Chapter 327: The Conversation

Upon hearing his boss's opening remarks, Beckett immediately knew that Montgomery was repeating his usual advice: not to focus too much on Richard Castle's sources. Last night, Beckett had taken a sudden leave, taking Esposito and others to Castle's friend's house. They brought back four guys supposedly from General Atomics, a company based in California. Montgomery didn't know about this yet, and those four had acted just as Castle had described: they remained silent, except for requesting to call their lawyer after being brought back to the police station unconscious. If not for Castle's prior information about these people, Beckett would have interrogated them thoroughly. However, these individuals turned out to have significant backgrounds and were bailed out early this morning. Thinking of this, Beckett interrupted Montgomery's well-meaning lecture and directly relayed the incident.

Montgomery was surprised. He had been busy wrapping up Simon's case since yesterday and wasn't aware of this situation. He quickly asked Beckett for more details.

Beckett didn't hide anything, explaining in detail how she received Castle's call, went with her team to his friend's house to bring back the four unconscious 'kidnappers' to the station, and how their lawyer bailed them out this morning.

Montgomery looked at his righteous subordinate with surprise: "This doesn't seem like your style, Beckett. Even with Castle's prior heads-up, those four were caught in the act of kidnapping. Why did you agree to their lawyer's bail request without even a proper interrogation?"

Beckett shrugged casually: "Castle made it very clear last night about their background and motives. He also told me that just charging these four scapegoats with attempted kidnapping wouldn't be effective. He didn't want to directly confront the arms company, General Atomics, or drag our 12th precinct into it. He asked me to just file a police report and not push too hard on interrogating those obviously low-level guys. He also said that if someone came to bail them out, to let them go and that he would explain it later. Given our precinct's workload these days, I agreed with his view and let them go."

Montgomery smiled as he listened to Beckett confidently explain. She didn't even realize the change in herself. In the past, no matter who asked her to go easy on criminals, she wouldn't budge. Now, however, she seemed to understand the necessity of sometimes going with the flow and focusing on more significant matters—important leadership skills. Although she wasn't yet aware of Castle's influence on her, this was a good sign.

Montgomery felt more at ease about eventually leaving the 12th precinct under Beckett's leadership when he got promoted to Deputy Commissioner of the NYPD. He couldn't help but envy Beckett's good fortune; her association with Castle might soon lead to her becoming the youngest precinct captain among New York's 77 precincts. According to rumors, the NYPD Commissioner was full of praise for Beckett's handling of the recent incident, and Castle's connections within the city's elite circles could make her career even smoother.

Satisfied with Beckett's progress, Montgomery decided to share some new information he had just received to ensure that Beckett wouldn't make any misjudgments in future collaborations with Castle.

"There's something very important about Castle that I need to tell you," Montgomery began, observing Beckett's reaction.

Beckett's expression turned puzzled as she heard her boss mention Castle: "What did that idiot do this time? What do you want to discuss?"

Seeing that Beckett seemed unaware of Castle's role in the recent heist incident that mobilized the entire NYPD, Montgomery, looking pained, said, "I got some news from Walter, who's been closely monitoring Detective John McClane at Metropolitan Hospital's ICU. It turns out that the sniper who took down Simon and most of his men yesterday and helped McClane thwart the robbers' escape is highly likely to be Castle!"

"You're joking, right, sir?" Beckett was so shocked that she stood up from her chair.

She couldn't believe what she had just heard: her boss was telling her that the chubby, greasy middle-aged writer she knew as Castle was actually the highly skilled sniper from the previous day's incident?

Beckett had been dealing with a bomb threat at a school and hadn't gone to the scene, but news of the incident had already spread throughout the NYPD. Rumors were flying, especially about the numerous robbers shot dead by a sniper rifle and Simon, who bled out after losing an arm to a sniper's bullet. The sniper had even taken out the bomb-making genius among Simon's men with a headshot. The consensus was that without this sniper's intervention, McClane wouldn't have been able to stop the robbers' escape. Now, she was being told that this mysterious sniper was the same Castle who was just a writer?

Seeing Beckett's stunned disbelief, Montgomery shrugged, "I didn't want to believe it either. But you know John McClane has always been one of Walter's trusted people. Despite all the trouble McClane has caused, Walter has always had his back. So, if he says it was Castle, he wouldn't lie. And you might not know this, but McClane isn't as gravely injured as reported; he's pretending to be more injured than he is to avoid questioning by the CIA. He's only lightly wounded, thanks to that sniper."

Beckett, still struggling to accept the information, remained silent, waiting for her boss to continue.

"I know it's hard to believe," Montgomery said, "but think about it. Hasn't your case closure rate skyrocketed since Castle came on board?"

Despite her reluctance to believe Montgomery's words, Beckett couldn't deny the evidence of Castle's significant, albeit mysterious, impact on her work. "So, is there more to Castle that we don't know?" she asked, puzzled.

Montgomery resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "He's here because of you, isn't it obvious? Think about it. He helps you solve cases and even wrote that novel inspired by you. Everyone knows you're his 'muse.'"

Caught off guard by the personal turn in the conversation, Beckett was momentarily speechless. "What are you talking about?"

Seeing that Beckett was uncomfortable with the topic, Montgomery wisely steered the conversation back on course. His main purpose in this conversation was to prepare Beckett for the future, especially if he got promoted and she had to handle things on her own. He needed to ensure she wouldn't misstep, particularly in dealing with Castle.

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