Chapter 4

Kate's cell phone chimed. Sleepily, she looked at a text, put the phone back on the bed stand, and burrowed back under the covers. "What was that?" Rick asked.

"It was Espo. He talked to Buddy Palfry's mother yesterday. She confirmed his alibi."

"Is a mother a reliable alibi?" Rick asked.

"Not necessarily," Kate answered, "but at the moment it means we don't have a solid suspect."

"Maybe we'll have to look somewhere besides Phaedra," Rick suggested.

"Later," Kate said turning to face him. "Right now I'd rather look at you."

Rick grinned. "I can live with that."

Kate traced the lines of Rick's face with her fingertips before using them to comb his sleep mussed hair.

Rick thrust his fingers into Kate's hair in response, pulling her face toward his. For a moment, they were forehead to forehead, just feeling each others' presence. Their lips met softly, with sweetness. Rick stroked Kate's skin, warmed by the bed covers and contact with his body. Kate moved against him as his touch awakened her intimate sensations. He answered her motion with his own, each loving touch demanding more. Their joining was perfect, as if they had been born to complete each other. Passion rose higher and higher until it washed over them like a flood to recede, leaving them entwined in perfect contentment.

"Beckett," Castle said when they had finally gone in search of caffeine, "what if the murder has nothing to do with Phaedra?"

"What are you thinking, Castle?"

"We looked at people who might have been upset at Glen Warren, but we didn't really look at Glen Warren."

"You have a point," Beckett agreed, taking her phone from her pocket. Beckett made a quick call to Esposito to start the paperwork to obtain Warren's financials and phone records.

At the 12th, while she was waiting for Warren's financials, Beckett researched the man himself. Castle busied himself researching the AJ church.

Glen Warren had quite a history with AJ. He had started out helping with accounting in his local church. He got noticed as a fundraiser by the regional officials and worked himself up to supervision of the financial affairs of all of the AJ churches in the Northeast United States. He hadn't gone either to a faith based college or a seminary As far as Beckett could tell, his rise was due entirely to financial success without any signs of moral concerns. In addition to his wife Lois, he had two daughters, Cara and Danae and a granddaughter Melissa by Cara and her husband Jeff Jones, a pastor at an AJ church in New Jersey.

The AJ church had originally been part of another denomination. It had broken off in the early 1900's due to what it felt was unfair exclusion from the church of certain elements of society. After getting past racial prejudices in the 1960's, it was known for its open arms toward prospective members and its support of the neighborhoods around its churches. From all appearances, Glen Warren's conflict with the people of Phaedra would have been no more popular with the church hierarchy than it was with the people themselves.

When they arrived, Ryan perused Warren's phone records. One name jumped out. There were many conversations of considerable length with a number belonging to a Mary Perkins. Research by Esposito found Mary Perkins to be a major partner in Perks Oil. Beckett and Castle called on her at Perks' corporate offices on Park Avenue.

"I don't know how I can help you, Detective," Mary Perkins said. "I barely knew Glen Warren."

"That's interesting, Ms. Perkins," Beckett commented. "Do you always have at least one twenty minute call a day with someone you hardly know?'

Mary paled. "All right. I knew him, but I don't know anything about his murder."

"Where were you Sunday night?"

"I was at home, with my husband."

"We'll be checking on that, Ms. Perkins," Beckett told her.

Beckett and Castle paid a visit to the night doorman of Mary Perkins' building. He confirmed that she had been in all night Sunday.

"You know," Castle said, "Mary probably thinks you're going to be talking to her husband. I bet she's sweating bullets."

"She should be," Beckett said. "She and Glen were having an affair. It's obvious."

"That still doesn't give us a killer, where to next?" Castle asked.

"We need to know more about the church and about Glen. We go see Pastor Jones in New Jersey."

"Great!" Castle exclaimed. "Another road trip!"

Pastor Jones' church was in a tiny seaside community on the New Jersey shore. The town of Haven Beach had been right in the path of Hurricane Sandy, but the church had been spared, something considered a miracle by the congregation. Up a series of stairs from a chilly but beautiful beach, the picturesque building was the perfect setting for a romance novel – or a wedding. The church was a hive of activity providing support to the surrounding community, but Jones was willing to take a few minutes to talk about the death of his father-in-law. He extended a hand and urged Beckett and Castle to call him Jeff.

"Detective," he told Beckett, "I really can't tell you about my father-in-law's private life. Gossip is strongly discouraged in this church. I can tell you that his duties involved a lot of travel and that he spent a great deal of time doing his job. If you two want to make your trip more productive, you can help us assemble some relief boxes. We have an assembly line going out in the gathering area."

Castle and Beckett looked at each other. Castle raised an eyebrow and Beckett nodded. They spent the next couple of hours loading boxes with soap, shampoo, combs, and other articles needed by people in temporary quarters. Beckett and Castle also kept their ears open for anything that might be relevant to the case. It was inevitable that there would be some discussion of Glen Warren's death. Pursuant to church teachings, nothing derogatory was actually said, but the tone in which Warren was discussed was not the most affectionate.

"I don't think that people thought much of Glen Warren," Beckett observed on the drive back to New York."

"I noticed that too," Castle told her.

"Rick," what would you think about getting married on the beach in front of Jones' church?"

"Kate, if you want a beach front wedding, we can use the house in the Hamptons. We wouldn't have to reserve it and it has a great view of the ocean."

Kate looked disturbed. "Yeah but..."

"I brought other women there," Rick finished.

"And..."

"I spent the summer there with Gina."

Kate nodded.

"OK, if you want to get married in Haven Beach, it's fine with me, but there are closer beaches that might be easier for our friends, Far Rockaway, maybe."

Kate nodded again. "We can look."

It was early evening when Rick and Kate returned to the city. After a quick stop by the precinct to check if any new clues had been uncovered, they headed for Rick's favorite deli for a meal to bring back to the loft. Kate was particularly attracted by the sliced roast beef. It was lean and almost bright red in the middle. Rick bought a couple of salads and some miniature pastries to go with it. With a trip to the beach still in mind, they spread their bounty on a blanket on the floor.

"Kate," Rick told her,"I was surprised that you wanted the meat so red. It's not the way you like your burgers."

"Sometimes," Kate whispered, nipping at his earlobe, "I want something I can get my teeth into."