Omg, sorry it took so long. I actually was halfway through with it on Friday, but my muse died down just then. I wasn't sure how to proceed with the murder. I decided to make it as strange as possible. I'm not normally good at mind things like this when writing. Hmm. Maybe I just just write an entire Castle/Beckett story, and their bickering. I know I'm good at THAT. LOL. But no, to my faithful readers, I shall post this chapter. I made it a bit longer just to make it up for not posting sooner. My next chapter won't take so long. Promise.

Chapter 4

His heart almost stopped beating as the silence deafened him. She paused and it was too long a pause for anything good to be heard from her. Seeing her hesitation, Castle thought she wasn't even going to say anything anymore. But finally, she opened her mouth again.

"To tell you the truth, we make a really good team, and surprisingly, I've learned a lot from you," she said slowly, then she felt a blush creeping to her cheeks and she looked down. "And-" Then, her cell went off and she took a deep breath. Kate took a moment and closed her eyes; words that she would've said in the next few seconds were soaring through her mind. She picked up her phone. "Beckett." After a half a minute of listening, she finally said, "Send me a picture. I'm on it. Be there in ten."

Castle stood up. "A lead?"

Kate faced him as she stood up also and put her hands a hand on her hip. "I thought you said you didn't find anything at the crime scene."

"I...didn't find anything."

She pressed a few buttons on her cell and then shoved the device in his face. "That key was found right where Harper's body was. Does it look familiar?"

He grabbed the phone and took a good look at the picture. Suddenly, his eyes widened and his face displayed surprise. "That's my key to the back door!" Castle looked up at the smirk on the detective's lips. "You don't think..."

"We don't know yet, Castle." She took her phone back and limped to the door. He offered to help, but she denied him. "Like I said, you shouldn't get involved in the investigation just yet. If we want your help, we promise to call, but until then, stay out, Castle." Kate walked out but she knew he'd follow her.

Richard Castle wasn't one to quit so quickly. He never followed orders so it was expected of him to appear at the crime scene uninvited. Kate let out a frustrated sigh and slowly got into the Sag Harbor police car that was provided for her. Every few minutes or so, she checked the rearview mirror to see if he indeed was following her, but she didn't see any sign of his car.

"Castle identified the key as his. What now?" was the first thing Beckett said when she met with Esposito and Ryan, one crutch under her arm.

"He flat out confessed?" Ryan inquired.

"Confessed what?" his partner asked, joining them.

"Nothing. I showed him the picture and he just said it was the key to the back door. But he figured it out that we suspect him of something. Wasn't too shocked about it, though," she explained.

"Come on, Beckett, give the guy a break. You don't honestly think Castle killed that woman, do you?" Esposito said, giving her a look.

"I don't know yet. That's just what I told Castle. We don't know anything for now. All I want to do is investigate, you guys. That's why we're here, remember?" Kate said, beginning to feel annoyed that so much attention was being shown to Castle rather than to the case. "A murder's been committed and we have to find our assailant."

Ryan and Esposito glanced at each other before Ryan spoke up. "Beckett, chill out. That's why I called you; to solve the murder."

Beckett took a deep breath. She was over reacting towards everything, wasn't she? Why was that? Was she truly losing her detective's touch? Her mind was working great, but it wasn't in her head that was bothering her. Something inside her chest, under her ribs, was aching and she didn't know how to make it stop, nor was she sure what the problem was.

"Sorry, boys. I'm just...I was questioning Castle before the phone call..." What a lie, Beckett. You can't come up with anything better? You're stupid, you know that? "He was just about to tell me something important."

"What was the topic about?" Esposito decided to push it, wondering what Beckett was really up to.

She gritted her teeth and closed her eyes, pushing away her impatience. Ignoring his comment, she helped herself kneel beside where the woman's body would have been if she was still there. It seemed to Beckett that the guys decided not to take the key without her being present. What gentlemen, Kate thought with scorn in her mind. She took the key in a gloved hand and put it inside a bag Ryan was holding out.

"Did you guys find anything from questioning people?" she asked, holding out a hand for one of them to help her up.

Ryan lifted her up. "Harper's a local here at Sag Harbor. She actually lives more down the beach from Castle's place. Say...two, three miles. If he doesn't know that lady, call me stupid."

Both Esposito and Kate looked at him funny. "I already call you stupid," the other male detective said. "Look man, I told you, don't try to pull any funny lines. It's not funny coming from you."

"Hey, just because I'm Irish doesn't mean-"

"Irish!" Kate cried out, remembering Harper Mage's heritage.

"Yeah, Beckett, everyone knows..." Esposito finished his sentence with a hand gesture towards Ryan who looked confused.

"No! Didn't Lanie call you two?"

"No..."

Kate sighed. She'd forgotten that she was supposed to be the one to tell them the second she left the morgue. She had no idea what was on her mind after she left Lanie alone with Harper's body. Whatever it was, she didn't get her job done and neither could Ryan and Esposito have gotten theirs done.

"I was supposed to call you with information that Lanie found out," Kate explained and sighed again. "Harper is a thirty-two-year old with a husband who ran away from her. She has a history of violence and Matt supposedly took in two of her stabs. He lived and has disappeared. Mage also has an aunt and uncle living in Cuba, though, she is Irish. Can you two go up to the house Harper lived in and check for anything else? I'll be making a few calls and hopefully by tomorrow, I can join in on the action. If you need any backup anywhere, remember that I can get uniforms to you."

"Wow, Beckett. It's an honor having to do your running around instead of our usual phone calls and research. We should switch roles more often," joked Esposito.

"You two wouldn't last a week doing what I do, talking to the family of victims, and running back and forth from the precinct to the morgue and from the precinct to other anonymous places. Oh, and you can't forget the master-mind level of thinking I do," Beckett said, making her way to her car.

"Wanna bet?" Ryan called out.

"You're on!" Kate waited until the two of them walked over to her side. "Fifty bucks." They agreed and shook on it.

"This is how we make easy money," Esposito commented to himself.

Beckett could only wonder how professional the 12th really looked with all of these bets and joking around. Not very, but no one knows what goes on inside the precinct besides us detectives. Oh, and Castle. She had to sigh as she drove, mentally thanking herself for not breaking her foot, or else she wouldn't have been able to drive. Her foot was healing and it didn't hurt so much as she pressed the gas pedal.

But it was the conversation she had with Castle earlier that day. Castle may be immature but he wasn't stupid. He caught on that Kate was a bit jealous of Gina and what was worse, the blonde didn't look like she was planning on leaving anytime soon. Of course she'd be comfortable with Richard Castle at her arm. More like her bed. I wonder how many nights she and Castle spent up, doing things I do not even want to begin to imagine. Kate shook her head at herself. You're being childish now, Beckett. Stop being jealous and start working on the damn case. Time is running out and you know how sacred time is!

A hollow knock would have been heard from the other side of the door if anyone would have been standing there.

"Hello? Anyone home?" Ryan called out, holding his gun in his hands and nodded for Esposito to do the same.

"New York City Police!" his partner cried out, but no answer was heard. "It's deserted, man."

"Oh, can I do the breaking down the door thing?"

Both detectives looked to their right at Castle. They picked him on the way to the Mage residence, despite what Beckett said about keeping Castle at a distance. The two felt sorry that he was being punished by being caged up during a murder case right where he was staying the summer. Neither Ryan nor Esposito believed that Castle had anything to do with the murder; they believed he was being set-up by someone who wasn't exactly the biggest fan of Nikki Heat. But neither would they tell him exactly what Beckett suspected.

"No. Only detectives get to do the heavy work," said Ryan, gripping his gun as he nodded to his partner again. Esposito kicked the door open and the three men entered carefully, the detectives doing a quick search of the house.

"I take it that nobody's home," Castle remarked.

Ryan nodded as they began exploring, but the detectives still had their guns in their hands...just in case. "Doesn't look like anyone's been home in a long time."

Everything was covered in dust and the air inside was musty and humid. The furniture looked expensive but due to the dust upon it, it looked just like cheap dollar-store quality. The overhanging rafters looked near ready to fall on them and the ocean breeze made the open windows squeak when they moved.

"Harper Mage lived here?" Esposito wondered. "This place hasn't been occupied in years!"

"Maybe we got the wrong address." Ryan checked the kitchen and saw that it was as dusty as everything else.

Castle began poking around the family room and as soon as he heard Ryan's comment, he shook his head furiously. "Unless someone has an obsession with Harper and her husband, we have the right address." He held up a framed picture of Harper and a man who was supposed to be the husband.

"We got the right place, but where the hell has she been living if not here?" wondered Esposito. He then noticed that Ryan wasn't there anymore. "Ryan? Where are you, man?"

"Guys, you might want to see this!" his voice sounded vague from a door that led to a basement.

Both Esposito and Castle ran down the stairs and the detective pointed the flashlight to where Ryan had his. There was something like a mini-house down there. But instead of the bed being made, the covers were half thrown off. And so was a naked woman.

"Oh, my God," Castle said, his mouth wide open.

"Yeah. You'll get used to seeing a naked person, Castle," Ryan replied as her put on his gloves and went over to cover her up.

"No, not that. She has the hottest body I've ever seen! If she's not Rachel Weisz, then I'm hands-off. Until then..." Castle made a move for the woman, but Ryan hit his arm.

"Castle, she's dead. Unless you're a perv," Esposito said, narrowing his eyes as he watched Ryan finish covering the body.

That's when Castle turned away from her with a wince. "I knew that. And it sucks."

"Yeah, for her," replied Ryan and his phone went off. "Ryan."

"Harper's either been raped or she had sex hours before she died."

"What?"

"Lanie found traces of semen inside of her. It's on its way to DNA. What've you two found at the Mage's house?"

"You'll never believe it, Beckett."

"Try me."

"Um, guys, check the other side of the bed," Castle's voice was heard. He sounded unsure of himself as he had already walked to the side of the bed that was to the wall, and back.

"Oh, you two are so dead when I next see you."

"There's no time for that. We found a dead naked woman in Harper's basement. And she's-"

"Ryan, check this out," Esposito called him over to where both he and Castle were now standing.

"Hold up, Beckett, they found- Woah." Ryan's eyes widened and he stopped talking. "Beckett, I think we're going to need CSU up here...and Lanie."

"Why, what happened?"

"We've got two dead bodies. A male and a female. Both are without clothes on. I have a feeling someone interrupted their naptime."

"They're on their way, Ryan. Sit tight. And tell Castle to stop poking around. I have a feeling he's touching something he's not supposed to."

Before responding to Kate, Ryan motioned with his hand for Castle to step away from the other body they just discovered. "We'll continue searching the house until someone gets here."

"Good work, Ryan."

Ryan put his phone back in his pocket and told Esposito to stay in the basement with the two bodies while he Ryan and Castle would search the second floor of the beach house.

For an entire hour, all Kate did was made phone calls. She asked for someone at the 12th in NYC to run Harper's prints in the system for any other criminal records and was put on hold for over ten minutes because of while. While she was on hold, she was asked about this and that and by the time her calls were done and CSU was through sweeping the place, beads of sweats had run down the sides of her faces.

Kate wiped her hairline of the sweat with the back of her hand and waited for Ryan and Esposito to give her a full report of exactly what they saw. Instead, the person whom she didn't want to deal with right then, came towards her from the house. Pretending she hadn't seen him, she walked (or more like, limped with one crutch) casually to the side of the house where the fading sunlight wasn't there anymore. Of course, Castle had to follow her.

She sighed when she heard him rustling behind her. "What do you want, Castle?" she asked him and turned to face him.

"I want an explanation," he said plainly. But she could see he was very well serious about what he demanded and put her cell phone in the pocket of her dress shirt.

"For what?"

He narrowed his eyes. "For pinpointing me down as a suspect in Harper Mage's murder. Can you tell me what going on through your head when you asked me kindly out of your room to tell the team that I'm the main suspect?"

"You don't get to ask the questions. I do," Kate said, mimicking his facial expressions by narrowing her eyes also. "Where were you, Castle yesterday between six and ten p.m.?"

"Are you asking me for an alibi, Katherine Beckett? For these two murdered people?" he inquired, a soft growl heard in his throat.

Kate wasn't sure if it was just the sunset or his expressions that cast a shadow upon his face. From the sound of his voice, he was in disbelief and maybe even anger. "Answer the question, Castle," she demanded with gritted teeth.

"I was at home," Castle finally replied with a smirk.

"Can anyone corroborate that?" Beckett decided that if he was going to smart talk her, she should do that same by responding with a smirk as well.

"Yes, Gina can. We were sharing a moment. Care to know the details?"

Kate's eyes then darkened like his face and narrowed her eyes again at him. Her hand was made into a fist and with all she had she stopped herself from connecting her fist to his stomach. She hated it when he acted like this, and he hardly ever was like this at all. But then again, he must be offended greatly that she, who knew him almost better than Gina Cowell, would suspect him for murder. Deep down inside, Kate knew Castle didn't do it. But why she wasn't accepting it, she had yet to find out.

"Richard Castle, I know you had a connection with Harper Mage. I know you knew her somehow. Even if you didn't kill her, you're holding something back. I know you are and lawfully speaking, it's called obstruction," Kate said in a low voice, taking a step closer to him.

How the hell would she know that I knew Harper? Actually, her name was Serene when I did, but...I can't say anything, even if Beckett shoots me. Castle shook his head slowly and stubbornly. "If I knew her, I would say something because it would help the case, but I do not know that woman! God, Beckett. You'd think if I was out of your life for a summer I could have a personal life here for once, but no, you have to pry and nail me down for murder!"

Her bubble burst and she pushed him against the back of the house angrily. Kate quickly laid her crutch on the ground as she did so, and then leaned both hands on either side of his head. Anger was overflowing within her. But it wasn't only his words that set her off, it was in the past; that day when he allowed his ex-wife into the precinct to meet up with him. Now, who had given him the right to do that, and brag about it right in front of her face?

With gritted teeth still, Kate began to talk. "Dammit, Castle. I didn't ask who you were having sex with this summer. I didn't ask you why you brought Gina with you to the Hamptons. I didn't even ask why you left the precinct. You left on your own accord. You tipped the police here to call the 12th and now we're here. We're doing our job and solving this triple murder. So shut the hell up and stop smart talking me. Stop blaming me for sending you away, because I didn't."

His eyes searched her olive green ones as she was talking. Only one time in his life had Castle seen her so angry, and it was when he decided to look into her mother's murder. But what was this? Why was she getting so pissed off for almost nothing? Or was he really pushing her buttons bad this time?

After her last sentence, Castle let hurt show in his eyes. Oh, he had some anger to let out too, and they both knew it was entirely her fault that he left. Castle couldn't stay and get in between Demming and Beckett if she wanted to be with the other detective. He wanted her happiness and leaving for a summer was the best way to give it to her. The rate at which Beckett and Demming's relationship had been going, Castle was surprised she wasn't pregnant already with a Demming junior.

Finally, he got the courage to open his mouth. He hated how she intimidated him sometimes. "Yes, Beckett, you did send me away. You were practically screaming, "Go away, Castle, I don't want you around anymore!" I got the message, though."

"What in the world are you talking about? I never even suggested you leaving. Not even with looks I give you did I ever suggest it," Beckett said, her voice still raised.

But Castle's voice was calming down. "Yeah, I am sexually involved with Gina, so what? That wasn't why I brought her down here. You denied my offer twice and I decided to finally answer one of my publisher's calls. She came on to me first and I figured out what I could possibly lose. But you have no reason to judge me, Kate. You're with Demming so why shouldn't I have someone too?"

Kate's heart jerked and she felt like it was bleeding now. Her anger quickly subsided and she shook her head, confused. "I'm not with Demming, Castle. I broke it off with him the day you left. Didn't you talk to anyone at the precinct up to now?"

"Ryan a couple of times, but no one's ever mentioned it," Castle said and couldn't help but take a quick glance at her lips. "Why did you...?"

She finally tore her gaze from him and leaned over to pick up her crutch. With a sigh, she replied, "Tom's not what I was looking for then. He didn't seem like the man I wanted back then. I did like him a lot, but I knew it wouldn't work out."

Almost with a wince, Castle decided to pry a bit. "Why not? You two were lovebirds."

Kate looked back up at him, her eyes distant but longing. How could she tell him now that she liked him back when she almost did tell him? It just didn't seem right. Castle was now with Gina. Kate had her turn and she blew the chance up. Hell, she had two years to tell him but she waited last minute when Gina had interrupted her planned out speech.

Castle could almost feel her pain in breaking up because he'd felt it too. Twice, actually. But her voice was torn apart also. He could hear it and to hear it from Detective Kate Beckett, it wasn't usual. He desired her. Her helpless self just added to his lust for her lips and her eyes mesmerized him, causing him to fall deeper under her spell. Why was it that only Kate could do such a thing to him? Only she could intimidate him like she did and only she could bring him under control even when he tried to be angry with her. Only she could make him want her love when he was involved with another person. But why? And how was it possible? She had to be a sorceress somehow, or related to one at least.

Her silence relieved her. She was glad she didn't accidentally slip something up and she was grateful that he didn't push her to talk. They were spellbound in such a silence that all they could see was one another. And Kate hated it. She felt trapped, like there was nowhere else she could go except in his arms. But what was with this thinking? She scolded herself for being vulnerable and weak. Why was her world breaking apart, and the one who was tearing her to pieces was Richard Castle? She couldn't stand his voice, his eyes, or his charming style in speaking. So then, how could she stand being so close to him? She was in deep danger. So deep, she might do something and never be able to turn back. For once, she was frightened. Afraid of what he might think of doing, and afraid of what she was capable of doing.

Suddenly, her ring tone filled the silence and she felt color rush back into her cheeks. Taking a step back from him and allowing him some air , she picked up her phone (yes, that's how close they were). Saved by the ring, I guess... "Beckett."

At first, only static was heard on the other line and Kate thought it could be just a wrong number. She asked if anyone was on the line until she heard someone breathe, "Is this a detective's number?"

Beckett's eyebrows furrowed. "Yes, Detective Kate Beckett..."

"My name is Charlene MacAnton. I'm Harper's sister..."