Chapter 4

Most of the morning had been spent at the crime scene, and they were both ready to be someplace warmer. Once they were in the car, out of the smelly alley and enjoying the heat blowing on them as the engine warmed, they realized they were hungry. The crime scene had distracted them from each other, but now they were alone again. Castle gave Beckett directions to a little mom and pop diner where he knew the food was good and they could find a booth that would offer them at least some minimal privacy. He needed to touch her…just hold her hand, drape an arm around her shoulder…something.

She parked about half a block from the restaurant, and they walked quickly toward it, clutching their coats close to them.

"Rick!" a booming voice called out as they entered the wonderfully warm room, and a heavy-set man who looked to be around sixty came toward them to grab Castle's hand and shake it enthusiastically. "It's been a while. You gettin' too high-class for us these days?"

"Good to see you, too, David. I brought Detective Beckett to sample your fine cuisine," Castle answered as he was grabbed into one of those back-slapping man hugs."

"We'll try to impress her," David laughed. "Tess, come see who the cat dragged in!"

Tess came out and gave him a hug and an equally warm greeting, and he introduced Kate.

"Can we have that booth in the back…the one Alexis and I usually use?"

"Looks like it's sittin' there waitin' for you," the man answered with a jovial smile. "Go on. I'll be over in a second with some menus. Want somethin' to drink?"

"How about some big mugs of your hot chocolate? It's cold out there."

"Comin' right up. Some for you, too, young lady?"

"Sounds great," Beckett answered, smiling back as she took off her gloves and unbuttoned her coat.

Castle put his hand at the small of her back to guide her to the booth and sighed. Even if it was through her coat, he had a hand on her. When they reached the booth, he sat on the same side she was on. With the tall backs on the booths, they could hardly be seen by other customers, and he scooted closer to her, taking her hand. "I didn't think I was going to find a way to touch you again before tonight," he said in relief. "It feels good." He stole a quick kiss before David came with the hot chocolate and menus.

"Order anything. It's all good," he informed her. "Alexis and I have tried everything."

"What's your favorite," she asked, and he pointed to an item on the menu. "That does sound good," she agreed. Two of those?"

Seeing Castle nod, David said, "Comin' right up." He looked at the two younger folks sitting on the same side of the booth, well out of sight, and smiled to himself before he went to put in the order.

While they waited, Castle put his arm around Kate's shoulder and pulled her closer to him, brushing a kiss on her brow, then moving to her lips. She sighed and leaned against him as they sipped the warm drinks, both of them counting the hours until they could go home.

They finished their lunch and stopped at the counter to pay the check and say good-bye to the owner and his wife. "I don't think I ever saw you here with anybody but Alexis," David teased as they put their coats on.

"Maybe we'll bring her along next time," Castle answered.

When Kate headed for the door ahead of Castle, David said, "This one must be a keeper."

"Oh, yeah," Castle agreed with a big smile.

"Well, it's about time!" David slapped him on the back and added as he watched Kate turn to see if Rick was behind her, "What are you waitin' for, boy? Don't let her get away."

"Not a chance," Rick assured him as they left.

"I thought we were going to keep this to ourselves," Kate reprimanded half-heartedly as they hurried back to the car.

"What's the chance anybody we know will be in there asking questions? And I'm not telling anybody about last night"

She rolled her eyes at his logic as they quickly got into the car.

"If you're not careful, I may have to tell my father you broke the Dad Code."

"I what?"

"Well, if I remember correctly, you…a father…promised another father that you'd get his daughter home safely, and…"

He flung his head back against the head rest and rolled his eyes upward. "And instead, I kept her and took her to bed with me. I sooooo broke the code. You won't tell him, will you? I don't like facing loaded shotguns."

"Are you kidding? Talk to my father about last night? Besides, I don't intend to kiss and tell, either. Last night is ours...just us." She looked over at him quickly but meaningfully, and he reached to put his hand on her thigh as she drove them back. They sat that way in comfortable silence until they reached the precinct.

xxxxx

Ryan and Esposito were returning from lunch about the same time Castle and Beckett came in, and they all regrouped and started putting together the murder board.

"The husband is all we got so far," Esposito offered, "but I don't see him hurting her."

"Me, either," Castle added.

"We'll see what turns up…lab and autopsy results," Kate stated, back in detective Beckett mode. "Check on insurance on the wife, financials, the new job…did we get the name of the place he said was hiring him? Get some uniforms checking the route he said he took this morning. See if anybody saw him. Check with the neighbors about how he and his wife got along.

"Already did before we left," Ryan chimed in. "No indication of trouble except for the argument this morning.

"Well, somebody killed her," Beckett observed.

"Looking at the photos of the crime scene, Ryan asked, "What's this?" pointing to a smear on the pavement not far from the body.

"Castle, is that where your foot slipped? I thought…" Beckett asked.

"No," Castle answered, interrupting. "I was farther in that direction," he clarified, digging through a few more photos. "There. These were taken before I slipped, but I'm pretty sure I left a smear a lot like that one."

"Do we have anything here that shows the bottom of her shoe?" she asked as she looked through the photos with Castle, the boys looking over their shoulders to see what they were talking about.

"I don't see anything," Castle said, sounding disappointed. "This might not be murder."

"There was blood on that piece of cinder block," Beckett said speculatively.

"She could have slipped and hit her head," they said simultaneously.

"So we still check into all this stuff, right?" Esposito questioned.

"Yeah. We have to eliminate any other possibility." Turning to Castle, she said, "Lanie should still have the personal effects. Let's go see if she can shed some light on those shoes…and get another look at that cinder block." Turning back to the boys, she added, "See what you can get from everything else. We'll be back as soon as we can."

They went their separate ways, the boys dividing up the jobs as they returned to their desks.

xxxxx

"Hey Lanie," Beckett called as she and Castle entered the morgue.

"No, I don't have anything on the new one yet."

"Do you have all the personal effects?"

"That I can give you," she answered as she stripped off her gloves and washed her hands. What do you need?"

"The shoes."

"How come?" She found the plastic bag with the shoes and handed it to Beckett.

"We think there's the chance she slipped and fell…hit her head on the cinder block. Is the block still with you?"

"Right over there," she said, pointing at the bag. "The lab techs took blood samples and let me hold on to it to see if it matched the head wound. Just don't touch it yet, in case they need something else."

"Look at the bottom of this shoe. There's something smeared across the sole," Castle pointed out. "What about the cinder block? Anything there?"

"The bottom of this thing looks like it was sitting in the same place for at least a few days. No obvious prints in the dirt on the bottom. Doesn't look like the underside of it has been disturbed at all. I doubt anybody picked this up and hit her with it."

"I don't remember any pictures without the cinder block. Do we need to go back and take another look?"

"As much as I don't want to go out in the cold again, I guess we should. That would shore up the accident theory for the captain. She's going to want something before we go home." She put the bagged cinder block back where it was and turned to Castle.

"Before 'we go home,' did you say?" Lanie interrupted. "You two got something to tell me?" She asked pointedly as she pulled on a fresh pair of gloves.

"Before we leave this afternoon, Dr. Parrish. Don't go jumping to conclusions," Castle answered quickly.

"Well, somebody better keep me in the loop when that happens," Lanie said in Beckett's direction.

Beckett rolled her eyes and said, "Let's go, Castle."

"Before she starts naming our children?" he agreed with a chuckle as they headed for the door.

"I heard that. And don't think there won't be questions," she called over her shoulder as they rounded the doorway into the hall.

They laughed as they left, this time unfazed by Lanie's speculations. The two of them went back to the crime scene, took a couple of pictures and returned to the precinct to add them to the murder board. As expected, Gates wanted an update, so they showed her what they had found.

Closing out her report, Beckett said, "The smears here, where Castle slipped, and here, near where she was lying, are nearly identical. The one near the body is just longer. There's some sort of residue on the bottom of her left shoe. It doesn't look like the cinder block had been disturbed for a while, so it's not likely that anyone picked it up to use as a weapon. Ryan and Esposito are checking the husband's alibi, phone records, financials, and a couple of other things. It's looking more like an accident all the time.

"Well, don't call it that until we're certain it isn't more. Sure would be nice to think a husband wouldn't murder his wife and baby the day after Christmas, though. Looks like that's about all we can do with this for today. It's almost five. Type up what you've got, and go home."

"Yes, sir."

Castle plopped down in the chair beside the desk and demanded, "Type fast."

Beckett chuckled. "Like the wind," she agreed. "Go get us some coffee before you get too excited and give us away. And take your time. I'll probably type faster if you aren't sitting there watching me."

"Whatever helps," he answered, getting up to get the coffee. He put one hand on the back of her chair and one on the desk, as if looking over her shoulder at the computer, and whispered, his breath warm near her ear, "I need you behind closed doors."

"You're so not helping," she answered, conscientiously stifling a little moan that she suspected would have had his lips on hers in a matter of nano-seconds.

Castle returned with coffee, and Beckett was about halfway through what Gates wanted before they left. Doing his best not to distract her, he took out his phone and played Angry Birds while she worked, for once not watching her or talking…at all.

"Done!" Beckett announced, saved her work, and sent it to Gates. She walked to the captain's door to let her know she was leaving. "You should have it in a few seconds, Captain. Anything else before I go?"

The captain checked to see that she had the document and told Beckett, "Just be sure your shadow there goes, too. We will not be entertaining him this evening."

"Yes, sir." Kate gave her a half smile. "I'll see to it." She walked back to her desk slowly enough to both drive Castle crazy and to not let Gates see that she could hardly wait to get him out of there.

He was standing by her chair when she returned, holding her jacket like a perfect gentleman while whispering some very ungentlemanly suggestions behind her.

"Let's go," she said in her Detective Beckett voice, for the benefit of those left in the bullpen. As the doors opened, she reminded him that there were cameras in the elevator; but after the doors closed, she took his hand between them as they rode down.

Gates had been watching them speculatively from her office window before they left, wondering again what was really going on between them. Whatever was there, other than police work, she had to grudgingly admit that they were effective working together. During the sniper case, she found herself working with Castle; and he was as focused and efficient as any of her detectives. And he…and his daughter, of all people…yet another Castle…had found the breakthrough painting to provide some of their best leads. He would have made a good detective. Of course, she couldn't tell him that. It stuck in her craw that she had to deal with a civilian in her unit...a civilian she was required to take because another civilian ordered it. To her that smacked of a lack of control, and she did not like lack of control on her own turf. Therefore, she couldn't allow herself to like Castle, which was getting more difficult. And if there was anything beyond work going on between her detective and the civilian, what should she do about it? The whole situation made her mad. Why couldn't he be bumbling and stupid, and a danger to her detectives, the way she expected him to be? That would have given her an argument to use with the powers that be. But, no...damn him. He had to be dependable, smart, intuitive, and ready to risk his life for her real officers.