A/N: I am so sorry everyone for the delay in getting this update out to all of you. Between other projects, work and real life, I'm just running behind in everything right now. I am hoping to be on a more regular schedule from here on out. So I hope you enjoy this update, and as always, thank you for the follows and the reviews. Enjoy.

Chapter 2

12th Precinct

Manhattan, New York

"Poisoned?" Kate asked in shock as she looked at Castle and Russell who had just returned from the morgue bearing the news.

Russell nodded. "Dr. Parrish estimated it's been about 3 months or so. She got the latest blood work from the victim's doctor, and compared to samples she drew. He has higher than normal heavy metal counts in his blood."

"Did Lanie say what it was?" Esposito asked as he looked at Castle and Russell.

"Arsenic mainly." Castle answered as he got up and stood next to Kate. He rubbed her lower back after her noticing her discomfort on her face. "But there are hundreds of metals out there that are undetectable."

"And where did he pick up the arsenic Castle?" Ryan asked as he looked at Castle with a small smirk on his face. "It's not like he has arsenic sitting in his medicine cabinet."

"Arsenic has a million uses. Maybe he uses it for metallurgy." Castle commented with a smile. He walked over to the board as he saw their looks. "There could be a million places he could have picked this up on a daily basis but at levels Lanie was talking about, it had to happen in one place."

"Alright tear apart his life and find out where he went." Kate ordered. She looked at the team. "Where are we on the computers from the home and office, along with the financial records?"

"Nowhere." Esposito stated as he passed over some paperwork to Kate. "His job got an injunction on everything."

Castle was in shock as was everyone else. He looked at the paperwork. "I mean I expected his work computers and files, but his home computer and personal finances?"

"Claimed proprietary information." Ryan remarked as he looked at Kate as she looked up from the paperwork. "Says even his home computer could contain confidential client information."

"Well how does that explain the injunction on his financial records then?" Russell commented as Kate handed the paperwork over. "That shouldn't include any client information."

"Unless they are covering something up." Castle remarked as he looked at the board. He studied it for a moment. "Or searching for something."

"You mean searching for anything illegal he may have done?" Kate asked. She saw her husband nod. She took a breath. "We can do our jobs if we can't get access to the records."

"But no judge will vacate the order without risking a major donor to their campaigns." Ryan added in to the conversation. He looked at Kate, and Castle. "How will we get around that?"

Russell chuckled. "Go to the one place where somebody with enough pull can ask them to release everything without causing too many waves."

"Great, the one place I didn't want to go back to today." Kate remarked as she looked at Russell. She then turned her attention to Castle. "Come on Rick, you're coming with me."

"Are you sure about that?" Castle asked as he saw the smiles on everyone's faces except his wife's. "I don't know how much of a use I'll be at 1PP."

"That is because you are going to do all the talking especially when you call your buddy the mayor and ask him to attend the meeting." Kate said with a devious smile on her face. She looked at Castle. "It will be alright babe. At most they can do is yell at you and make your life as driver miserable."

"Great now I really don't want to go." Castle replied as he watched his wife walk into her office to grab her stuff. He looked at the team. "I give you guys anything you want if you don't make me go."

Everyone shook their heads no. Esposito clasp Castle on the shoulder. "She's your wife man, and the mayor is a friend of yours. Have fun."

"I hate you guys." Castle remarked as his wife came towards him. "Ready?"

"Yes, and you aren't getting out of this." Kate replied as she walked past him and the team towards the elevator. "Come on Castle."

The team smiled as Castle groaned as he followed Kate to the elevator.

Kate and Rick's Loft

Manhattan, New York

For Maria, she hadn't planned on returning to the loft that day after coming home from the book tour, but the phone call from Gina demanding an email from her letting her know everything that went on from venues, interviews and so forth went. Maria cursed as she finished typing up the document and attached it to the email before sending it to Gina. Maria suspected that Gina was already planning the next leg of the book tours after baby Castle was born despite Rick' demands that she not schedule anything until he had a chance to talk to Kate. So Maria gathered her stuff and started towards the front door of the loft. She turned to Alexis as she was leaving. "I'm leaving Alexis."

"See you Maria. Sorry you had to drag yourself out of the house because of Gina." Alexis replied as she looked up from her notebook. "And dealing with my dad."

"He was actually the normal one. It was his female fans I had to look out for." Maria replied chuckling as she laid a hand on the door. "See you tomorrow."

Maria opened the door and was surprised by the redheaded female on the other side of the door. "Can I help you?"

"Oh am I sorry, I thought this was the Castle residence?" Meredith answered.

"It is, but Mr. Castle isn't here at the…." Maria started to say.

"Mom. What are you doing here?" Alexis said coming over to the door. She turned to Maria and patted her on the shoulder. "Maria this is my mother, Meredith."

"Nice to meet you Mrs…." Maria started to say.

"It's just Meredith." Meredith replied as she walked past Maria. "You must be the nanny. Rick never hired one…"

"Mom stop. She is working with dad to help deal with Gina, and Paula." Alexis answered as she walked towards her mother. "What are you doing here mom?"

"Well I stop by to see if you want to do lunch, talk about you moving out to give your father and step-mother space for the new baby." Meredith answered the question as she set her stuff down on the couch. "Also about possibly me moving back to New York to star in a TV show."

"Well I had lunch already, and you emailed me this morning about the role." Alexis answered as she sat down on the couch. "As far as me moving out, I'm going to stay for a little while to help out, then I'll look."

"Oh Alexis, I'm sure you mean well, but they have to do it on their own." Meredith answered the statement and taking a seat next to Alexis. "Your father and I did."

"You mean dad did himself." Alexis replied looking at her mother.

Maria could feel the tension building. "Ok, well nice to meet you ma'am. I'm going to go Alexis."

"See you tomorrow Maria." Alexis answered with a wave and a smile.

Meredith observed the door being shut. "Beautiful and nice. I wonder how long before your father falls in love with her."

"Mom stop ok. One she is married, and two, she is married to Detective Jennifer Russell, who works for Kate." Alexis scolded Meredith who looked at her daughter in shock.

As Alexis was scolding Meredith, Maria on her way to the elevator, decided to pull out her cellphone and call Castle. "Hey Rick, It's Maria."

Near One Police Plaza

Manhattan, New York

"Hey what is going on?" Castle answered cheerfully.

"There was a woman who showed up to the loft as I getting ready to leave." Maria stated as she pressed the button. "About 5'6, red hair…"

"A diva type attitude." Castle said finishing off the statement. He ran his hand over his forehead. "That would be Meredith. What does she want?"

"Talking to Alexis about some TV role she is up for, moving out and lunch." Maria said as she waited by the elevator. "Oh and she thought I was the nanny."

"I'm sorry Maria. She's a bit….." Castle started to say but stopped trying to come up with the right word to use. "Eccentric."

"That is one way to put it." Maria replied with a chuckled. The elevator door opened. "Anyway I thought I let you know."

"Alright thanks Maria." Castle said finishing the call. He sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I'll buy you a Ferrari if you arrest Meredith right now."

Kate looked at her husband. "As tempting as that sounds, legally I cant do that."

Castle smiled at her. "Sure you can. You can arrest her trespassing."

"Castle." Kate scolded her husband as she brought the car to a stop. "One that would definitely get me fired, and two, Alexis kept her on there for whatever reason Meredith actually decides to show up."

Castle looked at Kate and then shrugged his shoulders. "Guess I'll have to deal with it for now."

"Thank you, because I need you on your A game in there." Kate said as she pulled into the parking garage of One Police Plaza. Several minutes later they were upstairs being ushered into the conference where Chief Miller, Mayor Weldon, Commissioner Barnes, and the head of the victims firm, Harold Conner was there. Commissioner Barnes walked over. "Captain Beckett, Mr. Castle, thank you for coming."

"Our pleasure sir." Kate replied as she walked over and shook the head of the firm's hand. "Captain Katherine Beckett."

"Harold Conner." Mr. Conner answered getting up and shook the hands of Kate and Castle. He took a seat. "I was a little surprised that Bob asked me to attend this meeting."

"Well Rick here is a close friend of mine, and asked me to ask you to come. I also know his wife as well so as a courteous I did." Mayor Weldon stated. He turned to Castle. "So you two what can we do to get over what impasse there may be?"

Rick took a breath. "Mr. Mayor, Commissioner, Chief Miller, Mr. Conner, my wife's detective team was assigned the case to investigate the death of your associate Mr. Jeffery Conners. Yet your firm sir claimed everything as proprietary information including the victim's financial records which are personnel."

"It was necessary after you made the accusations of him doing something illegal." Mr. Conner said defending himself.

"We did no such thing, we merely asked if any of his coworkers or supervisors suspected him of doing so." Kate countered as she shifted in her seat. Her gut twitched a little bit. "They said no, but we can't be totally sure until we see everything."

"And with you claiming proprietary information, it looks like you are covering something up." Castle added in.

"Easy Rick, these people are big donors to a lot of people who can make you, your wife's and her team's life miserable." Mayor Weldon warned. He ignored the smirk from Mr. Conner and looked in that direction. "Seems like a reasonable request. If they prove nothing wrong, no harm no foul."

"Yet if it leaks out Mr. Mayor, just the word of the police looking into…." Mr. Conner started to say.

"I'm sure that that team of Detectives, Mr. Castle and Captain Beckett would take the up most care and discretion in the case." Commissioner Barnes stated. He leaned back in the chair. "Especially when it comes to the sensitivity about certain perceived notions."

"Exactly, so let's make Captain Beckett, Rick, and the team of detectives have access to everything." Mr. Weldon told Mr. Conner.

Mr. Conner nodded knowing defeat. "Very well, I'll let the firm know to release everything."

Castle looked at the man. "Including people that work there."

"NO ABSOLUTLEY NOT." Mr. Conner stated definitely He pointed a finger at them. "You already talk to them…"

"Mr. Conners was poisoned with arsenic before he was bludgeoned to death. Someone at your office maybe responsible and we need access to them." Castle responded.

Now it was Chief Miller's time to jump in. "And if you don't, we place a call to the SEC going off on what they suggested during the interviews and have them look into your company. Pretty sure that won't be discrete."

"Come on Harold. Think about it. I'm done after this term so you can threaten me." Mr. Weldon stated. He leaned forward in his chair. "I can whisper to both candidates about what you may be accused of."

Mr. Conner nodded again in defeat. "Very well. I will also notify them to make themselves available to the detectives."

"Thank you Harold. I'll call you later." Mayor Weldon stated. Mr. Conner nodded and left the conference room; once the door was shut Mayor Weldon turned to Castle and Kate. "Now are you sure that needed to be done?"

Kate nodded. "Yes sir. Without access to anything it will make the jobs of my detectives 90 percent harder."

"Also it will help us determine if the victim truly was committing a crime." Castle added in as well.

Commissioner Barnes leaned forward in his chair. "Mr. Castle what makes you so sure that there was a crime being committed by the victim?"

"Commissioner, he was living in a very expensive apartment, with expensive clothes furniture, electronics etc." Castle answered. He took a breath and took hold of Kate's hand. "Unless he was doing business from home, and what his position was he shouldn't be making that much."

"Plus sir he was being poisoned with arsenic." Kate also added in. She looked at everyone before going. "Whatever is happening at home, office or elsewhere, he was being poisoned and we need to find out."

Chief Miller nodded. "All right you made your case. What's the next move?"

"Go back and find out what our victim was really up too." Kate stated.

"Very well. Keep us appraised if you need anything else." Commissioner Barnes told them.

"Yes sir." Kate answered. She got up, came to attention which was not easy before she and Castle left the conference room. As they arrived at the elevator, she leaned into Castle. "You were very serious in there. You ok?"

"Yeah. The whole thing with the arsenic though. If the goal was to kill him the killer could have easily done a lot more when they did." Castle asked as the elevator doors opened and they stepped on. "So why even poison him?"

Kate thought about that for a moment. "Maybe it was to make him sick enough not to show up for work?"

Castle thought about that as the doors closed and elevator began to move. "But at the levels Lanie found it would have taken multiple attempts. Besides the office where else could someone get access to the victim?"

Kate didn't have an answer for that as the elevator arrived on the ground floor.

12th Precinct

Manhattan, New York

Kate and Castle walked off the elevator and into the bullpen a half an hour later after leaving One Police Plaza. They made their way to the murder board. Kate spoke first. "What did you guys find out?"

"Well whatever you did, worked, we have everything here." Esposito remarked as he pointed to the files and electronics from both the victim's home and work place. "Ryan is going over the electronic footprint of our victim."

Castle stopped by his chair and turned it around so Kate could sit down and rest her feet and look at the murder board. "What about the finances?"

"Russell is going through those right now." Esposito stated. He held his own stack of paperwork. "I'm going through the victims work folders to see if anything is a miss."

Kate nodded as Esposito walked away. She saw the wheels in Castle's head turning. "What are you thinking babe?"

"Arsenic is such a personnel attack as all poisonings are." Castle remarked as he got up and pointed to the lab report and the pictures of the mee's line on the murder board. "But most often poisonings are undertaken by women."

"Well according to everyone that knew Jeffery Conners said he never had a serial girlfriend." Kate answered as she looked at the board too. She then saw what Castle was going on. "You're thinking it maybe someone he scorned."

"Could be or a jealous lover." Castle answered as he came back and sat at the desk. "Still could be a hundred suspects."

Just as Kate nodded her agreement, Russell came on over. "Found something interesting Captain going through the financials. Turns out Castle was right. When Jeffery first started he was only making eighty thousand a year, and now he is only making ninety thousand a year. But between everything in his apartment and the cost of his apartment, he has been living beyond his means."

Kate took the paperwork from Russell and flipped through it. "Sure has been. Who spends thirty thousand dollars on a home entertainment system beside my baby daddy?"

Castle chuckled at the comment and looked at Russell. "Worth every penny though."

"Not when the neighbors are complaining about the vibrations when you are watching Nebula 9 or Star Trek." Kate added in with her own smile as she looked up. She then turned to Russell. "You find anything else besides higher spending habits?"

"Not yet, but we are still looking." Russell remarked as she took the papers back as Ryan walked on up. "Did you find anything Ryan?"

"Apprantley the serial dater got real serious with someone recently in the past few months." Ryan remarked as he handed over a copy of emails to Kate. "These are just some of the emails we gathered. Most went to his personal email account but some did go to his work email."

"Wow some of the descriptions are really risqué." Kate stated as she read the emails. Her face went red as she continued to read them. She then passed them over to Castle. "Whoever this person was pretty open about what she wanted to do to him."

"I'll say, and the one move she describes here I don't think is possible." Castle answered as he read the emails

Kate smiled as she saw her husband turn the page. "It's possible but I won't show you until after the baby is born."

Castle stopped reading for a moment and turned his head to Kate who had a sly smile on her face. Ryan took a breath before going on. "Anyway, I contacted email provider, turns out we already met the female who wrote the emails."

"Who is it?" Kate asked.

Ryan looked at Kate. "Jeffery Conners coworker Julia Smith."

"Didn't she say she was at work at the time of the murder?" Castle asked.

"She was, but the victims building has surveillance cameras." Esposito stated as he now came over. He held up a picture. "Shows her coming out of the building about 45 minutes before she was supposed to be at work."

"So the question is why did she lie about her relationship with our victim?" Russell asked.

Castle looked at the team and Kate. "Another question is, was she the one poisoning him?"

Additional note: I have had many request to keep this A/U open and it is on my mind and I am debating it. I will let everyone know my decision by the end of this story. Thank you and I hope you enjoyed the update.