Chapter 4: Pandora's Envelope

It was Jim Beckett's second time at the Castle penthouse. This time he had the opportunity to see every part of the house. The last time he was here, he and Castle had a serious talk that had them limited to the breakfast nook. Now he had a chance to see those favorite areas that his daughter often gushed about to him. He had a picture in his mind of what it looked like since Kate gave him highly graphic descriptions of the home that she seemed so comfortable in.

Seeing her in what he considered to be strange surroundings for the first time, his daughter surrounded by Rick, Martha, and Alexis during lunch reminded him of the close relationship she had with these people. In fact, if he had not known that his daughter and this man were not a couple, he could swear that they were so in love and married. The way they treated each other so lovingly, there was just no mistaking what they felt for each other. Kate in this situation showed him a side of his daughter that he never thought he would see, a side that belonged to a family, Alexis spoke to Beckett with the respect of a child to her step mother and Rick, acted almost as if he were married to Kate. Tending to her needs and preempting any needs she might have. Kate reciprocating with kind words and a loving gaze or a touch of the hand that she thought no one else saw. Indeed, that was probably all that was missing between these two. But he would let them figure that out for themselves.

Castle had suggested that the two of them retire to his office with their coffee mugs while waiting for Lanie to finish helping Kate unpack. Since it had been almost 3 weeks since he was last in the area, his personal mail had gotten stacked up on his desk. A sea of manila envelopes mixed with smaller letter sized envelopes were strewn across the table. Now he knew why his mother was warning him that she saw a snake slithering about his desk. His mother and her overactive imagination...

"Is this all just fan mail?" Jim asked as he settled into the nearby visitors chair.

"No. This is just my personal mail. My readers no longer send me fan mail. They seem to prefer tweeting and leaving messages on my facebook wall these days. Writing letters seems to be a dying art form." he sounded sad as he thought of the demise of one of the pillars of the writing world. "My agent takes care of forwarding the more important or interesting fan messages to me. Then I reply to them in the same way. It saves me a ton of hours trying to decipher hand written notes to Gastle, Caskett, or somebody else. Sometimes I wonder about those names. Whatever happened to Samantha, Robert, and David? Why would parents name their kids Pilot Inspektor or Itza Ma Boat?" He shuddered at the thought of the strange names that he used to come across in the mail. "Now I only see names like that as Tweeter and Facebook identities. At least I hope they are alternate identities of a real name."

Jim stifled a yawn while Castle was talking. It wasn't that he was bored. He was just so tired after waking up so early to get himself ready to pick up Kate.

"You can crash on the couch and take a nap." Castle offered. "I just need to go over some of these envelopes."

"Not a bad idea. Thanks Rick."

Castle picked up the first stack of envelopes and sorted them into piles. "Bills, bills, bills, junk, junk, junk, mine, mine, mine, bills, junk, whoa!" he exclaimed when he came to the big yellow manila envelope addressed to him from Roy Montgomery.

"Something wrong?" Jim sat up from the couch. Castle looked ashen.

"It's from Montgomery." he carefully opened the envelope and laid the contents out on his desk. "Jim, you have to see this."

Lying before Castle were a number of bursting at the seams police evidence report envelopes. All labeled "Johanna Beckett."

"What the... Rick, what's this all about?" Jim felt himself go weak at the knees. They each took an envelope and read its contents. He knew all about the evidence that Kate had gathered over time but these seemed different from those. There was something "complete" about these. "Are these what I think they are?"

Castle was already preoccupied with reading the note from the captain that came with the folders. His jaw was heavy set, his shoulders hunched forward in an uneasy posture.

Rick,

I took Kate in all those years ago in order to protect her from the Dragon. I knew she wasn't going to give up looking into her mother's case unless somebody made it impossible for her to ever solve it. That's why I took these original case files from the records and left what she thinks are the actual case files. I had a deal with the Dragon. For as long as Kate stayed away from her mother's case, he wasn't going to kill her. Kate can never find out who the Dragon is. She can never have a chance to expose him. The cost would be too great for any of us who love her to bear. But your arrival changed all of that. You put her in a position wherein it became next to impossible for me to protect her. I am not going to leave her without any protection if I can help it. That is why I sent these files to you.

I know that you are a very bright man and you love Kate more than she will ever be willing to accept. Help her close this case. You have everything you need to do it right here. I can't tell you who the Dragon is because I know you are going to tell her and it would take an act of God to stop the two of you from going rogue and possibly dying together in the process. Piece it together without telling her. If you confirm the identity of the Dragon, for chrissakes don't tell her who it is unless you are absolutely sure she isn't going to charge head first into an emotional darkness from which she might never return. She needs closure Rick. But only you can give it to her, when you know the time is right.

I've tried to fix it so that nobody can hurt her anymore. Not even the Dragon. But if my plan fails, all she's got is you Rick. You are her partner, the other half of her soul. She'll come around. Don't give up on her. No matter how angry she may get at you, just remember, she loves you more than she is willing to admit to herself too. Just stay strong for her. She will need it in the future.

Roy

Shaking himself out of the concentration he had fallen into while reading the letter, he realized that he had a decision to make. Here was everything that Kate needed to get her mother's killer. To help her get onto the road towards personal happiness. All it would take was a knock on her door. One knock and everything will be over for her. She would be free of the ghost of her mother's death.

"Don't do it Rick. If you love my daughter you won't tell her these files exist." Jim advised him after they had looked over all the information in the envelope. It was all just a blur of disorganized information right now. They needed a murder board to sort and sift through the documents they had.

"But this is the break she's been waiting for. This will help her heal emotionally." Castle tried to reason with Jim. "Kate's nightmare has to end sometime."

"Not in her condition. Not right now. Not in the immediate future. Rick, there is a lot more at stake now than just her mother's case." Jim closed the folder and faced Rick from across the couch. Castle was seated behind his office desk.

Castle looked down into the documents and pictures from the files. He was a torn man. He wasn't ready to be Kate's ultimate protector. He already failed once. What if he failed again?

"Rick, I am not saying that we will never tell her. What I am saying is that we should only let her know certain information whenever necessary. And you will have to be creative about it. She should never know you have these folders." he gathered the documents into the assigned folders while he spoke.

"I don't want Kate to hate me. I'm on thin ice as it is. I don't even know if I am still her partner at this point. She kicked me to the curb before Roy died. "

"She won't. Listen to me Rick. I know my daughter. You can tell her all about these folders, after you make her realize that there is more to her life, that she has the right to live and be happy, that her happiness is what matters the most to the person who loves her the most." he paused in order to gather his thoughts. "Tell her when she already knows and accepts that she has to live for herself, for you, for what the two of you have. Her mother's case can't be the central point of her existence. Once you accomplish that, you can tell her anything."

The two men sat in silence for a few minutes. Then Castle stood up and took down the Stairwell painting behind his desk to reveal a digital biometric safe.

"She will never see these files until the time is right." he promised.

The medicines that Beckett was one kept her asleep for most of the afternoon. Castle turned the baby monitor receiver on after Lanie and Jim had left. Her breathing was steady and even. She seemed to not be having the nightmares that used to constantly visit her while she was in a coma at the hospital. The nightmares that left Rick feeling helpless while she was talking unconsciously in her sleep. Nightmares that only stopped when he took her into his arms and he whispered their special word, "Always Kate. Always."

He took the envelope out of the safe and studied the pictures of the people involved in the case. It appeared that Montgomery had been conducting his own personal investigation into the case, a case that seemed to reach into upper most echelons of the police department Rick did not know how or even where to begin.

There was one picture though. The picture of a man that he seemed to be constantly drawn to. There was something familiar about him, if only Rick could put his finger on it.

"Richard, I'm back from the school. How is our patient doing?" Martha walked into his office, catching him off guard. He hurriedly gathered up the folders and dumped them into the safe.

"What is going on here?" she asked him. "Are you working on a case without Beckett?"

"What? No, I can't do that. I need Beckett to be with me before I can enter a crime scene. I can't work with anyone else." Castle responded. "These are files pertaining to Beckett's mom's case."

"Richard, she almost died pursuing this thing. Will you never let it go? Will she never let it go? Does one of you have to die for this insane fixation to end?" She was seriously worried about the safety of her son. More so now that Beckett had almost become a part of his past instead of his future like she wanted for him.

"It's not what you think mother." he tried to explain while he put everything back into the safe.

"Then what is all this?" His mother picked up a few stray pictures and held it out to him. But she suddenly withdrew her hand when she saw the picture on top. The very picture that Rick had been staring at for the past 2 hours. The look on her face told him that she knew who the man was.

"Is he familiar to you mother?" he asked her as he took the pictures, leaving the picture in question out of the folder. Maybe his mother could help him place the fellow.

'No... no, I don't know him. I have to go change." Martha hurriedly walked away from her son. Afraid of what she might say if she stayed in the same room with him a minute longer.

Martha sat shaking at her dresser. It had been over 38 years since she last saw that man in the picture. She did not particularly relish the thought of having seen him again. What did he have to do with the murder of Johanna Beckett? Why could he not remain in her silent past? The past where she buried him in order to protect herself and her son from his evil and manipulative ways.

TBC

A/N: I know this was shorter than the previous chapters but I thought that it would be best to end this chapter here. The next chapters fall under a different scenario that would not fit the mood of this chapter.