Beckett's Way
By Mintsrel164
Kate Beckett glanced across to Castle and saw the excited look on his face. He had been wearing that expression ever since they had left the loft earlier in the morning. At first she thought the smile on his face had a lot to do with the way she had woken him to greet the new day. Morning sex. That never failed to leave him with a contented smile on his face that lasted most of the morning. It pleased her to know that she could put that kind of smile on his face. Yet there was more to the look on his face beyond the 'I got laid this morning' expression that he sported.
Turning her gaze back the road ahead she continued to ponder why Castle was looking so excited. It had been on his face ever since she had told him that they were going out to Belmont Park to arrest the strapper, Juan Alvarez for the murder of the horse trainer Calloway. Suddenly it dawned on her why he was excited, he was going to the race track.
Kate checked the rear view mirror and saw that Esposito and Ryan were behind her in Esposito's car. Behind them came a marked police cruiser that had been supplied by the local Nassau County police.
"Oh, there's the turn off." Castle pointed out, practically bouncing in his seat.
"I see it." Kate replied.
Kate was certain that Castle's excitement about going to the track was not because they were about to arrest Alvarez for murder. No, it was something else. Kate put aside those thoughts for the time being as she took the turn off and slowed the car as it approached the open gates that led into the training and barn facilities of the famous horse racing track. Reaching the gates she came to a stop. The cars behind her did the same.
A man stepped out from the booth. He was a short man aged in his late fifties with a face that seemed to make him look a lot older. From the looks of things he must have been a jockey some time in his past. He walked with a limp which indicated that a serious injury must have curtailed his riding career. He rubbed his hands together as if he was warding off the chill in the air even though there was no chill in the air at this time of the day.
The man broke into a beaming smile on seeing Kate. She wound down her window and flashed the man her badge. The smile on the man's face faltered a little but quickly it returned.
"Can I help you, Detective?" The man asked in a gravelly high pitched voice.
"Calloway's stables." Kate said.
"Go straight down for a hundred yards and take the first on the left, and drive for half a mile, you can't miss it, Detective."
"Thank you." Kate smiled.
The man returned the smile, tugged the peak of his cap before he backtracked to his booth.
Kate already knew the location of the Calloway stables having been here with Castle the other day to talk to many of the staff at the stables. This man had not been manning the gate that day. A little courtesy never hurt though. Glancing across to Castle she saw the little smile on his face, as if he was approving of the little show of courtesy. She drove through the gates and travelled along a tree lined driveway. She took the turn off on the left and drove along a winding road that intersected paddocks on one side and horse barns on the other.
Kate glanced at the horses in the paddocks that they passed and then looked at her partner and saw Castle was staring at the horses.
"Looking to see which one you're going to put your money on at the next racing meeting?" Kate inquired with some amusement in her voice.
Martha had told her about that time when Castle had killed off Derrick Storm and was not able to find a new character and would spend days betting on the races at Belmont
Castle turned away from the window and looked at Kate with narrowed eyes.
"You've been talking to Mother." He accused.
"I may have mentioned something about working a case about a murdered horse trainer." Kate replied, the beginning of a smile twitching on her lips.
Castle nodded his head. "And in turn she could not wait to regale you about the time I used to sit around in my underwear waiting for post time at Belmont?"
"She didn't mention anything about underwear." Kate said, shooting him a glance. "But do tell, Mr Castle."
"I sometimes wonder why I still allow her to live under my roof, and rent free?" Castle muttered unhappily.
This time Kate allowed a full smile to blossom across her face. She knew why his mother still lived with him. It was because he loved his mother. He might joke about her and to her, complain about her, be exasperated with her at times but underneath it all there was a strong bond of love that went both ways. That was just one of the many reasons Kate loved this man.
Kate spotted the sign for Calloway's stables and took the turn off. They came to a large courtyard. Beyond the courtyard were three similar looking horse barns. She parked the car in the parking lot off to the side of the courtyard and killed the engine. The boys parked their car after finding a spot amongst some SUVs and battered looking pick up trucks.
The smile on Kate's face vanished as she turned to look at Castle.
"I want you to remain in the car, Castle." She announced.
It had now become a little ritual between them every time now they went to arrest someone or conducting a raid. He was still a civilian and not a trained police officer, despite the fact that he attended plenty of arrests and raids, Kate was still concerned for his safety, and would always be.
"Not happening." Castle shot back.
"Castle."
"Not happening, Kate."
Kate glared at her partner.
"What if he makes a run for it?" Castle suggested.
"We've got it covered." Kate informed him. She cast a look out the window and saw that Esposito and Ryan had gotten out of their car and were speaking to the uniformed officers.
"Okay." Castle nodded his head, conceding her point. "What if he makes a break for it on a horse?"
"What?" Beckett's eyebrows rose up in surprise as she turned to look at him.
"What if he escapes on a horse?"
Kate stared at Castle for a moment before she rolled her eyes and shook her head. Only Castle would come up with something like that.
"I'm serious, Kate." Castle insisted. "I mean, there are horses around here, which believe it or not are more that suitable vehicles in which to make an escape from the arms of the law."
"Castle, what is this the wild west?"
"No. But can you see Esposito or Ryan jumping on a horse and giving chase?" Castle offered, his face looking serious.
Kate wanted to laugh at him but there was a serious tone to the expression on his face as he looked at her so she refrained from laughing in his face.
"I'm the only one here who's ridden a horse." Castle added.
"Riding a police horse whilst drunk and naked, doesn't qualify." Beckett told him pointedly.
"I'm just saying."
Kate could only shake her head at the way his mind operated sometimes. She knew full well if she had insisted he stay he would disobey the order like all the other times.
"Alright, you can come along." She conceded but making it sound like she was doing him a favour.
"Yes." Castle hissed.
"But." Kate held up a hand as she fixed him with a determined look.
"What?"
"You stay behind me, and you do as you're told, okay?"
Castle considered the conditions she had put down and after a moment he nodded his head. He could live with those conditions, at least he tried to. The smile returned to his face.
"Okay." He said.
"And definitely no riding any horses."
"Naked or otherwise?" Castle inquired as his eyebrows rose in a suggestive pose.
"Naked or otherwise." Beckett confirmed.
"You drive a hard bargain, my dear detective but, okay." Castle said and held out his hand to Kate. They shook hands to seal the deal.
Kate nodded her head, silently grateful that he did not complain or worse, whine about the conditions. She opened her door and got out of the car. She started walking to where the boys and the uniforms were standing. Castle quickly joined her.
"Alvarez is in that barn." Esposito informed her, pointing to the middle barn across the courtyard.
Kate nodded her head and turned to look at the barn in question. She carefully studied the barn and its entrance and the immediate surrounds. There were a couple of people leading horses out of the barn and across the courtyard towards the gate that opened onto the training track. Finishing the quick reconnoitre she turned back to the men.
"Esposito, you and the officers take the back. Ryan, you're with me." Kate announced. "He's not considered dangerous but be careful all the same, okay?"
The men nodded their acknowledgement of the orders. Even Castle. On a nod from Kate a few moments later Esposito led the uniforms off round to the back. Kate waited a couple of minutes. She glanced across to Castle and found him looking in the direction of another barn.
"Castle?"
Castle quickly turned his gaze to her and gave her a questioning look.
"Huh?"
"You ready?"
Castle nodded his head and then shot her a small grin.
Kate returned the nod. She opened up her coat and made sure it was free of her holstered gun.
"Let's go." She announced finally.
As they walked purposefully across the yard with Ryan on her left and Castle on her right keeping one step behind, Kate heard the familiar theme from the movie The Good, The Bad And The Ugly being whistled. She cast a look over to the offender. Castle waggled his eyebrows at her.
"Cool it, Enio Morricone."
"I thought I might lend an appropriate atmospheric sound track." Castle offered.
"Just for interest's sake which of us is The Good, The Bad and The Ugly." Ryan remarked with a chuckle.
Kate turned her gaze and levelled a look at Ryan.
"Right, focusing." He said quickly, wiping the grin from his face.
They reached the entrance to the barn and paused. Horse stalls ran down the length of the barn on either side and most of the stalls had horses in them with their heads poking out and observing the goings on taking place. Several stable hands were at work preparing horses for their daily work while a couple of others were grooming horses who had completed their morning's work. A couple more hands were busy mucking out empty stalls. The smell of manure was thick in the air.
Without a word Kate resumed walking, entering the barn. She approached a female stable hand who was standing at the nearest stall. Kate held up her badge.
"Juan Alvarez?" Kate said.
The girl stared at the badge and then at the woman holding it before she turned and pointed to the stall four down from where they were standing.
"Thanks." Kate said and resumed walking.
Juan Alvarez emerged from the stall holding a pitch fork full of soiled straw. He tossed the straw into a wheel barrow close by him.
"Juan Alvarez." Kate called out.
Alvarez, a short, thin young man with black hair and olive complexion was startled at the sound of his name being called. Looking up he saw the two detectives approaching. His eyes widened with alarm. They darted about seeking a way out. Ryan increased his pace sensing that the man was about to make a break for it. He was right. Alvarez dropped the pitch fork, turned and started running for the back door.
"He's running." Castle remarked as he looked at Kate.
"Yeah, don't you hate it when they do that?" She sighed.
Ryan set off after the fleeing Alvarez but slowed down when he saw the fleeing man come to a complete stop as he stared down the barrel of a police issue 9mm Glock that Esposito was pointing at him. Ryan reached Alvarez and quickly slapped the handcuffs on and read him his rights. He was turned around with Ryan and Esposito on either side of him and marched out of the barn.
"You'd think they'd learn." Castle quipped.
"We live and hope." Kate said drily.
Castle nodded his head slowly.
Kate emerged from the barn with Castle walking beside her. Esposito and Ryan came next with Alvarez. A small crowd had gathered to watch the handcuffed Alvarez. From the looks of things not too many people looked upset to find that Alvarez had been arrested.
Kate did not take too much notice of the rubberneckers except for a quick cursory sweep. She paused and looked to the boys.
"Take him to the car." She ordered.
Both Ryan and Esposito nodded their heads. They propelled Alvarez in the direction where they had parked the car.
Kate then turned her attention to the pair of uniforms. She thanked them for their assistance in the arrest and asked that they pass on her thanks to her patrol commander. The two uniforms assured her they would and then set off for their marked cruiser.
"Hey, Ricky!" A man called out. "Ricky!"
On hearing his name being called out Castle looked about and spotted a short stocky man breaking through the small crowd that was starting to disperse now that the show was over and came towards him. Castle broke into a smile.
"Hey, Lofty, how's it going?" Castle said.
"Not bad mate."
Kate looked on with some curiosity as she watched her partner shake hands with the man who spoke with an unusual accent that she could not quite place. Castle towered over the man.
After shaking hands Castle turned to Kate and smiled.
"Lofty, I'd like you to meet Detective Kate Beckett, Detective this is Lofty Harrison." Castle said, doing the introductions.
"A friend of Rick's is a friend of mine." Lofty smiled, holding out his hand.
"Pleasure to meet you, Mr Harrison." Kate replied as she shook the man's hand.
"Call me Lofty, everybody does."
"Okay, Lofty."
Kate could not help but frown a little. The man was barely five foot three, obviously an ex-jockey. Curiosity got the better of her.
"Um, why do they call you Lofty?"
"It's because I'm short." Lofty said and laughed.
Kate frowned a little more feeling that she missed the joke.
"It's Australian humour." Castle explained.
Kate nodded her head and forced a smile to her lips but she still did not get it.
"So, Ricky, you wanna go see?" Lofty asked.
"Could I?" Castle replied, his face lighting up with excitement.
"Sure, come on follow me."
Lofty turned and started heading towards the third barn. Castle set off after him. He had gone only a few yards before he stopped when he realised that Kate was not following. He looked back.
"Come on, Kate."
"Where?"
"I want to show you something."
"See what?"
"You got to see this, come on." Castle waved at her excitedly.
Castle did not wait for her he just turned and scurried to catch up to Lofty. Kate slowly shook her head. She could only wonder what was making him act like a nine year old on a sugar rush. If the truth be told she was a little annoyed that he had run off. They had a suspect to take back to the city and interrogate. They did not have time for this, whatever this was. Slowly she set off after him.
"Kate, come on." Castle called out.
"Castle, we have to get back to the city."
"This wont take long."
"Castle."
"Please."
Kate rolled her eyes at Castle's resorting to pleading and putting on his best puppy dog look. She hated it when he did that because she found she could not resist that look. Once again she found herself succumbing to that look. Slowly she followed Castle.
Entering the barn Castle and Kate followed Lofty down the line of horse stalls until the short man came to a halt in front of a light brown horse who had its head over the half open door. The horse stirred and looked at the people. Castle stepped up to the horse and the horse regarded him a moment before nudging him in the chest. Castle grinned as he reached out and stroked the animal's nose. He whispered to the animal in a low voice.
"Isn't she a beauty?" Castle said, smiling.
"That she is, mate." Lofty chuckled, casting Kate an appreciative look. "And the horse isn't bad either."
Kate smiled a little at the man's compliment and joke. She saw the look Castle shot the other man. So did Lofty.
"What, can't a man appreciate a fine looking filly?" Lofty laughed.
Kate watched as Castle petted the horse and could not help but smile.
"You know," Lofty said to Kate, nodding to the horse. "She's a feisty thing, mind of her own, doesn't allow too many to get close to her but she took one look at Ricky here, and she's like putty in his hands."
Kate's smile deepened a little as she nodded her head. The Castle charm at work, yet again, she thought to herself. She had seen the man work his charm on females of all ages with very few failures she should not have been surprised to see that it worked with females of the animal variety.
"So, what do you think, Kate?" Castle said as he looked over to Kate.
"It's a horse." Kate said, stating the obvious.
"Yes, it's a horse." Castle agreed. "I bought it."
Kate was stunned. Her mouth fell open in surprise. He had gone and bought a horse. She could not believe it.
"You bought a horse?" Kate said incredulously.
"Yeah, isn't it great?"
"You bought a horse?" Kate repeated.
"I told you I'd buy you a pony." Castle said with a laugh.
Kate remembered well his offer to buy her a pony from long ago. She also remembered that she had never taken up his offer. She thought it had been long forgotten. That thought was obviously wrong.
"You bought a horse?"
"Isn't she a beauty?"
"Castle, you bought a horse, for me."
"Yeah."
"Buying a dog not grand enough for you?"
"Yeah."
"Well, I'm not going to walk it."
"You don't have to."
"You bought me a horse?"
"Yeah." Castle nodded his head.
Kate knew that her boyfriend was prone to impulse buying. The latest gadget to hit the market was always on his must-buy list. Then there was also the parcel of land he had bought on the moon, not to mention the more recent purchase of additional land that he had put in her name. Given half the chance he would shower her with gifts of all kinds just because he could. He had tried to do that once but she had managed to disabuse him of the idea. Yet all of those now paled into insignificance as she stared at the horse that was nuzzling against Castle's broad chest. She saw the look of excitement that was etched deeply on his face. The smile he wore was from ear to ear.
"Why?" She asked, finally.
"Why, what?"
"Why did you buy me a horse?"
"I promised you I would."
"Yeah, but why now? Why this horse?"
"I love her name."
"You bought a horse for me because you love her name?" Kate ventured, her eyebrows rising upwards.
"Yeah." Castle nodded his head eagerly.
Kate could only imagine what the name of the horse was that had him so eager to buy it.
"What's her name?" Kate asked carefully.
"Beckett's Way!"
XXXXX
Down here in my neck of the woods there used to be a race horse named Beckett Way. I've wanted to write a story about Castle buying Kate 'a pony' for a while now. This was the result. I hope you like it. Drop me a line to let me know what you think.
Con