A/N: New chapter for you, beautiful human beings! (hint, hint) :P This one I'm very fond of. It took me a while to write it but I'm happy with the result. The case starts unfolding a little, but just a little…

Thanks to Purplewaters for her help and her patience. This story wouldn't exist without your great ideas :) Thanks too to all of you reading, reviewing and adding this story to favs and alerts. You ROCK!

I apologize for any grammatical errors, typos or misspells you may find. If you feel kind enough, let me know and I'll edit them. Thank you! :)

And now, enjoy the reading! :D

Chapter 4.

At seven thirty in the morning, detectives Ryan and Esposito met at the lobby of the 12th. They said hello to Smith, who was taking a look at the paper when they came in, and walked to the elevator talking about the case they were working on.

When they walked into the bullpen they were surprised to see Beckett's slender figure leaning on her desk and studying the murder board. It was early and she looked like she had been there for a while.

Ryan went straight to the break room to make some coffee for his partners and himself, while Esposito walked directly to the female detective.

"Yo, Beckett! What are you doing here so early?" he asked leaning on her desk right beside her.

Kate smiled and spoke without taking her eyes off the board. "The same as you. I'm working."

Espo lifted an eyebrow and looked at her. "I've just arrived. How long have you been here?" he asked, knowing she had been there for longer than she was willing to admit.

Beckett let out a long breath and bit her lip. "I couldn't sleep. I was going crazy at home doing nothing, so I came here."

"Ok. And when was that?" His eyebrows rose requiring an answer.

At last, she turned to look at him, a guilty expression on her face. "A couple of hours ago." Kate watched as the cop's face got bathed in concern. "Stop worrying about me, Javi. I'm fine." She smiled. "Seriously."

Ryan reappeared from the break room with three porcelain mugs in his hands. "Ok, guys, here we go." He said, handing them their coffees. Then he pointed to the board with his head. "Anything?"

Beckett shook her head. "No, but we received Lazzaro's financials and phone records today. We'll have to go through them to see if there's anything unusual."

The three detectives went back to their desks, splitting the work so they could go through it faster.

The morning went on, the bullpen filling up with the noises and the movements of officers and detectives all working together. The side of the bullpen where Karpowski's team was working on Gordon's wife's case was louder than usual; every cop in the precinct wanted to help and show their respect. Beckett couldn't help taking furtive looks their way, wishing she were strong enough to face Gordon – or even give him a call - to give him her condolences; or just go over there and offer Karpowski her help on the case. She just couldn't do it.

Nine arrived unexpectedly fast, and Castle made his entrance with the ever-present cardboard cups in his hands. He was walking towards his detective when he spotted Esposito. He changed his trajectory to talk to the man.

"Morning, Esposito." Castle said, brushing his elbow to the cop's shoulder.

The detective turned around a little startled but he smiled when he saw the writer standing right behind him. "Yo, Castle. What's up?"

Rick looked askance at Beckett and frowned. "How is she?"

Espo gave him a knowing look and smiled sadly. "She's been here since 5:30 am, so I guess she's not fine. Give her time, bro. This has to be tough for her."

"No, I know. That's why I'm asking you. I don't want to crowd her or start being overprotective. That'd only make things worse." The writer said.

Espo nodded. "Probably. Just let her be. She'll be fine." He said, patting Castle's shoulder and walking away.

Castle moved to Beckett's desk. She seemed abstracted, her eyes lost in space. He waved a hand before her eyes until she blinked. "Hey! Where were you?" He said handing her her coffee.

She looked up a little embarrassed. "Sorry. I was thinking. This case is driving me crazy!" She said taking the cup from his hand and brushing his fingers with hers, just because she needed the contact.

"Still nothing? I was hoping Mrs. Whitman would be back today…" Rick said, his breath caught, taking his place on his chair.

Beckett went on checking Lazzaro's financials, trying to hide the grin that grew on her face at his reaction to her touch. "Well, it's early. We can still get lucky."

The day kept slipping away and they had nothing to work with. They had gone through Lazzaro's financials and phone records and they had found nothing. There were calls to Mrs. Whitman, but they already knew they were having an affair, so it didn't prove anything, and his financials were clear.

It was long after noon when they got the call. Mrs. Whitman was back from Chicago and she was heading to the precinct to talk to them. She seemed pretty affected.

Castle and Beckett received Amanda Whitman. She was in her forties but she looked younger, no surgery, though. - Castle thought Mr. Whitman had a good taste in women. - They walked her to the break room and made her take a seat while Castle made some coffee. They wanted to make it light, comfortable for her. - This kind of people tended to lawyer up as soon as you asked them their names. – So they had to make it smooth.

Castle took his seat next to Beckett and handed Amanda her coffee. "Here."

The woman took a sip and smiled. "Thank you." She said. Her eyes were roaming around the room, not knowing what to do. "How did he die?"

Beckett put her hands together and pressed them to her mouth. "He was shot. It was fast." She saved the details.

"So he didn't suffer? Thank God!" Mrs. Whitman exclaimed. "I still don't know who would want to kill Ronny. He was a wonderful man."

Castle nodded. "Yeah, we're aware of that. And we also know that you two were very close." he added, trying to sound as nonchalant as he could.

"There are some people who saw you and Mr. Lazzaro having an argument the other night at Daniel Taylor's party. It seemed pretty bad." Beckett let out.

Amanda's face turned into a grimace. She was trying to hold back tears. "Well, it was pretty bad. I was mad at him. I had been trying to leave my husband for months, and now that I had the evidence, now that I could do it without risking my money, he goes and tells me that it was too soon. That we needed more time." Her hands became fists on the table.

Kate frowned. "He didn't want you to leave your husband?" she asked.

"Yes, he did. He had been asking me to do it for a long time, but the other day… I don't know what happened. He said it was too complicated, that he couldn't risk his reputation. That this would be a bomb the moment the press knew about it and the way the markets were, he couldn't risk it. I was so pissed!" Whitman said.

Castle was holding his coffee and put it down on the table, leaning closer to their suspect. "How pissed?" he asked.

"Enough to leave to Chicago and not answering the 63 missed calls he made me." She replied. "I could never hurt him, if that's what you're implying, Mr. Castle. I loved him."

Beckett tilted her head to the right before going on with her next question. "You said before, you had the evidence you needed to leave your husband without losing your money, what did you mean by that?"

The woman let out a breath and rubbed her face with both hands. "I… Leo and I have a pre-nup contract. We made a deal, if either of us were caught cheating the other wouldn't get any money in case of divorce. He has known about Ronny and I since the beginning but I never asked to leave, so he didn't give it any importance. Three months ago I started noticing changes in his behavior. He was late from work, he spent more time at the club, he smelled different…"

"He was cheating." Beckett interrupted her.

Amanda nodded. "Yes. When I realized what he was doing, I couldn't be happier! This gave me the perfect chance to leave. If we were both proved of cheating, that pre-nup would be voided."

"Which means you would get half of everything." Castle finished.

"Exactly. I hired a P.I. He followed him around and took some pictures. It turned out to be one of his new assistants, a brilliant, very young, Romanian girl. I've seen her a couple of times, she's pretty." Mrs. Whitman talked about the girl as if she was some kind of angel.

"Would you get half the stocks to his company too?" Beckett asked.

Amanda smiled widely. "Of course!"

They finished the interview feeling a little confused. They were sure that Mrs. Whitman had feelings for Lazzaro, but she had been mad at him when he died, and even though she was out of the city when he was killed, she had the means to hire someone to do the dirty job.

Mr. Whitman was starting to point out as a very plausible suspect too. He had more than one reason to kill Lazzaro and he was obviously benefited by his death.

Beckett called the boys and told them to ask for both Whitmans' records. If there was anything going on it had to show in there.

"Check everything, from phone records to bank statements. I want everything you can get on them; If they spent two bucks more that usual I want to know when, why and on what. We're going to visit Mr. Whitman. Come on, Castle!" She said putting on her coat and walking to the elevator.

The trip to the Whitman's attic was kind of awkward. Kate was trying to act as casual as possible and Castle was trying to show he didn't notice her efforts to hide her pain from him. Both of them were failing, but none of them was going to tell the other. It was safer that way.

When they arrived to their destination, Anita, Whitman's maid, opened the door for them and led them to his office. This time the businessman was not there, and they were asked to wait for him.

A few minutes later, Leonard Whitman made his appearance, with a big cigar in his hand and the smoke following him around.

"Good evening, detective. Mr. Castle. To what do I owe this unexpected visit?" The man asked, sitting on his big, leather chair.

The smoke of the cigar was annoying Beckett, who tried to wave it away from her face. "We've been talking to Mrs. Whitman and she's told us some interesting things. Things that would have been very harmful for you and your empire, if Lazzaro hadn't died." She shot.

Whitman's self-satisfied smirk vanished. "What was that rat planning on doing?"

Castle looked at the man through narrowed eyes. "Not him, your wife. She knows you're having an affair, and you know what that means."

"She's told you about that?" He snorted. "Well, I knew that little whore was in it for the money. I'm sure she would have dumped Lazzaro the moment she found someone richer than him. They're all the same, you know?"

Castle's look got harder. "No, I don't." He said, sharing a glance with Beckett.

She spoke again. "So, Mr. Whitman, we were a little surprised when we realized how Lazzaro's death benefited you. It's really saved you a lot of money and the shame of being dumped in public for another man. Your worst enemy, no less."

The man laughed. "You can make all the conjectures you want, detective. I didn't kill the rat, but as I told you before, he had it coming. Now, if you don't plan on accusing me of anything, I have some phone calls to make."

Anita reappeared in the office and walked them to the door. Once outside Beckett started chewing on her lip, the way she always did when she was in deep thought.

"I still have doubts about both of them. I can't believe them. Those two are hiding something and I'm going to find out what it is." She said as they reached their car.

The moment they got inside the detective's phone started ringing. She picked it up. "Beckett… What did you find? ... Yeah. How much? … Ok, We're on our way."

She started the car and then briefed Castle. "It was Ryan. They've found something on Leo's financials. There are several monthly withdrawals to a secret account. They go back to last summer. They still don't know why or for what he made those transfers."

Castle wrinkled his nose. "That's weird…"

Back at the precinct the boys told them that they hadn't been able to find anything else. There was no way to track that account and without it, it was completely impossible to find out what he was using the money for.

Beckett was very suspicious about the couple and she decided to ask for search warrant to their attic. They still didn't have the murder weapon and maybe they would find it hidden at the pretentious Whitman house.

"Beckett, it's time to leave. Lanie's birthday, remember? She'll be mad if we make her wait." Esposito told her.

Kate nodded. "Yeah, just a minute. I'll fill the warrant petition and we'll be on out way, ok?

Castle put on is coat and was holding hers in his hands. "Come on, Beckett! Are you ready for some fun?" He asked with a grin.

She finished filling the petition and stood up, putting her arms into her coat as Castle, helped her. "Sure, you just keep the vodka coming my way and I'll be the soul of the party."

TBC.

A/N: Ooh guys! Lanie's birthday coming next! Don't miss it, it's gonna be good! :P

I dare you to leave a review! ….. Please?