Genre: Crime, Drama, Family, Romance, Humor

Rating: M for violence, language and sexual situations

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters featured on the show Castle, they belong to the creator of the show, ABC, and the others who do own them.

A/N #1: Happy of course seeing the reviews I got for the last chapter, so will get to the thank yous right away. life's a mystery (Not surprised that you were glad Julia was okay after that visit from child services. I thought readers might like the bit with Martha tricking them into looking at wedding rings, lol, so nice to see in your review that I was right. Glad that you like how the case is going too, liked reading that. Not surprised either that you're wondering about how the lie detector test will go, I had a feeling readers would wonder about that), vetgirlmx (I had to laugh a little at what you said about the suspect, though I wasn't too surprised at seeing what you said exactly, lol. And as I said before, not surprised that you were glad Julia only got mad after the woman from child services talked to her. And it was interesting to see your reaction to the polygraph test, also that bit of speculation about it too. Was very happy seeing you calling it a classic Martha moment when she got Castle and Beckett to look at wedding rings, since of course that's what I was trying to do, lol. And great as usual to see you want to read the next chapter, and here you can, lol), pcol22 (Glad to see of course you liked the chapter yet again. And yeah, was definitely trying to have that case worker as a crazy person, since it's obvious Beckett loves Julia. Really happy you want to read the next chapter and here of course you can!), Beckett-Castle4ever (Nice reading that you liked the last chapter and the same for seeing your want to read the next one, which you can here of course, lol. Not surprised you too are wondering how the lie detector test is going to go, I thought readers would. And of course, very happy you liked that section where they were talking about their wedding bands!) and sammysgirl78 (Very happy you liked the last chapter. And not surprised that you liked when Beckett went to Julia, and yeah, you're right again, had to have been hard for Castle not being able to go with her to see Julia. And same for you being glad Julia wasn't sad, more mad, thought readers would be glad about that, so again, happy to see that! Another thing I'm not too surprised about, your thoughts about their suspects, lol, did enjoy that. Yet another thing I'm not too shocked about, the fact that you want to see how the polygraph test goes too, got the feeling a lot of readers are wondering about that, but interesting to read your thought about someone tampering the results. And as always, am very pleased to see you want to read more, and now you can!). So thanks to those of you who sent me a review, loved reading them and greatly appreciate you all taking the time to write them and send them to me!

A/N #2: The title of this chapter is a lyric from the song Substitute written by Pete Townshend and performed by The Who.

Lies For Fact

"What was that call for?" Castle asked, walking over to Beckett who'd just hung up her phone.

"To confirm the alibi that Ryan got from the roommate," Beckett explained. "And she was at their apartment at the time of the murder, asleep. The building they're at has digital locks that record people going in and out."

"Any fire escapes on the side?" Castle asked.

"No, really, you suspected her?" Beckett asked.

"No, she was pretty broken up, but I just wanted to make sure she wasn't the greatest actress of all time," Castle replied with a shrug. "So we're on pause right now," he said. "Shouldn't the boys have been able to find these guys?"

"Well, if they're separate, they'd be harder to find," Beckett replied. "Though if I'd been allowed to go help them I'm sure we'd be finishing up our interrogations by now."
"They'll find them," Castle said quickly, hearing the frustration in her voice easily. "Until then, why don't we look at what we know of the murder?"

"Fine, nothing else to do at this point," Beckett said shortly, standing. Since she was on a sort of probation, Gates had told her not to apprehend anyone since it was her trying to do that during the Wilder case that had led to the investigation into her actions. She had been upset at that, since she could have easily gone with the boys as witnesses, but the captain had been firm in playing it safe. "So at the time of the shift change, we saw our vic walking down the hall past the camera and into the blind spot," she said, standing at the murder board with her fiancé, pointing to the picture of the nurse just before she went out of sight.

"She was looking at the babies again," Castle said. "Speaking of that, any chance getting a record of the births yet?"

"Not yet, I'll have to check my e-mail again, see if the hospital sent it," Beckett said. She glanced at her computer screen and shook her head, since she had it already on her e-mail so she could see as soon as it had arrived. "And the killer pulls her into the closet as she passes by."

"No one on the floor heard any kind of scream or call for help," Castle picked up for her. "So she knew who it was, because her time of death is about five or seven minutes after she passes under the camera here. I can't see an attacker keeping a woman still in so small a closet. She'd be bound to kick against the door."

"Right, so he probably is kissing her," Beckett said with a nod.

"Probably some heavy petting too," Castle pointed out.

"What is this, the 50's?" Beckett asked him.

"Her smock shirt was ruffled," Castle simply said, reminding her. "And pulled up slightly according to the nurses that found her."
"I know, so he keeps her calm, until he can pull out the knife and then, it's done," Beckett said. She looked at the picture of the vic and started to say, "I just-" when her phone on her desk rang. Going to it quickly, she spoke with CSU and hanging up the phone a short while later, said to her fiancé, "According to what they had of that man with the broom from the footage; he's about six feet even."

"Aren't McKee and Kennedy shorter?" Castle asked, remembering the information about the two men.

"They are, and from what we saw of the security footage of the killer, he was wearing plain work boots," Beckett said. "With such a slight heel it wouldn't have helped those men reach six feet."

"So should we call Ryan and Esposito?" Castle asked.

"No, they'll bring them in, because if it's not them, they might know who it is by the tattoo," Beckett replied. She glanced at her computer again, and saw that there was an e-mail. Just as she'd turned to reach down for the mouse, she heard Ryan calling to her, and he was leading in McKee with LT's assistance. Right after him was Esposito with Kennedy, so she left her desk with Castle, and they walked over to observation to wait for them once they had the two men in separate interrogation rooms.

"I want to guess you had some problems apprehending them," Castle stated when Esposito came into the room.

"You could say that, Kennedy took one look at me and bolted out the pub, but the ground was a little slick from the rain not too long ago, which helped me," Esposito replied, though he sounded irritated.

"And hurt you," Beckett said since his shirt was darker black than the rest of it, damp and muddy. "Go ahead and change. Ryan, you talk to McKee, and I'll go in with Kennedy," she told him. "Esposito, when you come back, can you finish up with the footage from the vic's building?"

"Sure, but you might want to be careful with him," the detective replied, pointing to Kennedy who was sitting awkwardly in his chair, still handcuffed. "He'll be tough to get to."

"I'm not that concerned," Beckett said simply. When he'd nodded and left, she waited for Ryan to start talking to McKee and turned to her fiancé. "I need to talk to him alone," she said simply.

"I thought you would when they came in," Castle said in reply. "Let's just hope he won't be like that other guy from the gang you arrested."

"We can hope," Beckett said before she went into the room. "Mr. Kennedy," she said as soon as the door was closed behind her. "You've got a temper it turns out," she commented, sitting down across from him. "Any reason why you ran from my colleague?"

"I haven't done a t'ing," the man replied bitterly, his voice heavy with his accent.

"Then why exactly would you run," Beckett said simply.

"When you see the cops," Kennedy replied. "Ya learn to run and fast. Now tell me why I'm here, and I'll tell you, you haven't got anything on me copper."

"It's Detective Beckett," she said before smoothly going into her first question. "Have you ever worked at Lexington Hospital?"

"Nah, wrong side of town for my kind, I'd be more likely at the Bronx Emergency room if I was to work there," Kennedy said, shaking his head.

"Do you know this woman?" Beckett then asked, not surprised at his answer. She set out a picture of the victim, watching him closely to see his reaction.

"No, but she's a looker," Kennedy said, tilting his head to the side slightly before straightening up. "Is the lass dead?" When Beckett just stared at him he continued saying, "Killed then?"

"Her throat was slit," Beckett finally said.

In observation, Castle waited for the reaction from the man, and was a little shocked at what he saw.

Beckett was feeling the same as her fiancé without knowing it, taken aback when tears shone briefly on Kennedy's eyes before he jumped up. "M-" was the only sound she could say before he interrupted her.

"Are you tryin' to pin this on me again? I told the bloody rozzers that tried to say I killed me wife that I loved Molly, dearly, she was expecting our first baby, I was gonna have a family. She was where she was because we were having a war just now, us and the Westies, they want us gone. And I never hit my wife, that was the bloody neighbor who was a widow of a Westie herself, reported on me and the fadin' bruise on Molly's arm was enough to tell the cop that came to our door I was hittin' her when I'd do no such t'ing," Kennedy nearly snarled in his anger. "I have no need to slit with a knife, no need for a weapon, me hands do the job well enough, if you're going to try and set me up for my wife's murder by-"

"Sit down Kennedy, now," Beckett said, having to match his anger when she said his name as she could tell by how tense he was that he wasn't going to calm down any other way. When he looked at her in surprise and then sat down hurriedly she told him, "I'm not here to investigate your wife's murder. I'm here to ask you about the murder of this woman," she said simply, her voice more relaxed, but still stern in tone to remind him he couldn't shout her down. "Do you recognize this man?" she said, pushing across the table a picture of their killer to him.

"Nah, but… that's our ink," Kennedy said in surprise. "Can't have that, there are only six of us left with that, and we none of us look like this bastard."

"Where were you this morning at five thirty," Beckett said then, watching him.

"Was down at the pub, watching a game of rugby coming in from the home country," Kennedy replied simply. "Was a second level pro match, last of the season, had a bet on, and I was t'ere about four forty five to seven. Can see the cameras t'ere, Rotten Charlie's afraid of being robbed."

Beckett nodded, and gathered her things back in her folder before leaving. She went into observation and said, "Taking notes? You haven't done that for a while."

"Had to, that accent is absolutely amazing," Castle said. "I haven't heard it that t'ick since I was in Ireland."

Looking at him with a frown, Beckett said, "And you took on that accent because…?"

"Trying to keep it in me mind," Castle said, still using it. He glanced up at his fiancée and quickly stopped smiling saying, "So, what do you think?" as seriously as he could.

"Though he's violent, he's not our guy. I don't think he's the 31st's killer either," Beckett replied.

"Yeah, that was a surprise," Castle said. "But he was heartbroken at the reminder when you mentioned the throat slitting."

"Have to see if Ryan will have any more luck," Beckett said. "But I'll go ahead and give the pub a call, see what the owner says."

"Ah yes, Rotten Charlie, wonderful name," Castle said as he followed her to her desk then. He sat next to her, writing as much as he could remember of Kennedy's accent as his fiancée was on the phone. When she'd hung up he looked over at her asking, "He cleared him."

"He did, said the game was the biggest that season, the Dublin Celts against the Cobh Saints, all the remaining members of the Glasgow gang were there, the same time as Kennedy was," Beckett said. "He's sending footage, but I believed him, I realized from his voice that I know him. He's the man who helped me arresting that mugger."

"What?" Castle asked.

"I didn't mention it, but the woman being mugged was his wife," Beckett replied. "He didn't have the name Rotten Charlie then, but it's hard to miss that thick of an Irish brogue."

"Hey, how come you can have the accent and I can't?" Castle asked as she'd taken it on for the last bit of the sentence.

"Because I'm going to stop with that," Beckett said simply.

"Say it again, later," Castle said in a low voice, his tone suddenly suggestive. He was startled when Beckett lost her slight smile at his suggestion, and he turned to see Ryan coming over from where he'd been talking to McKee. "We kind of have an alibi for everyone in the gang," he told him.

"Yeah, that's what McKee said, and apparently, his girlfriend was killed by-" Ryan said.

"The Westies," Castle and Beckett interrupted him.

"Yeah, you… Kennedy's wife?" Ryan asked. When the two nodded he said, "I need to call my friend in gangs, see what he says about that war they were having. And I'll call the 31st; let them know about the Westies possibly being involved in the murders."

"Ask him why the gang war stopped, because they might be trying to start it again by framing these guys," Beckett called. She glanced at her e-mail, seeing she had two messages then; the one from the hospital still, and the one from the pub that had just been sent. She was about to open the one from the hospital, when Esposito called to her. A little annoyed that she wasn't able to look at it, she headed over to him with Castle behind her, and saw that there was a man in the middle of the screen. "That's him," she said, seeing the obvious copy of the Galway tattoo on the man's neck.

"It is, but you notice something?" Esposito said.

"No stringy hair, no hat, just huge sunglasses," Castle commented. "But he looks like the sketch too."

"Get that printed out," Beckett said. "And I'll go and ask Gates if we should-" she started to say, turning to leave. She paused when she saw Thomas in the doorway with the man from the sketch and looked at the officer in confusion.

"I, I see you found me," the man said, stammering slightly. "I thought you would and wanted to make sure I got to you first. My name's Randall Eldridge, I'm Sheryl's cousin."

"Have you found any mention of him?" Beckett asked as Esposito came into observation where the rest of them were watching the cousin through the window.

"Nothing, and according to her file, she had two aunts and one uncle, but there's no record of any kids that would be her cousin," Esposito replied. "So either he's unofficially her cousin, or he's lying."

"Okay, we'll talk to him," Beckett said. "Let Kennedy and McKee loose, their alibis checked out; so did everyone else in the gang. Ready?" she asked Castle.

Nodding, Castle followed his fiancée into interrogation, and watched as she sat, careful to take a cue from her as he sat, relaxed in his seat as she was. Studying the man, he didn't really get a sense that the man was lying, but waited to hear his story to be sure.

"So Mr. Eldridge," Beckett said, opening her folder and holding her pen. "We've searched and couldn't find any record of your name in your so called cousin's information."

"Yeah, because we weren't blood cousins," Eldridge said simply, nodding. "Her parents were my foster family when we were eight until we were ten, then I was adopted by the couple across the hall from us. But though I eventually moved, we were pretty close and we stayed in contact with each other for as long as we could."

"Alright, then why don't you explain why you were in disguise with an obviously fake tattoo on your neck?" Beckett said as she could see the man's neck was clear of any marking.

"That was Sheryl, she was… she said her roommate was worrying too much about this guy she was seeing," Eldridge started. "And she paid me a little money I needed for a part for my bike; I'm a biker," he said quickly. "To just help her convince her roommate that the guy she was with was okay. And I know, I thought she was crazy, because she could just have the guy go himself."

"Did she ever tell you his name?" Castle asked.

"Johnny, but she never said a last name, and I didn't ask since she said she was really annoyed by everyone acting like they were her parents about him," Eldridge answered. "I was too, but you know, she was an adult, there was nothing I could do besides beg her to be careful. She promised she would be… but if that's who killed her…"

"So did she instruct you in any particular way to act around the roommate? And also, does her roommate know you?" Beckett asked.

"She does, it's why I wore the dark wig, as you can see, my hair is recognizable, she would have seen through it," Eldridge said, his hair a pale blonde. "At one point I thought Grace was going to say that she knew it was me, but then Sheryl distracted her and she never found out that it was."

Sharing a glance with Beckett, Castle shrugged as their confusion over how Whiting could have mistaken the hair color was answered; he then looked back at the man and said, "Did she explain the tattoo?"

"No, but considering how weird it was, with a dripping heart, I imagined he was with a gang," Eldridge said. "And that might be why she wanted me to pose as the guy."

"Alright, then can you tell me where you were this morning at five thirty?" Beckett asked.

"At home, asleep with my husband," Eldridge said simply. "We have a son we adopted, and he's colicky right now, so we were exhausted. Oh, and his mom was there spending the night to help us, you can ask her too." He then grew solemn and asked, "Is that when she was killed?"

"Can you tell us about Sheryl herself in the past month or so?" Beckett asked instead of answering the man's question. "Was she at all out of character?"

"Yeah, she was but then she seemed to recover after about two weeks. But I thought that was because she was having some financial problems," Eldridge said. "I offered to help her out though my husband and I have a baby now, but she refused. Around two weeks later when I saw her again, she seemed happy again, not worried. When I asked about her money problems, she said they were over and she was crazy for having worried in the first place."

"Did she mention how that got cleared up?" Castle asked.

"No, and I didn't push since I didn't want to jinx things for her," Eldridge said.

"Was this around the end of May, earlier this month?" Beckett said. When the man nodded she then said, "And did she ever mention a baby she helped deliver around the end of May? A difficult delivery or something odd happening?"

"No, but… besides the money, it was weird. When we saw each other the first Thursday every month, sometimes twice, for coffee she'd tell me all about the deliveries in the past month or weeks," Eldridge said. "And how happy the parents were, that sort of thing. But the first time I saw her this month, she didn't really talk about any delivery, not a single one, but she had at least fifteen. So I asked her about it, to tell me, but she just said they were fine. And I left it at that because if she doesn't tell you something in the first place, then she never will."

"We'll need to check your story," Beckett said. "But one last question, do you know who this is?"

Leaning over the table to get a better look at the picture, Eldridge shook his head when he saw the man in the middle and replied, "Is that the guy? He has the same tattoo that Sheryl made me wear."

"We're not sure," Beckett said simply, standing. Taking the picture and tucking it into her folder she said, "Once we clear you, you'll be free to go, but should you remember anything about Sheryl from a month ago, let us know," sliding her card to him before she and Castle left. "If this is a professional kill," she said as they went to her desk. "Then why would he bother to become her lover? Why not just a friend?"

"To make it harder for us to find him," Castle said. "If she was that much in love with him that she would set up her own cousin for this man, then he did not want to be found, his boss too."

"Alright, I'll take a look at her financials since we finally got them," Beckett replied, knowing he was right. She opened the file on her desk, seeing it was from the vic's bank, and she went back to the end of May, seeing that while the woman was not exactly well off, she wasn't struggling either.

"Well?" Castle asked, watching closely.

"If she was having financial troubles then they were in her head, she was fine," Beckett said simply. "But, there's a check here for about five thousand, deposited by her on the second of June."

"The father of this baby we still don't know about?" Castle suggested quickly.

"We'll see, Ryan," Beckett called as she saw the detective was coming out from holding. "We have a check the vic got that we need looked into." When he'd nodded and gone to his desk after taking the file from her, she stood up and began to write what they had gotten so far on the murder board. "I have to wonder though, if the lover was in on this," she said to her fiancée, turning to him as he stepped up to her.

"You mean the killer, or the cousin posing as him?" Castle asked.

"Well, with that tattoo he's more than likely our killer now," Beckett said simply. "But with the show of her cousin becoming this man…" She trailed off saying, "We've come up against this before; disguises."

"Yeah, and of course, since the city has such a large theater community, it'd be next to impossible to track this wig or any kind of special make up. Does it take special ink to fake a tattoo? Because that is not a transfer by any means," Castle said, pointing to the picture from the hospital.

"I wouldn't know, but if it does, like you said, there'd be a number of stores that sold it," Beckett said. "And we don't know what he looks like, not with this long hair hiding his features and his baseball cap."

"And we talked with the janitorial staff there," Castle reminded her. "It's not one of them, though one of them had his jumpsuit stolen about three weeks ago."

"It comes down to the baby," Beckett said. "And since we finally have the time, we need to look at the announcements from the hospital's site."

"When will we get to the point where we can have a warrant to check and make sure they announced all the births?" Castle asked as they sat back down.

"Hopefully soon," Beckett said, glancing over at Ryan. Looking at the announcements, she didn't see anything suspicious, looking at her fiancé she said, "If your theory about an illegitimate baby is right, what if it's from an affair the woman was having?"

"Yeah, that would make it more difficult," Castle agreed. "Try finding a name that you might know already, someone wealthy."

Nodding, Beckett went through a week's worth of past announcements, the two weeks that Eldridge had mentioned their vic not wanting to talk about. Finally she shook her head saying, "I don't see any name I might know, did you?"

"Not that I recognize," Castle said. "It depends on Ryan now, what he can find from the check."

Looking down at her phone then, Beckett saw that Alexis calling, and she glanced at her watch in confusion, a little startled to see it was two thirty already. "It's Julia," she said simply before getting up and going to the break room. She turned at the doorway, wanting to tell her fiancé to tell her when Ryan got something, but she found him right behind her.

"I need some coffee," Castle said simply, shrugging as he walked past her.

Shaking her head at Ryan who she saw was watching; hoping he thought it was in annoyance; Beckett walked into the room. "Sorry Alexis, I needed to get to the break room. You picked her up?" she said once the phone was on speaker, the volume low.

"I'm here Mommy," Julia said quickly, Alexis' phone on speaker as well. "And I got a new book!"

"Great, I'm looking forward to seeing what it's about," Castle said as Beckett leaned against the counter next to him as he got some coffee ready.

"Me too, so how was the rest of your tour sweetie?" Beckett asked.

"Was a lot of fun, we saw all the paintings that were in Europe. They had some from Spain and England and Italy, and lots of them were very pretty," Julia said. Her voice then was tinged in annoyance when she said, "But some of the boys didn't look at the paintings, they kept whispering while the lady that works there was talking."

"Well, they're a little young to like art still, maybe when they're older they'll be like you," Beckett said. "So was that all you saw?"

"Yeah, and then we went to eat lunch, it was fun 'cause I got to sit with Celia and Johnny at our table. They asked what that lady was talking to me about, but I didn't say Mommy, Castle," Julia replied.

"It's not really a secret," Castle said, watching his fiancée closely as he said that; relieved when she nodded to his unasked question.

"But I don't want them to know," Julia said. "What the lady said. Mommy, are you and Castle coming home soon?" she then said, not wanting to think anymore about earlier that day.

"I'm not sure," Beckett reminded her. "But Castle will be home in time for dinner with you and Alexis."

"I will," he said quickly, looking up at the doorway to see if anyone was near. "And Alexis?"

"Yeah Dad?" she asked.

"Grab some of the yams that you two like at the market okay?" Castle said. "We'll eat up on the roof tonight."

"Say goodbye to Castle first sweetie," Beckett said hurriedly as she looked out the window to see Ryan was taking something from LT.

"Kay, bye Castle, I hope you come home for dinner," Julia said.

"I'll try," he said quickly, watching Ryan as well and seeing him starting to come towards the room. "But I love you two and will see you later."

"Alright, Alexis, take her to the park before the market, if it's not too hot," Beckett said, taking the phone off speaker. "And Julia? I'll see you before you go to bed, I promise. I love you sweetie, bye." She smiled at her daughter's rushed 'I love you,' and said, "Did it take a while for Alexis to be interested in art?"

"Not really, I have to wonder why those boys weren't really paying attention to what they have there; they're missing out," Castle said.

"They probably haven't been there before," Beckett said simply. She then turned her attention to Ryan and said, "Did you get anything?"

"I did, the check was from a bank account in the name of Global Expedited," he told her and Castle. "Going to have to search a little more with it, but I thought you might like to know."

"Global Expedited," Castle said when Ryan had left at Beckett's nod.

"Have you heard of it?" she asked, watching him.

"I feel like I should know that name," Castle commented. "But it's escaping me… You know what; let me look at those announcements again."

"In the mean time, I'm going to contact Mrs. Bay," Beckett said as they walked out to her desk. "And see if the number of births for those two weeks is correct with the number of announcements."

"Can she tell you that?" Castle asked as he went to the desk on the other side of hers.

"She can, but she can't really say who it was if the parents didn't want an announcement in the first place," Beckett said. "There we'd need the warrant. Speaking of which," she said as she looked up at Esposito who'd walked over to them.

"We need more," the detective said, having come from Gates' office. "Than just the suspicions of her friends and co-workers that it was a delivery that was the motive behind the killing. Gates is thinking it's more likely the motive was between the vic and the lover."
Nodding at that, Beckett asked, "Can you look through past cases?"

"She suggested it too, I'll be on the lookout for the same MO," Esposito said before he left.

"Okay, so we have a check," Castle said, looking at the murder board. "For a pretty substantial amount of money. I'm wondering if the person who wrote it was trying to bribe her to keep quiet about the baby."

"Then why kill her? Again, this is if the check is from the person behind the murder, or from the lover himself," Beckett pointed out.

"Then let me try this," Castle said. "See if it fits better. The check is a bribe like I said before, but from the mother of the baby, trying to keep the vic quiet about her baby being born so the father can't get to them. But he finds out anyway and finds out somehow that the vic knows about them. So he kills them by having the killer insinuate himself with her."

"It's plausible, actually, the check could also be from the father of the baby, like you were saying, but I would say the killing is because something happened to cause him to need her dead, to keep things secret," Beckett said. "Like a-"

"Politician," both she and Castle said at the same time.

"Or a newcomer," Castle suggested. "New to the field and realizing he needs to get rid of the baby and anyone who knows about it."

"If that's the case, then we have to get that warrant," Beckett said as she knew he was right.

"Where are you going?" Castle asked, jumping up as she stood.

"We're going to talk to Gates; she needs to see that we can't really wait for proof. If this child is in danger, we can't sit on our hands and let the killer find it," Beckett said, knocking on the door. When the captain had gestured her inside, she said, "Sir, I'd like to renew our request for a warrant."

"Detective-" Gates started to say.

"I'm sorry, but there could be a chance that there might be a child that our vic helped to deliver who is a threat to their father," Beckett interrupted her.

"And he could be trying to find the mother and child, which would explain why the lover was with her for a week. To try and get her comfortable enough to reveal to him where they are," Castle said.

"I know we don't have enough evidence to prove there's a chance of it, but sir, I can't wait for a child; a baby; to be killed for no other reason than it's alive. I need to know we're not recklessly endangering an innocent life just because we're not getting proof right out of the gate. I can't take the risk," Beckett said.

Castle was a little surprised when his fiancée's tone of voice changed to something more emotional than he'd expected from her. He watched her for a moment, before he heard Gates exhale and glanced at her, seeing her looking over to a picture to their right, of her husband and kids.

"I'll put in a call to your friend Mr. Castle, and see what he can do," the captain finally said, sitting behind her desk. "I'm sure though, if you need to contact the parents you'll be careful if you end up reaching out to anyone not on those announcements."

"I will sir," Beckett said firmly.

"Good, because I'm sure IA will be watching you," Gates said. "I know it would be something I'd consider in an investigation."

"I can contact anyone not in the announcements sir," Ryan said from the door. He gave a brief nod to Beckett when she mouthed a thank you to him, and said, "But I would want Beckett with me should I need to speak to them further than that. She's a mother; she would be sympathetic to the situation more than myself or Detective Esposito."

"I believe you're right," Gates said with a nod. "Continue your investigation Beckett, but don't forget to inform Ryan and Esposito of your findings."

Beckett murmured a thank you to the captain and then left saying, "Good thing you came."

"I had some information I thought you two would want to hear," Ryan said.

"About the check?" Castle asked. When the detective nodded they followed him to his desk and he took the risk, letting his arm swing ahead of him in his stride to brush his hand along his fiancée's. When she glanced back at him with a slight nod of her head, he was relieved, and he then turned his attention at the same time she did to Ryan as he sat behind his computer.

"So doing a little digging into the company, it is legit. Global Expedited is a shipping company, but it's only along the Eastern seaboard. From Maine down to Florida, and they ship anything by truck or train."

"And the owner? Anyone have a baby recently?" Beckett asked.

"They did actually, the co-CEO a Nate Catesby. His wife had a baby boy, on June second," Ryan told them.

"The day the check was dated and deposited. Who's the other CEO?" Castle asked then.

"His wife, Rosa Catesby," Ryan said. "And apparently they have a very substantial pre-nup, should he be caught cheating, he'll have to split everything they have in their divorce. But if he has a child with another woman, she takes his half of the company along with everything they own."

"So he tried to stop our vic from telling his wife about the baby from his lover-" Castle said.

"But she must have gone to him, telling him that she couldn't take the guilt and was going to his wife," Beckett continued. "So-"

"He had her killed," Castle and Beckett said together.

"We need to find Mr. Catesby-" Castle said.

"And stop him before he goes even further, and murders his own child and its mother to get rid of the evidence of his infidelity," Beckett finished for him grimly as they looked at the picture of the CEO on the screen.