaxed. We were about to put Jo down for her nap, when you pounded on the door and all hell broke loose. You came in bellowing, "Where is he?" Jo clutched my neck and started crying inconsolably, and Jamie hid behind me, held on to my leg, and he was crying, too. I was too busy trying to calm my children down to have time to stop you."

"It's the way we work. Richard is stubborn and gets lazy, and I get angry."

"But small children don't understand that, and that outburst was way over the top anyway. None of us deserve that. It was like a home invasion. When you stormed into the study shouting at Rick and glowering like you were ready to kill, our son asked me if you were going to hurt his daddy. He wanted to know if I had to get my police stuff. And Rick hadn't been lazy. He was able to immediately pull up the chapters and hit send, and yet you still left in as big a snit as when you came in.

Gina looked surprised, but Kate didn't slow down.

"I assured Jamie that you wouldn't hurt any of us. But I assure you that if you ever show our home that much contempt again, I will arrest you for whatever seems appropriate, call for a squad car to take you to the twelfth for a mug shot, and at minimum see that you spend some time in a holding cell. You will not come into our home, verbally abuse any of us, and frighten our children again without consequences."

"Kate, I had no intention… I didn't realize…"

"That's what I'm trying to say. You walk into our home as if you still have some ownership of what should happen here, but you don't. That's our decision. When you come here from now on, we're going to expect you to behave the way you would as a guest in anybody else's home. The fact that you and Rick developed that dynamic of anger and stubbornness here during a failed marriage doesn't mean it should still happen here…no matter how angry you are."

Gina looked away and took a deep breath before asking, "Did you have to have this conversation with Meredith, too? She was always territorial…unconvincingly trying to pass it off as concern for Rick and Alexis."

"I didn't have to do much. Alexis did most of it. She really laid down the law."

"I'll bet you were proud of her. I would have been." She took another deep breath and released it slowly. "I may not be much of a kid person, but I would never intentionally frighten a child. Looking back, Richard was unusually self-controlled that day…quietly demanded that I calm down because I was upsetting his family, which only made me angrier. After what you've told me, I'm surprised he didn't threaten to leave Black Pawn if he ever had to work with me again. He's always been protective of his children."

"He didn't know the extent of it until after you left. Jamie had trouble speaking to you tonight because he's afraid of you. He doesn't often hide behind us like that." During the entire conversation, Kate had spoken calmly but made her complaints and expectations clearly known.

"It won't happen again," Gina promised.

"Thank you."

Castle opened the door and asked, "Everything okay in here?"

"It is now," Kate answered, as Alexis and Bentley followed him in.

"Alexis came down to find Bear. She and JD were tucking Jamie in and Bear was AWOL. We didn't see him in the living room."

"He's probably still on the bed. Jamie came and hung out with me right after I got home."

Alexis opened the door and went into the bedroom, found the stuffed animal, and took him back upstairs, leaving the door slightly ajar.

Kate stood and asked Gina, "Would you like some wine?"

"Both of us could probably use one," Gina answered with the bare hint of a smile.

"What about the gentlemen?" Kate asked, turning to the men.

"That would be lovely," Bentley replied, his English gentleman side showing through as the women left.

As Castle turned to follow the women, Bentley said, "Rick, I may owe you an apology. I knew you and Gina were once married, but it was before I met either of you, and I never saw it. It was something that was vaguely lurking in the back of my mind; but I honestly can't picture you with anyone other than Kate, and it never occurred to me that tonight might have been awkward for her. This is your bedroom…and loo?" Castle nodded. "And when Gina was going to powder her nose, as she says, she was planning to go there…so Kate felt the need…" Castle nodded again. Looking at the bedroom door, Bentley added, "And now you and Gina together is in my head, too. Not something I want to think about, either…and Gina must be uncomfortable about… I'm afraid I've put all of us in a bit of a bother. Please accept my apology. I simply didn't think…"

"The situation was bound to rear its head sooner or later," Castle answered. "I suppose sooner is better, and it can be dealt with."

"Do you mind if I ask what happened with Gina…to end it, I mean."

"We made sense in theory; but in reality, we should have stuck to business together. We should never have been married. It started with some hope, but we were too different…wanted different things of life. It wasn't a particularly friendly divorce, but we've managed to work together for the books…also not always friendly, but effective for the books nevertheless."

"Admirable, I suppose."

"Wine?" Castle pointed toward the study door. "I have something stronger if you'd like."

"No. I'll go and have a civilized touch of wine with the ladies and then take Gina home. I should thank both of you for your patience with my lack of judgment."

Castle clapped a hand on his shoulder and said, "Wine…now."

"We might all need it," Bentley answered, closely echoing Gina's earlier response.

Kate and Gina seemed to be handling togetherness without more confrontation, and the conversation between the four of them was pleasantly civil. Alexis and JD soon came down the stairs announcing that the children were asleep.

"We're going home now. Class tomorrow," Alexis explained, and she and JD hugged her parents and said goodnight to Bentley and Gina. JD gave the man a firm handshake and told him how good it was to see him again.

The other visiting couple didn't stay long after Alexis and JD left, which at that point suited all of them. Rick and Bentley's friendship would eventually work out…or not.

Castle wrapped his arm around Kate's waist and walked them toward the bedroom as he said. "Maybe they'll get married and she'll move to London."

"I can't believe she was going to invade our personal, private space." Looking up at him mischievously, she asked, "Would it be wrong of me to hope…about London?"

Castle chuckled at that. "Hell, no! Do you realize how much alimony money per month would return to our bank account if she gets married again?

Then Kate chuckled. "Would you still send her your books to edit?"

"I don't know. I might ask you to do that. You're good at it."

"As your biggest fan, I may not be as objective as I should be."

"We can talk about that later," he said as he closed the bedroom door. "Right now, let's enjoy doing very personal, private things in our personal, private space. Just the two of us."