A/N: Thank you guys for staying with me so far. I hope I'm doing you some justice.

Disclaimer: I do not own Castle

Chapter 4

Beckett parked her Crown Vic near an area where a small scale, quiet protest was taking place. There were about thirty people from different age groups carrying signs – some serious, some witty. She hadn't been able to reach Pierce personally on the phone, but got to know from his sister that he would be here among the protesters. She and Castle got out of the car and went towards the group to ask one of them for Pierce.

"Excuse me, can you point me towards a Mr. Pierce?" she asked one of the lady protesters.

"Who wants to know?" she asked Beckett.

"Detective Kate Beckett, NYPD." She moved her jacket just enough to show the lady her badge and then got it out of view again. No need to agitate the protest.

"Sure lady, that's him right there" she pointed out at a grungy looking guy probably in his late twenties. As they approached him she overheard him trying to get the building guards to let a few of them in. They stopped just a little short of him and tried to listen.

"Sorry sir, we have our orders. We can't let you in" the guard told him.

"We'll find our way in, with or without your help" Pierce replied with determination and Castle thought, just a little bit of rage.

He pointed this out to Beckett, "Seems like he's trying very hard to stay calm. Did you see his clenched fists?"

"Hmm. Let's go talk to him."

"Mr. Pierce?"

"Yes?" He said distractedly.

"I'm detective Kate Beckett, NYPD. Can we go somewhere more private to talk?"

"Uh – yes of course, let's walk this way" Pierce said as he walked in a direction away from the crowd. He unclenched his fists and started looked at the pair of them nervously.

"How can I help you?" he finally asked.

"We'd like to ask you a few questions regarding the death of Mr. Wilkins."

"Wilkins? Wilkins, director of Turbofuels? He's dead?" Pierce asked. Castle seemed to think he was genuinely surprised at this knowledge. He looked over at Beckett and saw her taking in Pierce's expression too.

"Yes, Mr. Wilkins body was discovered early this morning. He was tortured before being killed."

"Oh my God! Why?" Pierce asked staring at them rather stupidly.

"That's what we're here to find out Mr. Pierce."

Immediately he clenched his fists again, eyebrows knitted together. "You think I did it? I had nothing against the old man. He was the most amiable man at that place. The directors of these companies don't usually take the time to talk to you, man. Wilkins had the decency to let two of us represent our group, to tell him our point of view about things. He listened to everything we had to say and explained in his part that they were conducting several tests themselves, some of which did test for the potential of their fuels to cause environmental pollution. He was a perfect gentleman. I – none of us, had anything against him. I'm sorry he died, I hope you find out who did it."

"He was killed Mr. Pierce and I will find out who murdered him. But we will need your alibi at the time of the murder."

Castle added "It's all normal procedure" as Beckett handed him her card."

"Very well" he said and gave her his alibi once she told him the time, before rejoining the rest of his group.

"That was dead end. Do you still think he has anything to do with it?" Castle asked as they headed back to the Crown Vic.

"No. I don't think so. He looked genuinely surprised at the news and it's not that hard to believe since he doesn't have a cell phone. Something about lead batteries, that's why we had to come here in the first place. But we'll have the guys corroborate his alibi anyway." They headed back to the precinct.

Once at the precinct Beckett starting updating the murder board yet again. She noticed that "someone" had drawn the symbol above the time line. Almost the same symbol, it differed in that it had two dots for eyes and a smile. She narrowed her eyes at Castle as he approached with fresh cups of coffee but couldn't hide her tiny smile. He did such things. Such goofy, adorable – wait, inappropriate she meant to think– things all the time. She thanked him for her coffee as he leaned next to her on the table. He was so close that their arms were touching every time she moved her cup towards her lips and she could have sworn there was a tiny smile on his face. Not that she was looking at him through the corner of her eyes or anything.

They guys were back by now too. They looked tired. It had been a long day.

"Yo boss" Esposito greeted her. "Wilkins was on his evening break-walk. He hadn't even finished work for the day. His secretary said that he often takes a long walk for about half an hour in the evenings to clear his head. He was supposed to come back. She didn't report him missing cause he had given her the rest of the day off and said he'd close up himself." Half-way through his retelling of the facts Captain Gates had stopped close to them, listening to the latest. They went on since she didn't seem to be interrupting.

"Did anyone see him leave? Was he followed?" Beckett asked.

Ryan answered "Nope. He left at about seven. No one besides his secretary saw him once he exited the building. We asked a couple of people the normal routes he takes and then questioned a few local vendors. None of them seemed to have noticed him."

"Financials are all steady. His will divides everything equally between both children and his wife. Phone records didn't show much. A few calls from a couple of unknown numbers to his office, but those weren't unusual. It seems a lot of people called him." Esposito finished.

Gates finally spoke "Alright. I think that's enough for today. We're getting nowhere at this point. Try again bright and early tomorrow."

"Yes sir" they all said in unison, Castle included which gained him a sizable glare.

"I just don't get why she doesn't like me" Castle said, "and here I thought she was finally warming up to my charm."

Beckett snorted.

"What? *You* did, didn't you?" he said with a smirk.

Beckett ignored him and went for her coat. Before she could reach it however, he already got to it and was holding it out for her. She let him help put it on. Just this once she thought, let him get away with it. Her skin tingled near her shoulders where his hand grazed her even if through her shirt ever so lightly.

They headed towards the elevator. It was somewhere between late evening and early for the night. He suddenly had the thought to ask her "Hey! Beckett, do you want to come watch a movie with us tonight?"

"NO!" She snapped.

Suddenly the dream which she had managed to push out all day came back to her, just as vividly. When she looked up, a bit embarrassed for snapping at him like that she had to fight hard to keep from laughing. He looked utterly confused at her reaction.

"Ummm. O-kay" he said, still feeling confused.

"Sorry Castle, I didn't mean to snap at you. It's been a long day. Rain check?"

"Oh yeah sure." He seemed only partly satisfied.

Once they exited the elevators she asked him "Just out of curiosity, what movie are you watching?" 'Please don't let it be Inception. Please don't let it be Inception. Given the concept of the movie, that would be creepy on so many levels.' she thought.

"Mission impossible: 3. We have a marathon going on before we see the fourth. We've already seen the first two over the weekend."

She positively beaming and sighed out of relief. "Great. It's a good movie." He seemed to be getting more confused and now looked like he was concerned for her sanity. "Good night Castle." She was still smiling as they parted ways.

"Good night. Until tomorrow detective." He called out to her as she waved with the back of her hand. 'She's definitely losing it. Or maybe I am. I just don't know anymore' he thought to himself. He shrugged and set off for home finally calling it a night.