Disclaimer: Not mine. (Though if Nathan were to offer to be so, I wouldn't say no.)
Summary: Based on the premise for Probable Cause, but no direct spoilers for the episode whatsoever. Completely different story. When evidence suggests Castle has a relationship with a murder victim at the time of her demise, Rick and Kate have to address their respective insecurities while working to clear his name and solve a grisly murder.
Notes: This story is complete in 5 to 7 chapters, but I'm still trying to figure out breaks, so I'm not sure how many it will be, precisely. I'll just post one a day until I run out. Also, this is not an angst-fest. There are moments of tension but they're fairly fleeting, so feel free to relax and enjoy the ride!
The Power They Wield
"Good morning, team!" Castle greeted the various members of the NYPD who were poking around the death scene of their latest homicide victim. A couple of nods and one lone glance were the only responses he received as he navigated the room. Funny the effect murder tended to have on good humor.
Unless, Castle thought giddily, the love of your life happens to be there, waiting for you with the most beautiful smile you've ever seen.
Yeah. His euphoric mood wasn't going anywhere.
A massive bouquet of roses sat in the center of an oblong dining table, and Rick leaned in as he passed by, inhaling the fragrance. Wait. Blissfully happy was one thing, but when had he become such a cliché?
Though, he hadn't actually stopped to smell them, had he?
Just… slowed down a bit.
"Morning, Castle," Kate said warmly, dropping her voice when he reached her side. "Missed you."
"Likewise," Rick murmured, his eyes fixed on hers.
They'd spent the previous evening apart. Kate had gone to dinner with her father and Castle had ensconced himself in his office at the Old Haunt, wanting a change of scenery as he typed out the gory details of a new murder for Det. Heat and Co.
"Who's the unlucky gent or lady?" he asked as they made their way over to the sheet-covered body.
Beckett shrugged. "Don't know yet. I just got here myself."
"Well then clearly I'm talking to the wrong person," Castle said cheekily. "Lanie, you're looking lovely this morning!"
"Thanks, Castle," the M.E. responded evenly, raising her brow at the death glare Kate was sending the writer's way. "You're welcome to attend the autopsy if you feel you can't tear your eyes away."
"Mm. Pass. No woman looks that good."
"Really? Not a single one? In that case," she said, turning to Beckett, "if you need a break from him today, come on down to the morgue. We'll trash men and discuss nearly-undetectable murder methods."
"I might take you up on that," Kate bit out, hiding a smile as Castle blanched.
"So…" he quickly interjected, before things took an uglier turn, "COD?"
"You squeamish?" Lanie asked, pulling down the sheet.
"Whoa!" Castle jerked back slightly. "Where's her face?"
"Somewhere in the vicinity of the back of her skull, by the looks of it," Kate commented. "Wow."
Castle glanced away, feeling a bit unsteady. "That wasn't a fist. Murder weapon?"
"My money's on Nefertiti."
"Ah. Of course. The specter of a deceased Egyptian queen is summoned forth by—"
"Can it, Castle," Lanie interrupted, and Beckett stifled an unladylike snort. "There's a marble bust in the kitchen sink. I doubt that's her usual hangout."
"Thanks Lanie. We'll catch you later. C'mon Castle, I know you want to check out that bust."
Rick leered and muttered something in her ear that made Beckett glower at him. Lanie just shook her head. Kate deserved whatever reply she got after setting him up like that. Why she encouraged him, the doctor didn't know. Well… yeah, actually, she did.
And the thought made her smile.
/. . . . /
"All right, boys, what've we got?" Beckett asked as she and Castle strode into the bullpen an hour later.
They hadn't learned much at the scene beyond the fact that Nefertiti had been given a thorough scrubbing, ostensibly to rid her of prints, and that the owner of the apartment was a Richard Castle fan. She had all the Storm books, and two of the Heats. He hadn't gloated, exactly, but Rick also couldn't quite hide the burst of pleasure he always felt when he encountered a shelf of his work in someone's home.
Ryan looked up and smiled. "Good morning to you, too. Apartment belongs to a Whitney Brohm. We won't know it's her for sure until Lanie gets back to us. But hers is the only name on the lease, so… seems the likely candidate."
"Whitney Brohm," Castle mused. "That name sounds familiar. Is she known?"
Esposito shrugged. "Never heard of her."
"It'll be a while before Lanie can confirm identity," Kate calculated, looking at her watch. "Is there anything we can go off of until then?"
"CSU is still on scene," said Ryan. In other words, no.
"Well, let's pull up the info on Ms. Brohm. Even if the body's not hers, the murder scene is."
"On it."
Esposito hunkered over his keyboard as Castle and Beckett headed for the break room.
"Have a productive evening with Detective Heat, Mr. Castle?" Kate asked as they doctored their coffees.
Rick smiled. "Semi-productive. I kept getting distracted by scenes of a different sort played out with a different detective."
Kate tsked at him. "You're not cheating on Nikki with Slaughter, are you, Castle?"
Rick froze. "Well, that just ruined the moment," he groused. "Couldn't you have said something like…."
Castle trailed off as Ryan walked into the room. "Something like what?"
"Um."
Kevin waited for a second, but when Castle didn't elaborate, he nodded in understanding. "Well, Beckett's usually a little more articulate than that, Castle. But I can see how you'd want to limit her to single-syllable responses from time to time."
Kate and Rick gaped as Ryan grabbed his coffee and headed back out. "I think Espo's got some info on our gal when you guys are ready," he smirked. It was going to be so fun playing with them.
"He knows. Lerner blabbed," Castle hissed.
Kate was still trying to pick her jaw up off the floor. "We don't know that. He's probably just messing with you."
Her words were confident but her voice was unsteady. She was inclined to agree with Castle.
Ryan knew.
"So, here she is when she still had a face." Beckett and Castle crossed the bullpen and moved around to see the screen Javi and Kevin were staring at. "Assuming this is, in fact, our vic."
"Pretty lady," said Beckett. Dark brown hair, dark eyes, wide, confident smile. In her early 30's, she looked like a youthful girl next door.
Because he was standing behind everyone else, no one noticed the color drain from Castle's face.
"Looks like she worked for a brokerage firm for the last eight years. No run-ins with the law, not even a traffic ticket. Squeaky clean," observed Esposito.
"Yeah, well, she got on someone's bad side," countered Beckett. "Family?"
"Parents in Florida. Otherwise, nada."
Beckett thought for a minute then turned to Castle. "That flower arrangement on her table, that looked fresh, didn't it? Boyfriend?"
"Roses. I stopped and smelled them," Castle supplied dazedly, and off Beckett's amused look added, "What? You didn't?"
"Ryan, call… who's there? Turner? See if he can find a card. Maybe the florist will have a record on them."
A few minutes later, Ryan was handing them a slip of paper. "Got it. Card from a place called 'Flowers by Knight.' Cute."
"Okay, Castle, let's… Castle?"
Rick was sitting on the corner of Javier's desk, staring at the floor.
"Castle?" she tried again.
"Huh?"
"You okay? You look… not okay."
"No, I'm fine. I'm good. What's… what're we doing?" he managed, taking a large swig of coffee.
"I'm going to talk to this florist. You want to stay here, or…?"
"No. No, I'll come. I'm coming."
She nodded. " 'kay. Address, Ryan?"
"It's on West 20th." Kate's head swung back around to her partner. "I've… used them before."
Beckett tried to catch Castle's eye as they walked to her cruiser. Something was wrong. She wondered if he was worried about Ryan outing their relationship. Of course, if Rick didn't stop walking around with that deer in headlights look, Ryan wouldn't have to say anything.
Kate tried to reassure Castle on that front, but he was uncharacteristically quiet. Finally she gave up and they rode the rest of the way to the flower shop without another word uttered between them.
/. . . . /
"Well, that was helpful," griped Kate on the way back to the precinct.
The owner of the shop wasn't expected back until tomorrow, which was unfortunate because it was apparently he who had handled the order for the roses. The computer records indicated they had been paid for in cash three days prior, but they would have to talk to Mr. Knight if they wanted more information.
"They said he'll be there in the morning," Rick said, quietly reassuring her.
"Do you know him?"
Castle nodded, but didn't say anything further.
"Okay, seriously, Castle?" Kate couldn't help prodding him after another long silence. "Something's wrong. What is it? If it's not Ryan… is it the case?"
Suddenly she remembered that Castle had half-recognized the woman's name. "Is it the vic? Whitney? Did her picture… do you know her?"
Rick was looking out the window. "I might. I… can we wait until we hear from Lanie? We're not even sure it's her yet."
"Okay. But Castle, if you know her…."
"It's okay, Beckett. I'm good." He nodded hard, and she got the feeling he was trying to convince himself of that statement more than her.
/. . . . /
"Any luck?" Ryan asked as they came off the elevator.
"Not really, no. We'll have to talk to the owner tomorrow. You?"
"CSU's back. We've got a couple of things to go on."
Beckett headed to the murder board the boys had set up in their absence. "Then let's get to it."
"We can start with this," Ryan said, handing her an evidence bag. "Card from the florist. They're from someone named Rick. Want to just confess, Castle? Save us from having to run it for prints?"
Ryan grinned and moved to write on the board, but Kate was staring at the card. Her hand was shaking. Slowly, she raised her eyes and found Castle's. Her mouth worked but nothing came out. He came to stand beside her, afraid of what he would find.
The fear proved well founded. The card was indeed in his handwriting.
Thank you for an enchanting evening. Until we meet again…
He had signed it, first name only, in his usual scrawl.
Castle swallowed hard. His palms were sweating, everything was spinning. "Kate," he whispered.
Her eyes were locked with his and she knew she needed to say something, but… she had nothing.
"So," Ryan began, turning toward them, but the looks on their faces had him changing tacks. "Everything okay?"
Beckett finally snapped out of her stupor. She grabbed Rick's sleeve and headed for the nearest interrogation room. "Be right back."
When the door closed behind them, she whirled to face Castle, the bag held up between them. "Explain."
"Beckett… Kate," Rick started, but seemed unsure of where to go from there.
She let out an exasperated puff of air and plowed on ahead of him.
"You might know her? You spend an 'enchanting evening' with her, send her roses and you just might know her? Castle, I… what… what the hell?" she finished ineloquently, flipping the card at his chest.
"Kate, it's not what it looks like."
"Really? That's the line you pull out? When exactly was this 'enchanting evening,' Castle?"
Before he could answer, a knock sounded on the door and Javier stepped halfway into the room. "Heard from Lanie. Positive ID on our vic. I accessed her social network accounts. There's something you should see."
He hesitated, then backed out, shutting the door as he went.
"Something you want to tell me about?" She made to storm out of the room without waiting for a reply, but Castle blocked her exit with a firm arm against the door.
"Just a damn minute," he said in a low voice. Shock had finally started to ebb away, and frustration was taking its place.
"I know how this looks, but if you'll give me half a second, I'll explain."
Beckett crossed her arms, gritted her teeth and raised an eyebrow, armor firmly in place.
"Yes, I knew her. Yes, we went out. Yes, I sent her flowers."
"And you're only just now remembering this?" Kate interrupted.
"Yes," he ground out, matching her aggressive tone. "Because I didn't send those flowers. That evening we spent together was years ago, Kate. I don't even remember how many. Five, seven? I don't know."
"So why didn't you just admit to knowing her?"she asked after a moment's consideration.
"Because."
Beckett tilted her head and gave him a look that clearly said, Do better.
"Because," he said firmly, but with eyes askance, "I wasn't sure. I thought I recognized her name, was pretty sure I recognized her face. I wasn't absolutely certain, though, until…." He finished by waving the card in the air.
"And? You couldn't just tell us that you thought you knew her but weren't sure?"
"Right. Because it's so easy to admit to your current…" he broke off, glancing at the two-way mirror before continuing, "your current partner that you barely recognize a woman you once slept with because you hardly knew her."
Kate chewed on her lip. Okay, so he was embarrassed. Maybe even a little ashamed. Well, why shouldn't he be? If all the women he'd been with were such a blur—and just how many were there, exactly?—then….
Castle cleared his throat, interrupting her train of thought.
"I can't explain why this card was with those flowers, Beckett. But I didn't send them," he reiterated.
Beckett took the bag back and motioned for him to move his arm. "We need to get out there."
"Kate."
"I believe you, Castle, okay?" She eventually met his eye, nodded to him. "We'll talk more later."
He slowly dropped his arm and followed her back into the bullpen, sending a silent plea to the universe for things not to get any worse.
It didn't exactly comply with his wishes.
A/N: Chapter two will be up tomorrow! Hope you're enjoying it so far!
