A/N: You have to blame ChampionshipVinyl for this one. No, seriously, if you don't like it, send your complaints to her. Just kidding! ;) Although she does deserve credit for this getting stuck in my head. This is what happens when we talk about 'what-ifs'. And huge thanks to her for being patient enough to edit this as I wrote it. I hope you enjoy this, because I certainly had fun writing it!
Phone Tag
In which Castle is intrigued, Beckett is exasperated, and Ryan smells a rat.
Is it okay if we move dinner to seven?
Ryan shrugged and called Jenny back. When they'd been talking earlier that morning she'd had to cancel because of a last minute parent-teacher interview.
"So… did your parents cancel?" Ryan curiously asked once she'd picked up.
"Cancel? They just scheduled this morning. Kevin, what are you talking about?"
"The text you sent about pushing dinner back to seven?" Ryan's brow furrowed. He'd been so sure it was from Jenny he hadn't done more than give it a cursory glance to see who'd sent it. Wouldn't be the first time he'd gotten a wrong number. The first couple of weeks working with Espo and Beckett, he'd kept getting calls from Espo's sisters by mistake.
"Wasn't from me. The principal just sent an email out to the Art Department, anyways; he wants to push up the annual budget meeting." Ryan could almost see Jenny rolling her eyes. "At this rate, I won't be getting out of here until ten. Sorry, Kev."
"Hey, no worries. I'll just think of it as payback for all the times I've had to cancel on you." Ryan grinned. "Have fun with your parents and the budget meeting."
"Thanks." The smile was evident in Jenny's voice. "Hey, if you don't hear from me by eleven, come break me out, okay?"
"I'll run the sirens." Ryan promised.
"Love you."
Ryan's grin got bigger. "Yeah, you too."
They said their goodbyes quickly and Ryan turned back to his computer just before Beckett and Castle returned from Interview One.
"He talking yet, boss?" Ryan asked.
"No. How are his financials coming?"
"He likes to watch Pay-Per-View when he stays at a hotel." Ryan shrugged. "Pretty normal, otherwise."
Beckett sighed. "Okay. Castle and I are going to head over to the sister's. Call if anything pops."
"Will do." Ryan threw Beckett a salute as she left, Castle trotting behind her.
"What's got you in such a good mood?" Esposito grumbled, heading back into the bullpen.
"Nothing." Ryan shrugged. "What's got you in such a bad one?"
"None of your business."
Ryan watched Espo glare at his phone and almost expected it to burst into flames. "Pendleton holding up your trace results again?"
"Yeah."
Weird. Esposito sounded almost relieved.
Esposito looked up from his phone. "What are you doing?"
"Financials. And trying to get a hold of the Doc. She get a new number?"
"Yeah, a few weeks ago." Esposito rattled the number off. "What'd you need it for?"
"Autopsy report." Ryan replied, scribbling the number down on a Post-It. "Beckett left you a present. Phone records just showed up." Ryan pointed at the box on Espo's desk.
Esposito nodded and started thumbing through the phone records. Ryan was turning back to his computer when the Post-It caught his eye. He really should put that in his phone before he forgot. Ryan was in the middle of typing Lanie's phone number in when he paused. Espo had reeled it off in five seconds flat. Hadn't even needed to think about it. Which was odd, because speed dial was Esposito's friend. He memorised one number instead of ten. (Espo said it was a shortcut, Ryan said he was lazy.) The only reason he even knew Ryan's was because they were only one digit apart. Ryan smelled a rat.
A suspicion floated on the edge of his thoughts but disappeared before he could grab onto it. Ryan shrugged. It would come to him eventually. In the meantime, he'd try Lanie down in the morgue one more time before resorting to her cell phone. It was just after one. She'd probably been out to lunch. He reached for his desk phone.
"Parish." Lanie answered on the first ring.
"Hey, Doc." Ryan grinned.
"What, Ryan?"
"No need to get your panties in a twist, Doc. Just wanted to know the status of our autopsy."
"Boy, you stop thinkin' about my panties right now." Lanie did not sound amused. "Your guy's still on ice. I spent half the morning finishing up one of Karpowski's bodies. I'll let you know when I'm done. Now hang up so I can do some cutting."
"O-kay then." Ryan stared at the phone. Bad moods seemed to be catching. The woman sure got cranky when she was distracted from carving up her newest dead body. Any further thoughts on the matter were derailed when his phone started ringing the second he hung up with Lanie.
"Ryan."
Must be a slow week down in CSU if fingerprints were back already.
"Any hits?"
Please let there be a hit.
"What are the names?"
Ryan nodded as the guy in the lab spouted them off.
"Thanks."
Ryan hung up and looked over at Esposito.
"Hey, Iceposito, what do you think about running some background checks?"
"Sure." Esposito said, already eager for a break from the phone records. "Does that mean you get these?" He pointed to the box.
"Ah, no." Ryan ripped the list of names in half and balled one up before lobbing it at Esposito. "There aren't that many."
Esposito snatched the paper out of the air mid-flight and sighed.
Four hours later, Ryan and Esposito had finally finished slogging their way through their victim's paperwork and were just waiting on the background checks to come back. They were discussing possible theories and throwing the Koosh around when Beckett and Castle came back. Esposito exchanged a slightly horrified look with Ryan when they caught a glimpse of the other two. Castle was in a pretty chipper mood – not unusual – but Beckett's glare would have scared off a thunderstorm. Castle had done something, and Beckett was not happy about it. And Ryan and Esposito were probably going to pay for it. Ryan caught the Koosh and bounced it into one of his desk drawers.
"Hit a brick wall with the family?" Esposito asked.
"Nope." Castle beamed.
"If only." Beckett muttered under her breath to Ryan. "Preferably with his face."
"His sister told us that Brenden was close with one of his neighbours, and if anything out of the ordinary had happened, she would know about it. And the neighbour was extremely helpful." Castle informed them. "She said there was a girl over at our vic's the day before he died, got into an awful shouting match. I signed a book for her, she's a fan – what?" Castle asked, at Beckett's snort. "It made her feel better. And she slipped me her number." Castle turned to Esposito, his regular partner in crime when discussing women. "She's gorgeous. All long legs and smoky eyes and these incredible curls, practically molten gold-"
"-We get it." Beckett broke in. "She's the second coming of Heidi Klum. Are we done?" She turned to the boys. "What did phone and financials turn up? And where's the autopsy report?"
That niggling feeling was back. Normally Esposito was egging Castle on for more information – at the very least, interested in hearing more – and today he'd barely even pretended to be interested. Ryan knew it wasn't just because Beckett was upset; Espo had encouraged Castle on worse days. Castle abandoned Esposito for Ryan and perched on the edge of his desk.
"Oh. Ah, financials for our vic show that he'd taken up yoga the last few months. Financials for our hapless intruder, who 'found'-" Ryan included the air quotes, "-the body and is now cooling his heels in Interview One, are clean. Well, as clean as thief's finances can be. And they hold up his alibi. CSU sent up the fingerprint results and we're running them against people we know were in the apartment in the last few days."
"Phone records show that he'd been talking pretty regularly to an Amanda Larados – could be the girl your neighbour saw." Esposito said. "Long phone calls, too, there isn't one that's shorter than five minutes."
"Autopsy report?" Beckett asked.
"Doc hadn't gotten to him earlier, but she said she'd call when she-" Ryan broke off as his cell phone buzzed. "That's probably her now." Ryan thumbed the text message open.
"Looks like you forgot to tell us something." Castle chided, peering over Ryan's shoulder. "You and Honeymilk have a fight?"
"Shut up, Castle." Ryan hissed, shooting a desperate look Beckett's way. "Please tell me you and the Doc are having a girl's… something tonight."
"Why?"
"Otherwise I don't think I can go to the morgue ever again."
"What are you talking about, Ryan?" Beckett's patience was rapidly fraying.
"Well, I don't know why she'd be asking me if we're still on for her place tonight." Ryan flipped back to the mystery text from earlier, now showing Lanie's name as the sender. "Or why she wants to move dinner to seven!"
"Ooh, a mystery." Castle should not be allowed to be so giddy about this. Ryan was worried, damn it. And there was that whole flirtation between Espo and Lanie to worry about; which Ryan had thought was eventually going to go somewhere – Espo probably wasn't going to take the fact that Lanie was seeing someone (because offering to cook dinner at your apartment was not something you did for just anyone) very well…
Ryan's thoughts ground to a halt. The only time he'd ever gotten a wrong number had been from Esposito's sisters (and occasionally Beckett) trying to get a hold of him. It would certainly explain Espo's sudden reluctance to discuss the hotties they ran into on the job with Castle. And the bad moods.
"Bro." Ryan looked over at Esposito. "You have something you want to share with the class?"
Esposito blinked against the sudden scrutiny. "Uh…"
"Now that I would not have guessed." Castle nudged Beckett. "What about you?"
"Dude. I told you about Jenny after the second date!" Ryan huffed. Some people might call what he was doing pouting. (But it definitely wasn't.)
Beckett sighed. "Esposito?"
"Beckett… come on."
"Well no one's going to get any work done until you do, Esposito, so my advice? Think of it like a Band-Aid and rip it off quick."
Esposito sighed. "Two months."
Castle whistled.
"I can't even look at you right now." Ryan threw his hands up in the air and went back to his computer.
Karpowski chose that moment to interrupt them, handing a folder to Beckett.
"These the canvass results?" Beckett asked.
"Yeah." Karpowski rolled her eyes and snapped her gum. "'Course, this is the city of See No Evil, Hear No Evil, so it's a whole bunch of nothing. 'Cept for the little blue aliens the guy in 5F saw, but their alibis check out."
"Their alibis checked out? Really?" Castle asked.
"Thanks." Beckett grinned. "Oh, and Ros?"
"Yeah?"
"You owe me twenty bucks."
"Huh." Karpowski looked over at Esposito. "How about that. I'll have it to you on Monday."
"You bet on me?" Esposito asked, aghast.
"Girl's got to make money somehow. Now I'm just waiting for Ryan to ask Jenny to move in."
"Hey!"
Beckett smirked. "Okay children, play time's over. Back to work."