Here it is! I like this chapter better than the last, please tell me what you think!

Here's a shocker: I don't own Castle!

Castle and Beckett arrived back at the precinct about twenty minutes later, followed closely by Ryan, with Robert Mans in his car. The duration of the ride was passed by Castle developing his customary theory, this time in which Robert Mans' mistress found out that he was married and discovered his address. She then went to confront him about it, bringing a gun in case things went downhill.

"However, when Tracy Mans opened the grand oak door, and the mistress saw those sparkling diamond earrings, she couldn't help it anymore. She simply pulled out her gun, and shot the wife. That's when she heard Robert's cry from up stairs. She knew she couldn't stay there too long, or Robert would see her. Now, she didn't want to kill him, she cared about him. So she took the gun and ran back out to her car, never to look back on Robert, Tracy, or that house."

"That's a lovely theory, Castle, but we haven't even talked to Robert Mans yet."

He shrugged nonchalantly. They arrived at the precinct and were immediately summoned by Ryan to speak with Mr. Mans.

"He's in shock," Ryan explained, "Right now he's speaking pretty freely, but I get that feeling that if you let him think on it too long he might start breaking down and shutting up. Or worse, calling for a lawyer."

"Kay," Beckett shot a glance through the window into the little room where the usually met with the family of the victims. She hadn't seen any reason to use the interrogation room; just because he had means and opportunity didn't necessarily mean he had motive or that he was guilty, no matter what crazy theories Castle decided to spin. Not that she minded them, she found them to be a nice break from the usual all-work just-the-facts sort of way things were done. Sometimes the theories were even helpful.

Together, Castle and Beckett entered the room. Immediately, Mr. Mans stood up.

"What the hell is going on?" He demanded, "You can't possibly think I did this to my wife!" He was shaking quite violently and his eyes were wide and red, presumably from crying.

"Mr. Mans, please have a seat," Beckett said softly.

His eyes darted from Beckett to Castle and to Beckett again. Then, he slowly sunk into a chair. Beckett lead Castle to the couch and sat down across from him.

"I just need at ask you a few questions, do you think you're up for that?" She continued gently.

His lip trembled, eyes directed at the floor, but he nodded.

"Can you lead me through what happened?" She asked.

He nodded again. Then he hesitated, no doubt gathering the courage and strength to speak, "I was upstairs on the phone with my brother."

Beckett took out a notepad and jotted this down.

"M-my brother has cancer. He's about have some intensive chemotherapy. I was on the phone with him, discussing how Tracy and I are... were... going to come out to visit him in a three weeks, right after he finishes his treatment. Then the doorbell rang and Tracy yelled to me that she was going to get it... she was in the kitchen at the time, I think. And a few seconds later I heard a gunshot," She stopped. His eyes were focused on nothing, glazed over with the horror of remembering his wife's death.

After a few seconds, Beckett prompted him, "Can you go on?"

He swallowed, but didn't move his eyes. "At first I didn't know what happened... I thought maybe... I don't know what I thought. My brother heard the shot and kept asking me, 'What the hell was that? Robbie, what happened?' I told him I didn't know. I yelled for Tracy and she didn't answer, so I went out of the bedroom and onto the stairwell. Then... then I saw her. She was just lying there. I... I didn't see anything else, everything sort of just went blurry. I dropped the phoned and I ran down to her," He swallowed, eyes filled with pain at the memory. "She-she was still alive. She was my wife!" He finally met Beckett's eyes, anger filling his own clear, blue-gray pair. "God dammit, my wife! And they killed her!" He covered his face with his hands, which Kate know saw to be coated in blood, and began sobbing.

"I know what it feels like, Mr. Mans," She said soothingly, "I understand what you're going through. You don't have to explain this part if you don't want to."

He shook his head and took in several deep breaths, "I-I talked to her. I begged... I begged her to stay with me."

Kate felt a chill flow up her spine and she shot a glance at Castle. His face was stony and his jaw firmly set.

"I-I told her that I loved her. I... I think that was the last thing she heard."

Kate felt a little dizzy, but she took a deep breath and continued softly, "And then?"

"Then I tried to resuscitate her. I took a course in CPR once... but it didn't work. I ran back to the staircase and got the phone, and called 911."

"And what time was that?"

"I don't know," He admitted.

She noted this, "Thank you. Can you think of any enemies your wife might have had?"

He shook his head, "I-I'm sorry detective, can we please continue this a different time? I don't think I can give my full attention to your questions right now. I just... I just lost my wife."

"I understand," She handed him her card, "Call me as soon as you're ready." She got up and Castle followed her lead. They were almost out the door when his voice caught her ear.

"Are you in love, Detective?"

Beckett turned back slowly to face him. His eyes were genuinely imploring, searching for someone to understand his agony. She wanted to help him very much, but she didn't know what to say to him.

This was not the kind of question you just asked someone. How the hell was she supposed to answer that? And with Castle standing right next to her, no less. Anything she did would reveal too much. If she said she didn't know or evaded it, he would get curious. If she said yes, he would think it meant she was ready. If he said no, she might hurt him.

Beckett opened her mouth and prepared for the worst.