Tomorrow.
"Castle not in yet?" Asked Kate of the two detectives.
"Welcome back Boss!" They chimed simultaneously as they jumped up to greet her.
"Nope, but you know those lazy playboy-types, never up before ten." Came Esposito, by way of defence. He had been sure Castle would man-up and it looked like he was going to be disappointed.
"Sure glad to see you here again boss." Said Ryan, shaking her hand – a little nervously, he didn't know how to greet her anew like this.
Kate blushed a little to see their happy faces. "Thanks boys. Now, where's my coffee?"
"Ah—" Esposito was stumped. "That was a Castle thing, you know. Didn't think to—"
"Never mind Espo, I'm jerking your chain. I was getting spoiled by it anyway."
"Spoiled? By good coffee? How is that even possible?"
That voice. "Castle!" This time a cheer from three throats at once.
Gate's office
Victoria sat, a thundercloud parked above her head. The phone looked at her, mafia-like. She had never been quite so angry in her life. The feeling of being pinched and extorted was intense.
The injustice of it hurt like a physical pain. Castle would get his way, she knew this, but she sure as shit did not have to like it.
If it got out of hand, if she was not respected by those above her in the food-chain, she would resign. Right now, she would let the old-boys club have its way. She was nothing if not patient.
To add salt to the wounds, Castle knocked on her door and popped his head in.
"Morning Ma'am." He said. Oh, it was on.
"Castle." She indicated for him to enter. "You have done a cheap thing and I won't forget it. You'll get your way for now." Her eyes blazed and she thrust her finger at him to punctuate, "But let me trip you up even once and I will press charges, if I can, or I will throw you out of the building. If all that fails, I will resign. My career is not worth this kind of corruption."
Castle's mouth hung open. He did not realize quite how ethical this woman really was. And he felt like the dirty, betraying rat he really was. He wanted to trust her. He wanted to get this bad karma right.
He thought about bringing her onto his secret mission, but it was too soon. What if she was involved? He could not risk that. For now it would have to be bad blood and shame.
"I understand Captain." He would give her that much. Respect was important.
Gates nodded, noticing the shift. She flicked her eyes at her door. He left.
The team.
The first thing he did to change patterns was forgo the traditional coffee and claws. He clamped-down on any stray hint of sadness and concentrated on building a new rapport.
"Morning team." He was going to use new words too.
"Hey bro!" Esposito bumped his fist. Ryan gleamed and shook his hand.
Kate looked up from her stack of paperwork and smiled, "Morning Castle, we missed you."
"Sorry, been distracted by writing. What happened to that home-invasion case?"
"Solved that one, don't need you around after all." Quipped Kate. Castle grinned, despite feeling like a Salvador Dali portrait had come to life and everything that was known was now unknown. Perhaps he had stepped-into an alternative reality?
Shutting off the weird he said, "Let me guess, it was the CIA after all?"
The three made their horror know with a groan. Oh yeah, he was back.
Kate noticed that there was no coffee. Briefly, she glanced at his char. His chair? Really? How am I going to recover if I can't stop these defunct feelings? She made the quip about him not being needed and for a moment she saw a bottomless agony in his eyes. Oh Castle, have I hurt you that much? Then he recovered and she could not say whether it had been her own mind playing a trick. Well, back to work I guess.
"New case. You got here just in time." She declared.
"Yeah, this is a weird one." Said Ryan, floating over on his chair, Esposito close behind.
"Loco crazy man. You gonna love it."
And so it turned out. There had been some tension when he joined them on the scene and he had to explain that he had jammed the Gates open for a time. To questions about the how, he refused to answer. He told them only that he was in this for a short period and was looking to finish his last Heat novel. Was it an illusion that Kate blanched when she heard this? No, he cut that off. No time for mind games and second-guessing. She was his one and gone.
The case was scoping into something bizarre relating to the art world. A painting was under the body of the vic, an identical copy stood on the floor, and Castle was not at all sure he liked the frame.
"This frame is wrong." He said, eyeing the excrescence.
"What's your thinking?" Kate asked him.
"Not sure yet. Doesn't it strike you as too large for the canvas? Like the frame is more important than the art."
"And that fake under the vic?"
"And then there's that."
"Go on Castle." She knew he had these almost savant insights into crime scenes and was willing to hear him out. Also, she was enjoying their return to some kind of normal.
"Well, couple this.. horror.. with that horror," he pointed from the frame to the body, "and you have a kind of symmetry." He got that far-away look in his eyes.
"I wonder..." He strode to the painting. It was resting on the ground, leaning on the wall. He pulled it forward to look at the binding. There was no sign of tampering. If someone had just replaced the original with a fake, the binding would be different, but it looked as old as the surrounding tape and nails. Then there was the canvas itself. He could not place it, but it was off.
"What if they replaced the entire thing? Fake painting and—"
"Fake frame!" Kate finished his thoughts. Jolt of pain. Clamp it down.
His blue eyes sparkled and she could not help but feel a deep satisfaction. They were so in tune; he was her tune. Nope, stop that.
"But this is the original, surely?" Said Kate, looking at the painting rather than him.
"Maybe. I admit, it's a stretch."
"And this Joe," she thumbed the vic, "who was holding tape and other eccentric art supplies could not have removed the original."
"Yeah, weird. Why break-in to a gallery with the tools you need to remove a painting and replace it with a potential fake and then not actually replace it with a fake?"
"Cameras caught something last night." Said Esposito, approaching them. "You gonna want to see this one."
As they turned to head for the little office, the door chime rang and Castle looked-up. A stunning blonde entered and looked around. She saw the cops and made a bee-line.
She was tall and looked like a super-model. Ryan gave a low whistle. Kate got her trademark irk-line on her brow. Castle just felt detached from reality as he swam in the golden light of this creature's splendour.
"Close you mouth Castle." Said Kate. She was boiling. Castle was looking like a goddess had just kissed him, this did bad things to Kate's stomach. She wanted to shoot him.
"Uh." He said. It was eloquent.
"Hello, my name is Sandy Walker. I am an Art Insurance agent and this gallery is one of my clients." She held her hand out to Castle. He took it and shook it gently. It felt like a little bird.
"Detective Beckett." Kate muscled into the introduction. She quickly reeled-off the names of the others. "And disregard Mr. Castle here, he is only observing."
"Oh, right." Said Sandy, taking Kate's hand quickly. "I have some information for you."
She turned to see the victim. "That is Gerald Fauve, he was the owner."
"Well damn." Said Esposito. "Guess that makes life a little easier. What was he doing with that painting?"
Sandy indicated the one against the wall. "Unless I read this wrong, Gerald was trying to replace the original with a fake. It's something we Insurers have to watch out for."
"How much was that painting insured for?" Asked Kate.
"Five hundred thou." Sandy replied.
"Whew!" Said ryan.
"It's too tidy." Said Castle, shaking his head. He bounced back to the original against the wall.
"Someone killed him before he could get here," he indicated the distance from the body, "then they took this down from the wall. Or Gerald did. And then back to there where he got killed."
He lifted the painting, "I think this entire thing is a fake. A substitution for the original. Frame and all."
"Two fakes?" Asked Ryan, looking confused.
Sandy crossed to Castle and knelt down to look at the canvas. Oh, those knees and that little mini-skirt. He could not stop himself from the fantasy that played across his mind.
"-astle? Mr. Castle?" She was trying to speak to him. "Uh, sorry, go on." Good recovery.
He felt like a total wretch, being attracted this blonde stranger when he was still covered in the Beckett onion peels. Well, bugger it. Perhaps part of my mind is finally letting-go.
"This is certainly a fake too." She did an eyebrow thing that made his knees weak as she peered at the surface. "How strange."
"And now would be a good time to watch the footage I found." Esposito interjected. "If you could all spare the time."
It showed Gerald entering, carrying the first fake. After he fumbled all his tools into the store, he closed the door. Seconds later, while he was crossing the room, the door burst open and two men in hoods ran in.
The murder was over in a flash, it looked like a knife to the back of the head. Gerald fell like a haunch of meat onto his fake.
The men went directly to the painting on the wall, took it down and then a third man entered with what transpired to be an exact duplicate. They removed the one on the wall, and then an alarm sounded. Leaving the new fake they took the original and fled.
"Goddam." Said Kate, not leaving the invective. "So many questions."
"I know, right?" Said Castle, smiling at her. She gave him a death-ray look in return, and was a little startled to see it make no impression.
"Alright. Mrs. Walker-"
"Miss Walker." Sandy corrected.
"Right, can you come down to the station so we can get a statement?"
After that, they took what they could and headed back to the precinct. Castle made an excuse to go home and they waved him goodbye.
"See you a little later." He called.
With a spring in his step, Castle beetled back to his loft. Not willing to feel an instant of regret, he simply enjoyed the ideas that presented themselves viz-a-viz Sandy Walker. Sand. Walking. Ity-bitsy bikinis.
It was nice not to feel heavy for a moment. He was home to catch Alexis when she returned. He wanted to reassure her that he was being good, and reassure himself that he was making the right decision to investigate the Dragon. Although, he mused, if this Sandy creature distracts me I may just forget about that too...
Back at the station.
Castle got back well after lunch. The murder-board was littered with clues and the team was arrayed before it like birds on a wire. He sidled-up and joined them.
"Sorry, had to go see Alexis. Gimme the short story."
"Two crimes. One murder. Connected? We don't know yet." Kate began.
"We assume the owner, Gerald, would have erased the tapes when he was done with his little insurance fraud."
"If it was fraud." Said Castle, "He may have been trying to protect the painting and himself by using a fake."
"Point." Ryan.
"Anyway," Kate continued, "the killers seem to have been watching the place with similar intentions. They see Gerald open the shop and they act."
"They kill him, retrieve the original, get scared by the alarm and bolt." Esposito.
"But why would they leave the other fake," Asked Castle, "for all to see?"
"Yeah, that's burning me too. That fake started us thinking about, well, fakes. And why didn't they try to destroy the video feed?" Kate.
"Maybe they panicked? Or they are amateurs?" Ryan.
"Maybe they didn't see what Gerald was carrying."
"C'mon Castle. It's huge and right there." Kate.
"But didn't a tech have to swab blood off it before we could id it? Maybe it was covered too quickly and then by his body, they didn't care to study it."
Kate stretched and walked around her desk for a change of pace.
"Alright, we have two crimes. One hurried and brutal. One maybe not so criminal."
She sat down at her desk, momentarily glancing at Castle's new chair.
"Whatever was going on in there, I think we need to look for traces of drugs, " Castle said as he took his seat. He tilted the chair back with his knees against her desk.
"What are you thinking Castle?"
"It's just a hunch, but we should trace that painting's provenance. I am willing to bet it's newly into the country. And what other uses could such a large, horrible, frame be put to?"
"Hey hey!" Said Esposito, "To hold heroin, Johnny Vong style."
"Indeed." Said Castle.
Kate gave orders, the dog-work began.
An hour later, a small hush broke-out in the pen and Castle looked-up from his cell phone to see Sandy Walker approaching from the elevator.
Beckett looked-up at about the same time, but she watched Castle. She was already irked by his behavious earlier that day.
She kept having 'Hampton' moments, and then had to run through her mental checklist of facts: one, I love Josh, two, Josh loves me, three, Alexis.
Well, she thought, I can just add another. Four, Castle is fickle and unfaithful. Somehow it didn't sit right, but she left it on the list. Anything to keep her temper.
"Detectives, I hope I am not late?" Said the woman. Castle leaped to his feet like a bottle-rocket.
"Never fear, it's always nice to see your face." He twitched his eyebrows and generally did his playboy puppy dance.
"Down boy." Shot Esposito. Castle leered at him, "Aw, but I want to keep her. Can't I Daddy, please?"
Sandy blushed a little but gave a crystal-sparkling laugh. "Mr. Castle you are too much. Now to whom do I speak to?" She looked directly at him, "And not you."
Kate took her off to a side office, throwing back, "Stay."
Castle watched them through the glass. So absorbed was he that he didn't notice the two detectives looming up behind him. Esposito put a large hand on his shoulder and he twitched into the moment.
"Dude, a few things. You gonna get your ass handed-to you by the Captain if you keep up the sexay."
Ryan followed, also holding Castle down by the shoulder, "And you are gonna get yourself beaten by two anonymous cops if you don't stop hurting Beckett."
The two spoke evenly and quietly, their postures were calm and their grips on Castle looked like camaraderie. He saw all this and felt the icy air of sober threat. They were really angry with him and doing what these two did best, they were protecting Kate.
It took him a moment to get angry too. He liked these guys and they had faced death together, but a line was a line. He pushed up with all his strength to batter their hands from him and whipped-around to face them. He was about to speak, when Esposito said, "Not here bro."
The detectives marched towards the steps down to Lanie's domain. Castle took one more look at Sandy and one reluctant look at Kate and followed them.
"What am I supposed to do, hmm? What do you want from me?" He launched into it as soon as he saw them waiting in the dark corridor.
"Respect, bro. She deserves that." Espo.
"Like hell. She knows how I feel. Felt. She turned me off like a tap. She put me through the best years of my life, and the worst." He stopped to breathe, his shoulders shaking from the emotion.
Ryan's eyes were like globes. He had never seen Castle like this, usually the writer was so creative, speaking in what sounded like pre-written sentences.
"If I can't move-on then what options do I have, eh? You tell me?" He waved his hands around, pacing.
"That's partly why I'm here guys. To to finish the novel. Last of the Heat series. I'm here to close the chapter. To save myself. Kate is happy with Josh and even if she isn't, she just cannot be happy with me. No matter how often I have made it easy for her to.. Ah, why bother!"
He slumped to the floor, his back against the wall.
Esposito spoke softly, "I get it bro. I hate to see it happening, but it looks like Kate and you will never be. Man, that really sucks." He also slumped down the wall, to crouch on the floor.
Ryan joined them on the other side of Castle. "Castle, its been a ride with you. You breezed-in here and made us all better detectives. You brought Kate out of herself and you healed many wounds. I am sorry too, man."
Castle muttered something they could not hear.
Ryan continued, "I can see you like Sandy, and I can understand you wanting to do anything to move away from the pain you must be feeling. It's just—"
"What, Ryan?"
"For old love, for respect, give Beckett a break. Don't flaunt it here. If you must, just go home and call that woman out of sight. For us?"
"Jeez. I know you are right. I have been an asshole. Again."
"We know, bro. If you say your name just right it's 'astle' — so this is not news." Came Esposito's sombre conclusion. "Don't sweat it."
Despite himself, Castle gave a yelp of laughter. His eyes almost regained their sparkle. "That's a doozy Esposito, you want a job?"
After that, the three stood and made friends again. They filed silently back up the stairs. Deeper down the corridor a certain ME pulled her ears back into her morgue. "Very interesting."
Kate
Even though Kate was entirely disposed to hating this blonde bimbo, she found Sandy to be intelligent and direct. She had a snarky sense of humour and she did not push any of her usual buttons. It was hard not to like the woman. Damn.
"Do you have any idea who those thugs in the masks may have been?"
"No detective, scary buggers the lot. The way they killed Gerald. So quickly and without pause." She looked at Kate, "was horrifying."
"Do you think Gerald may have been legitimately changing the original for a fake? Perhaps to protect the painting from theft?"
"That's an old line in my business. On the whole, we want fewer copies floating around. Forgeries make our lives difficult. Gerald's contract was clear, he was not to make a copy. He was up to something."
"What do you think that could have been?"
"Hard to say. He might have been trying to sell it. Twice, if you know what I mean."
She raised her eyebrows at Kate, who had to laugh at the silly expression. It reminded her of Castle somehow.
"And the second fake? That's just weird. The frame and all. What do you make of that Sandy?"
"Ah, that's a poser. Imagine if Gerald had done his switch earlier, then those thugs would have faked a fake! It's a mystery." She paused and then said, "Speaking of mysteries. What's a mystery writer doing pretending to be a cop? Dish."
Kate had to smile again. This woman had aspects of Lanie and Castle, she was pretty much irresistable.
"Oh, Castle's been a fixture hereabouts for three years. He started doing 'research' into real crimes and how we tackle them, but I think he stays for the sheer romance of it all. You know, bored playboy, too much money, mad imagination. He's been a real help to us, but also a real pain too."
The three returned to the pit and saw Kate and Sandy giggling like school chums.
"Makes up for the hard day she's had." Esposito said.
"Seems like they get along. I wonder if they are laughing about you Castle?"
Castle, who was too close to the raw edge of emotions simply shrugged.
"Think I'm calling it detectives. See you tomorrow. Ish."
They watched him leave, the girls still laughing in the conference room.
