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Back again! ^^ Time for the next step in Beckett's master plan. Insert my evil laughter here. xDD

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This one was going to be easy. Wasting no time the next day, Beckett walked over, hopped up backward onto Ryan's desk - causing him to drop the open folder he was working with and mutter his surprise - and leaned toward him a bit from where she sat, keeping her volume in check, just in case.

"Throw your hand."

If Beckett's sudden presence wasn't enough to get him to look up, her sentence would do it. Ryan turned in his chair to face her, and, more than a little confused, he could only assume she was asking literally, for a case or something. The 'what are you up to' look stayed on his face as he stretched his left arm out and let his hand flick loosely from the end of it.

Detective Beckett arched a slightly judgmental eyebrow. "Really?"

"That…wasn't a ballistics thing?"

"No." God. Rolling her eyes, she reached forward and flicked her work-brother on the forehead. His wince wasn't quite as satisfying as Castle' theatrical writhing, but that could just be chalked up to the fact that this was much lighter torture on a much smaller scale. Plus, the subject was slightly more mature. Generally. "I'm asking you, throw your hand."

Ryan, for his part, was going to need a few more particulars. "It's…attached? I've seen Saw too many times to fall for that one."

Oh, for the love of all things holy… "You know, you're very literal this morning. What brought that on - fight with Jenny?" That may have been a little pointed, and she may or may not have been smirking a little…. She'd deny it in court.

"Why does it always come back to that? …And, yeah."

Somewhere inside of her, behind the tireless determination but on top of the airtight box of family issues, Beckett always felt a victorious little pang of triumph that she could read Ryan so well. Both of her detectives: they were like any other chapter book on her shelf, more times than they were aware of. It was fun when the books got defensive.

"Ryan. Try and work with me here. I want you, at the poker game on Friday, to throw, your hand," she said evenly, hoping that the effort of suffocating her smirk was enough to make her sound appropriately authoritative.

Well, that was a horse of a different color. Taking on something of a smirk of his own, Ryan leaned back, the backspring in his chair quietly creaking its complaint. He crossed his arms and quirked up an eyebrow, not too much of a change from his 'what are you up to' face of earlier. "You…want me to throw my hand," he repeated. "Like, throw the game? And lose on purpose."

"By George. He's got it."

"And, just to clarify…you're asking me this why?"

Ahh, perfect. Time for the hook. Gripping the desk's edge on both sides of her for balance, Beckett leaned forward, not five inches from Ryan's face, and mischief was all over hers. "Because I'll make it worth your while," she promised. Freeing her right hand, she held it out to him, waiting rigid to seal the deal. "You bow out of the game, and I pay you the pot, win or lose. Not a word to anyone and there'll be a check on your desk on Monday."

"I'm sorry - are you bribing me?"

"Uh, yeah. Duh. Problem?"

"Not at all." Ryan smacked his hand into hers, and they shook. Case closed. "You got yourself a very bizarre deal. Dare I ask what you're planning?"

"Nope." Beckett slid off the desk, capping off the handshake by patting him on the shoulder. She'd completely stopped bothering trying to hide her smirk, and she turned to walk away. "It's strictly covert, need-to-know-basis stuff. You take Fifth Third, right?"

"Totally." His tone may have been a little deadpan-ish, and he might have raised his eyebrows for a sec in a 'whatever you say' kind of way, but, hey: an offer to be guaranteed a pool of cash without having to play for it or work for it? Not half bad for ten a.m. One shrug and a swivel around, and he went back to work.

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Step two, complete. Thoroughly satisfied with her success so far, Beckett picked up her mug as she passed her own desk and took a long, congratulatory sip of coffee. As tame as the party was, though, it didn't last long, because at that moment Esposito strode in from pounding the streets, pulling the lanyard around his neck over his head and depositing the badge on his desk.

"Yo Beckett. Got a hit on our vic's widow uptown. Turns out she put a two-hundred-fifty-thousand-dollar life-insurance policy on 'im three days before he died." Esposito jabbed a finger at the clipboard he was holding, indicating one of his notes in particular. Beckett came around and read over his shoulder as he spoke. "Got that little tidbit from the family funds manager, and when I sent uniforms to go pick her up, their reports said that she claimed she didn't know anything about it."

Giving her a sly sideways glance, the kind he always gave when he had something good on somebody, he lifted the corner of the top sheet and turned it over the back of the clipboard. Beckett gaped at what was on the second page.

"That's her signature. That's our widow's signature on the bank receipt," she exclaimed.

"Sure is. Wonder if she broke a sweat, lyin' like that."

Go-time. Switching her eyes from the documents to Javier, she grinned broadly, partly out of pride for his sharp work and partly because finally, this case had a lead. She grabbed the clipboard from him, put down her coffee, and turned for the interrogation rooms. "She in now?"

"Should be."

"What do you say we go give her a little 'good cop, bad cop,' see if she changes her tune about exactly what she remembers?"

Esposito pulled off his jacket and dropped it over his chair as he followed. "Unless you got other plans for me."

Ohhh, his choice of phrase was too priceless. Thoughts of her ongoing scheme were all over Beckett's face as she held open the door. A last indulgence of mirth before she crossed the mirror and the mood went stoic. "Oh, trust me," she replied smoothly. "You're right where I want you."

Getting her irony-driven smirk in check, she slipped into the room behind Esposito, and the heavy door of Interrogation Two clicked shut.

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^_^ Any guesses as to what she's doing? Don't ruin it for everybody else. X] So far, Lanie's coming to the game and Ryan's going to fold, hmmmm… Wonder how this could possibly benefit Lanie and Espo… ^^

AND. Because I said I'd mention something about it on each new chapter. PLEASE, if anyone (age 14+) is interested in joining a completely-free, all-Castle roleplaying forum, PLEASE PLEASE GO TO MY PROFILE and read about/take the link to "12th Precinct." We're new and still need members, including people to play Castle, Esposito, Ryan, Lanie and Montgomery (AS OF the time of this chapter's posting), plus others and OCs. Thank you for listening to this handy non-profit announcement. XDD

SO. Got thoughts about this installment? Share 'em! I love reviews. ^^ Thank you to all you who've been reading. Next part soon.

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